I'm at home in Birmingham now, after finishing my three weeks of exams in Leeds last week. I started at Cadbury World on Saturday, and intend to work there for the summer.
I'm going back to Leeds on Wednesday evening for a compulsory Study Abroad meeting at Uni on Thursday, where I might find out if I've passed Level One and can go to Japan. It is still "might" because I'm a Joint Honours student and while the Japanese half knows it has to mark the papers before the 18th, English is not under the same constraint. If I don't find out this week, I should do by early July.
I'm on holiday with my flatmates from Uni in Ibiza for 11 days starting next Saturday, so it'll be lovely to have a nice break from everything. And above all, I need some sun!
Monday, June 15, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
Final Exams
Oh the stress! My first exam of six is this Monday, and then there's one on Tuesday, before a 10 day break, and then the other four are all in a lump, but they're less important than Japanese and English, which I have to pass to go to Japan next year as they're core modules.
I had a piece of good news two days ago, which broke up the monotony of revision nicely. My University in Japan, the International Christian University, officially accepted my application and sent me a lot of information about what I'll be studying and where I can live etc. I have to fill in a few more forms and send them back in two weeks' time.
It's really exciting! I'll be back in Tokyo in just over three months! Providing I get the grades of course... Back to revision then!
I had a piece of good news two days ago, which broke up the monotony of revision nicely. My University in Japan, the International Christian University, officially accepted my application and sent me a lot of information about what I'll be studying and where I can live etc. I have to fill in a few more forms and send them back in two weeks' time.
It's really exciting! I'll be back in Tokyo in just over three months! Providing I get the grades of course... Back to revision then!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Term Three
It's been a long time since I posted anything here, which I feel quite bad about. It's always in my mind, but last Semester was so busy, and then I was working at Cadbury World again over the month-long Easter holiday and had a grand total of 4 days off! I also turned 20 earlier this month, and it still feels very strange when I tell someone my age.
I was in London last weekend because my Mum ran the Marathon, which was an absolutely amazing experience, I was so proud of Mum for doing it! While I was there, I spoke to some of my Mum's friends who said they had been checking my blog to see if I'd posted anything new. I suppose that's spurred me on to write something!
First of all, my exam results from the exams in January were okay. I got a mixture of results across my core modules and electives, ranging from 2:2 to 1st. But of course Japanese is the important one! I got 69%, which is 1% off a 1st. I didn't find this at all annoying, because I honestly was expecting a 2:2 at best. I was so happy when I saw that mark - it gave me a boost of confidence that I think I needed, because up til then I'd been wondering if I really belonged in Intermediate Japanese.
After the results, Semester Two went well, with nothing special to report. We continued working through the textbooks in Japanese, which are:
短期集中初級日本語文法総まとめポイント２０ (Tanki shuuchu shokyuu Nihongo bunpou sou matome pointo 20) - basic grammar
日本語中級Ｊ３０１ (Nihongo chuukyuu J301) - grammar
みんなの日本語初級II漢字英語版 (Minna no Nihongo shokyuu II Kanji Eigo-han) - kanji
And now I'm in Term Three, which is still part of Semester Two, but it's just split in half by the Easter holiday. The next set of exams is the final lot this academic year, and they are 18th May til 5th June. Unfortunately, my 6 exams (which seems to be more than anyone else has!) are spread right across those dates so I can't get them all over with at once! But I suppose it's less stressful to have gaps in between them.
This time round, I have a Japanese oral exam, so I'll be studying hard for that, as speaking and responding is my weakest point! The oral exam involves us giving a short individual speech in front of two teachers, who then ask questions afterwards. We're familiar with this format, because we've done two mini-speeches before, but they were only worth 5% each, rather than 20%!
Yesterday we had another Study Abroad Meeting, and we met a third year student who went to my Japanese University, the International Christian University (ICU) in Tokyo, and had the opportunity to ask all the burning questions we had.
The academic year finishes straight after exams on 5th June, and then I'll be back in Birmingham, hopefully to work at Cadbury World again, because I love that job! There's one final Study Abroad Meeting in June, but I'll get the train up for the day for that. Then, if all goes well, I'll work right up to the end of summer, which is when I'll be flying back to Tokyo!
But, first things first - exams!!
I was in London last weekend because my Mum ran the Marathon, which was an absolutely amazing experience, I was so proud of Mum for doing it! While I was there, I spoke to some of my Mum's friends who said they had been checking my blog to see if I'd posted anything new. I suppose that's spurred me on to write something!
First of all, my exam results from the exams in January were okay. I got a mixture of results across my core modules and electives, ranging from 2:2 to 1st. But of course Japanese is the important one! I got 69%, which is 1% off a 1st. I didn't find this at all annoying, because I honestly was expecting a 2:2 at best. I was so happy when I saw that mark - it gave me a boost of confidence that I think I needed, because up til then I'd been wondering if I really belonged in Intermediate Japanese.
After the results, Semester Two went well, with nothing special to report. We continued working through the textbooks in Japanese, which are:
短期集中初級日本語文法総まとめポイント２０ (Tanki shuuchu shokyuu Nihongo bunpou sou matome pointo 20) - basic grammar
日本語中級Ｊ３０１ (Nihongo chuukyuu J301) - grammar
みんなの日本語初級II漢字英語版 (Minna no Nihongo shokyuu II Kanji Eigo-han) - kanji
And now I'm in Term Three, which is still part of Semester Two, but it's just split in half by the Easter holiday. The next set of exams is the final lot this academic year, and they are 18th May til 5th June. Unfortunately, my 6 exams (which seems to be more than anyone else has!) are spread right across those dates so I can't get them all over with at once! But I suppose it's less stressful to have gaps in between them.
This time round, I have a Japanese oral exam, so I'll be studying hard for that, as speaking and responding is my weakest point! The oral exam involves us giving a short individual speech in front of two teachers, who then ask questions afterwards. We're familiar with this format, because we've done two mini-speeches before, but they were only worth 5% each, rather than 20%!
Yesterday we had another Study Abroad Meeting, and we met a third year student who went to my Japanese University, the International Christian University (ICU) in Tokyo, and had the opportunity to ask all the burning questions we had.
The academic year finishes straight after exams on 5th June, and then I'll be back in Birmingham, hopefully to work at Cadbury World again, because I love that job! There's one final Study Abroad Meeting in June, but I'll get the train up for the day for that. Then, if all goes well, I'll work right up to the end of summer, which is when I'll be flying back to Tokyo!
But, first things first - exams!!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
My Japanese University
I found out this morning which Japanese University I have been placed in for the Year Abroad exchange program, which will start in September.
I'll be going to the International Christian University (ICU) in West Tokyo for eleven months or so. I didn't even mind that much where I was placed, I just wanted to know where I'd be going so I could arrange it in my head and start making plans.
I wanted to go to Tokyo again because when I lived there last year I felt like nowhere else would feel like home and make me feel fulfilled like Tokyo did. I enjoyed it so much, I knew I wanted to go back there. But, thinking about it now, as long as it's in Japan, anywhere would be great. I know I'll love it wherever I go.
I've been buzzing with excitement all day. I've hardly eaten anything, which is really not like me! I love the feeling of knowing where I'll be going. As long as I pass my summer exams, and nothing unforeseen happens, I'll be heading out to Japan again in late August or early September. Just in time for the end of their summer!
I'll be going to the International Christian University (ICU) in West Tokyo for eleven months or so. I didn't even mind that much where I was placed, I just wanted to know where I'd be going so I could arrange it in my head and start making plans.
I wanted to go to Tokyo again because when I lived there last year I felt like nowhere else would feel like home and make me feel fulfilled like Tokyo did. I enjoyed it so much, I knew I wanted to go back there. But, thinking about it now, as long as it's in Japan, anywhere would be great. I know I'll love it wherever I go.
I've been buzzing with excitement all day. I've hardly eaten anything, which is really not like me! I love the feeling of knowing where I'll be going. As long as I pass my summer exams, and nothing unforeseen happens, I'll be heading out to Japan again in late August or early September. Just in time for the end of their summer!
End of Exams
I had my last exam two weeks ago, which ended a fortnight of exams. I had four of them, and the first was the one I was most scared about - Japanese!
It was a two-hour exam and was comprised of a sentence completion section, Japanese-English translation, a reading comprehension, and an essay.
The hardest part for me was the reading comprehension, which we could answer in English, but it used complicated grammatical strucures and some vocabulary which I had never seen before. But the first two sections were the easiest because we knew what grammar would come up beforehand so we just had to learn what we had studied in Semester One.
My Japanese exam was different to the Basic Japanese Language exam because I'm in the Intermediate class. The students in Basic have to pass the January exam to go to a Japanese University in the second year, which made it much more stressful for them than for the students in the Intermediate group.
Overall, the exams went okay, and although I'm not expecting firsts or anything like that, I think I should have passed them all. It was very strange getting back into revision after nearly two years of break from exams, and I found it hard to write essays under exam conditions due to my lack of practice.
I should get the results for those exams within the next week or two. I keep going through phases of wanting to know and not wanting to know! I'll post about my results when I get them.
It was a two-hour exam and was comprised of a sentence completion section, Japanese-English translation, a reading comprehension, and an essay.
The hardest part for me was the reading comprehension, which we could answer in English, but it used complicated grammatical strucures and some vocabulary which I had never seen before. But the first two sections were the easiest because we knew what grammar would come up beforehand so we just had to learn what we had studied in Semester One.
My Japanese exam was different to the Basic Japanese Language exam because I'm in the Intermediate class. The students in Basic have to pass the January exam to go to a Japanese University in the second year, which made it much more stressful for them than for the students in the Intermediate group.
Overall, the exams went okay, and although I'm not expecting firsts or anything like that, I think I should have passed them all. It was very strange getting back into revision after nearly two years of break from exams, and I found it hard to write essays under exam conditions due to my lack of practice.
I should get the results for those exams within the next week or two. I keep going through phases of wanting to know and not wanting to know! I'll post about my results when I get them.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
A Year Ago Today...
...I left for Japan!
That is not possible. That amazing year has just slipped away from me!
I can remember leaving my family in Heathrow so clearly, waving goodbye through the gate, as I queued for the metal detectors, for as long as I could see them. Then praying the flight would last forever, so I wouldn't actually have to land. And then the amazing feeling of seeing Japan, which I had only seen in photos or dreams, and breathing my new reality in as I left Narita Airport. One thing that has stuck in my mind is walking to customs from the gate, and stopping to go the toilet. For some reason, I was thinking that if the toilets weren't compeletely different from Britain's, and were normal, everything would be okay. How illogical is that?!
Then there was the incredible journey as I, bleary-eyed and confused, made my way across Tokyo to the Sakura House main office in the centre of Shinjuku. And after that, finding my guesthouse and collapsing onto my new bed for the next seven months of my life.
How do you fit so many memories into one day? I am overwhelmed by it. And now, finally, it starts to feel like a dream. I tell people about it and explain how I did it and what I did, and yet it doesn't feel real.
I have photos and videos of everywhere I went, and the friends I made, and the memories I keep, but it's like someone else took them and then superimposed me onto them.
And now, as I sit in my home in England revising for my exams next week, looking outside at the coldest winter Britain has had for decades (seriously, -11C!), I realise I can't wait to go back to Japan.
That's my motivation. I must pass this year of University and go back to Japan. And then I can record even more memories, and have as many new experiences as I can.
Hopefully, this time in eight months, I'll be back on a plane heading for Tokyo again. What a dream...
That is not possible. That amazing year has just slipped away from me!
I can remember leaving my family in Heathrow so clearly, waving goodbye through the gate, as I queued for the metal detectors, for as long as I could see them. Then praying the flight would last forever, so I wouldn't actually have to land. And then the amazing feeling of seeing Japan, which I had only seen in photos or dreams, and breathing my new reality in as I left Narita Airport. One thing that has stuck in my mind is walking to customs from the gate, and stopping to go the toilet. For some reason, I was thinking that if the toilets weren't compeletely different from Britain's, and were normal, everything would be okay. How illogical is that?!
Then there was the incredible journey as I, bleary-eyed and confused, made my way across Tokyo to the Sakura House main office in the centre of Shinjuku. And after that, finding my guesthouse and collapsing onto my new bed for the next seven months of my life.
How do you fit so many memories into one day? I am overwhelmed by it. And now, finally, it starts to feel like a dream. I tell people about it and explain how I did it and what I did, and yet it doesn't feel real.
I have photos and videos of everywhere I went, and the friends I made, and the memories I keep, but it's like someone else took them and then superimposed me onto them.
And now, as I sit in my home in England revising for my exams next week, looking outside at the coldest winter Britain has had for decades (seriously, -11C!), I realise I can't wait to go back to Japan.
That's my motivation. I must pass this year of University and go back to Japan. And then I can record even more memories, and have as many new experiences as I can.
Hopefully, this time in eight months, I'll be back on a plane heading for Tokyo again. What a dream...
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
End of Semester One
It's been a very quick four months for me since I started at the University of Leeds this year. Everything has gone by in a blur of meeting new people, learning new things, and having new experience after new experience.
I think the most important thing is that I'm really enjoying it. It's probably difficult to judge whether you're happy or not at a certain time in your life, because there's always something that could bring you down, so it's easier to think about happiness in retrospect. But whenever I've taken a step back from everything, I've realised that I am very happy at University.
It could have gone either way, but I was so lucky with my flatmates, coursemates and lecturers/ teachers, that I enjoy every day there.
I started my Christmas holiday on 12th December, and Semester Two starts on 26th January. But there is a two-week exam period that I have to go back to Leeds for starting on 12th January.
I have four exams, one each in English and Japanese, and then the other two are my elective modules. This means that, just like in the A-level years, the Christmas holiday is not a time for resting!
I made a revision timetable and I'm trying to stick to it. It's difficult though, with relaxing with my family over Christmas, celebrating New Year, and the extreme cold! After a warm spell before Christmas, where it was nearly 10C every day, the temperature has plummeted to -4 or -5 at night, and -2 during the day. I can't remember a winter as cold as this in my life. Snow started as early as November and we've had several snowy days so far. I'm hoping that, as the last two summers in Britain have been pretty dire, the arrival of a freezing winter means that next summer will be steamy and hot. Fingers crossed!
Anyway, too much about weather perhaps! The exams are causing me stress, because I need to pass all my compulsory modules to go to Japan next year. But the pass boundary is 40% so it's quite low. I was surprised.
For anyone who doesn't know how University marking systems work, this is my understanding of it:
0-39% - fail
40-49% - third
50-59% - 2:2
60-69% - 2:1
70%+ - first.
To get the credits for a module, you simply need to pass with 40% or more, and I need at least 100 credits from the available 125 for Year 1 to go to Japan.
About two weeks before we broke up for the holiday, we had two meetings about the year abroad in Japan. I was surprised to find out that we have to do a lot of the organisation ourselves. We book, and pay for, our own flights to Japan, and have to arrange our own travel this side and in Japan. But what is good is that the University sorts out our Japanese University applications and student visas.
Also, our choice of Universities in Japan is limited because it is one of our teachers that decides where we'll go. We were given a questionnaire asking for our preferences in relation to where we want to go next academic year, although there was no space to actually write the name of the University, leaving the result very open!
I am very keen to go back to Tokyo because I enjoyed it so much last time, but I wouldn't mind if I was placed elsewhere as there might be less English and more opportunities to see new parts of Japan.
In Tokyo, there are four Universities we can be placed in; Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (TUFS), International Christian University (ICU), Hosei University (法政大学) and Gakushuin Women's University (学習院大学).
Being a male, Gakushuin is out of the equation, and the TUFS and ICU campuses are quite far out of the main city area in West Tokyo. However, the Hosei campus is near Shinjuku (新宿), in the dead centre of the metropolitan area.
But, I have given in the questionnaire, and should find out where I'll be going some time in February, well into Semester 2.
In Semester 1, I had to give in two assessed essays, one for South-East Asian Studies, and another for English. The English one was more important, as SE Asian Studies is an elective module, so I spent 30 hours on in. In hindsight, this wasn't necessary, but I was very worried that I had forgotten how to write an essay over my gap year so I wanted it to be good. I had to use IPA (the International Phonetic Alphabet), which I only knew a bit about from one of my Chinese housemates who used it to study for his English exams, but it was actually a very interesting essay to write. I will find out the marks for those essays sometime at the beginning of Semester Two.
Overall, my first semester of University has been incredible. I've made lots of new friends and learned so many new things, it's hard for me to write everything down. All I know is that I hope Semester 2 is as successful and enjoyable as the first.
This will be the last post of 2008, as it's New Year's Eve, and I will definitely be celebrating the most important year of my life so far as best I can this evening! So much has happened, I'm glad I have this blog to look back over it, because otherwise I'm sure I'd forget a lot!
Have a very happy New Year!!
I think the most important thing is that I'm really enjoying it. It's probably difficult to judge whether you're happy or not at a certain time in your life, because there's always something that could bring you down, so it's easier to think about happiness in retrospect. But whenever I've taken a step back from everything, I've realised that I am very happy at University.
It could have gone either way, but I was so lucky with my flatmates, coursemates and lecturers/ teachers, that I enjoy every day there.
I started my Christmas holiday on 12th December, and Semester Two starts on 26th January. But there is a two-week exam period that I have to go back to Leeds for starting on 12th January.
I have four exams, one each in English and Japanese, and then the other two are my elective modules. This means that, just like in the A-level years, the Christmas holiday is not a time for resting!
I made a revision timetable and I'm trying to stick to it. It's difficult though, with relaxing with my family over Christmas, celebrating New Year, and the extreme cold! After a warm spell before Christmas, where it was nearly 10C every day, the temperature has plummeted to -4 or -5 at night, and -2 during the day. I can't remember a winter as cold as this in my life. Snow started as early as November and we've had several snowy days so far. I'm hoping that, as the last two summers in Britain have been pretty dire, the arrival of a freezing winter means that next summer will be steamy and hot. Fingers crossed!
Anyway, too much about weather perhaps! The exams are causing me stress, because I need to pass all my compulsory modules to go to Japan next year. But the pass boundary is 40% so it's quite low. I was surprised.
For anyone who doesn't know how University marking systems work, this is my understanding of it:
0-39% - fail
40-49% - third
50-59% - 2:2
60-69% - 2:1
70%+ - first.
To get the credits for a module, you simply need to pass with 40% or more, and I need at least 100 credits from the available 125 for Year 1 to go to Japan.
About two weeks before we broke up for the holiday, we had two meetings about the year abroad in Japan. I was surprised to find out that we have to do a lot of the organisation ourselves. We book, and pay for, our own flights to Japan, and have to arrange our own travel this side and in Japan. But what is good is that the University sorts out our Japanese University applications and student visas.
Also, our choice of Universities in Japan is limited because it is one of our teachers that decides where we'll go. We were given a questionnaire asking for our preferences in relation to where we want to go next academic year, although there was no space to actually write the name of the University, leaving the result very open!
I am very keen to go back to Tokyo because I enjoyed it so much last time, but I wouldn't mind if I was placed elsewhere as there might be less English and more opportunities to see new parts of Japan.
In Tokyo, there are four Universities we can be placed in; Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (TUFS), International Christian University (ICU), Hosei University (法政大学) and Gakushuin Women's University (学習院大学).
Being a male, Gakushuin is out of the equation, and the TUFS and ICU campuses are quite far out of the main city area in West Tokyo. However, the Hosei campus is near Shinjuku (新宿), in the dead centre of the metropolitan area.
But, I have given in the questionnaire, and should find out where I'll be going some time in February, well into Semester 2.
In Semester 1, I had to give in two assessed essays, one for South-East Asian Studies, and another for English. The English one was more important, as SE Asian Studies is an elective module, so I spent 30 hours on in. In hindsight, this wasn't necessary, but I was very worried that I had forgotten how to write an essay over my gap year so I wanted it to be good. I had to use IPA (the International Phonetic Alphabet), which I only knew a bit about from one of my Chinese housemates who used it to study for his English exams, but it was actually a very interesting essay to write. I will find out the marks for those essays sometime at the beginning of Semester Two.
Overall, my first semester of University has been incredible. I've made lots of new friends and learned so many new things, it's hard for me to write everything down. All I know is that I hope Semester 2 is as successful and enjoyable as the first.
This will be the last post of 2008, as it's New Year's Eve, and I will definitely be celebrating the most important year of my life so far as best I can this evening! So much has happened, I'm glad I have this blog to look back over it, because otherwise I'm sure I'd forget a lot!
Have a very happy New Year!!
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