Tuesday, April 26, 2011
First Post.
みんなさん, こんにちは!
Hello everyone!
Welcome to my blog dedicated to my travels and experiences while I study abroad in Osaka, Japan. This is actually a project that I have to complete for the Global Opportunity Scholarship provided by the NAU International Center of Education to encourage students to study abroad but I was planning on creating a blog anyways for my family and friends to follow. I see it as a win-win situation.
For my beginning post this seems very early but I wanted to get down my expectations and goals of why I wanted to study abroad in Japan now instead of right before I leave where I'm sure my anxiety will be rather high. So the first question that I everyone asks me; Why Japan? Especially after people hear that I still plan on going to this country despite the terrible earthquakes and tsunami on March 11, 2011.
Why Japan... well, Japan is a country I've always wanted to visit when I was young. Though my reasons are completely different from when I was younger to now, it's still a dream that I'm excited to complete and experience. But explaining why is actually quite hard to put into words, the yearning I have to attend the Land of the Rising Sun. During my inner search to explain why I wanted to study abroad for many scholarships I realized that my want to go to Japan was due to a song that I sung in 8th grade, Kutsu ga Naru. This Japanese folk song left such an impact on me that I can still even sing it today despite the fact that it's been years since I've last sung that song. The language captivated me to learn more about this country, and my curiosity was never settled the more I learned. I even attempt to learn this language by myself (though I did not get far). It was an easy decision for me to study abroad before I even reached college.
The possibility of studying abroad became real when I reached college, though I had a bit of wait to be able to meet the requirements of studying abroad. But meeting exchange students from Japan from my freshmen year and up to now definitely helped this hazy possibility turn into a clear reality.They always encouraged me with large, excited smile asking me to attend their universities, or at least visit their university if theirs wasn't what I chose. Their excitement just only intensified mine.
The disaster in Japan is such a terrible thing that happened. I have many friends from freshmen year who returned to Japan that I worried about, and the families of the friends I have this year, even my sensei's family. Thankfully no one was hurt, and everyone's families were all right. But the same time I saw the panic and pain from all of them, especially from people who I never expect to see such emotions from. Like my sensei, whose family lives in Sendai, a place hit hard with everything. Her family was fine, but her home is now gone, washed away from the tsunami. Our class donated some money for her so she can use it for something to help her family.
I don't want this event to scare me away and I won't let it. This is basically a once in a life-time opportunity and something that I've want to do for years. If anything I want to go even more and help in anyway possible. And I feel that attending in Japan, I'll be able to do something to help while I study.
I choose to attend Kansai University in Osaka, Japan. It's a great pleasure to know that two other students from NAU (Julie & Ellie, both my friends) will also be attending Kansai University along with me. My goals for this trip is actually quite simple: to try and become fluent in Japanese, and experience as much as possible in Japan. I want to see Japan through the eyes of the Japanese and not simply as a foreigner.
Well, this is my first post and my next post will be when my adventure begins. And I do hope that the NAU student who do follow my blog will encourage you to take a chance and study abroad as well.
Hello everyone!
Welcome to my blog dedicated to my travels and experiences while I study abroad in Osaka, Japan. This is actually a project that I have to complete for the Global Opportunity Scholarship provided by the NAU International Center of Education to encourage students to study abroad but I was planning on creating a blog anyways for my family and friends to follow. I see it as a win-win situation.
For my beginning post this seems very early but I wanted to get down my expectations and goals of why I wanted to study abroad in Japan now instead of right before I leave where I'm sure my anxiety will be rather high. So the first question that I everyone asks me; Why Japan? Especially after people hear that I still plan on going to this country despite the terrible earthquakes and tsunami on March 11, 2011.
Why Japan... well, Japan is a country I've always wanted to visit when I was young. Though my reasons are completely different from when I was younger to now, it's still a dream that I'm excited to complete and experience. But explaining why is actually quite hard to put into words, the yearning I have to attend the Land of the Rising Sun. During my inner search to explain why I wanted to study abroad for many scholarships I realized that my want to go to Japan was due to a song that I sung in 8th grade, Kutsu ga Naru. This Japanese folk song left such an impact on me that I can still even sing it today despite the fact that it's been years since I've last sung that song. The language captivated me to learn more about this country, and my curiosity was never settled the more I learned. I even attempt to learn this language by myself (though I did not get far). It was an easy decision for me to study abroad before I even reached college.
The possibility of studying abroad became real when I reached college, though I had a bit of wait to be able to meet the requirements of studying abroad. But meeting exchange students from Japan from my freshmen year and up to now definitely helped this hazy possibility turn into a clear reality.They always encouraged me with large, excited smile asking me to attend their universities, or at least visit their university if theirs wasn't what I chose. Their excitement just only intensified mine.
The disaster in Japan is such a terrible thing that happened. I have many friends from freshmen year who returned to Japan that I worried about, and the families of the friends I have this year, even my sensei's family. Thankfully no one was hurt, and everyone's families were all right. But the same time I saw the panic and pain from all of them, especially from people who I never expect to see such emotions from. Like my sensei, whose family lives in Sendai, a place hit hard with everything. Her family was fine, but her home is now gone, washed away from the tsunami. Our class donated some money for her so she can use it for something to help her family.
I don't want this event to scare me away and I won't let it. This is basically a once in a life-time opportunity and something that I've want to do for years. If anything I want to go even more and help in anyway possible. And I feel that attending in Japan, I'll be able to do something to help while I study.
I choose to attend Kansai University in Osaka, Japan. It's a great pleasure to know that two other students from NAU (Julie & Ellie, both my friends) will also be attending Kansai University along with me. My goals for this trip is actually quite simple: to try and become fluent in Japanese, and experience as much as possible in Japan. I want to see Japan through the eyes of the Japanese and not simply as a foreigner.
Well, this is my first post and my next post will be when my adventure begins. And I do hope that the NAU student who do follow my blog will encourage you to take a chance and study abroad as well.
Welcome
私の名前はサマンサです。よろしく。
Profile
Samantha ChristensenNorthern Arizona University : Kansai University
Major: Anthropology
Minor: Japanese & Asian Studies.
