Hello again!!
Lately the people that I have met that are also going to Japan this summer (through scholarships) have been talking to each other non-stop. Through chats, comments, etc.
But yesterday, after much pressure from the other YFUers and HOURS of trying to get the stinkin' thing to work, I finally set up skype!! It was my first skype ever, and some of the other winners and I skyped late into the night. We literally went for 3 hours! It was awesome! We ended around 1:00 AM haha!
We're trying to do it more now, but because of our schedules we can't do it tonight. But we're planning on more late nights of skyping!
Kristine actually recorded our skype convo last night:
Too bad I'm cut off on the screen haha!
But I'm there!
For those of you planning on study abroad in the future, I HIGHLY recommend contacting and getting to know other study abroaders through skype. It may be a pain in the butt, but you can make really good friends through it (granted don't talk to strangers). We haven't met face-to-face yet, but already we're all really close (because we know it's safe. Don't talk to strangers kiddies)!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Saturday, May 21, 2011
One Orientation Down...
Helloes!!! Hasn't been that long, has it?
Oh well! Today I went to my pre-California orientation! It's a residential orientation, so kids that were going abroad (to anywhere, not just Japan) that lived around a certain area met up and we had a 7 HOUR orientation. You're probably thinking "ridiculous," right? But it was surprisingly fun! :)
Most of the kids there (like 3/4 of us) were headed to Japan during the summer. I made lots of friends there! It was super fun! During our breaks we all stood around and we just TALKED and TALKED. Some of the things we were talking about were actually pretty obscure. It was so hilarious! I laughed so hard today!
Orientation (the whole point) itself was actually pretty interesting. We had these huge discussions on culture shock, what to and what not to do, etc. Just some good "survival" tips. However, during one part, they did some sort of fake ritual to us. I'm not going to go into detail, in case whoever's reading this does end up going to orientation, I don't want to spoil it! :) but you should have seen everyone's faces during it. We were all so confused! We found out at the end that it was to help us try to appreciate and respect other peoples' culture. Granted, it was a fake (i think...most likely) culture, but it actually made a very valid point.
A lot of other stuff happened too, but if I went into all the detail then this post would be longer than the 7 hour orientation.
The orientation may have been mandatory, but I'm glad I went anyway. :)
It really was extremely helpful in many ways, and during orientation it actually hit me:
"I'm going to Japan for six weeks...I'm going to be living with a host family..."
But no doubt I am UNBELIEVABLY excited!
There are actually 3 orientations:
Unfortunately, no pictures today. I didn't feel it would have been appropriate to be randomly filming during orientation. Luckily, one of the friends I met did, so during breaks she would whip out her camera.
Well then,
'Till the next "exciting" expenditure!
Oh well! Today I went to my pre-California orientation! It's a residential orientation, so kids that were going abroad (to anywhere, not just Japan) that lived around a certain area met up and we had a 7 HOUR orientation. You're probably thinking "ridiculous," right? But it was surprisingly fun! :)
Most of the kids there (like 3/4 of us) were headed to Japan during the summer. I made lots of friends there! It was super fun! During our breaks we all stood around and we just TALKED and TALKED. Some of the things we were talking about were actually pretty obscure. It was so hilarious! I laughed so hard today!
Orientation (the whole point) itself was actually pretty interesting. We had these huge discussions on culture shock, what to and what not to do, etc. Just some good "survival" tips. However, during one part, they did some sort of fake ritual to us. I'm not going to go into detail, in case whoever's reading this does end up going to orientation, I don't want to spoil it! :) but you should have seen everyone's faces during it. We were all so confused! We found out at the end that it was to help us try to appreciate and respect other peoples' culture. Granted, it was a fake (i think...most likely) culture, but it actually made a very valid point.
A lot of other stuff happened too, but if I went into all the detail then this post would be longer than the 7 hour orientation.
The orientation may have been mandatory, but I'm glad I went anyway. :)
It really was extremely helpful in many ways, and during orientation it actually hit me:
"I'm going to Japan for six weeks...I'm going to be living with a host family..."
But no doubt I am UNBELIEVABLY excited!
There are actually 3 orientations:
- Residential orientation
- California (pre-departure) orientation
- Tokyo orientation
Unfortunately, no pictures today. I didn't feel it would have been appropriate to be randomly filming during orientation. Luckily, one of the friends I met did, so during breaks she would whip out her camera.
Well then,
'Till the next "exciting" expenditure!
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
日本語で
皆さんこんにちは！希真です！
久しぶりですよね！元気ですか？
このポストは日本語です。
もうすぐ夏休みですね。じゃあ、もうすぐ沖縄へ行きま～す！すごく嬉しいわ！楽しみ！夏、早くください！
今学校でいっぱいテストがありますよ。大変です。でも、頑張ります！
私の日本語はどうですか？三年前から勉強しています。日本語大好き！！
でも今私は学校で中国語勉強しています。難しいですけど、漢字ありますから楽しい！私は韓国語も勉強しています。一人で。すごく難しい！まぁいいけど。
日本語ないよ、私の学校で。
うわぁ沖縄へ行きたい！海あるから、新しい水着買った！服も！でも今ないね。中国から来るよ。待ってます。
もうすぐよね！！
久しぶりですよね！元気ですか？
このポストは日本語です。
もうすぐ夏休みですね。じゃあ、もうすぐ沖縄へ行きま～す！すごく嬉しいわ！楽しみ！夏、早くください！
今学校でいっぱいテストがありますよ。大変です。でも、頑張ります！
私の日本語はどうですか？三年前から勉強しています。日本語大好き！！
でも今私は学校で中国語勉強しています。難しいですけど、漢字ありますから楽しい！私は韓国語も勉強しています。一人で。すごく難しい！まぁいいけど。
日本語ないよ、私の学校で。
うわぁ沖縄へ行きたい！海あるから、新しい水着買った！服も！でも今ないね。中国から来るよ。待ってます。
もうすぐよね！！
Friday, May 13, 2011
My Vlog
I had put this post up before, but it somehow it was deleted (or for some reason I can't see it). So I'm gonna do this again.
I made a Vlog! It's up on youtube, and my username is "sunnchu" :)
Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/user/sunnchu?feature=mhee
I'll be putting videos of fun things that happen in Okinawa there, so I hope you guys follow along :)
This is my first vlog entry...I hope it's at least decent (I'm not used to doing this kind of stuff).
I made a Vlog! It's up on youtube, and my username is "sunnchu" :)
Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/user/sunnchu?feature=mhee
I'll be putting videos of fun things that happen in Okinawa there, so I hope you guys follow along :)
This is my first vlog entry...I hope it's at least decent (I'm not used to doing this kind of stuff).
(haha what a weird thumbnail)
Anyway, I hope you guys follow along and I'm looking forward to putting videos up!
I hope they're interesting enough...I'm going to be updating with things that I think you guys would want to see, so I hope you like!!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Acceptance!
Nice to meet you all!
This is a typical American girl...who has become a new Exchange student thanks to Youth for Understanding (YFU)!
I have to admit, this post is really late (but I actually only made the blog today). I got my acceptance letter almost a week ago, but I am still dying of excitement! I won the Okinawa Peace Scholarship Program scholarship! I came in the regular mail, with an acceptance letter, a World Traveler's Guide, a Parent's Guide, and my favorite thing aside from the letter, my very own YFU T-shirt!
I think I'm going to die waiting for the school year to end so I can finally go...but it'll be worth it once I get there!! Okinawa...also known as the "Hawaii of Japan" haha! I have already met people from all over the country through facebook who are also going, and I am so excited to meet them all!
As many of you know, (at least the ones who have enough to at least hear from other people) Japan was hit with a MAJOR earthquake and tsunami this past March. YFU has made it very clear that they won't be sending anyone within 100 km of the disaster area, but I will be headed to Okinawa anyway, and that is probably the southest south you can get in Japan, so I won't be anywhere close.
Hmm....I can't think of anything else to say (which is so me btw)... I'll leave it at this today!
This is a typical American girl...who has become a new Exchange student thanks to Youth for Understanding (YFU)!
I have to admit, this post is really late (but I actually only made the blog today). I got my acceptance letter almost a week ago, but I am still dying of excitement! I won the Okinawa Peace Scholarship Program scholarship! I came in the regular mail, with an acceptance letter, a World Traveler's Guide, a Parent's Guide, and my favorite thing aside from the letter, my very own YFU T-shirt!
I think I'm going to die waiting for the school year to end so I can finally go...but it'll be worth it once I get there!! Okinawa...also known as the "Hawaii of Japan" haha! I have already met people from all over the country through facebook who are also going, and I am so excited to meet them all!
As many of you know, (at least the ones who have enough to at least hear from other people) Japan was hit with a MAJOR earthquake and tsunami this past March. YFU has made it very clear that they won't be sending anyone within 100 km of the disaster area, but I will be headed to Okinawa anyway, and that is probably the southest south you can get in Japan, so I won't be anywhere close.
Hmm....I can't think of anything else to say (which is so me btw)... I'll leave it at this today!
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