日本と和食と日本語の試験
A minor update on my Japan application prgogress:
I turned in my application for the Summer study the Friday before last. I wrote what I hope is an excellent essay on why I should go to Japan, turned it in with my transcript and snuck in my resume. Last Friday I turned in the reference letter I got from my Global Village professor. It was also my last day of Fall semester, thank God. Both of my reference letters were due Friday. Saito-sensei told me he would turn in my reference letter to Akiko-sensei; however, I got an email from Akiko-sensei that Saito-sensei hasn't turned it in yet. I just emailed Saito-sensei. Hoping for a quick response.
Regardless, I feel pretty confident about being accepted for the Summer trip. Not so much for the year trip, as I only just swapped my major to Asian Studies. I'm confident about the Summer trip only because a lot of people dropped out and because I am an upperclassman.
I've decided that if I get to go to Japan on the Summer trip, I'm going to take a picture of everything I eat and drink, scribble a few notes on what it is and how it was, as well as the place I got it. I'm a foodie, so I think it's a cute idea in order to remember what's good, what's not and what's absolutely amazing.
My Japanese final was Friday. It went much better than expected. It wasn't 20 pages as a friend had told me. It was 13 pages, which I am happy about. Eveyone I've told about the length of the test thought it outrageous, but knowing Akiko-sensei, I'm grateful. It was two pages listening, nine pages writing and grammar, two pages kanji and two pages culture. Listening went much better than usual, writing and grammar was surprisingly easy (likely because Akiko-sensei made the test, not Saito-sensei), Kanji was ridiculously easy (I finished it in about three minutes, as did most of my classmates), but culture was IMPOSSIBLE. I left nearly the whole thing blank. It wasn't about culture or traditions--it was vocabularly on cultural things. Like I know what the New Year's bell is called. My classmates and I talked about the exam for over an hour afterward and eveyone agreed that the culture section was the hardest.
The speaking portion of the exam was held a week earlier. Saito-sensei paired us up and he interviewed us in his office. I was so nervous. It was all so... unrehearsed, which was scary. I believe I've mentioned it before, but listening is my weakest point. I had to say 「もう一度おねがいします」about a hundred times. But once I understood what he was asking, I think I responded fairly well, though I definitely learned that conjugating on the spot is incredibly difficult. Luckily the point of the interview was to respond quickly and not worry too much about grammatical errors. Overall, though, I feel I did decent on the final. Hopefully enought to get an A for the semester, but we'll see.
Now that I'm on break, I figured I should study Japanese daily. I discovere this arvelous website. If you're just starting out in Japanese, I definitely recommend it. It's fun and rather good for long-term memory.
I turned in my application for the Summer study the Friday before last. I wrote what I hope is an excellent essay on why I should go to Japan, turned it in with my transcript and snuck in my resume. Last Friday I turned in the reference letter I got from my Global Village professor. It was also my last day of Fall semester, thank God. Both of my reference letters were due Friday. Saito-sensei told me he would turn in my reference letter to Akiko-sensei; however, I got an email from Akiko-sensei that Saito-sensei hasn't turned it in yet. I just emailed Saito-sensei. Hoping for a quick response.
Regardless, I feel pretty confident about being accepted for the Summer trip. Not so much for the year trip, as I only just swapped my major to Asian Studies. I'm confident about the Summer trip only because a lot of people dropped out and because I am an upperclassman.
I've decided that if I get to go to Japan on the Summer trip, I'm going to take a picture of everything I eat and drink, scribble a few notes on what it is and how it was, as well as the place I got it. I'm a foodie, so I think it's a cute idea in order to remember what's good, what's not and what's absolutely amazing.
My Japanese final was Friday. It went much better than expected. It wasn't 20 pages as a friend had told me. It was 13 pages, which I am happy about. Eveyone I've told about the length of the test thought it outrageous, but knowing Akiko-sensei, I'm grateful. It was two pages listening, nine pages writing and grammar, two pages kanji and two pages culture. Listening went much better than usual, writing and grammar was surprisingly easy (likely because Akiko-sensei made the test, not Saito-sensei), Kanji was ridiculously easy (I finished it in about three minutes, as did most of my classmates), but culture was IMPOSSIBLE. I left nearly the whole thing blank. It wasn't about culture or traditions--it was vocabularly on cultural things. Like I know what the New Year's bell is called. My classmates and I talked about the exam for over an hour afterward and eveyone agreed that the culture section was the hardest.
The speaking portion of the exam was held a week earlier. Saito-sensei paired us up and he interviewed us in his office. I was so nervous. It was all so... unrehearsed, which was scary. I believe I've mentioned it before, but listening is my weakest point. I had to say 「もう一度おねがいします」about a hundred times. But once I understood what he was asking, I think I responded fairly well, though I definitely learned that conjugating on the spot is incredibly difficult. Luckily the point of the interview was to respond quickly and not worry too much about grammatical errors. Overall, though, I feel I did decent on the final. Hopefully enought to get an A for the semester, but we'll see.
Now that I'm on break, I figured I should study Japanese daily. I discovere this arvelous website. If you're just starting out in Japanese, I definitely recommend it. It's fun and rather good for long-term memory.