The Preparation Stage

Every Friday of Term 2, me and the other scholarship recipients have been attending Japanese language classes. Lead by the most bubbly teacher ever, Miyamoto Sensei, the classes have been both fun and educational.
Apart from basic Japanese phrases/words, we also learnt about other aspects of the culture. Some of these included shrines(神社/Jinja) and temples(お寺/Otera), hot springs (温泉/onsen), the cuisine and Japanese manners and etiquette.

Examples of Japanese food

How to pray at a shrine

In the ​short 9 lessons that we've had, all of us have managed to learn a lot more about the Japanese language and culture. The knowledge I've gained helps me feel a little more relaxed about being in Japan. Without the help of Miyamoto Sensei, I would still be extremely anxious about the differences between our two cultures (so ありがとうございました Miyamoto Sensei!).
I admittedly found the language itself to be very difficult and challenging.However, I also find it to be very interesting and would want to continue studying it further in the future. The three writing scripts used in Japanese (Hiragana, Katakana  and Kanji) are very different to the simple alphabet we use. I find it interesting how we can have such different ways of writing and speaking, yet be able to communicate essentially the same things. 

The other side of our preparation for the exchange was done on Tuesday afternoons with Mr Ali (shot Sir for looking after us). Here, we talked about things like culture shock and discussed the agenda set for when we were in Japan.We also got to learn about our exchange buddies.During this time, we also got to bond a little bit with the other scholarship recipients and got to know each other better. 
From these preparation classes, I've found myself growing more and more excited after each week.But even with these classes,it still feels somewhat unreal that I will really be in Japan soon. 
​Hopefully, it starts to sink in soon!

---