Lachlan's Final Blog Post
I can not believe that here we are at the end of the month already. I had no idea that this spring program was going to be this impactful on myself and also this fun. I am very happy that I was given the opportunity to have this experience. And to be able to experience with this wonderful group of students, teachers and new friends. I was able to learn a lot in and outside of the classroom. I am now able to better understand Japanese culture and daily society. Along with some of Japan's rich and interesting history.
Importantly, to myself, I was able to improve my Japanese language skills.
Especially my speaking and listening skills. After completing this program I feel way more comfortable when speaking Japanese. This is definitely because of the immersion aspect of this program. Having a Japanese roommate and conversation partner really helped my everyday conversation speech and let me communicate with all the residents in the I-house. When going out to restaurants or karaoke with friends I was able to practice other types of conversations like ordering, things that I could never do in Calgary without roleplaying. I even challenged myself a little and talked to some strangers, although I had drunk a little too much beforehand. For my listening skills, I also think I am starting to feel very confident and can understand about ninety to ninety-five percent of what people are saying to me. Being in a classroom where the sensei only speak Japanese is very helpful and different from what I am used to back in Calgary. Also, the fact that everyone around you speaks Japanese really helps as you start to pick up common words or phrases that people use for everyday speech. Small things that would not be usually taught in class. Even if they are slang words like やばい. When getting back to Calgary I definitely want to continue studying the Japanese language. Before I thought that doing this program this was going to be my last bit of Japanese language courses, but after going to Senshu I realized that I would like to continue and be able to communicate with the Japanese friends I made this spring.
Coming to Japan I did not experience much culture shock. As I have traveled here before with my family last August. Though not experiencing this culture shock allowed me to look more into cultural things and other societal values that I did not understand from my last experience. For example, last time I was in Japan the Airbnb that we had rented and many different garbage bins that I and my family could understand and looking back messed up what went where. Now being in the I-House for a month and having to constantly throw out garbage in a certain way I better understand what those garbages for last time was. Being able to ask other residents in the I-House about the garbage and why it was done like this also helped me understand the importance of why it is sorted so specifically.
I am really grateful that I came to this program. I made lots of friends Japanese and Canadian. I hope that everyone had just as much fun as I did! Thank you Sharp Sensei and Yang Sensei for taking up the program last minute so that it could keep going. Flying back to Calgary in a couple of days is going to be very sad. I already miss the I-House! Even though I am still in Japan, I already want to come back. Hopefully, soon I can return and hopefully with better Japanese.
Importantly, to myself, I was able to improve my Japanese language skills.
Especially my speaking and listening skills. After completing this program I feel way more comfortable when speaking Japanese. This is definitely because of the immersion aspect of this program. Having a Japanese roommate and conversation partner really helped my everyday conversation speech and let me communicate with all the residents in the I-house. When going out to restaurants or karaoke with friends I was able to practice other types of conversations like ordering, things that I could never do in Calgary without roleplaying. I even challenged myself a little and talked to some strangers, although I had drunk a little too much beforehand. For my listening skills, I also think I am starting to feel very confident and can understand about ninety to ninety-five percent of what people are saying to me. Being in a classroom where the sensei only speak Japanese is very helpful and different from what I am used to back in Calgary. Also, the fact that everyone around you speaks Japanese really helps as you start to pick up common words or phrases that people use for everyday speech. Small things that would not be usually taught in class. Even if they are slang words like やばい. When getting back to Calgary I definitely want to continue studying the Japanese language. Before I thought that doing this program this was going to be my last bit of Japanese language courses, but after going to Senshu I realized that I would like to continue and be able to communicate with the Japanese friends I made this spring.
Coming to Japan I did not experience much culture shock. As I have traveled here before with my family last August. Though not experiencing this culture shock allowed me to look more into cultural things and other societal values that I did not understand from my last experience. For example, last time I was in Japan the Airbnb that we had rented and many different garbage bins that I and my family could understand and looking back messed up what went where. Now being in the I-House for a month and having to constantly throw out garbage in a certain way I better understand what those garbages for last time was. Being able to ask other residents in the I-House about the garbage and why it was done like this also helped me understand the importance of why it is sorted so specifically.
I am really grateful that I came to this program. I made lots of friends Japanese and Canadian. I hope that everyone had just as much fun as I did! Thank you Sharp Sensei and Yang Sensei for taking up the program last minute so that it could keep going. Flying back to Calgary in a couple of days is going to be very sad. I already miss the I-House! Even though I am still in Japan, I already want to come back. Hopefully, soon I can return and hopefully with better Japanese.
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