I have already received my airline tickets. I am will be arriving at Kansai International Airport via San Francisco on August 20th, 2009. At which point I will be trapped on an island until December 21st, when I make my return.
Despite all the paperwork, study, and preparations for the trip it still seems a little surreal. After spending most of my life in the DC bubble (and more recently the Elon bubble), I am about to crash into the culture of Japan-land head on. I have come to the realization that no matter how much I study I will not be able to decode all 3 of their crazy alphabets by august. I am hoping that the person I meet through the speaking partner program will provide me with translation services needed for survival.
I am considering joining a club or circle (chiller club) when I get to Kansai Gaidai to meet students and hopefully have some fun. One of the disappointing (and ironic) things that I found out is that the American Football Club is not open to Americans. This was definitely a bummer, but I saw several others that could be worth joining such as basketball and judo. As far as I can tell from youtube videos and wikipedia, Judo is pretty much the same as wrestling just with cooler outfits. Joining the basketball team would be cool too because I finally won't be the shortest person on the floor.
If anyone has any other suggestions as to what hobbies/activities I should take up in Japan I am all ears. I was also going to join their movie making club, but considering most japanese movies end up like The Ring or The Grudge, I would probably be scared to step on the set.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Bloggin like its 1999
Hello to all my non-existent fans!
I have never written a blog before, so this will definitely be an interesting experience finally documenting the crazy shit that floats through my head.
The purpose of this blog is 3-fold:
1) To document my life leading up to my Japanese excursion this Fall
2) To chart my cultural progress so I have motivation to actually study the language
3) To write down all the ridiculous situations I get myself in so I can laugh about them later
For those who don't know me I guess I should do a little bio. I am a 21 year-old average white guy that attends Elon University. Given the leniency of my academic requirements (leisure and sport management major), I had the option of graduating a semester early or trying to find a creative way to pass out my remaining days in school. In todays economy, I decided to go with the Van Wilder approach and stay in school as long as possible.
Why Japan you ask? The truth is it was really kind of random. I was supposed to study in Australia last year, however due to a freak shoulder dislocation my studies were postponed. My 400 hour internship requirement this summer (I work for the Washington Wizards) meant that the only way I could still travel abroad was by going to a school with the same semester schedule. This narrowed it down to South Korea, Denmark, and Japan. Danish is probably the most useless language there is to learn and Seoul is too close to Kim Jun Il's crazy ass, so I settled on the land of the rising sun.
Currently I possess little knowledge of Japanese language or culture outside of Karate Kid and The Last Samurai. To my knowledge I have never even had a Japanese friend. Having said this, I am a pretty open-minded guy so I am not currently freaking out as bad as others might be in my disposition.
In the next 50 days I will attempt to teach myself gratuitous amounts of Japanese in the hopes that I can make it through the semester in one piece. Seeing as I already know how to say cheers (kanpai!) I am guaranteed to have a good time.
In Sake Bombs, Sashimi, and Japanese Game Shows
-Devin
I have never written a blog before, so this will definitely be an interesting experience finally documenting the crazy shit that floats through my head.
The purpose of this blog is 3-fold:
1) To document my life leading up to my Japanese excursion this Fall
2) To chart my cultural progress so I have motivation to actually study the language
3) To write down all the ridiculous situations I get myself in so I can laugh about them later
For those who don't know me I guess I should do a little bio. I am a 21 year-old average white guy that attends Elon University. Given the leniency of my academic requirements (leisure and sport management major), I had the option of graduating a semester early or trying to find a creative way to pass out my remaining days in school. In todays economy, I decided to go with the Van Wilder approach and stay in school as long as possible.
Why Japan you ask? The truth is it was really kind of random. I was supposed to study in Australia last year, however due to a freak shoulder dislocation my studies were postponed. My 400 hour internship requirement this summer (I work for the Washington Wizards) meant that the only way I could still travel abroad was by going to a school with the same semester schedule. This narrowed it down to South Korea, Denmark, and Japan. Danish is probably the most useless language there is to learn and Seoul is too close to Kim Jun Il's crazy ass, so I settled on the land of the rising sun.
Currently I possess little knowledge of Japanese language or culture outside of Karate Kid and The Last Samurai. To my knowledge I have never even had a Japanese friend. Having said this, I am a pretty open-minded guy so I am not currently freaking out as bad as others might be in my disposition.
In the next 50 days I will attempt to teach myself gratuitous amounts of Japanese in the hopes that I can make it through the semester in one piece. Seeing as I already know how to say cheers (kanpai!) I am guaranteed to have a good time.
In Sake Bombs, Sashimi, and Japanese Game Shows
-Devin
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