Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Valley of the Hobbit and the Journey to Hokkaido

After four months of studying Japanese at AIU, I have finally arrived at Sapporo, Hokkaido with my Japanese relatives. I rode a ferry from Akita to Hokkaido, and it was not as bad as I expected. The boat shifted occasionally while moving across the water, but I did not feel seasick. The ferry was called the Shin Nihonkai, and for a ticket that cost 3500 yen it was well worth the admission. Here are pictures and the link for the both the English and Japanese website of the Shin Nihonkai.
This was the boat I rode from Tomakokai to Sapporo






Friday, December 14, 2012

Sleeping like a Baby

 Since coming to AIU, I have had to become more dependent, and more cautious about the things I do. Compared to back home in Hawaii, I need to cook more, be careful of waking my roommate up at night, pay for gas, water, and heater bills, and clean my apartment unit that I share with my roommate.

My roommate and me have a good relationship, but I remember for our first few weeks living together, he complained about me making too much noise when I walk. I tried to be careful after that, but occasionally I would wake him up at night because I would drop something on the floor accidentally. By the end of the semester, I have gotten better at being more quiet at night, but I discovered that regardless of how quiet I try to be, it is really hard to not make noise in the apartments at AIU. Other students seem to have the same problem with the noise like me and my roommate.

My bed makes a sound whenever I try to move in my bed, and regardless of how quiet I try to be, the floor always makes a noise whenever I walk on it. Usually if my roommate wakes up at night when I am around, it is usually because he cannot sleep not because of me.


Friday, December 7, 2012

Aloha' Oe to the People leaving AIU

My Japanese 300 Class this semester.
It is so sad. The semester is already ending soon, and after getting to know all of these great people at Akita International University (AIU), I may never see some of these people again. Some of the students I have met will be graduating or returning to their home country. Also the Japanese students at AIU are required to study abroad for one year, so they be leaving to study abroad at the beginning of next year. As for me, I will be at Japan, until next August, but I am pretty sure time will move by too fast. 

I know that are there some people who are thinking about staying here for at least a-year-and-a-half, but I think that may be too long for me. I do not have enough money to stay here for that long, I need to graduate, and I do not I think I will use my time at AIU more efficiently if I decide to stay at AIU for a year-and-a-half instead of a year.

My Taiwanese roommate is staying at AIU until March of next year because he needs to write his thesis for graduate school. His major is Chinese Teaching. My friend, and fellow blogger Will from Gonzaga University, is only staying here for this semester because he does not have enough money. Both of them will not be at AIU as long as me so they need to be more efficient with their time year.

My roommate is apart of the Taiwanese-Japanese Club here, so he does a language exchange with a Japanese student that wants to learn Chinese. He is also apart of the AIU's Academic Achievement Center so he gets to practice his Chinese teaching skills with other Japanese students.