Last Day of School in Japan!

Today is my last day of school in Japan.

To be honest, it hasn`t settled in completely. I`m going to be coming into school for an hour tomorrow too, so it still feels too early to cry. That didn`t stop the tears from coming out at lunch ahah. To be fair, it was after saying goodbye to a bunch of people and taking pictures. My teacher also dedicated a whole class period to taking pictures, so I got to take a lot of photos :)

Some girls in my class and me!

The classes have been the same, except for taking pictures at the end and saying thank you to the teachers. Everything feels so surreal, it feels like I`ll still be going to Nichidai next week. After all, going to school here has become a normal part of my life.

Gym Class

I also did a speech in front of the entire school at the end of an earthquake drill. My teacher told me about the speech this morning, so I wrote it in ten minutes ahah. Started it out with `Helllloooooo Nichidaiii!` and everyone in my class yelled back `Hello!!!!` Made me so happy :) Then people came up to say goodbye and to shake hands. Overall, today has been normal but not at the same time. Sad but super happy. It doesn`t feel real but the reality is settling in.

All the boys in my class

Thank you to everyone who has read my blog so far! I will write a bit while I`m in America about reverse culture shock and what it`s like returning to American school.

Thank you!

Passing the JLPT N2!

The other day I got the results of the JLPT: I passed!

Got 47/60 in vocabulary and grammar, 52/60 on the reading, and 60/60 on the listening. Overall 159/180.

I was most surprised at the listening section results. When I was taking the test I felt like I didn`t understand a lot of what was being said, but I guess my intuition is really good ahah. 

My goal from now on is to pass the N1 before going to college! If I study a lot I may be able to get there.  

Staying in a Japanese Log Cabin!

This past week has been super fun! It`s also my last week in Japan :(

There were only two hours of school on Monday, and then we were off of school until Thursday! After school, I went to a ramen shop with three other friends. It was super delicious and cheap!

Five dollar ramen

After eating I had a bit of time to pack and relax before going to the sleepover.

At around five, I met with my friends Airi, Chise, and Nariho, ready to have an incredible time. We planned this sleepover at least a month ahead of time; we were going to stay in a log cabin by the beach! When we split the fee four ways, it only ended up being about 25 dollars.

The log cabin behind us

Once we put down our bags, we ran down to the beach. We were the only people renting the cabins that night, so we were able to yell and shout as much as we wanted. And that we did!

We wrote our names in the sand and sang. Watched the waves and danced. Just the amount of energy you would expect from four teenage girls :)

 

Dancing by the ocean!

Then we started to make dinner. We felt like such adults, cooking dinner all on our own! We made salad with hard avocados and sweet curry. And I brought cake :)

Yum!

After dinner, we talked, ate a ton of snacks, and played cards. Nariho really likes the card game Speed, and no one else wanted to face her because she`s really good, so I played with her for a while. I actually didn`t know how to play it at first, so she was obviously much better than me. But! My competitive nature kicked in, and I managed to win one time :D We may have played around 15 times, but 1/15 against someone who`s played Speed for hours is pretty good, right?!

We also danced and messed around with balloons. Overall really frickin fun!!!

Stayed up until 2 talking, and then we made pancakes in the morning! 

It was an incredible time, and I`m super happy I got to hang out with this group right before I left :)

Less Than Two Weeks Left!

The exchange is almost over. Dannggggggggggggggg!

I feel like when it comes to starting and ending an exchange, emotions tend to contradict. On one hand, I am incredibly excited to see my mom/family/friends and go to American school again. No more 9 hour school days and getting home at eight everyday! Plus I`ll be able to choose what I eat for breakfast and lunch and make healthy choices. And English. I`m so pumped to be able to understand 100 percent of what is said to me.

But on the other hand, I`m leaving behind an entire life here. Everything I`ve done here will start to feel like a dream. It already feels unreal and I haven`t even left yet. I will no longer be able to casually meet the Japanese friends that I love. No more Japanese kindness, or being in awe of how much I love Japanese girls` personalities. No more using casual Japanese, even when it`s sometimes much shorter than the English phrase. When I get back to America, I probably won`t have as much freedom as I did in Japan (depending on my mom, of course ;) ) And Japanese food. I can guarantee I`ll crave it, SUPER hard.

So there`s a ton of emotional difficulty that comes with the end of an exchange. Feels so surreal.

As for the technical/physical aspects, I spent a whole day cleaning my room and packing boxes to send back home. And I`m still nowhere close to ending. Why did I let my room get so dirty!? I`m also starting on some work for my American classes since I`ve missed the first 3 weeks or so of the semester. The schedule I want to do when I get back makes it really clear I like languages/foreign places. Two English classes, International Relations, World Religions, online Japanese and Arabic, and a Japanese Teacher Assistant. Ahah!

Cheers,
Camilla Pernell

My Birthday in Japan!

January 13, 2018. My 17th birthday!

My birthday was on a Saturday, so at first I was a little bit disappointed because I wouldn`t be able to see my all my friends. But then I realized; a whole day to relax and play!! My best friends from school had club, so I could only meet them for dinner. At first I was bummed out about that too, until I realized I can see some of my closest friends that don`t go to my school :) Everything happened for a reason ahah!

I met up with another exchange student, Maggie, and our mutual Japanese friend Zento at the station around 2. 

We were off to a really good mood from the start, and it was one of those times where everything seems funny and you just want to jump up and dance. We ate ice cream, drank Starbucks, and then went around the back alleys of Miyazaki and found really good photo spots. Super fun!

At around 5 I had to go back to the station to meet up with Tamaki. My other friend, Mizuki, was still at club. She`s in soccer club so the hours are crazy long. We went to a cafe they reserved and we took some pics and waited for Mizuki. 

Mizuki finally came, and we started eating the delicious food. It was a bit overpriced, but as soon as I bit into my sandwich I didn`t mind anymore. 

And then it came. Dessert time!!! Tamaki and Mizuki called the cafe ahead of time, and when they brought out pancakes we ordered they had `Happy birthday Camilla!` written on them.

They paid for the pancakes and a milkshake we all shared <3 Overall it was a great day; I got to see the people I love most in Japan. Of course I still wanted to see my real mom and family back home, but it was still super fun :) So great!

My Trip to Kyoto and Osaka!

I stepped onto the ferry and got to the room where I`d be staying with my friend Mizuki and four strangers for the night. First time on boat for 11 hours straight; I prayed I woudln`t be sick. But even being sick couldn`t put a damper on my mood, I was going to Kyoto! AND Osaka!

After a night of restless sleep, we arrived in Kobe, where we took a train to Osaka. After cramming our luggage into a tiny locker, we had the entire day to ourselves. And only one place we really wanted to go. America-Mura! It seems a bit ironic to go to an American-themed place when I finally got the chance to go to Osaka, and to be honest I was a bit skeptical at first too. But once we got there, all doubt faded away.

Us with our shopping bags

America-Mura is basically a shopping neighborhood for people who are into `American` fashion, which means tons of Adidas, oversized hoodies, and bright colors. For Mizuki and me it was heaven. As soon as we started shopping I knew coming with Mizuki was the right choice, because we share a similar, slightly crazy sense of fashion. And America-Mura is perfect for anyone who wants to be different from the norm. Every store person was incredibly kind, and we got clothes discounted several times just from being friendly. It was truly the best way we could have spent the day!

Also got to try famous Osaka takoyaki, which kind of tastes the same as every other place ahah. This could be because Miyazaki, the place I`m living now, is said to have the most delicious meat and fish in Japan. So even when I eat out at restaurants in Kyoto and Osaka, I find myself craving Miyazaki food.

Osaka`s takoyaki

After getting home late, we were up early once again to spend the day in Kyoto. This time, our day was carefully planned out. First, we went to a Kimono rental store. I chose a blue kimono to help bring out the color of my eyes, and Mizuki chose a black kimono because it gives off a cool image.

Every minute I was feeling closer to Mizuki, and even though it was my first time meeting her, I loved Mizuki`s cousin Tamami too.

The first shrine we went to was the famous gold shrine, which is either painted gold or made out of gold. It was absolutely beautiful. As expected, there were TONS of tourists rushing to take pictures, and we took plenty as well. Also ate matcha icecream with gold flakes on top!

Delicious!

After the gold shrine, we went to another shrine that I can`t really explain with words so I`ll just show a picture.

The time at this shrine was really fun! It was a lot of walking, but they also had really delicious food and we met a kind stranger. He was taking a selfie and I jokingly posed in the corner of the photo, and he laughed and had us all take a selfie together. We saw him later and he sent me the photos!

Such a nice dude!

Also, since we were in kimonos, people took our pictures without asking. That was something I did not expect. Whenever I noticed people taking our picture I`d always pose, which usually made them laugh and take more. One Chinese couple swept up behind us and very forcefully took a picture, but that was also a fun experience.

After that shrine we went around and ate a ton of matcha flavored things, like cake, yogurt, etc. After all, Kyoto is famous for matcha!

We spent the final day shopping for souvenirs and shopping in Kyoto, too worn out from the past two fun-filled days to really do much. And then we were on a plane and back to our life in Miyazaki!

The JLPT: N2

I went to the test site with my Taiwanese friend from school, and we agreed to go eat out afterwards as well. The thought of eating some tonkatsu was what I considered a reward for taking the test.

Tonkatsu

Hong Yi and I met at the station, and we could immediately tell what bus to ride. The bus stop was surrounded by foreigners. Since I`m in rural Japan, it shocked me to see so many foreigners at once. Surprisingly, there were almost no white or black people. Everyone was from places like Malaysia and Indonesia. And a LOT of Vietnamese people. Everyone crowded into the small bus and I began to feel a tad nervous.

Once arriving, we studied a little before going to the test site. I think N2 was the most crowded; there had to be well over 150 people. There was also no clock, practically a death sentence to some people there.

During the break time between the reading and listening sections, an American woman I met gave me cookies! So nice! In fact, all the Americans were nice.

The test itself was harder than I thought it`d be, particularly the listening section. I felt the most prepared in listening, yet I think that`s the section I did worst on. I`m hoping that my reading score will make up for the listening. I find out the results in the end of January, so here`s to hoping they were good!