Saturday, January 31, 2009
皆さんこんにちは！☆
Theirs been a Large debate between Me,Myself,and I on which is more expensive:
Student Exchange to Japan, or just moving their. I truly believe that it would be a lot easier to goon student exchange because they basically set all of the resources up for you. This exchange program called YFS(I think thats spelled right lol) is supposed set everything up for you for only about $450 and thats EXTREMELY cheap compared to the numerous programs that can cost up to about $3,000 NOT including the the actually trip itself, thats only for the registration . When going on a student exchange you have to definitely keep in mind the extra expenses like money for school books, food (if your on exchange the host family will probably help out),clothing(If you like to rock the black dress pants everywhere lol more power to ya),and last but not least the most important thing needed is a JR CENTRAL PASS. When your in tokyo your bodies gonna seem like its running on PURE adrenaline lol and the only way to make that adrenaline go away is by going 500mph on a train to another breath-captivating place in tokyo.
Now, to the cellphones,when your in Japan be sure to either buy a camera and cellphone or a cellphone with a camera(Cellphone would be better though). 携帯は在るなら、緊急の場合には
家族に電話することが出来るですね～!.Their are a lot of cellphone plans to use from and their are some pretty incredible phones in japan, but I would definitely recommend KDDI or Softbank because although some of it may not be the cheapest, its definitely worth more than what you spend.(BTW Text messaging is pretty different overseas so I'll write a post about some tips and stuff when I actually get one later on)
Finally last but not least , one of the most important things you need to bring while your on
your exchange in Nihon, Knowledge of the Japanese Language.Yes, going to japan not knowing anything and living on yakitori and anime comics does sound like fun but if you really want to get a full experience you need to study the language extremely hard. When your in your home
country, studying is even more difficult, because your constantly being exposed to that home language ,While your trying to learn another.What you need to do is fully immerse yourself in the language, study all the time, the shower,while hanging out, listen to japanese music before
you go to bed, recopy english documents in japanese, anything that'll help you get used to understanding the language.When you study now and then your only preparing yourself to listen to japanese...well Every now and then , but when your in japan your gonna be constantly hearing those long phrases and Subject,Object,Verb structures which will absolutely drive you KUREZI if you loose track of the whole point of a sentence when talking to someone. Many may think you've gone crazy because of how much japanese your studying, but remember you're doing it because YOU wanna go to japan,and if you really want to go then its just common sense to just leave them behind and keep on working that path to japan.
Its also better to go on exchange younger , about 15-17ish I say this because as selfish as it may you can focus more on living your life, Having less say in things is better in this case because you can depend more on people and they understand that your close to it but not a full adult.When your 18 and go on exchange they expect you to understand everything and plus you don't get to enjoy the ever-so tempting lifestyle of a teen at a japanese high school which oddly enough is what I Really want to experience.What Im saying is when you go to japan , try to use the clean slate as an advantage to think more optimistically, that way you can proudly say I have no regrets. To summarize all of what I said at the beginning is more than easy, Just study a lot,Be prepared(look up Schools, Laws,clothing,everything on the country your going to), and finally
Just Live Life.
(I'll be posting some links of japanese studying sites I used later on, then a few tricks and tips
on studying)
Theirs been a Large debate between Me,Myself,and I on which is more expensive:
Student Exchange to Japan, or just moving their. I truly believe that it would be a lot easier to goon student exchange because they basically set all of the resources up for you. This exchange program called YFS(I think thats spelled right lol) is supposed set everything up for you for only about $450 and thats EXTREMELY cheap compared to the numerous programs that can cost up to about $3,000 NOT including the the actually trip itself, thats only for the registration . When going on a student exchange you have to definitely keep in mind the extra expenses like money for school books, food (if your on exchange the host family will probably help out),clothing(If you like to rock the black dress pants everywhere lol more power to ya),and last but not least the most important thing needed is a JR CENTRAL PASS. When your in tokyo your bodies gonna seem like its running on PURE adrenaline lol and the only way to make that adrenaline go away is by going 500mph on a train to another breath-captivating place in tokyo.
Now, to the cellphones,when your in Japan be sure to either buy a camera and cellphone or a cellphone with a camera(Cellphone would be better though). 携帯は在るなら、緊急の場合には
家族に電話することが出来るですね～!.Their are a lot of cellphone plans to use from and their are some pretty incredible phones in japan, but I would definitely recommend KDDI or Softbank because although some of it may not be the cheapest, its definitely worth more than what you spend.(BTW Text messaging is pretty different overseas so I'll write a post about some tips and stuff when I actually get one later on)
Finally last but not least , one of the most important things you need to bring while your on
your exchange in Nihon, Knowledge of the Japanese Language.Yes, going to japan not knowing anything and living on yakitori and anime comics does sound like fun but if you really want to get a full experience you need to study the language extremely hard. When your in your home
country, studying is even more difficult, because your constantly being exposed to that home language ,While your trying to learn another.What you need to do is fully immerse yourself in the language, study all the time, the shower,while hanging out, listen to japanese music before
you go to bed, recopy english documents in japanese, anything that'll help you get used to understanding the language.When you study now and then your only preparing yourself to listen to japanese...well Every now and then , but when your in japan your gonna be constantly hearing those long phrases and Subject,Object,Verb structures which will absolutely drive you KUREZI if you loose track of the whole point of a sentence when talking to someone. Many may think you've gone crazy because of how much japanese your studying, but remember you're doing it because YOU wanna go to japan,and if you really want to go then its just common sense to just leave them behind and keep on working that path to japan.
Its also better to go on exchange younger , about 15-17ish I say this because as selfish as it may you can focus more on living your life, Having less say in things is better in this case because you can depend more on people and they understand that your close to it but not a full adult.When your 18 and go on exchange they expect you to understand everything and plus you don't get to enjoy the ever-so tempting lifestyle of a teen at a japanese high school which oddly enough is what I Really want to experience.What Im saying is when you go to japan , try to use the clean slate as an advantage to think more optimistically, that way you can proudly say I have no regrets. To summarize all of what I said at the beginning is more than easy, Just study a lot,Be prepared(look up Schools, Laws,clothing,everything on the country your going to), and finally
Just Live Life.
(I'll be posting some links of japanese studying sites I used later on, then a few tricks and tips
on studying)
