私の近所 My neighborhood
I am living in a neighborhood of Tokyo called Shiomi. It’s right next to the train station so I have easy access to the whole city. I have a system where I focus fully on my studies Sunday to Thursday afternoon then use the rest of the weekend to explore Japan and use the Japanese that I’ve been learning so much of. So far my Japanese classes and eagerness to communicate has gotten me an in depth conversation with a shop owner in Roppongi, a detailed talk about snakes in Harajuku, an invite to a Japanese students home by their mother, and so much more.
I am fully adapted to my life here now. I know how the trains work, I know how to contact my teachers, and navigate my way around Tokyo. The IES program is a very independent based program. The IES staff is there for support, not to hold your hand as you take each step. It is up to us to contact our teachers if we need anything, to take the 40 min commute to the class location by train, and to get the massive workload done each night.
The main difference between this program and Pitt is that there is no campus for this program. We go to class in an office building in Roppongi right across from Tokyo Tower, the hotel provided for us is in Shiomi (40 min away by train), and the IES center is on the border of Chiba (1hr away by train). The IES staff are excellent at providing support when you ask for it, but it is up to you to take care of yourself and to balance your health and studies on your own.
Also, I have field trips! That’s something Pitt doesn’t have, at least in my major. It reminds me of when I was a kid, excited to explore a new place with the class. My first field trip was to Hakone. A beautiful and stunning area in the mouth of a dormant volcano. We went to Owakidani where you could see the yellow sulfur around the open vents and ate volcanic boiled black eggs that are said to give you seven extra years of life per egg you eat. Once I gained seven more years, we hit a few other places before ending up at the famous Tori of Peace right on Lake Ashi with a stunning view of Mt. Fuji. I look forward to the next trip and what new urban legends I will learn from it.
授業 The classes
I am taking a six week intensive Japanese language course. I’m being taught by an organization of independent teachers that love to teach Japanese. They teach with passion and are mostly volunteers. There is an air of expectancy to reciprocate that passion. Classes are 3 hours long. We have 2 quizzes every day, learn on average 50 vocabulary and 10 kanji a day, and are not taught in English.
In this type of environment you need to have a willing and active commitment to putting in long hours of studying, reviewing, and memorizing. They fully expect you to know every single word that they teach you after a day, and then you get more the next and you need to know every single word. There is no room for “I’ll do it later” or “I am tired, I can’t study anymore.” I spend on average 7 hours throughout the day studying Japanese on my own just to finish the review and workload, making that a collective 10 hours a day of Japanese language learning with the classes included. I asked for discipline and I am finding that I need to develop that skill or I will fall behind.
Regardless of how awful that sounds, I am having the time of my life. Unlike when I am at Pitt, I only have one class. This means I can give my full undivided attention to this one topic and get really good at it. I love the Japanese language and learning it is giving me the confidence to be able to say I can learn any language I want. I can learn any skill that I want for that matter. I know this because I’ve been seeing the results of the hours I am putting in through conversations everyday with Japanese students, teachers, shop owners, and strangers. I am excited to see what another month of this intensive Japanese course will do for my communication.
Lilianna Todorowski