Aya's Life in Boone, North Carolina

Finally, i was selected as an exchange student for USA!!!!!!! i'm sooooooooooo happy now. i can't wait going to US!!!!! i'm going to North Carolina, by the way. the school i'm going is located in a very small town called Boone, and it's in the mountain as you can imagine from the name of the school, "Appalachian State University." i've never lived in such a country side so i may get a lot of culture shock!!!! but on the other hand, it's the most exciting thing of studying abroad, right?? i came to Kansai Gaidai because i wanted to study abroad, especially to US!!!! i have kind of special feelings for US, becuase i lived there for 3 years when i was a kid. somehow i feel comfortable being there. my english ability was once gone though after i came back to japan... of course i love japan, too!!!

do you have any places like this where you feel comfortable to stay except your room??

anyway, thank you guys so much who supported me, helped me with my assignments, gave me a lot of kind, powerful words and cheered me up. i'm still have some problems though such as buying a flight ticket, insurance, etc...

if you have any problems or questions about the exams for the study abroad program or stuff like that, i think i can help you in some way. so please feel free to ask me!!!
i am happy to help you★

hi guys, how are you doing??
last sunday, i went to a fashion show held in zepp osaka which is in NANKO (my favorite home town). my friends in high school were taking part in the show so i went to see them with my friend. it was amazing!!!! they are still students but they looked like pros!!! they changed the model's clothes and makeup very quickly on the stage. it was awesome!!!!!!

what surprised me was that me and my friends who took part in the show went to the same high school and we all took english course there. and now i'm still taking english course so i'm going on the same way though they went on a different way. and recently, i was always thinking about english, studying abroad or stuff like that so i felt like my friends were in a different world though we were in the same hich school. and i noticed that my way of thinking was becoming narrower. i mean i was thinking only about my english stuff and i didn't even try to think about another thing. i don' mean i got more interested in fashion than studying abroad, but i was thinking like english is everything. so this show helped me make myself think about different things from english. it was really nice.

so, my thought about this is that sometimes it's good to see another world because you can get a new idea!!!

i think first impression is very important. i don't mean the appearance is important, but the way of talking or behaving is important, especially when you talk to foreign people. i learned this last February in CIE. at that time, i just started taking classes in CIE and i already knew that i'm going to US if i pass those classes, so i was looking for somebody who's from US because i wanted to get any info about US. i was with my friend Emi, and we decided to talk to somebody who's in the lounge. then, we found 2 girls in there and decided to talk to them. we asked them if they were busy or not and they said they were not busy so we started chatting. they were not from US but from Sweden. that was my first time to talk to Swedish. before this, i had no ideas about what swedish people are like. i'd never thought about it. so i didn't have any stereotypes or some like that about Swedish people.
as we kept chatting, i found that swedish people are reaaaally friendly and kind!!!! they were smiling all the time while we were chatting. and when some of their friends came to our table, they introduced them to us quickly. so we could make a lot of friends in a day. i really had a great time with them.
and now i have a stereotype about swedish poeple which is they are all friendly. i know that not all are friendly as the 2 girls were but i think this is how a stereotype is made. at least i got a really good image on Sweden so if i was asked how sweden is, i would say swedish people are so nice!!!! what i thought is that i should be careful when i talk to especially foreign people because myself's gonna be the first impression about japanese for those who meets japanese for the first time. if i behave bad, they're gonna think japanese are not so good. but if i behave in good manner, they will think japanese are good and they might get interest on japan itself. i feel like this is my responsibility as a japanese.
what do you think about this? do you have the same or similar experience as i had?

finally, i made it!!!! i finished my final paper though i couldn't turn it in on the due day... but it doesn't matter because my professor said it's ok. what a kind man he is!!!!!! thank you so much who encouraged me or gave me some ideas!!! i really apreciate you(^^) and now it's time for me to help you guys!! so if you have any problems about anything, tell me!! i'm not sure if i can give you a good advice but i'm happy to help you!! i have one more exam so i have to study now. see ya

Somebody help meeeeeeee!!!!! have you ever been to Sumiyoshi Taisha? if you have, give me some comments about it, such as how you felt, what you liked.....anything!!!! i'm working on my final paper assignment for Architecture class but i have no more idea.....i have to write 11 pages so if you have any good ideas or whatever, PLEASE tell me(>_<) i'm dying...
by the way, how was your GW? did you do anything fun? (^^)♪ my GW was not so fun, i was working every day and i didn't go anywhere. but my hometown(nanko) was full of people because of shokuhaku!! the station where i get off was incredibly crowded every day during GW. but i'm happy now because shokuhaku is over!!!