#06

Hi everyone, how’s everything going? It is going to be the last post of my blog and I’d like to write about my study abroad. I have some reasons why I feel happy about my study abroad, so I’m going to share some of them with you.

Firstly, I feel happy about my study abroad because it made a change on my personality. Before I came to Australia, I wasn't a social and positive person at all. The one thing I had wanted to overcome was my shyness and I think I could achieve it. Of course it is not perfect, but I became a little bit more social and positive through the study abroad. In addition, talking in English is easier for me than talking in Japanese in some ways and I could realise that by communicating with people in English.

Secondly, I could learn many things not only the living English but also Australian cultures, academic things (by studying at the UQ), and have work experience through the internship. I’m not sure how much my English skills have been improved because it is difficult to notice the progress by myself. However, I was glad that my host family told me that my English became much better than before. It made me feel that it was worth coming to Australia to study English.

There are many other things to write, but I just want to summarize briefly. At first, the life here in Australia wasn't easy for me and it took a long time to adopt. If you ask me wether I’ve completely adopted to the life here now, I’d say NO. However, thanks to my friends who came here together and supported me a lot, teachers and my host family, I could enjoy this experience and you guys made it more than anything. So, I really wanna say thank you for all of you and I hope we can work hard each other after we go back to Japan.

Rina

#05

Hi everyone, how have you been?? I hope all of you are doing well.
I nearly finished all assignments I have to submit, the amount of them was so crazy that I don't wanna recall now.

Anyway, as a topic of this post, I'd like to introduce some of my favorites places in Japan.  I wrote much about Australia and its culture for this blog, so I want to write about Japan this time.  One of my hobbies is traveling and I went to many places in Japan in the past few years.  I'm really interested in Japanese history, that's why most of the destinations of my traveling are related to it.



The first place is Hakodate, Hokkaido.  "Goryokaku" − the first built western style castle in Japan − was the place where I'd wanted to go for a long time.  When I saw the star-shaped castle from the nearest tower, I was so amazed because it was more beautiful than I expected to be.  I went there in May, so the castle was full of green colour.  However, I reckon the perfect season to go there may be winter.  You can see an amazing white star with a lot of illumination, which would be perfect.

As well as Goryokaku, I recommend you to go to Hakodate mountain.  It is well known for its incredible view form the top and is said one of the three major and beautiful night-view of the world, so it really worths seeing.






The second place is Hiraizumi, Iwate.  I went there last year, on the season of autumn leaves and it was so lovely that I can't express with my words.  Hiraizumi is famous for Chuson-ji temple which is a world heritage.  By taking about 1 hour and a half from there by bus, you can visit Sendai.  The place is historically famous as well.  I know it is a bit hard for most of us who are living in relatively southwestern parts of Japan to go northern prefectures.    
                                                                 However, there are still many places to see!!





You may not be interested in Japanese culture or historical buildings so much, but discovering deep Japan is so much interesting.  After going back to our own country, please try to know and find more about our beautiful country, Japan😊🇯🇵

　　　　　　　　　　　Rina

#04

Hi everyone, how are you going these days?  I've been doing well and having more free time than before.  Today, I'd like to write about some events that I had in the last few weeks.

Firstly, I went to Eumundi market which is close to Noosa with my host family and room mate, Tiffany for the last hanging out with her before she goes back to HongKong.  It was a huge market and it was the first time for me to go such a big market.  Although it was drizzly and there were so many people, we could enjoy the market by looking around and eating lunch and dessert.  As the second destination, we went to a strawberry filed and tried picking some.  Actually, it was the most delicious strawberry I've ever had in Australia.  After coming back to Brisbane, my host father took us to Kangaroo point and took a walk with seeing beautiful city view and sunset.  It was a really enjoyable day and I think it was a special day for her as well.  To be honest, I couldn't get along well with her so much because I'm shy and it always takes long time to talk casually with new people, so 2 months weren't enough for me.  On the day of her departure, my host family and I almost cried.  I hope I can meet her again some day.

Secondly, it was a public holiday on 10th of August and I went to the Ekka festival with my friends.  The festival was similar to Japanese summer festival in that there were many stalls of general good, food, and activity.  A difference between Australia one and Japanese one is that Australian festival has some attractions such as switchbacks, haunted houses and roundabouts. I didn't try them but I still enjoyed the festival.  At night, these rides were illuminated and they were so beautiful.  It seemed that I was in a film. LOL

As I said above, I recently have more free time than before but I spend most of the time on tackling with my assignments.  Study at the university is much harder than I expected and I sometimes feel like escaping away from everything.  However, I'll do my best until November because I have some plans to go to Cairns, Sydney and Melbourne~~

See you in the next post ;)


Rina

#03

Hi everyone, how are you going? 3months have already passed and it's the time of changing. I feel all of us have done well, although it wasn't easy for us. I have many regrets from this 3 months, so I need to refresh and start again ;)

In this post, I'm going to write about my study at ICTE and the differences between my study at my Japanese university and here.

First of all, the one thing that I'd like to say is that I really enjoy my study at ICTE. I could make a lot of friends from various kind of nationalities though my study. It was the first experience for me to study with people from other countries in English. Sometimes, I found the difficulties to make each other understood and insist my own opinions. Though communicating with them, however, I realized the importance of having my opinions and trying to understand other's opinions. After that, I got to have more confidence than before and now I am more positive and active when I speak English than when I speak Japanese. LOL Of course, teachers and my friends are so kind and friendly that I feel comfortable to be in class, at ICTE. I am studying in 5 Orange now, and I really love my classmates. It seems that I've got the best class, ever!! Therefore, I feel sorrowful that I'll be separated with my classmates.

Apart from this, the style of class is quite different from that of my Japanese university. Last year, I had a lot of discussions and presentations, however, I don't have them so much at ICTE. Instead of them, I have a lot of activities, grammar study, and speaking with a group or a partner. My class of ICTE is less academic than my class that I had in Japan, but it's more effective to improve my speaking skills. Totally, I'm really satisfied with my study at ICTE.
From the week after next, I'm going to go to UQ as a student of HaSS. I'm so anxious about my study at UQ and wether I can make new friends there. It's clear for me that I'll miss my friends I've got here.;(

                                          (I took this video at the BBQ with my classmates)


Anyway, the final week of my stay at ICTE is coming, I should spend this precious moment with a lot of fun!!

See you later,

Rina

#02

Hello everyone, how's everything going? Nowadays, I feel the time flies by quickly~~ It's almost the end of session 4, I can't believe it.
Anyway, I want to write about the differences between Japan and Australia which I have experienced in this post.

Firstly, I found several differences in supermarkets. Especially, the price of fruit is much cheaper than that of Japan. It's great for people who like fruit so much like me. Thanks to the cheapness, I always can buy a lot of fruit with less money, such as mandarins, kiwis, apples, and peaches. In addition, I was surprised at the price of bread. A bread of 700g costs only 85¢ in almost all supermarkets. For this reason, I make sandwiches for my lunch every day. LOL

Secondly, compare to Japan, Australia has a lot of people from different countries. When I walk around the city, I can see people who have different appearance and meet people who have various nationalities even though they speak English very fluently. To be honest, I was so surprised when I knew my host father is from England. I had thought he is Aussie before I heard of it. I thought it is difficult to find out Australian people around me. Then I realized the reason why this country is called "Melting pot of races" or "Salad bowl of races" as well as the importance of learning English and communicating with people from other countries. Speaking English with them is not easy for me, however, since it's such a rare chance to be here, I want to have more opportunities.

The exam of the end of session is coming soon. I hope we can do our best each other!

See you later,

Rina

#01

Hi everyone, I'm Rina Moriwaki.
This is my first post, so I wanna write about my life here, in Brisbane.

At first, I was homesick because everything was different from Japan, and of course I couldn't see my family and friends. Because of them, I felt the first week was incredibly long.
After a few weeks passed, my sickness became much better. Now I enjoy Australian life.

On April 9th, I went to Gold Coast to see fireworks with one of my friends, Nanase.
It was the second time for me to go there. The first time was 3 years ago, I went there with my mother. The visit was very meaningful for me because it made me have interests in English and Australia. The reason why I am here now is the trip.

Anyway, I could see fireworks on the beach of surfers paradise. It was amazing. I had never seen them with BGM before. In Japan, we usually see it quietly, so it was new for me.

In my first holidays, I went to Noosa with 7 friends.
Thanks to the system of Go Card, we could go there for free! Although it took about 3 and half hours to get there, I didn't get tired because we enjoyed a game during the way.

We spent 3 days in Noosa, went to Noosa beach, national park, and made dinners. To tell the truth, I don’t like the sea so much and I swam in the sea for the first time in about 5 or 6 years. However, it became a good experience to overcome my disliking the sea.

Session 4 is about to start from tomorrow. I’m looking forward to seeing new friends and teachers.

Also, I hope I can spend more beautiful life here.

Rina