Hello there! I don't speak Korean!
Well, now that you know that, let me start explaining some of the similarities between Japanese and Korean!
I want to learn Korean and hopefully in the future I can start taking a course or something, because I am not very good at motivating myself to learn stuff on my own without some sort of pressure, like the kind of pressure you get from knowing there will actually be a test coming up. I am not one to accept failing a test, haha.
Anyway, yesterday I started looking into Korean again, like we all do when we don't have enough pressure from school to be able to focus on school work.
And I find that every time I look up Korean words I discover words that are almost the same as a word in Japanese. This time was no different, among others I found that "picture/photo" and "moment" are almost the same in Japanese and Korean.
Picture is in Japanese: Shashin, and in Korean: Sajin.
Moment is in Japanese: Shunkan, and in Korean: Sungan.
There are word that I would've never realized were almost the same just by hearing them being spoken in Korean. I had to actually see the word written on a paper, with the English translation, to be able to realize this.
Even the word "Shigan"/"Sigan" in Korean, a word which I've heard time and time again, did not register with me as being the word "Time", which is "Jikan" in Japanese. But then when I see it on paper, it's so obvious!
It's annoying to have all these similar words and not be able to notice them in speech. But at least it's somewhat helpful when it comes to writing, and it's always funny to have that kinda "Aha!" moment, when you realized that you have been blind/deaf(?) all along!
Anyway, I just came to think about this other thing too. How kanji also helps you (well, me atleast) to map Korean words to Japanese words:
If you know Japanese (probably works if you know Chinese too), you can sometimes guess what the kanji should be for Korean words. Back in the days, they used to use Chinese characters in Korea to write, before a guy came up with Hangul (glad that happened!).
Take for example the Korean words "Yoja" and "Namja", meaning "woman" and "man". My guess is that they used these symbols for these words back in the day (altough I am writing in kanji so it might be a bit off stroke wise n stuff): 女者 for woman and 男者 for man. In Japanese both these symbols exist but would not be used in this way. The "equivalent" of the Korean Yoja in Japanese would be Joshi 女子, and to Namja would be Danshi 男子. Well, not exact equivalent, since danshi and joshi have the kanji for child in them, which implies that we are talking about young people specifically.
If you want to be precis I suppose the equality would be "Onna no hito" 女の人 and "Otoko no hito" 男の人 in Japanese, but I liked the other comparison better, since they have the non-japanese reading of 女 and 男. Namely "Jo" and "Dan".
"Dan" (男) by the way also has the reading "Nan", which is very similar to the Korean "Nam".
And "Jo"(女) in Japanese, does sound a bit similar to the "Yo" they use in Korean.
Then there is also 者 ("Ja" in Korean), which kinda means person. This generally has the reading "Sha" in Japanese.
So if we would try to turn 女者 and 男者, into Japanese it would sound like "Josha" and "Nansha". In my opinion they sound very similar.
I have found that it often helps to try to remember the kanji symbols of a word, if you can't really remember what the word means. There are only so many different kanji with the same sounds used on a daily basis, so often it's not that hard to come up with fitting kanji that might help you remember a certain word.
So if you already know Japanese and want to learn Korean, or vice versa, I've found that it's a lot easier to learn one through the other. Since English is not very similar to Korean, it's not very helpful.
Well, that's my post. Not sure where I was going with it, but here it is. Cheers!
Nov 26, 2017
Nov 23, 2017
Teamwork is hard
We have a course right now called "Team programming". As you can tell the title is pretty straight forward on what the course is about.
We got to choose our own groups for this course and I ended up in a group of friends, and acquaintances. Also I had already worked with two of my friends in the group, and thus knew that they were good workers and great to be on the same team as. Some group members I had no idea how they would work out, if they were good workers or not, but luckliy it turned out that they were really motivated too!
So we got ourselves a good group of hard workers where everyone is on friendly terms, what could go wrong?
Well, obviously just because you're friends doesn't mean you're going to be on good terms all throughout your project.
There were some days where we were all so annoyed with a problem we were having, that were really tough for all of us, and probably had us all at some point thinking "Ugh, I wish I was in another group!". Even though we probably all know that all groups have pretty much the same problems.
The point of this course is not just to program, it's main goal is to teach us how to program as a group. My group still has a long way to go and the teacher hasn't really taught our class how we should go about doing our group work, it was just all left up to us! So now our group is working as one giant mess, which is ok since we just started and not much else can be expected of us since the teacher hasn't given us any concrete instructions.
Anyway group work is fine, and I feel like it's probably a good thing for me, since I am a friggin pessimist that always gets super annoyed and angry when things go wrong, and can't help but take my anger out on other people by getting annoyed at them. I don't even know really how I would say I act when I get annoyed like that, but you can always tell when I am not in a good mood, haha.
It's not that bad of course, I am no monster, but I still don't like that part of myself and I feel like as this project has gone on, I've been able to hide it more and more, and act nicer toward people.
Because it's not nice to sit there and be annoyed by people when they don't deserve it, and in turn they get annoyed by me which isn't fun either. Vicious circle!
Group work is draining my energy right now though, I've lost my will to code, or maybe I just need to get back into it after a weekend of not doing any school work at all.
Right now I just want to go do something fun, instead of sitting at home trying to code whatever vague task I've been assigned for this week.
I should stop complaining... But at least I am doing it here and not in peoples faces, cheers!
Okay, time to go learn some more team work! Cause I need it!
We got to choose our own groups for this course and I ended up in a group of friends, and acquaintances. Also I had already worked with two of my friends in the group, and thus knew that they were good workers and great to be on the same team as. Some group members I had no idea how they would work out, if they were good workers or not, but luckliy it turned out that they were really motivated too!
So we got ourselves a good group of hard workers where everyone is on friendly terms, what could go wrong?
Well, obviously just because you're friends doesn't mean you're going to be on good terms all throughout your project.
There were some days where we were all so annoyed with a problem we were having, that were really tough for all of us, and probably had us all at some point thinking "Ugh, I wish I was in another group!". Even though we probably all know that all groups have pretty much the same problems.
The point of this course is not just to program, it's main goal is to teach us how to program as a group. My group still has a long way to go and the teacher hasn't really taught our class how we should go about doing our group work, it was just all left up to us! So now our group is working as one giant mess, which is ok since we just started and not much else can be expected of us since the teacher hasn't given us any concrete instructions.
Anyway group work is fine, and I feel like it's probably a good thing for me, since I am a friggin pessimist that always gets super annoyed and angry when things go wrong, and can't help but take my anger out on other people by getting annoyed at them. I don't even know really how I would say I act when I get annoyed like that, but you can always tell when I am not in a good mood, haha.
It's not that bad of course, I am no monster, but I still don't like that part of myself and I feel like as this project has gone on, I've been able to hide it more and more, and act nicer toward people.
Because it's not nice to sit there and be annoyed by people when they don't deserve it, and in turn they get annoyed by me which isn't fun either. Vicious circle!
Group work is draining my energy right now though, I've lost my will to code, or maybe I just need to get back into it after a weekend of not doing any school work at all.
Right now I just want to go do something fun, instead of sitting at home trying to code whatever vague task I've been assigned for this week.
I should stop complaining... But at least I am doing it here and not in peoples faces, cheers!
Okay, time to go learn some more team work! Cause I need it!
Nov 4, 2017
Things are looking up
For a while there I thought I would have to quit the program, because I was sure I had failed the math exam, and was afraid I would fail a re-exam too.
Turns out I worried my ass off for nothing (as is usually the case).
I needed 42 out of 100 points to pass, and was afraid I would not make that mark. But as it turns out I got 65/100 points! Might not sound like a lot, but to me it feels great!
So now I am back in business and feel confident that I wont get kicked out of the program any time soon. Which is nice, cause I like it here.
Gothenburg is a very rainy city though...
Anyway, the past couple of days have been pretty chill and I have had time to do things other than studying, which has been nice. So today I started looking into stocks again, since I really want to start trying to get into it as soon as possible. Even if I can only save a small amount each month, I think it would probably be good to do so in stocks or the likes.
Then when I finally get a job I can really get in to it and save lots of money and hopefully make lots of profit. The goal is to be a millionaire before 40, but since I am a pessimist I wont make any promises that the goal will be reached.
Since I moved to Gothenburg I have realized that a lot of young people are dealing with stocks, which is kind of unexpected to me since before coming here, I didn't know anyone apart from myself remotely interested in saving money by using stocks and funds.
Turns out though that there are many young people out there who are already saving up for their future! A friend agreed to help me get started with it, and I will keep doing research on my own.
If you choose to buy stocks you choose yourself what companies you want to invest in, which is interesting. I thought I would invest in Tesla in the future, just because I like Tesla. And Elon Musk seems cool.
Not sure if it's a good decision but we will see.
On a sad note I am also wondering if investing in weapon companies would be a good idea, since it kinda feels like world war 3 could be around the corner considering the rise of far rightwing nationalism happening in pretty much every country in the world...
As a pacifist though, this feels counter intuitive.
Too depressing? Sorry.
Lets not talk about depressing things! Like I said, things are looking up! Not on a worldwide scale, but on a personal life scale.
I passed the exam, I made some tasty pasta sauce with anchovies, I finsihed a nice drawing, I just made a Java GUI using JavaFX, the limited edition polka chocolate is back in stores again, I got to see the new Thor movie.
Oh yea, I just remembered another bad thing. We got a bad teammate in our group for our school projects... kinda sucks. The teammate is a nice person but not at all good at groupwork. If I could stand up for myself and the group I might kick him out. Instead I am just waiting for the truly very slim possibility that the person might show theirself out.
Turns out I worried my ass off for nothing (as is usually the case).
I needed 42 out of 100 points to pass, and was afraid I would not make that mark. But as it turns out I got 65/100 points! Might not sound like a lot, but to me it feels great!
So now I am back in business and feel confident that I wont get kicked out of the program any time soon. Which is nice, cause I like it here.
Gothenburg is a very rainy city though...
Anyway, the past couple of days have been pretty chill and I have had time to do things other than studying, which has been nice. So today I started looking into stocks again, since I really want to start trying to get into it as soon as possible. Even if I can only save a small amount each month, I think it would probably be good to do so in stocks or the likes.
Then when I finally get a job I can really get in to it and save lots of money and hopefully make lots of profit. The goal is to be a millionaire before 40, but since I am a pessimist I wont make any promises that the goal will be reached.
Since I moved to Gothenburg I have realized that a lot of young people are dealing with stocks, which is kind of unexpected to me since before coming here, I didn't know anyone apart from myself remotely interested in saving money by using stocks and funds.
Turns out though that there are many young people out there who are already saving up for their future! A friend agreed to help me get started with it, and I will keep doing research on my own.
If you choose to buy stocks you choose yourself what companies you want to invest in, which is interesting. I thought I would invest in Tesla in the future, just because I like Tesla. And Elon Musk seems cool.
Not sure if it's a good decision but we will see.
On a sad note I am also wondering if investing in weapon companies would be a good idea, since it kinda feels like world war 3 could be around the corner considering the rise of far rightwing nationalism happening in pretty much every country in the world...
As a pacifist though, this feels counter intuitive.
Too depressing? Sorry.
Lets not talk about depressing things! Like I said, things are looking up! Not on a worldwide scale, but on a personal life scale.
I passed the exam, I made some tasty pasta sauce with anchovies, I finsihed a nice drawing, I just made a Java GUI using JavaFX, the limited edition polka chocolate is back in stores again, I got to see the new Thor movie.
Oh yea, I just remembered another bad thing. We got a bad teammate in our group for our school projects... kinda sucks. The teammate is a nice person but not at all good at groupwork. If I could stand up for myself and the group I might kick him out. Instead I am just waiting for the truly very slim possibility that the person might show theirself out.
 |
| (img from google, describing the pain.. lol) |
Oct 30, 2017
Got accepted to my "second scholarship"!
While I can say "I got accepted to another scholarship!", it's not that big of a deal this time. It's not like it's a 3 year all expenses paid scholarship like last time, but still, it's fun!
I applied for the Google/Udacity developer scholarship just for fun because someone had linked to it on facebook. I signed up thinking that all you needed to do was show your interest, but as it was you also had to state why YOU would be "worthy" of the scholarship.
When I got that far I thought, well I am not worthy so I should just make that clear. So I wrote a bit about myself just saying that I am a student very interested in web developement and the likes. And that they shouldn't give the scholarship to me since there are people out there who deserve it more/need it more than I do.
With this I thought for sure that I would not get the scholarship, so imagine my surprise when I saw the "acceptance letter" in my mail today. I don't know who saw my application and thought it "stood out", but thanks, I guess. Though I am now thinking they probably had an algorithm or something sorting through the applications rather than actual human beings, and that's how mine somehow slipped by.
Anyway, it seems like this scholarship is for 3 months of free courses on the Udacity website, within your chosen field. (I chose android developement).
I don't really know what to expect, or if I will be able to complete the courses while being a full time student. And it might not be the most extensive scholarship in the world, but I am excited!
Pretty sure they will have more of these scholarships coming out, so if you like web developement/ android developement and are a beginner, be sure to apply! (Cuz you might get it even if your application is crap!)
I applied for the Google/Udacity developer scholarship just for fun because someone had linked to it on facebook. I signed up thinking that all you needed to do was show your interest, but as it was you also had to state why YOU would be "worthy" of the scholarship.
When I got that far I thought, well I am not worthy so I should just make that clear. So I wrote a bit about myself just saying that I am a student very interested in web developement and the likes. And that they shouldn't give the scholarship to me since there are people out there who deserve it more/need it more than I do.
With this I thought for sure that I would not get the scholarship, so imagine my surprise when I saw the "acceptance letter" in my mail today. I don't know who saw my application and thought it "stood out", but thanks, I guess. Though I am now thinking they probably had an algorithm or something sorting through the applications rather than actual human beings, and that's how mine somehow slipped by.
Anyway, it seems like this scholarship is for 3 months of free courses on the Udacity website, within your chosen field. (I chose android developement).
I don't really know what to expect, or if I will be able to complete the courses while being a full time student. And it might not be the most extensive scholarship in the world, but I am excited!
Pretty sure they will have more of these scholarships coming out, so if you like web developement/ android developement and are a beginner, be sure to apply! (Cuz you might get it even if your application is crap!)
Oct 6, 2017
Just an update. Assignments, uni-confusion and a bit of Japan!
I am still having a lot of fun at university, the only times that are hard are when we have assignments. Because I go through them, feel like I will fail and then freak out and start working like crazy to get it done.
So our last programming assignment I actually finished on my own in just a few hours, since I was so scared of not making it in time, haha.
This time, for our third assignment, me and my partner finished it today basically, which it several days before the deadline.
This time I didn't work with the same person as I worked with before, and it was a completely different experience. For this assignment, with this partner, I was the one how knew the least and had to be taught how to do a couple of things. So I feel like I learned a lot by working with this partner, even though they drove me up the walls some times, haha.
Now the only assignment we have left is a math assignment about statistics. And while I think statistics seems like an interesting topic, I did not understand anything that the teacher covered during todays lecture about it. So I've got my work cut out for me to try to figure it out...
We've got tests coming up soon, which is pretty nervewracking, and for the math test we have had discussions with the teachers about if we can bring calculators to the test.
When they finally got back to us about it they told us that the only calculators we are allowed to use during the test are "Chalmers approved" calculators: Casio FX82 Texas TI30 and Sharp ELW531.
But those three types of calculators don't exist anymore, they were being manufactured in like the 1970's!
So now the teachers are trying to find a way to allow us to bring other types of calculators similar to the ones above. But the teachers don't make the rules, so it is still not certain wether other versions of these calculators will be allowed.
Thing is, I bought a really expensive and good calculator just for this course, and now I'm not even allowed to use it! Which is a real bummer.
And another thing: the program is technically not a program at Chalmers university, but Gothenburg university, but the program is kind of mixed. It's like a hybrid thing connected to both Chalmers and university of Gothenburg, so we have to abide by Chalmers rules even though we aren't Chalmers students on paper.
This mixed thing with this program is a bit strange though. I feel like I am attending 2 universities at the same time. Right now it feels more like I am attending Chalmers, since all our teachers are from Chalmers, and we have access to all the Chalmers buildings (since we got the Chalmers keycard). We eat lunch in the lunch room for Chalmers students. We follow Chalmers rules for examinations, and so on.
I think for other courses in the future we are going to have teachers that are from the university of Gothenburg, but so far we haven't.
I think many students are as confused as me about the situation. Many people in my class have bags and umbrellas and such with the Chalmers logo on it, which I find pretty funny.
Anyway, like I said, I am having a lot of fun at this program. And just as I thought, the international setting suits me really well. It's so much fun to meet people from all over the world and hear their stories! Many of the people I've met and become friends with have actually lived in Sweden for years and do speak Swedish to varying degrees.
They all have different stories of how they ended up in Sweden, and it's all very interesting to hear.
One pet peeve of mine though is hearing people speaking English with a Swedish accent. There are of course many Swedes in our class too, and some of them have really heaving, cringe-worthy accents, haha. Maybe I am just being picky and annoying, but I really wish people would work more on their accents, so that they don't sound like complete shit. (sorry) ^^'
Oh, and one last thing, in this post without a general theme: I have met many people now that are interested in Japan (surprise, surprise!) and they all get super surprised and jealous when they find out I've lived in Japan and can speak Japanese.
When you've lived in a country for a few years, and it becomes your normal life, you kinda forget that there are people out there who have big dreams of living exactly that life. And that become so amazed to hear about it.
So now I've been asked a lot of questions about Japan, and the language, and I find I can't answer all of them. Since I haven't spoken Japanese for so long, my vocabulary is smaller than it used to be. Today I realized I had forgotten the word "kyoka" and had to look it up. The word was on the tip of my tongue but I just couldn't get it right.
My Japanese is not completely gone though (yet), around a week ago I called up my friend who still lives in Japan and we talked for an hour, all in Japanese. I was so happy to get confirmation that I could still do it.
There are not a lot of chances here to get to speak Japanese! The people I have met who like Japan and wanna go there don't speak the language, although some of them are learning it they are not near speaking level at all.
It's kinda sad, because I don't want to forget this language. I love Japanese.
:)
So our last programming assignment I actually finished on my own in just a few hours, since I was so scared of not making it in time, haha.
This time, for our third assignment, me and my partner finished it today basically, which it several days before the deadline.
This time I didn't work with the same person as I worked with before, and it was a completely different experience. For this assignment, with this partner, I was the one how knew the least and had to be taught how to do a couple of things. So I feel like I learned a lot by working with this partner, even though they drove me up the walls some times, haha.
Now the only assignment we have left is a math assignment about statistics. And while I think statistics seems like an interesting topic, I did not understand anything that the teacher covered during todays lecture about it. So I've got my work cut out for me to try to figure it out...
We've got tests coming up soon, which is pretty nervewracking, and for the math test we have had discussions with the teachers about if we can bring calculators to the test.
When they finally got back to us about it they told us that the only calculators we are allowed to use during the test are "Chalmers approved" calculators: Casio FX82 Texas TI30 and Sharp ELW531.
But those three types of calculators don't exist anymore, they were being manufactured in like the 1970's!
So now the teachers are trying to find a way to allow us to bring other types of calculators similar to the ones above. But the teachers don't make the rules, so it is still not certain wether other versions of these calculators will be allowed.
Thing is, I bought a really expensive and good calculator just for this course, and now I'm not even allowed to use it! Which is a real bummer.
And another thing: the program is technically not a program at Chalmers university, but Gothenburg university, but the program is kind of mixed. It's like a hybrid thing connected to both Chalmers and university of Gothenburg, so we have to abide by Chalmers rules even though we aren't Chalmers students on paper.
This mixed thing with this program is a bit strange though. I feel like I am attending 2 universities at the same time. Right now it feels more like I am attending Chalmers, since all our teachers are from Chalmers, and we have access to all the Chalmers buildings (since we got the Chalmers keycard). We eat lunch in the lunch room for Chalmers students. We follow Chalmers rules for examinations, and so on.
I think for other courses in the future we are going to have teachers that are from the university of Gothenburg, but so far we haven't.
I think many students are as confused as me about the situation. Many people in my class have bags and umbrellas and such with the Chalmers logo on it, which I find pretty funny.
Anyway, like I said, I am having a lot of fun at this program. And just as I thought, the international setting suits me really well. It's so much fun to meet people from all over the world and hear their stories! Many of the people I've met and become friends with have actually lived in Sweden for years and do speak Swedish to varying degrees.
They all have different stories of how they ended up in Sweden, and it's all very interesting to hear.
One pet peeve of mine though is hearing people speaking English with a Swedish accent. There are of course many Swedes in our class too, and some of them have really heaving, cringe-worthy accents, haha. Maybe I am just being picky and annoying, but I really wish people would work more on their accents, so that they don't sound like complete shit. (sorry) ^^'
Oh, and one last thing, in this post without a general theme: I have met many people now that are interested in Japan (surprise, surprise!) and they all get super surprised and jealous when they find out I've lived in Japan and can speak Japanese.
When you've lived in a country for a few years, and it becomes your normal life, you kinda forget that there are people out there who have big dreams of living exactly that life. And that become so amazed to hear about it.
So now I've been asked a lot of questions about Japan, and the language, and I find I can't answer all of them. Since I haven't spoken Japanese for so long, my vocabulary is smaller than it used to be. Today I realized I had forgotten the word "kyoka" and had to look it up. The word was on the tip of my tongue but I just couldn't get it right.
My Japanese is not completely gone though (yet), around a week ago I called up my friend who still lives in Japan and we talked for an hour, all in Japanese. I was so happy to get confirmation that I could still do it.
There are not a lot of chances here to get to speak Japanese! The people I have met who like Japan and wanna go there don't speak the language, although some of them are learning it they are not near speaking level at all.
It's kinda sad, because I don't want to forget this language. I love Japanese.
:)
Sep 17, 2017
Studying, and even more studying
It's been about a month since I came to came to Gothenburg. Time has moved incredibly fast.
So far we've had 2 assignments, and they really haven't been fun, since they've been both difficult and stressful. I'm sure the upcoming assignments will be even worse.
Even so, I've had lots of fun in the Software Engineering and Management program so far. Apart from the assignments, things have gone really well so far, and I've met some really nice people to hang out with.
Right now we are going through one math course and one programming course, and I found out a few days ago that people have been contacting teachers about the math course, saying how sucky it is. People seem to think that it is too difficult, too fast paced, and that mostly because we don't have enough math help sessions. So if you don't know what you're supposed to do in math, and can't find help on the web or from a classmate, you are probably gonna be stressed.
While I do believe we need more math helpsessions, and that a few other things about the course could be improved, I think this it's been fine. It's not bad enough for me to feel the need to complain. Well, at least not yet.
I have enjoyed most of the topics we've covered in math so far, and feel like they will help in the future with programming. I only hope that the next 2 assignments wont be as difficult as the first one...
Anyway, like I said, so far so good at this program, atleast for me.
On to other matters. I ordered a second hand macbook air and it works just fine and I really love it. It's great not to have to bring my 17.3 inch monster laptop to school anymore. At the same time the 12 inch screen of the Air is not too small.
All in all a good buy, even though I am not a mac person!
I wanted to write a blog post to write an update on what I am doing, but really I haven't been doing much. Most days I've been studying from morning til night, and I am not complaining, apart from the assignments it's been fun and I don't mind studying. I actually thought it feel more tedious than it does, so that's good.
Recently I've had atleast a few days where I've felt relaxed enough to do something other than studying. So I've been watching some TV and drawing again. It's been a while. Now I just gotta make time for writing every day, which I haven't really been doing since I got here.
As of now I feel optimistic about passing the first 2 courses, and I hope that I will keep working hard and stay on track!
So far we've had 2 assignments, and they really haven't been fun, since they've been both difficult and stressful. I'm sure the upcoming assignments will be even worse.
Even so, I've had lots of fun in the Software Engineering and Management program so far. Apart from the assignments, things have gone really well so far, and I've met some really nice people to hang out with.
Right now we are going through one math course and one programming course, and I found out a few days ago that people have been contacting teachers about the math course, saying how sucky it is. People seem to think that it is too difficult, too fast paced, and that mostly because we don't have enough math help sessions. So if you don't know what you're supposed to do in math, and can't find help on the web or from a classmate, you are probably gonna be stressed.
While I do believe we need more math helpsessions, and that a few other things about the course could be improved, I think this it's been fine. It's not bad enough for me to feel the need to complain. Well, at least not yet.
I have enjoyed most of the topics we've covered in math so far, and feel like they will help in the future with programming. I only hope that the next 2 assignments wont be as difficult as the first one...
Anyway, like I said, so far so good at this program, atleast for me.
On to other matters. I ordered a second hand macbook air and it works just fine and I really love it. It's great not to have to bring my 17.3 inch monster laptop to school anymore. At the same time the 12 inch screen of the Air is not too small.
All in all a good buy, even though I am not a mac person!
I wanted to write a blog post to write an update on what I am doing, but really I haven't been doing much. Most days I've been studying from morning til night, and I am not complaining, apart from the assignments it's been fun and I don't mind studying. I actually thought it feel more tedious than it does, so that's good.
Recently I've had atleast a few days where I've felt relaxed enough to do something other than studying. So I've been watching some TV and drawing again. It's been a while. Now I just gotta make time for writing every day, which I haven't really been doing since I got here.
As of now I feel optimistic about passing the first 2 courses, and I hope that I will keep working hard and stay on track!
Sep 3, 2017
First week at the "Software engineering and management" program in Gothenburg
The first week has gone by and I was kinda surprised to realize that it had only been one week, not longer. Maybe because we've done so many things already, it feels like it should've been longer than a week. So let me tell you a few things about the week.
New program:
This program has existed for several years, but we are the first students that will take this years program, since it has been remade. We wont have all the same courses as students in previous years, and hopefully this remade program will be structured even better than how it was before.
The math:
When I first came here I was a bit worried about how well I was going to do in the math course, and of course since we've so far only covered the very first topic of the math course (which was "Automata"), it's still to early to say if I will fail or succeed in it. But, atleast it started out well.
The school gave us a video to watch about automata (dfa's to be specific), and I didn't understand anything. I tried looking in the book, but still didn't get it. So instead I went to youtube and found a bunch of videos on the topic that explained stuff in a way that I could understand.
So the next day when I came to school I was actually the one helping a fellow student understand some of the concepts, which felt good for someone with such low selfconfidence in their math-skills such as me.
So atleast this week, math has been fine, and it has even been fun! Automata is really interesting.
The programming (Java):
The programming course has also gone fine for me. I am really happy that I at least have some experience with programming in Java. Since I am not sure how well or fast I would be able to grasp some of the concepts if they were explained to me here.
I feel like I am not a very fast learner when it comes to some things, so it has been really good for me to come prepared.
This week in programming we used things like String, int, char, Scanner etc. Basically just very easy programs where the user enters some input and we give back an output.
Next week we will start doing loops and stuff like that.
About the computers:
It's only been a week, but so far I like the school and the campus. The only downside is that we have to bring our own laptops to the lectures and study-sessions. We need them mostly for programming, but also for math since they post exercises online.
So for the past few days I've been breaking my back carrying my 17.3 inch 3+kg asus laptop around, along with other things that we need to bring to school. It's okay, I can manage it of course. But since it is not ideal, and not something I wanna do for the next 3 years, I decided to buy a smaller laptop.
I hope in a few says my second-hand macbook air will be at my door, so I can leave my asus at home. Macbook is new to me, and I don't like the OS that much since I don't really know how to use it. But I think it is quite impossible finding anything slimmer than a macbook air, so it was my number 1 choice!
About the name of the program "Software Engineering and Management":
I chose this program because I want to learn programming, also, the international setting of it really interested me. Meeting people from all over the world, speaking English and all that, is really fun!
But even though I felt like I did a TON of research about the program before choosing it, turns out I did not understand everything about it after all.
Its's called "Software engineering and management", which I thought meant "The engineering and management of software". But no. The "management" part does not stand for the management of software, but for the management of people. They will in this course teach you how to be a manager (basically the person in charge of the team) as well as software developer.
Therefore we will also have many courses that aren't necessarily related to programming. Which is fine by me though, since those courses also sound interesting!
Anyway I am going to wrap it up here since this post is long! Let's hope next week is as good as this one was, and that my second-hand macbook wont be a piece of crap (cuz I can't afford a new laptop)!
New program:
This program has existed for several years, but we are the first students that will take this years program, since it has been remade. We wont have all the same courses as students in previous years, and hopefully this remade program will be structured even better than how it was before.
The math:
When I first came here I was a bit worried about how well I was going to do in the math course, and of course since we've so far only covered the very first topic of the math course (which was "Automata"), it's still to early to say if I will fail or succeed in it. But, atleast it started out well.
The school gave us a video to watch about automata (dfa's to be specific), and I didn't understand anything. I tried looking in the book, but still didn't get it. So instead I went to youtube and found a bunch of videos on the topic that explained stuff in a way that I could understand.
So the next day when I came to school I was actually the one helping a fellow student understand some of the concepts, which felt good for someone with such low selfconfidence in their math-skills such as me.
So atleast this week, math has been fine, and it has even been fun! Automata is really interesting.
The programming (Java):
The programming course has also gone fine for me. I am really happy that I at least have some experience with programming in Java. Since I am not sure how well or fast I would be able to grasp some of the concepts if they were explained to me here.
I feel like I am not a very fast learner when it comes to some things, so it has been really good for me to come prepared.
This week in programming we used things like String, int, char, Scanner etc. Basically just very easy programs where the user enters some input and we give back an output.
Next week we will start doing loops and stuff like that.
About the computers:
It's only been a week, but so far I like the school and the campus. The only downside is that we have to bring our own laptops to the lectures and study-sessions. We need them mostly for programming, but also for math since they post exercises online.
So for the past few days I've been breaking my back carrying my 17.3 inch 3+kg asus laptop around, along with other things that we need to bring to school. It's okay, I can manage it of course. But since it is not ideal, and not something I wanna do for the next 3 years, I decided to buy a smaller laptop.
I hope in a few says my second-hand macbook air will be at my door, so I can leave my asus at home. Macbook is new to me, and I don't like the OS that much since I don't really know how to use it. But I think it is quite impossible finding anything slimmer than a macbook air, so it was my number 1 choice!
About the name of the program "Software Engineering and Management":
I chose this program because I want to learn programming, also, the international setting of it really interested me. Meeting people from all over the world, speaking English and all that, is really fun!
But even though I felt like I did a TON of research about the program before choosing it, turns out I did not understand everything about it after all.
Its's called "Software engineering and management", which I thought meant "The engineering and management of software". But no. The "management" part does not stand for the management of software, but for the management of people. They will in this course teach you how to be a manager (basically the person in charge of the team) as well as software developer.
Therefore we will also have many courses that aren't necessarily related to programming. Which is fine by me though, since those courses also sound interesting!
Anyway I am going to wrap it up here since this post is long! Let's hope next week is as good as this one was, and that my second-hand macbook wont be a piece of crap (cuz I can't afford a new laptop)!
Aug 25, 2017
"First day" of university in Gothenburg, Sweden
Today was the introduction day for everyone at my program. We got to register ourselves to the program, which is something you have to do in order to keep your spot. That was a lot easier than I thought, it was literally just stating your name and showing some form of ID and then they checked your name on a list.
I think in total we were about 60-70 people there, from many different countries. And for this program they usually allow 80 people in to begin with, knowing that a lot of people are going to drop off.
We actually got a reminder from our future math teacher that there were around 600 people who applied for this program and around 200 of them placed it as their first choice. Which means there are now around 150 people waiting as "reserves", to enter this program in case someone decides to drop out. So if you start the program and soon start thinking that it wasn't really that interesting, you should quit as soon as possible and let someone else take your place, since there are people waiting to do it.
That same teacher, who seems to be a very good lecturer, also talked about how difficult the program is going to be. More so than previous years, since it's been revised. And said that we probably wont be prepared for it, and that it would probably be a living hell at least for a while.
It's a known fact (at least in Sweden) that people drop out of university programs all the time, because they thought it wasn't for them or because they just couldn't handle the pressure. So many popular universities take in more student than there are places really, since many of them drop out.
I expect that before the end of this year our "class" will be a lot smaller than it is now.
I am just hoping that I am not one of the people who drop out because they couldn't handle the pressure. This is something I am worrying about already and our courses haven't even started yet!
Anyway, I shouldn't dwell on that too much, I know. It's difficult not to though, since I want to succeed so bad but lack confidence in my ability to do so.
Change of topic (before I get too depressed).
That teacher ALSO said that if you aren't a native English speaker you shouldn't think that you are good at English. Probably because the textbooks might include a lot of difficult words. Even so I can't shake the feel that my English abilities are up to the task, and that I will be fine.
There were on the other hand some other students, I just overheard them speaking to someone and it seemed like they didn't even understand the questions asked them. How will people like that make this program with such poor English skills?
This is, after all, an international program where everything is in English.
If I do well and pass all exams and get to stay in this program, I guess I will see how well (or not) these people do. I wish everyone the best of luck, especially myself since I might need it the most! (Insert sad laughter).
---
To do list for university for myself:
Go to all lectures
Do all assignments
Ask lots of questions if you need help (to teachers as well as other students)
Make a study schedule and study during set periods of time (ex 8 - 16 daily)
Stick to the study schedule!
Pass ALL exams on the FIRST try, you don't want to ruin your life with re-exams!
Be THE BEST! Don't just pass (which means study your ass off and don't be a lazy s--t)!
Look back on this list and see how well you followed it. Failure is not accepted!
"Your own worst enemy is yourself."
I think in total we were about 60-70 people there, from many different countries. And for this program they usually allow 80 people in to begin with, knowing that a lot of people are going to drop off.
We actually got a reminder from our future math teacher that there were around 600 people who applied for this program and around 200 of them placed it as their first choice. Which means there are now around 150 people waiting as "reserves", to enter this program in case someone decides to drop out. So if you start the program and soon start thinking that it wasn't really that interesting, you should quit as soon as possible and let someone else take your place, since there are people waiting to do it.
That same teacher, who seems to be a very good lecturer, also talked about how difficult the program is going to be. More so than previous years, since it's been revised. And said that we probably wont be prepared for it, and that it would probably be a living hell at least for a while.
It's a known fact (at least in Sweden) that people drop out of university programs all the time, because they thought it wasn't for them or because they just couldn't handle the pressure. So many popular universities take in more student than there are places really, since many of them drop out.
I expect that before the end of this year our "class" will be a lot smaller than it is now.
I am just hoping that I am not one of the people who drop out because they couldn't handle the pressure. This is something I am worrying about already and our courses haven't even started yet!
Anyway, I shouldn't dwell on that too much, I know. It's difficult not to though, since I want to succeed so bad but lack confidence in my ability to do so.
Change of topic (before I get too depressed).
That teacher ALSO said that if you aren't a native English speaker you shouldn't think that you are good at English. Probably because the textbooks might include a lot of difficult words. Even so I can't shake the feel that my English abilities are up to the task, and that I will be fine.
There were on the other hand some other students, I just overheard them speaking to someone and it seemed like they didn't even understand the questions asked them. How will people like that make this program with such poor English skills?
This is, after all, an international program where everything is in English.
If I do well and pass all exams and get to stay in this program, I guess I will see how well (or not) these people do. I wish everyone the best of luck, especially myself since I might need it the most! (Insert sad laughter).
---
To do list for university for myself:
Go to all lectures
Do all assignments
Ask lots of questions if you need help (to teachers as well as other students)
Make a study schedule and study during set periods of time (ex 8 - 16 daily)
Stick to the study schedule!
Pass ALL exams on the FIRST try, you don't want to ruin your life with re-exams!
Be THE BEST! Don't just pass (which means study your ass off and don't be a lazy s--t)!
Look back on this list and see how well you followed it. Failure is not accepted!
"Your own worst enemy is yourself."
Aug 11, 2017
Going to visit my student room
I found a student room pretty quickly, which was a big relief, but I was still worried of course. I am just the kind of person who worries a lot even in situations others probably wouldn't worry!
The plan was for me to take the car there with my dad to bring all my stuff on they same day as I would move it, but that didn't really work out.
Instead my mum gave me a ride a few days ago to leave all my stuff, even though I wont be moving in for another 2 weeks. We packed the whole car full of stuff and made the 7 hour ride down to her sisters house where we spent the night.
The next day we took the car out for another 2 hour trip to the student house, and during this trip I was super worried things would just turn to shit. What if we had been played and there was no room for me? What if the house/room was super run down and gross? What if the area sucked? What if the other people living there would seem rude?
But of course, none of those things happened! The house and the room exists and I have keys to both now. The house is in a really nice area, and close to the bus station, food store (and a candy store, oh yea), nice park etc etc. The people I met seem super nice and I like the house and the room and the garden, the area, and everything.
This is a real house in a suburbian area, so it doesn't feel like it's that close to a big city, which I kinda like. It feels a lot like home with the nice green surroundings and the small city center.
The inside of the house and my room is a bit old, and my room needs some new paint. But that's okay, as a student I don't expect 5-star living conditions. It still looks a lot better than my corridor room in Japan, and I still really enjoyed that place.
So all went well, we left the stuff, bought a really nice office chair at a nearby second hand store, ate a good meal at a restaurant and returned to mums sisters house to eat dinner.
I didn't get a chance to visit Gothenburg this time, so that will be my mission next time. And next time I will be moving in once and for all into my student room, and start my studies. And now, since I am not constantly worried any longer, I look forward to the move.
The plan was for me to take the car there with my dad to bring all my stuff on they same day as I would move it, but that didn't really work out.
Instead my mum gave me a ride a few days ago to leave all my stuff, even though I wont be moving in for another 2 weeks. We packed the whole car full of stuff and made the 7 hour ride down to her sisters house where we spent the night.
The next day we took the car out for another 2 hour trip to the student house, and during this trip I was super worried things would just turn to shit. What if we had been played and there was no room for me? What if the house/room was super run down and gross? What if the area sucked? What if the other people living there would seem rude?
But of course, none of those things happened! The house and the room exists and I have keys to both now. The house is in a really nice area, and close to the bus station, food store (and a candy store, oh yea), nice park etc etc. The people I met seem super nice and I like the house and the room and the garden, the area, and everything.
This is a real house in a suburbian area, so it doesn't feel like it's that close to a big city, which I kinda like. It feels a lot like home with the nice green surroundings and the small city center.
The inside of the house and my room is a bit old, and my room needs some new paint. But that's okay, as a student I don't expect 5-star living conditions. It still looks a lot better than my corridor room in Japan, and I still really enjoyed that place.
So all went well, we left the stuff, bought a really nice office chair at a nearby second hand store, ate a good meal at a restaurant and returned to mums sisters house to eat dinner.
I didn't get a chance to visit Gothenburg this time, so that will be my mission next time. And next time I will be moving in once and for all into my student room, and start my studies. And now, since I am not constantly worried any longer, I look forward to the move.
 |
| Random inspirational quote found on google! |
Jul 21, 2017
What it takes to learn a language
I recently ordered some korean manhua (7 volumes) straight from South Korea, in korean. I bought them mainly because I loved the artwork. But now that I got them and saw that there were 4 books I have yet to read, I realized that I can't just look at these books, I have to read them! And they aren't available online in english yet, who knows when they will be since this isn't a very well known series.
So I started trying read this manga by using google translate and other korean dicitinaries and such. I could already read hangul (it's super easy, which is awesome) so reading it wasn't a problem really. The problem was understanding it, which turned out to be a lot harder than I thought.
I thought I could put some words into google translate and understand a sentence, but NO! 90% of the time that does not work at all.
There is probably only one sentence so far that I have been able to translate into a flawless and fully understandable English sentence. Most other times I can pick out the words in a sentence if I am lucky, but still not be able to make any sense of the sentence.
This makes me realize how much Japanese I actually know. The fact that I can read Japanese manga and understand everything now seems quite awesome.
One thing I realized pretty quickly when translating sentences from korean to english was that it was hard to know where a word ended. For example "Pirul" translated as "blood", but I later learned that blood is just "Pi", and rul is a particle (like the Japanese particle GA if I remember correctly). Still it got translated as only "blood". This happened all the time, so to actually know where words end and particles etc start, I had to go on to learn grammar instead of just words.
It would seem like grammar is king, if you don't know the grammar you wont understand the sentence even if you might know the nouns or verbs etc in it.
So I started looking up grammar when I had the feeling I had encountered it. For example, i, ka, rul, nun, e ke, etc would pop up all the time and I began to get suspicious. Turns out they are all particles!
Like I said it has been a lot harder to try to read this korean manhua than I thought, and it will take forever for me to make sense of it. BUT! Atleast I know Japanese and that has truly been very helpful.
Korean sentences are pretty much structured like Japanese ones (Subject, Object, Verb-style) and they use particles in pretty much the same way. I just have to remember that "un/nun" is "HA(or wa if you please)" in Japanese and then I know how to use it.
It's easier to translate from Korean to Japanese and vice versa than from/to English.
Also the two languages share many common words, and those are always nice to come by.
So, how many years will pass before I understand what's written in this korean manhua? Not sure, but one day I hope to get there!
So I started trying read this manga by using google translate and other korean dicitinaries and such. I could already read hangul (it's super easy, which is awesome) so reading it wasn't a problem really. The problem was understanding it, which turned out to be a lot harder than I thought.
I thought I could put some words into google translate and understand a sentence, but NO! 90% of the time that does not work at all.
There is probably only one sentence so far that I have been able to translate into a flawless and fully understandable English sentence. Most other times I can pick out the words in a sentence if I am lucky, but still not be able to make any sense of the sentence.
This makes me realize how much Japanese I actually know. The fact that I can read Japanese manga and understand everything now seems quite awesome.
One thing I realized pretty quickly when translating sentences from korean to english was that it was hard to know where a word ended. For example "Pirul" translated as "blood", but I later learned that blood is just "Pi", and rul is a particle (like the Japanese particle GA if I remember correctly). Still it got translated as only "blood". This happened all the time, so to actually know where words end and particles etc start, I had to go on to learn grammar instead of just words.
It would seem like grammar is king, if you don't know the grammar you wont understand the sentence even if you might know the nouns or verbs etc in it.
So I started looking up grammar when I had the feeling I had encountered it. For example, i, ka, rul, nun, e ke, etc would pop up all the time and I began to get suspicious. Turns out they are all particles!
Like I said it has been a lot harder to try to read this korean manhua than I thought, and it will take forever for me to make sense of it. BUT! Atleast I know Japanese and that has truly been very helpful.
Korean sentences are pretty much structured like Japanese ones (Subject, Object, Verb-style) and they use particles in pretty much the same way. I just have to remember that "un/nun" is "HA(or wa if you please)" in Japanese and then I know how to use it.
It's easier to translate from Korean to Japanese and vice versa than from/to English.
Also the two languages share many common words, and those are always nice to come by.
So, how many years will pass before I understand what's written in this korean manhua? Not sure, but one day I hope to get there!
Going to university
Hello again!
Turns out I got into my first choice of university and program. So in about a month I will be moving to Swedens second largest (?) city - Gothenburg, to attend the university of Gothenburg. It's been something I have been looking forward to for so long now and now that it's almost time to start I am starting to feel nervous.
When I came to Japan was the time I did a lot of things for the first time, and I was probably nervous. But at that time atleast I was in a secure position. Everything was taken care of for me, I didn't have to worry! Thanks to the scholarship the plane ticket was taken care of and I had already been guaranteed a dorm room. Also we didn't even have to make our own bank accounts. The school really did everything for us and it was very chill!
But now I am on my own, no one is gonna help me out, give me money, or guarantee that I find an apartment.
The apartment thing I was actually very worried about. In big cities and in cities with popular universities it's very hard to find a place to live. Even where I live, in this shitty little town, the house prices have skyrocketed in the recent years, and if you wanna rent an apartment you most likely have to wait for years before you can find one.
So unlike in Japan where free apartments exist everywhere in abundance, Sweden has a severe lack of them. Even though I had signed up for a waiting list for student apartments almost a year ago, I quickly realised that I should have done it a lot sooner.
I had to give up on finding a student apartment to rent and started looking at private apartments. Most people I found didn't let out the whole apartment, but just a room, and often these rooms were quite pricy. Many were around 4000 sek (54000 yen) for a room in someone elses apartment.
I actually saw "the worst one" today: Someone letting out a part of their livingroom - separated from the livingroom by curtains! Meaning you don't even get your own private space. The monthly rent for this was set to 5000 sek (67.500 yen)! And people were still interested in it... wow.
After sending messages to around 5 people saying I was interested in their rooms I got a bit worried since none of them got back to me. Not until a few days later did one of them call me, and said that he thought I would fit in perfectly in his "student house". It's kinda like a guest house for students, and a total of around 9 students live there. You get your own room and share the rest of the house. The rent is about as cheap as you can get it.
The best part about it is that it is not an apartment but a real house. It has a garden and is close to the beach. It's a bit separated from the city life and a bit far from my school, but other than that it seems perfect and I have high hopes!
So in the end it seems like I did find an "apartment" pretty easily. Though if this person hadn't read my profile and liked it I would probably still be looking for a place, since the other people I sent messages to have yet to respond.
Now I have gotten into uni, and I have a place to live. The only thing left to worry about seems to be the actual studying. And I am worried. We are going to be starting with math and I haven't studied math for like 4 years now!
I am also worried that I wont have time for anything else but school work. When will I get to write, draw, learn languages, play music, if I got all this school work? It's a bit sad to think I might not have time to do all of these things, but I can't let that get me down. I like learning new things and that's why I applied for uni.
This program I applied for seems really interesting, and I want to do a good job. I don't want to fail.
So right now all my browser history is about "how to study effectively in university", haha.
Wish me luck, eh?
Turns out I got into my first choice of university and program. So in about a month I will be moving to Swedens second largest (?) city - Gothenburg, to attend the university of Gothenburg. It's been something I have been looking forward to for so long now and now that it's almost time to start I am starting to feel nervous.
When I came to Japan was the time I did a lot of things for the first time, and I was probably nervous. But at that time atleast I was in a secure position. Everything was taken care of for me, I didn't have to worry! Thanks to the scholarship the plane ticket was taken care of and I had already been guaranteed a dorm room. Also we didn't even have to make our own bank accounts. The school really did everything for us and it was very chill!
But now I am on my own, no one is gonna help me out, give me money, or guarantee that I find an apartment.
The apartment thing I was actually very worried about. In big cities and in cities with popular universities it's very hard to find a place to live. Even where I live, in this shitty little town, the house prices have skyrocketed in the recent years, and if you wanna rent an apartment you most likely have to wait for years before you can find one.
So unlike in Japan where free apartments exist everywhere in abundance, Sweden has a severe lack of them. Even though I had signed up for a waiting list for student apartments almost a year ago, I quickly realised that I should have done it a lot sooner.
I had to give up on finding a student apartment to rent and started looking at private apartments. Most people I found didn't let out the whole apartment, but just a room, and often these rooms were quite pricy. Many were around 4000 sek (54000 yen) for a room in someone elses apartment.
I actually saw "the worst one" today: Someone letting out a part of their livingroom - separated from the livingroom by curtains! Meaning you don't even get your own private space. The monthly rent for this was set to 5000 sek (67.500 yen)! And people were still interested in it... wow.
After sending messages to around 5 people saying I was interested in their rooms I got a bit worried since none of them got back to me. Not until a few days later did one of them call me, and said that he thought I would fit in perfectly in his "student house". It's kinda like a guest house for students, and a total of around 9 students live there. You get your own room and share the rest of the house. The rent is about as cheap as you can get it.
The best part about it is that it is not an apartment but a real house. It has a garden and is close to the beach. It's a bit separated from the city life and a bit far from my school, but other than that it seems perfect and I have high hopes!
So in the end it seems like I did find an "apartment" pretty easily. Though if this person hadn't read my profile and liked it I would probably still be looking for a place, since the other people I sent messages to have yet to respond.
Now I have gotten into uni, and I have a place to live. The only thing left to worry about seems to be the actual studying. And I am worried. We are going to be starting with math and I haven't studied math for like 4 years now!
I am also worried that I wont have time for anything else but school work. When will I get to write, draw, learn languages, play music, if I got all this school work? It's a bit sad to think I might not have time to do all of these things, but I can't let that get me down. I like learning new things and that's why I applied for uni.
This program I applied for seems really interesting, and I want to do a good job. I don't want to fail.
So right now all my browser history is about "how to study effectively in university", haha.
Wish me luck, eh?
Jul 7, 2017
Getting better at drawing by not drawing
I always feel like I get better at drawing after a long break from it.
When I finished manga-school in Japan I didn't draw for probably 2 months and that's not the first time I've gone for months without drawing.
The feeling that "I wanna draw!" isn't always present for me. It comes and goes and sometimes it goes away for a looong time.
But eventually after coming back to Sweden I found myself bored again and started drawing, first just random scribbles as usual but then I picked up some coloring pencils and realized I could actually use them to make since colored drawings.
I used to color with color pencils a lot in upper secondary high school, but I sucked at using them (but back then I sucked at all kinds of drawing) and I thought that since I basically hadn't practiced using them for over 4 years I'd still suck.
But lo and behold I had improved a lot since then! Without any training what so ever!
This was quite a suprise to me and got me thinking that maybe I had improved in other areas too without knowing it. So I started coloring some with water colors (toumeisuisai), which I have only worked with once or twice in Japan and then totally discarded for acrylic colors and "color-inks" which I like better.
I have never liked coloring with water colors and thought my drawings would turn out shitty like they often do when I use water colors, but instead they turned out very nicely. After coloring these drawings I no longer hate water colors!
Like I said, I have barely used these coloring methods recently and to have improved this much by doing what feels like nothing feels great! I think it's not just me, but it's like this for everyone. Sometimes the mind just needs a break to be able to rewire itself and let you see things differently. It's like how maybe you're trying to solve a difficult task and you just don't know what to do, and then after you sleep on it the answer suddenly comes to you.
And it's not just coloring, my lineart and the way I draw my characters has also improved. It's like during those 2 years at manga-school I never drew stuff as well as I can. I never drew characters with very intricate details in the hair, for example. This one teacher always used to tell my that the hairstyles I drew looked bad and stiff, well, now they don't anymore! I wish I could show that teacher my new drawings, cause I know she'd be suprised.
I still have A LOT more to learn about drawing, but atleast I am happy for now with the improvements I've made. I finally feel like I have a handfull of drawings that are of "portfolio-worthy-quality" and I've never felt that before about any of my drawings.
So, I guess the lesson is, even if you like drawing don't be afraid to take breaks some times ^o^
Water Color drawings:
Color pencils drawings:
Digital:
When I finished manga-school in Japan I didn't draw for probably 2 months and that's not the first time I've gone for months without drawing.
The feeling that "I wanna draw!" isn't always present for me. It comes and goes and sometimes it goes away for a looong time.
But eventually after coming back to Sweden I found myself bored again and started drawing, first just random scribbles as usual but then I picked up some coloring pencils and realized I could actually use them to make since colored drawings.
I used to color with color pencils a lot in upper secondary high school, but I sucked at using them (but back then I sucked at all kinds of drawing) and I thought that since I basically hadn't practiced using them for over 4 years I'd still suck.
But lo and behold I had improved a lot since then! Without any training what so ever!
This was quite a suprise to me and got me thinking that maybe I had improved in other areas too without knowing it. So I started coloring some with water colors (toumeisuisai), which I have only worked with once or twice in Japan and then totally discarded for acrylic colors and "color-inks" which I like better.
I have never liked coloring with water colors and thought my drawings would turn out shitty like they often do when I use water colors, but instead they turned out very nicely. After coloring these drawings I no longer hate water colors!
Like I said, I have barely used these coloring methods recently and to have improved this much by doing what feels like nothing feels great! I think it's not just me, but it's like this for everyone. Sometimes the mind just needs a break to be able to rewire itself and let you see things differently. It's like how maybe you're trying to solve a difficult task and you just don't know what to do, and then after you sleep on it the answer suddenly comes to you.
And it's not just coloring, my lineart and the way I draw my characters has also improved. It's like during those 2 years at manga-school I never drew stuff as well as I can. I never drew characters with very intricate details in the hair, for example. This one teacher always used to tell my that the hairstyles I drew looked bad and stiff, well, now they don't anymore! I wish I could show that teacher my new drawings, cause I know she'd be suprised.
I still have A LOT more to learn about drawing, but atleast I am happy for now with the improvements I've made. I finally feel like I have a handfull of drawings that are of "portfolio-worthy-quality" and I've never felt that before about any of my drawings.
So, I guess the lesson is, even if you like drawing don't be afraid to take breaks some times ^o^
Water Color drawings:
Color pencils drawings:
Digital:
May 23, 2017
Shipping my things from Japan to Sweden
I lived in Japan for 3 years, and during 2 of those years I had quite a big apartment for one person (compared to most of my friends) with lots of space for all my stuff. And even if you live in a much smaller apartment of course you are going to accumulate a certain amount of things over the years.
So when it was time for me to finally leave Japan after these 3 years I knew that I would have to get all my favorite things back to Sweden, my Casio keyboard, all my manga, favorite blanket (yes, I want it with me!), and other random stuff that would mean nothing to anyone but me.
Since I could not possibly bring these things back with me on the plane ride to Sweden I searched the internet for "International Shipping companies in Japan" and found the one that seemed to be the cheapest for me to my country.
It's called "Japan Luggage Express" and they are not a shipping company, but they middle hand between you and the shipping company. So if you already know a lot about shipping and all that you probably wont need a middle hand, but I certainly did. There were loads of things, especially in Sweden that I did not understand that they helped me with.
In Japan I packed up all the things I wanted to ship in boxes and a guy came and picked them up, put labels on them. I had to write a packing list of all my stuff and what each thing was worth, and the total cost of all of it as well as filling in some other documents.
It's not that difficult, you just need to make sure you contact the company on time (I contacted this company I think 1.5 months ahead) before you leave Japan. If you leave Japan before you have made the payment to the company you might have to pay a lot of extra money paying from another country. If you cannot pay they will keep your stuff (obviously).
I think I payed "Japan Luggage Express" around 87.000 yen for their services and I thought that would be about it as far as my shipping payments would go. Of course I knew that I would probably have to pay something to customs in Sweden, but from reading other peoples stories about customs it seemed like that sum wouldn't be too much.
Needless to say I was wrong!
Turns out customs aren't very cheap in Sweden. Or maybe it wasn't the customs after all. I got a document with a bunch of different fees for different things that I had no idea would even occur. Among them were: Terminal fee, Service fee, Inland Haulage, Customs declaration (Not the same as customs fee), and other fees! These are direct translations from Swedish and I don't know how correct they are.
So when I got back to Sweden I ended up having to pay more than 5000 kronor (around 64.000 yen) just to get my stuff out of customs and w.e and shipped to my adress.
It was a lot more than expected, so feel lucky if you do not have these fees in your country!
Now my savings for university are gone, haha. I was very pissed about it, but I have gotten over it now, and hopefully my things will arrive at my door tomorrow and no more fees will occur.
Maybe tomorrow I will finally have everything from Japan with me (I have no idea where I will put everything though!).
If you are going to ship things from Japan to your country, beware of high fees! Always have some extra money saved up in case you need it, or your stuff will be forever lost in transit, something I feared would happen!
Well, atleast my things didn't get destroyed by an "act of god" while on the boat! Had that happened I would not have gotten my money back for lost stuff o.o!
So when it was time for me to finally leave Japan after these 3 years I knew that I would have to get all my favorite things back to Sweden, my Casio keyboard, all my manga, favorite blanket (yes, I want it with me!), and other random stuff that would mean nothing to anyone but me.
Since I could not possibly bring these things back with me on the plane ride to Sweden I searched the internet for "International Shipping companies in Japan" and found the one that seemed to be the cheapest for me to my country.
It's called "Japan Luggage Express" and they are not a shipping company, but they middle hand between you and the shipping company. So if you already know a lot about shipping and all that you probably wont need a middle hand, but I certainly did. There were loads of things, especially in Sweden that I did not understand that they helped me with.
In Japan I packed up all the things I wanted to ship in boxes and a guy came and picked them up, put labels on them. I had to write a packing list of all my stuff and what each thing was worth, and the total cost of all of it as well as filling in some other documents.
It's not that difficult, you just need to make sure you contact the company on time (I contacted this company I think 1.5 months ahead) before you leave Japan. If you leave Japan before you have made the payment to the company you might have to pay a lot of extra money paying from another country. If you cannot pay they will keep your stuff (obviously).
I think I payed "Japan Luggage Express" around 87.000 yen for their services and I thought that would be about it as far as my shipping payments would go. Of course I knew that I would probably have to pay something to customs in Sweden, but from reading other peoples stories about customs it seemed like that sum wouldn't be too much.
Needless to say I was wrong!
Turns out customs aren't very cheap in Sweden. Or maybe it wasn't the customs after all. I got a document with a bunch of different fees for different things that I had no idea would even occur. Among them were: Terminal fee, Service fee, Inland Haulage, Customs declaration (Not the same as customs fee), and other fees! These are direct translations from Swedish and I don't know how correct they are.
So when I got back to Sweden I ended up having to pay more than 5000 kronor (around 64.000 yen) just to get my stuff out of customs and w.e and shipped to my adress.
It was a lot more than expected, so feel lucky if you do not have these fees in your country!
Now my savings for university are gone, haha. I was very pissed about it, but I have gotten over it now, and hopefully my things will arrive at my door tomorrow and no more fees will occur.
Maybe tomorrow I will finally have everything from Japan with me (I have no idea where I will put everything though!).
If you are going to ship things from Japan to your country, beware of high fees! Always have some extra money saved up in case you need it, or your stuff will be forever lost in transit, something I feared would happen!
Well, atleast my things didn't get destroyed by an "act of god" while on the boat! Had that happened I would not have gotten my money back for lost stuff o.o!
 |
| Seriously this is from my insurance contract, how are they even allowed to have "act of god" on there, lol. They can literally call anything an "act of god" and then refuse to pay back anyones money if something were to happen xD was pretty funny to read tho |
May 8, 2017
Finding a summer-job, and writing novels
Hello there, blog!
I've been in Sweden for over a month now and time has been moving so fast, it's quite hard to understand.
During this time I have been applying to a lot of summer-jobs (which are easy jobs aimed at people, mostly students, who haven't finished their education and who want to work for a few months during the summer when all the adults have their vacation time). I even began to apply while I was in Japan and I thought that as soon as I came back to Sweden I would get calls to come to interviews (because you don't really need any credentials for most summer-jobs). But now I've applied to over 20 jobs and they've all said no.
I still remember the e-mail I got basically telling me I wasn't qualified enough to work as a dishwasher...
Thing is, I thought I would be fine not having a job this summer, as long as I could get one the next. But recently I found out that I have to dash out almost 50.000 yen to get my shipment from Japan! The shipment that I already paid almost 90.000 yen to ship!! Everyone just wants their piece of my money and now that I got no income again, it really stings.
So if I do not get a job this summer I am actually pretty screwed. It will work out some how, but hopefully I can find a job and wont have to worry about this any longer.
Well, that's enough about my money problems. Most things are good here. I got to go scootering and slaloming in the middle of April (didn't know that was possible, but in some places it is). And I have been quite diligently writing books again.
I have been writing books for a long time. In my early teens I wrote a rip-off of Harry Potter as well as Avatar The Last Airbender - all mixed up in one novel of about 120.000 words! WTF!
If you didn't know (I didn't), 120k words is considered to be too long and you probably wont get your first book published if it is that long. So this is just a huge load of bull that I wrote. It was so long ago that I don't even remember what happens in the book, and what kinda plot it had that took that long to resolve.
The reason why it got that long though is because I didn't count words, but pages. I figured half an A4 page is about the size of a page in a book. And a fantasy novel is usually around 350 book-sized pages. So if I write 180 pages I have myself a novel! Wrong! Counting words is what you should be doing, and is what I am finally doing now. Cheers!
So now I am once again on the task of rewriting a book I wrote in upper secondary high school. It was hard to start writing again, because my confidence was really, super low. I felt like I would never become a good writer, and that there is no reason in trying. So for the longest time, over three years(!), I didn't try. I tried writing some in Japan but the feeling of hopelessness just kept coming over me, the feeling that I will never get good at this and never become a real writer.
It's hard to push past a feeling like that, but one of my friends reminded me of the fact that I have to work for what I want, and that I shouldn't give up. Maybe she's the reason I am finally writing again. Thank you for that! ;)
So after coming back to Sweden I did start writing, seriously this time, not just a mere 300-500 words a day, but around 2000 words a day. And it only took writing a couple of chapters and comparing them with my old work, for me to realize that I have improved and will keep on improving. So far I haven't gotten stuck once, and every time I sit down to write I feel excited.
I know I can write a novel, because I've done it before, three times. Maybe these previous novels were shit, and maybe the one I am writing now will also be shit, but at least I know I can make it happen.
Still, when I look up publishers and such or read about the grim reality of getting published, I still feel like it will never happen for me. And I guess that's a feeling that stops a lot of people from achieving their dream. Trying is as good as anything, and fear shouldn't stop you. I hope it doesn't stop me.
Oh, yea. What a super long post about something I may be the only person interested in! But I had to get it off my chest, and now I can move on, because I have to leave my laptop and move to the kitchen go do the dishes!
I will see you around!
I've been in Sweden for over a month now and time has been moving so fast, it's quite hard to understand.
During this time I have been applying to a lot of summer-jobs (which are easy jobs aimed at people, mostly students, who haven't finished their education and who want to work for a few months during the summer when all the adults have their vacation time). I even began to apply while I was in Japan and I thought that as soon as I came back to Sweden I would get calls to come to interviews (because you don't really need any credentials for most summer-jobs). But now I've applied to over 20 jobs and they've all said no.
I still remember the e-mail I got basically telling me I wasn't qualified enough to work as a dishwasher...
Thing is, I thought I would be fine not having a job this summer, as long as I could get one the next. But recently I found out that I have to dash out almost 50.000 yen to get my shipment from Japan! The shipment that I already paid almost 90.000 yen to ship!! Everyone just wants their piece of my money and now that I got no income again, it really stings.
So if I do not get a job this summer I am actually pretty screwed. It will work out some how, but hopefully I can find a job and wont have to worry about this any longer.
Well, that's enough about my money problems. Most things are good here. I got to go scootering and slaloming in the middle of April (didn't know that was possible, but in some places it is). And I have been quite diligently writing books again.
I have been writing books for a long time. In my early teens I wrote a rip-off of Harry Potter as well as Avatar The Last Airbender - all mixed up in one novel of about 120.000 words! WTF!
If you didn't know (I didn't), 120k words is considered to be too long and you probably wont get your first book published if it is that long. So this is just a huge load of bull that I wrote. It was so long ago that I don't even remember what happens in the book, and what kinda plot it had that took that long to resolve.
The reason why it got that long though is because I didn't count words, but pages. I figured half an A4 page is about the size of a page in a book. And a fantasy novel is usually around 350 book-sized pages. So if I write 180 pages I have myself a novel! Wrong! Counting words is what you should be doing, and is what I am finally doing now. Cheers!
So now I am once again on the task of rewriting a book I wrote in upper secondary high school. It was hard to start writing again, because my confidence was really, super low. I felt like I would never become a good writer, and that there is no reason in trying. So for the longest time, over three years(!), I didn't try. I tried writing some in Japan but the feeling of hopelessness just kept coming over me, the feeling that I will never get good at this and never become a real writer.
It's hard to push past a feeling like that, but one of my friends reminded me of the fact that I have to work for what I want, and that I shouldn't give up. Maybe she's the reason I am finally writing again. Thank you for that! ;)
So after coming back to Sweden I did start writing, seriously this time, not just a mere 300-500 words a day, but around 2000 words a day. And it only took writing a couple of chapters and comparing them with my old work, for me to realize that I have improved and will keep on improving. So far I haven't gotten stuck once, and every time I sit down to write I feel excited.
I know I can write a novel, because I've done it before, three times. Maybe these previous novels were shit, and maybe the one I am writing now will also be shit, but at least I know I can make it happen.
Still, when I look up publishers and such or read about the grim reality of getting published, I still feel like it will never happen for me. And I guess that's a feeling that stops a lot of people from achieving their dream. Trying is as good as anything, and fear shouldn't stop you. I hope it doesn't stop me.
Oh, yea. What a super long post about something I may be the only person interested in! But I had to get it off my chest, and now I can move on, because I have to leave my laptop and move to the kitchen go do the dishes!
I will see you around!
Apr 9, 2017
Back in Sweden
Yo!
I am back in Sweden, arrived on the 1st of April and that day I was horribly tired.
My total flight time was almost 17 hours and then add a 3 hour transit on top of that. But everything went well and I have nothing to complain about.
My flight left Japan in the middle of the night which gave me the chance to hang out with 2 friends during the day, they gave me support and help til the very end of my stay in Japan and I am forever greatful.
When I returned my apartment keys to the representative they gave me back a rents worth of money, since I had payed for 1 month too much. So that was great news before the trip! I came home to Sweden with some extra cash! Now I am just worried that I didn't leave enough on my Japanese account to cover all the costs that will get taken in April... scary...
Anyway, since coming back to Sweden I have been applying for a few more summerjobs, and have been trying to get back on track with studying.
As usual I caught a cold when coming back. It's not bad but it makes me feel constantly tired, which doesn't really help the studying. That's just an excuse though, and I should get a grip and stop watching Netflix! :)
-----
My three years in Japan were great and I will never forget the good times I had and the friends I made.
I am so thankful to MEXT for giving me the opportunity to go to Japan and Osaka, and for everyone else who helped me along the way! This is not the end, you know! We are not even halfway there :D
Next stop: University!
I am back in Sweden, arrived on the 1st of April and that day I was horribly tired.
My total flight time was almost 17 hours and then add a 3 hour transit on top of that. But everything went well and I have nothing to complain about.
My flight left Japan in the middle of the night which gave me the chance to hang out with 2 friends during the day, they gave me support and help til the very end of my stay in Japan and I am forever greatful.
When I returned my apartment keys to the representative they gave me back a rents worth of money, since I had payed for 1 month too much. So that was great news before the trip! I came home to Sweden with some extra cash! Now I am just worried that I didn't leave enough on my Japanese account to cover all the costs that will get taken in April... scary...
Anyway, since coming back to Sweden I have been applying for a few more summerjobs, and have been trying to get back on track with studying.
As usual I caught a cold when coming back. It's not bad but it makes me feel constantly tired, which doesn't really help the studying. That's just an excuse though, and I should get a grip and stop watching Netflix! :)
-----
My three years in Japan were great and I will never forget the good times I had and the friends I made.
I am so thankful to MEXT for giving me the opportunity to go to Japan and Osaka, and for everyone else who helped me along the way! This is not the end, you know! We are not even halfway there :D
Next stop: University!
Mar 14, 2017
Packing it up
(Don't make multiple blogs, cuz I have been posting stuff abt Japan on the wrong blog -.-)!!!
Today as well as yesterday I have been packing boxes to ship to Sweden.
I chose to ship my stuff with an international shipping company called "Japan Luggage Express" because they seem like the cheapest option that I could find, and people seem to be satisfied with their service.
Still, it's kinda nerve-wracking to leave all your precious things in the hands of unknown people, and have them take them all over the world for several months (because since it's by boat it can take around 2 months to get my stuff to Sweden).
I can only hope my boxes do not get lost at sea...
Anyway, turns out I could fill a lot more boxes than I thought, though the boxes weren't that big after all.
Also, I have 2 big items for which I could not find boxes for, so I bought several boxes, took them apart and taped them back together to make 2 big boxes of the perfect size. These boxes are not the most beautiful and I do worry that the shipping company won't agree to ship them.
I have also finished "calling" all the companies to cancel internet, electricity and gas and such, turns out they would rather have you cancel through their websites than their phones. Which is something that usually doesn't happen in Japan.
I did it though, with a few mishaps, because when you cancel you also have to write the place of your new adress, but I do not have a new adress! I had to make up an adress, one that people would know were fake when they saw it. Was expecting to get a few confused phone calls about it, but so far so good.
After coming back from Korea I got sick though, and I still am not completely well, but atleast now my eyes aren't RED anymore. Creepy...
I went to the kuyakusho for something, and at the same time got my paperwork done for leaving Japan. Or atleast that's what I think, I haven't read about anything else I need to do, so I really hope that this is it.
Last thing would be to leave my Residence Card at the airport, and everything is done.
My life in Japan, over.
Now that most of the work I need to do is over, let's hope I get well again, so that I can enjoy my last few days in Japan to the fullest. Yey!
Feb 10, 2017
Non-achiever
I have a friend who has a lot of big plans in life, they want to go to all these places and achieve all of these things. This friend wants to work for some cool company, like Google or Microsoft or a successful gaming company.
They thought they could achive all this by going to school for just a short period of time, and then all this would magically happen!
My friend is truly an optimist, to the point of their dreams just being fantasies.
My friend has barely any education, and never did that well in school. They have not made any effort to try and reach all these dreams, they did not go travel or study or what not, even though they had all these elaborate plans.
Now my friend still lives with their parents, with no education or job experience.
My friend is a non-achiever, and there are several reasons for this, just one being mental problems. Don't get me wrong, they aren't menally ill, they are still a fully functioning human being, with no problems in the thinking department. But ya know, depression and such are also mental issues.
Of course personality also plays a big part. My friend likes to complain, and only look at the bad side of things. They have been given lot's of things in their life, and a lot of help and support from loving parents, but it's not helping.
I have lost hope for my friend. If it continues on like this, they will never have a job and will end up living alone in the small town where they grew up, living on government support.
I consider myself quite a high-achiever. Sure, sometimes I lack willpower, but I always push through in the end and I fight for what I want to achieve. So talking to this friend doesn't really give me anything, being with them doesn't motivate me to become a better person, or strive higher in life. They just leave me feeling confused as to how people can be like them, not striving for anything, never really accomplishing anything.
Maybe it's bad of me, but I want to surround myself with people who have goals they want to achive, goals that they try their best to reach, goals that aren't just childish dreams. People that work hard and inspire you. I feel like this friend is not one of these people, this friend is only a negative.
And I feel bad for feeling this. One part of me is saying that "It's not their fault!" while another says "They are responsible for where they are in life!".
It makes me feel like a bad person, but after talking to them only a little while ago, I feel like this is the kind of friend I might leave behind. Let them live their life in this pitiful state of blaming others for what they cannot do or achieve, and you live my life surrounded by the kind of people that don't drag you down.
Not sure why I am writing this here, but a Freakonomics podcast about Grit just got me thinking about this and I had to get my feelings out, because I feel kinda guilty for having them.
I wish my friend the best of luck in their life, and hope that they can get out of the destructive mindset they have been in all this time, because grit, as they said in the podcast, isn't something you are necessarily born with, it's something you can create within yourself.
They thought they could achive all this by going to school for just a short period of time, and then all this would magically happen!
My friend is truly an optimist, to the point of their dreams just being fantasies.
My friend has barely any education, and never did that well in school. They have not made any effort to try and reach all these dreams, they did not go travel or study or what not, even though they had all these elaborate plans.
Now my friend still lives with their parents, with no education or job experience.
My friend is a non-achiever, and there are several reasons for this, just one being mental problems. Don't get me wrong, they aren't menally ill, they are still a fully functioning human being, with no problems in the thinking department. But ya know, depression and such are also mental issues.
Of course personality also plays a big part. My friend likes to complain, and only look at the bad side of things. They have been given lot's of things in their life, and a lot of help and support from loving parents, but it's not helping.
I have lost hope for my friend. If it continues on like this, they will never have a job and will end up living alone in the small town where they grew up, living on government support.
I consider myself quite a high-achiever. Sure, sometimes I lack willpower, but I always push through in the end and I fight for what I want to achieve. So talking to this friend doesn't really give me anything, being with them doesn't motivate me to become a better person, or strive higher in life. They just leave me feeling confused as to how people can be like them, not striving for anything, never really accomplishing anything.
Maybe it's bad of me, but I want to surround myself with people who have goals they want to achive, goals that they try their best to reach, goals that aren't just childish dreams. People that work hard and inspire you. I feel like this friend is not one of these people, this friend is only a negative.
And I feel bad for feeling this. One part of me is saying that "It's not their fault!" while another says "They are responsible for where they are in life!".
It makes me feel like a bad person, but after talking to them only a little while ago, I feel like this is the kind of friend I might leave behind. Let them live their life in this pitiful state of blaming others for what they cannot do or achieve, and you live my life surrounded by the kind of people that don't drag you down.
Not sure why I am writing this here, but a Freakonomics podcast about Grit just got me thinking about this and I had to get my feelings out, because I feel kinda guilty for having them.
I wish my friend the best of luck in their life, and hope that they can get out of the destructive mindset they have been in all this time, because grit, as they said in the podcast, isn't something you are necessarily born with, it's something you can create within yourself.
Jan 28, 2017
"Black people are scary!"
Yesterday my teacher was walking around talking to different students in my class, and he started talking about his trip to France, where apparently he met a lot of strange people.
I wasn't really listening all that closely, but he mentioned something about black people there and said that "Black people are scary!"
I was quite shocked, to be honest, because it was so offensive! I was wondering if he would've said the same thing if one of the students present had been black. What if they do get a black student in the future, will my teacher be scared of this student??
It just goes to show that some Japanese people are still quite uneducated about the world, even if they travel abroad.
My teacher just happened to meet some strange people that were black, which reinforced this idea that black people are inherently this way.
Most of us know that this isn't true, there are no genes or what not that make a certain group of people of the same skin color more prone to violence and bad behavior or w.e.
But some people just can't help but dragging all people of a certain group through the same comb.
My teacher also said that "While you're young you should travel abroad at least once", which kinda tells you about how often Japanese people travel abroad, doesn't it?
I mean once in your life?? That's nothing! I've been abroad to so many countries so many times, since I was a kid! Maybe not every single person in Japan or where ever is interested in traveling, but I think most people are, and it pains me to think that some people might not even do it once.
And even if they do go abroad, most Japanese people still seem to travel with "tours", because they don't speak any English. Tours may be convenient, but you would probably learn more if you traveled by yourself.
Anyway, my teacher is of the older generation and the world becomes more and more integrated all the time, so I would think most people here wouldn't agree with his statement that black people are scary.
But it still got to me, it wasn't really about me (since I'm not black) but I still felt affected by it, it made me wonder what they think about me as a caucasian(?) as well as about other foreigners here.
I wasn't really listening all that closely, but he mentioned something about black people there and said that "Black people are scary!"
I was quite shocked, to be honest, because it was so offensive! I was wondering if he would've said the same thing if one of the students present had been black. What if they do get a black student in the future, will my teacher be scared of this student??
It just goes to show that some Japanese people are still quite uneducated about the world, even if they travel abroad.
My teacher just happened to meet some strange people that were black, which reinforced this idea that black people are inherently this way.
Most of us know that this isn't true, there are no genes or what not that make a certain group of people of the same skin color more prone to violence and bad behavior or w.e.
But some people just can't help but dragging all people of a certain group through the same comb.
My teacher also said that "While you're young you should travel abroad at least once", which kinda tells you about how often Japanese people travel abroad, doesn't it?
I mean once in your life?? That's nothing! I've been abroad to so many countries so many times, since I was a kid! Maybe not every single person in Japan or where ever is interested in traveling, but I think most people are, and it pains me to think that some people might not even do it once.
And even if they do go abroad, most Japanese people still seem to travel with "tours", because they don't speak any English. Tours may be convenient, but you would probably learn more if you traveled by yourself.
Anyway, my teacher is of the older generation and the world becomes more and more integrated all the time, so I would think most people here wouldn't agree with his statement that black people are scary.
But it still got to me, it wasn't really about me (since I'm not black) but I still felt affected by it, it made me wonder what they think about me as a caucasian(?) as well as about other foreigners here.
Jan 2, 2017
3 years became 3 months
Now it's only 3 months left til I leave Japan!
I cannot believe it but three whole years have turned into three short months, and so my life in Japan will soon come to an end.
I've had my ups and downs in Japan, because of homesickness it wasn't always easy to be here, but most of the time I was fine and had a great time!
Three months go past like no time at all and if I think about how it all will end so soon I freak out a little. I wonder how I will like it in Sweden, now that I've been away for so long in this big town!
Mostly I think about how I will lose contact with my friends, or about the daunting task of moving from Japan back to Sweden. There are so many things I will have to do during that last month before I can leave, and it's all stuff I have never done before, so it's a bit scary.
I have to try and stop thinking about the day I leave, or else I will just be worrying all day!
Anyway, as a last little get-away before I leave Japan for good, me and a friend will go to Korea in the beginning of March. Something I thought I would not be able to afford, but thanks to my parents and my own savings it will now happen! Cheers! Cya in Hongdae!
I cannot believe it but three whole years have turned into three short months, and so my life in Japan will soon come to an end.
I've had my ups and downs in Japan, because of homesickness it wasn't always easy to be here, but most of the time I was fine and had a great time!
Three months go past like no time at all and if I think about how it all will end so soon I freak out a little. I wonder how I will like it in Sweden, now that I've been away for so long in this big town!
Mostly I think about how I will lose contact with my friends, or about the daunting task of moving from Japan back to Sweden. There are so many things I will have to do during that last month before I can leave, and it's all stuff I have never done before, so it's a bit scary.
I have to try and stop thinking about the day I leave, or else I will just be worrying all day!
Anyway, as a last little get-away before I leave Japan for good, me and a friend will go to Korea in the beginning of March. Something I thought I would not be able to afford, but thanks to my parents and my own savings it will now happen! Cheers! Cya in Hongdae!
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