Why Japan?

The energetic six year old, shot her hand into the sky and shouted at the top of her lungs. Suddenly she was engulfed by an array of lights that danced around her. Suddenly she was engaged in a battle that would decide the fate of the entire planet! She heard a voice in the distance calling her name; it must be the evil Queen Berryl. Unfortunately, it was just her mother calling her inside for dinner. Planet Earth would have to wait until she had her vegetables.

I used to spend all my afternoons pretending to be my favorite television character Sailor Moon. Back then, I would never have guessed that a simple show could influence my life so much.

By the time I was in middle school, Sailor Moon was canceled for many years. I spent my free time drawing the characters I used to watch daily. The stories of the quirky main character stayed with me throughout the years. Thanks to the internet, I was able to find the show I had missed so much. Once I found the episodes on YouTube, I noticed for the first time that, my favorite show came from Japan.  

I spent countless hours watching this show, listening to the Japanese and noticing small cultural differences. After I finished watching all 200 episodes, I was able to point out words and phrases that had become familiar.

Since then I decided to go online and search ways to learn Japanese. I in turn decided to check out workbooks at my local library. I continued to watch Japanese Anime and read the fascinating graphic novels that were read right to left.

Middle school was a time where I learned to have a new appreciation of foreign languages. In high school, I had the opportunity to study French for three years. By the time I was a sophomore I joined the Upward Bound Program that allowed me to study German and Chinese for 6 weeks in the summers that followed. Although I was able to learn all these languages, I still craved to learn Japanese.

When I was accepted to Rhode Island College, I came in as an Undecided major. This left me with the availability to choose from a variety of classes. Naturally, the first course I signed up for was Elementary Japanese.  

Currently I am a Youth Development Major, and Vice President of the Asian Student Association on campus. My passion for Japanese lead me to this this major. As a part time job, I began working as an after school program provider at my old middle school. I decided to teach Japanese. I loved being able to teach the students something new that is not readily available to them. Being an after-school program, I was able to have flexibility with what I taught. I was able to have the students learn and not just memorize in fear of a test or failing.
            Coming to Japan has truly been a dream come true. On this blog I will document my adventures here in Japan. In addition I will try my best to explain the process that got me to where I am today as well as take a look at some youth sites that coincide with my major.