Mary Burrows
Off to Japan, see you in a year :)MazzaB
I'm going because... a year of study abroad is a compulsory part of my course at Leeds Uni . I'm not 100% sure why but I picked Nanzan University's Centre for Japanese Studies in Nagoya City which is the 4th largest city in Japan and is famous for all sorts of things including Toyota. Anyway it has a subway system, pubs and a castle so I can't really ask for anything more...I will be staying with a host family, attending university, and hoping to find a part-time job as it will be a very expensive year. Planning to actually do some traveling once my course in Japan finishes in May, perhaps visit Australia and China depending on the money situation at the time, and of course do a mini-tour of Japan to include visiting friends from Leeds in their respective Universities.
Travel Blog Posts
February 28th 2011
( a blog entry from early January that I never posted) My 4 week long winter holidays are coming to a close this week, but here is a summary of how I’ve spent the time so that I can remember later on! Since moving into the dorm, my whole experience of being in Japan has changed completely, ive met new people, become far more relaxed, and been able to do many things that I couldn’t have had I been still with my host family. I’m sure that had I still been living there, the whole Christmas holidays/new year would have been a very different experience! Anyway I was determined to spend as much of time out of Nagoya as possible (I love it lots here but i needed a break) I went to Kobe on ... read more
December 3rd 2010
These last couple of weeks have been a bit of a fiasco! It’s not really necessary to go into loads of detail on the blog (since im not entirely sure who the sometimes 100 people are who read it! –many thanks for the support though!) however last Sunday there was quite a drama concerning my host family which resulted in me moving into a dorm mid-term. It’s not fair to them if I go on about what happened on the internet but if you wanna know what happened I’m happy to explain. Anyway, this whole malarchy took a lot of my energy and time just thinking about as well as my moving weekend (I appear to have acquired a lot of things since I came as the number of boxes and cases to move across Nagoya ... read more
November 5th 2010
Hello! I haven’t written anything in a week or two because nothing massively different from England occurred, BUT now ive just spent the last few days staying in Yamanashi (the prefecture where you find Mount Fuji) with my previous host family (from my high school exchange 5 years ago) so I thought I’d write all about that because if you came before you know how exciting it is, and also because I want to remember it all So the host family (yamanashi) situation: mum, dad, Ayaka (my exchange partner, now 21) and Ryouhei (brother, now 20). Also the grandparents who live next door are a key part in the family. Grandad's 95 and pretty incredible! They came to pick me up alllll the way from Nagoya which is around 4 hours away by car (woaah) which was ... read more
October 16th 2010
Last weekend I can absolutely say I think was one of the most exciting weekends of my life. And for that reason I think it deserves a blog entry to itself One of my chosen modules is called ‘Fieldwork Research Methods of Japan’ however we affectionately call it our ‘festival class’ since it is essentially festivals that we are researching so whenever there is one happening in the area, we will go as a class each with our various research questions in mind and attempt to find out as much as we can from participants and spectators of the festival whilst also having a really good time. Educational and fun, bingo. Last weekend was Asuke Festival. Asuke is a small town about 40 minutes drive (our Australian teacher took us all in the car) from Nagoya ... read more
October 8th 2010
October Hello! We’re now pretty well into October (half way through the first term according to the exam next week entitled ‘mid-term test’ - yikes!) and despite the fact that the elementary school kids that I see every morning have started wearing their school jumpers, im still plenty warm enough in just the one layer! I was thinking maybe Japanese people like to keep themselves always at maximum temperature until my host mum said to me yesterday how cold it was in the house. I looked at the thermometer it was 25 degrees! So we really are very different. An exciting thing for me last week was getting a package from home. I had forgotten my bikini (theres a nearby beach that I still havent found time to visit) and a jumper, and my brother enclosed ... read more
September 26th 2010
ONE MONTH I absolutely cannot believe ive almost been here a month, its unreal. Whilst talking to Rochelle (my little American friend who rides all my buses and subways with me each day and generally takes care of me) at the weekend who’s only here til Christmas we realised she only has another 10 Saturdays left-which is horrendous, and it means I’ve spent 1/9th of the time with my host family already. Its nuts; I’ll be home in around 10/11months! Anyway that’s the negative thinking over, I just have to do loads of stuff and not waste my time here! This week was fabulous in many ways-much hilarity has been enjoyed. To kick off, the teacher of my festival class recommended we check out the annual festival of a nearby community-Imaike festival. So we toddled along ... read more
September 11th 2010
YO:) Saturday, 11th September I'm still having an absolute whale of a time and could actually write forever! I’ll start from the weekend… Saturday some of us decided to meet in Sakae, supposedly ‘main town Nagoya’. We wandered around town, and found a modern complex called Oasis 21 which was just mega sightseeing galore..(pictures on facebook). Lunch was interesting since once again pointing at pictures on the menu got us not really what we wanted but it’s all an experience Sunday, my host grandmother (お母さん) took me shopping and she sorted me out a beautiful Japanese phone which I still find the most exciting thing ever to play with! I can send/ receive e-mails for free on it which is a wonder that shall never get old…(If you want to make my day that little bit ... read more
September 3rd 2010
YO :) I'm SO in Japan, and in case you can't be bothered to read on (totally understandable), I'm having a wicked time! it's now Friday evening and I've been here since Tuesday evening..so that's a good couple of days. and also i totally feel like ive been here forever already which must mean I've settled in?! The journey was massively traumatic since at Heathrow I was charged £138 for having a henchly overweight suitcase and no matter how many times I told him 'I'm not fat so it's unfair' he wasn't having any of it. Then it was an overnight flight and I didnt sleep a wink because the large Australian lady next to me was so grumpy that she killed all the excitement that was within me and I couldn't sleep. Then I got ... read more
4 days to go...
Published: August 26th 2010Europe » United Kingdom » England » Gloucestershire » Wotton-under-Edge
August 26th 2010
I've been made to write a blog So I've had a few requests for a blog and thought since I'll be away for a year, it's pretty much the thing to do. Anyway, I'm at home still for now, with a suitcase weighing in at around 19kg which is pretty good since 20's the limit and finally started to feel pretty excited. I've spent the evening at the Falcon and listened to top tips from Hilary about onsen etiquette (onsen being the public hot spring baths where you have to be nudey in front of countless random Japanese people) and thinking if I get enough asahi down me I might have to give it a go, one day. I think I'm doing well on the organisation front, I made my trip to London on my birthday ... read more
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