Who you know

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I've been home almost a week now and this is the most I've been at peace with myself after over a month of living with my mother's family. I came home with a grand total of £840- less than I'd expected due to the horrific cutbacks and unfair deductions from my payslip. However, from average flight tickets, I have more than enough to purchase a return flight, although it's been long and miserable it was worth it.

And as soon as I got home I got on to the computer to update my CV, it's so much fuller than originally and it looks neater. But then I've always been proud of the tweaks I've made- but this is practically a makeover. Looking at my college file, I counted that I had more UCAS points than expected- so that's always good to know.

Now I am preparing for what I'm going to do after college. I have always assumed that to get a teaching job you would need a degree, but I don't have the time, money or patience to do that just yet, however- I met a guy on a language exchange website who knew a guy in America who could help me. Now he told me in the simplistic way possible; "you are British, I'm jealous because you can get a holiday Visa to work out there which isn't accessible for American's"- this really opened my eyes, an adviser I'd spoken to on the TEFL website mumbled something similar, though he didn't know much about Japan I didn't really think much of it. And so because I am English, I am more likely to get a job easily- after I do TEFL. It's always nice to meet real people who know what they're talking about and their real experiences, so i'm going to talk to him more and get the right advice.

The vast majority of blogs and videos of students on YouTube were American, so I always thought it was the other way around- so I'm thrilled this isn't the case.

Apparently learning Japanese from text books isn't the best way to to do it- although I agree, I had to start somewhere, there was no point in learning from watching anime if I didn't know which word meant what and where to put the verbs and adjectives etc- it would be too confusing.

But I've got a few MANGA and Studio Ghibli DVD's so I'm going to practice my listening skills.

I start my last year of college next week in travel, I'm hoping this year will be much more active and informative than last year as we actually get to have a taste of each job in the travel sector; travel agent, stewards, running a hospitality business, holiday rep etc. The reason why I took this course is because I thought it would be an easy way to go around Japan as a job, as a holiday rep or as a tour guide- there's got to be something out there!

My boyfriend has finally decided he wants to become a doctor, all I can say is GANBATE!! I really hope his dream comes true especially if he isn't good at maths. neither am I! But my college gave me an option to improve my skills in order to be more employable. I'm always eager to learn a new skill so I'm going to take advantage of this all I can.

This weekend, I'm going to finally do that boot sale, assuming the weather is good- I haven't counted how many books I've got but maybe just under a 100- if I'm lucky I'll sell them for 50p-£1 so that'll be a few extra pounds for Japan.

I've got to budget my holiday;

-food/drinks

-gifts; his family, my family/friends

-donations to shrines

-entrance fees

-souvenirs

Luckily for us Brits we're happy with some postcards and fridge magnets- including myself- so don't need to worry about spending too much or the weight. I thought of a nice gift to give to his grandparents to thank them for having me, and his parents and brother too, last year I bought a really nice tin of short bread biscuits from Harrods worth £12, but the tins are cute in the style of an English copper and Beef-eater and from the poshest shop in London. I think they can enjoy that, and I'll stock up lots of Earl Grey tea for him too, some reason he likes it.

Harrods biscuits:

http://www.harrods.com/product/london-bear-beefeater-shortbread-tin-200g/harrods/000000000003159959

http://www.harrods.com/product/london-bear-policeman-shortbread-tin-200g/harrods/000000000003159960

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