About myself

 Hi, I'm Shiori Komori. Let me introduce myself a little bit.
 I'm from Aichi, but not Nagoya. My hometown is called Okazaki. Okazaki isn't a big city, it takes thirty minutes by train from Nagoya. Do you know the character called Okazaemon? (Please see the picture below) He is a mascot character of Okazaki. He looks strange but actually he is really nice and friendly!
 I now enjoy living alone in Tokyo. I'm working at a cram school near my house twice a week. It's really fun for me because my students are so cute and friendly. Also, I belong to Aoyama Announce Society. The club activities are all really fun so I'm enjoying the club activities too. My university life is so much fun!
 Now, I'm worried about this IE3 program, but I will do my best to improve my English. Let's get over this course together! Thank you!



Okazaemon

 

My summer vacation 2

Good morning!
I am so happy because it is Friday today!

In this blog, I want to continue to write about my summer vacation.

I have four friends who met each other when we were junior high school students. We went to different high school, but we often met and talked a lot.
We are spending busy days in university,so we usually meet twice a year.
And in this summer vacation, we planned the trip.
We decided to go to Yatsugatake in Yamanashi prefecture.
Do you know Yatsugatake? Yamanashi prefecture is surrounded by mountains, so in short, Yatsugatake is the one of those mountains.
It takes an hour to go Yatsugatake by train from Kofu city.

In Yatsugatake, we rent the cottage. It was very big, nice and new!
The cottage was made of woods, and the smell of woods made me relax.

We cooked Yakisoba and Okonomiyaki for dinner. It was very fun to cook with friends! After dinner, we played board games and Jenga all night.
It was my first experience to stay up all night. I didn’t feel any fatigue that time, but I slept like a dead person when I got home.

I made precious memories at Yatsugatake.
I think fun memories will stay in my brain for a long time, and it will become my treasure when I get more older.
I want to make more beautiful memories with them next year too!

About me

Hi everyone!
Well, my name is Yuki Ishioka. Please call me Yuki.
Today, I want to talk about myself.

I was born in Tokyo and moved to Hong Kong when I was 3 months old. I lived there for three years and then came back to Japan. So I don't have any memories of Hong Kong. Then, when I was in first grade, I had to move to New Jersey, America due to my fathers business reason. In America I had many difficulties with my English, but it was an interesting experience for me there. If I have a chance to go abroad, I want to visit New Jersey and meet my friends.

My hobby is to listen to music. One of my favorite artist is Arianna Grande. She is really cute and has nice voice, so if you haven't heard her song yet, I recommend  you to listen.
If you have any other artists that you recommend please let me know!!

Thank you for reading.

Baseball

I went to QVC Marine Field to watch a baseball game yesterday.
One of my friends loves baseball too and we always go to the stadium together.
Our favorite team is Chiba Lotte Marines which ranks 4th now.
By the end of this season, the team has to place top three to proceed "the Climax Series", so we had to win the game.
The stadium was too crowded because it was the last day of silver week yesterday.
There were few hits and the game was not so interesting ;-(
I like the game which there are a lot of hits, homeruns because it excites me!
But we were pleased because Marines won.
I hope that it willplace top three to participate in the Climax Series.

Part-time job

Evere since I was born, I have never earned money on my own.
I am given little money from my parent once in a month. I was able to live with it until high school, because I was alway doing my tennis club and didn't have time to spend it.
But when it comes to university, its different. We don't have school uniform so the pretty clothes are necessary, and in Tokyo, there are many yummy restaurants and cafes ( Which is very expensive.)

I had never experienced running out of money before so I have never done part-time jobs.
But I`m running out of money for the first time in my life! I got to start working as soon as possible.
I want to make full use of my English skill, so i am thinking of working at English clam school. But since I lived in America and use English without thinking any grammar, I can't teach children a  grammar.
Do you guys have any recommendation of working place?
If you do, please let me know!

About Myself

Hi, I'm Naomi Otani. Let me tell about myself and what I like.

I am from Toyota, Aichi. I'm part Brazilian. I have visited Brazil three times to see my grandparents. I have a brother. He is one year younger than I am. We are very close to each other and I love him so much!! When I was in high school, I lived in Texas for a year as an exchange student. It was such an amazing experience.

I like to listen to music. Here are my favorite singers, rappers and bands: Aerosmith, David Bowie, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Queen. I like to listen to movie soundtracks. Because I can feel like a protagonist. I listen to Oasis, Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday, too.

I like to watch movies, but only my kind of movies. I like Wes Anderson's movies and Jean-Pierre Jeunet's movies. I rarely watch action movies. My favorite movies: Amelie, Big Fish, High School Musical(haha). I recommend you all to see it.

List of random things I like: chocolate, ice cream, Ewan McGregor, cafe latte with no sugar, perfume, fabric softener, hand sanitizer, milk, grocery stores, cute notebooks, money, airports, seats by the window, looking out at the window. There are more stuff I like to do.

I want to travel and see a lot of places. Because I believe it will be a good life experience. Traveling one place (out of Japan) a year is one of my goals in college.

Thanks for reading my blog.
Good night, people.

 (I took this in Brazil!)

My introduction

Hello. I'm Asano Kitamura.

Today, I want to talk about myself.

I've lived in Tokyo with my family since I was born. So I want to try to live alone someday. I have a sister and she is older than me by six years. I like to spend time with her.

My hobby is listening to music and watching movies. Recently I watched "Letters to Juliet". It was nice and I liked it. If you have some favorite movie, please tell me. 

I'm working at cram school as a part-time job. There, I teach Japanese and English. I like to talk with students very much because they tell me about their school life. It is fun to work at there.

I belong to Aoyama festival executive committee in this university. I'm very looking forward to that festival! Are you looking forward to it, too? 

I don't have any experience that had lived abroad. So I'm anxious about this IE3 class. 

But I want to brush up my English skill in this university. 

Thank you for reading.

Silver week

How was your silver week?
I had a good time! I have an elder brother and he lives in Osaka. He works at a company that makes bicycle parts. He came back to Tokyo for silver week and we went for a family trip for the first time in six years or so... We went to Izu in Shizuoka prefecture. We stayed at a hotel by the seaside and we enjoyed ONSEN, the Japanese hot spring. The meal was delicious, the view was beautiful, and the weather was great too! It was only a night but we enjoyed it very much.The other days I worked, I danced and studied just a little bit like usual.
The silver week is over and normal busy days are going to start. Today I'm struggling with IE core homework. I searched for a book for book report and still struggling with media discussion.But when tomorrow is over, it's weekend!! yeah! Let's go over it!!
see you tomorrow

My summer vacation

Hi! How are you doing?

In this blog I want to write about my summer vacation.

I want to write many things about my summer vacation, but I want to write one of those in this blog.

Actually, I took the driver’s license during summer vacation.

It took a month to take it.

When I drove the car for the first time, I was very nervous.

I couldn’t stop sweating. But my driver’s skill got better and better as I drove the car a lot.

Thanks to many good driving instructors, I could take driver’s license smoothly.

The driver’s license is very useful because I can go anywhere without any fatigue.

I am not so good at driving yet, but I want to go many places by myself.

The only way to brush up my driver’s skill is just driving a lot!

Many experiences will also give me confidence. I want to become a good driver soon! 

Let's play sports in fall!

Hellow.

In Japan, it is said that fall is  the best season for sports.  I like playing sports very much.

 My favorite sports is baseball and tennis. I have been a member of high school baseball team.
Thus I have played baseball for about 10 years. And I have started playing tennis since I became a university student. I am a member of HERMITS tennis club. I have been fascinated by charm of playing tennis since then. Playing tennis is so fun for me. My love for tennis is so big that I have come to go to tennis school to play it better. My class is on every Friday's night. I always put my heart into enjoying tennis.

These days, I want to play baseball again. So I sometimes take part in sandlot baseball team.
Last week, I took part in the game of sandlot baseball. It was so interesting. I feel that I love playing basebann after all.

By the way, there is a saying in Japan, "supotsu no aki." In fall, we can play many sports in comfortable condition. Let's play many sports in this season!!

Recent my hobby:)

         Have you ever done darts?　I have been interested in darts recently. It was not until the end of this July that I started darts. Until this July, I had not thought I would play darts. That is because I thought I took it for granted that boys played darts. At first, I couldn't hit the target with any darts. As I didn't know how to play and how to throw darts, one of my friends told me the rule. It was difficult for me to grasp a timing of releasing a finger from a dart and to learn how to use my arm.
         In just the other day, I went to Shibuya to play darts. My favorite kind of darts are 01 and Cricket. When it comes to 01, I always play the 01 which we count down from 301 to 0 by hitting darts board. At first, it is OK to throw darts without concerns. When my score become around 50, counting down to 0 become harder and harder. But this hardness makes me excited!! When we play Cricket, concentration is required. We must hit the mark whose number is from 15 to 20 and bull. As I developed my ability to hit the board which I want to hit exactly, I earn much more score of mine than before.
         If someone likes to play darts like me, please speak to me and, if possible, play darts with me!! 

My silver week

In this "Silver week", I went back to my hometown to see my family and friends.

My hometown is Kofu city, Yamanashi Prefecture.

It is a rural, but really nice to live.

I don't think there is anywhere interesting to go or anything to do, however it is not a boring place at least for me.

When I back to my hometown, getting off train at Kofu station, and look around the landscape or mountains surrounding us, I always want to be proud of my hometown.

In the middle day of my holidays in there, I went to Shosenkyou fall which is really beautiful place.

Especially, in fall, leaves on trees become beautiful red and orange and it is so nice!!!!

I'm so sorry I forgot to take picture but if you have chance to go there....please try!!


Especially, in Autum.

My Introduction

My name is Rika Yoshimura. I live in setagaya now but my hometown is Okinawa.
I came to Aoyamagakuin because I wanted to live in a big city. Also I was interested in English so I decided to study it.
Now I belong to ski club. I'm from south edge of Japan so I have never played ski. I am going to do it for the first time in the winter. I feel nervous but I want to do my best.

I feel very nervous about IE in fall term because it is very different from that in spring term.
The teachers seem more strict to me. What is more, I am not good at English compared to other students in my class. But I have to do my best so I'll work hard.

My Introduction

My name is Akane Sasano.
I`m from Kisarazu, Chiba.
My hobby is watching baseball games and I have been a fun of Chiba Lotte Marines for about eight years!
I was a leader of drama club when I was a high school student.
And now, I belong to a footsal circle and an allround circle.

I have two part-time jobs.
I`m teaching English at a cram school and I am a waitress at a Japanese restaurant.
The restaurant where I`m working offers delicious meals :-)
I love eating very much!

Nice to meet you!

Zepp Tokyo

    Did you enjoy Silver Week? I went to Zepp Tokyo in Odaiba (a music hall ) last Sunday. One of my favorite rock band, "androp" performed a live show. I was really looking forward to the live performance. But I didn't have a ticket and enough money to buy one, so I only bought some goods (3 badges). Now, I fasten one of the badges to my backpack.

    If I had had a ticket, I could have seen the concert... Those who saw the live show said it was great on Twitter. But I enjoyed shopping and now, I like androp more than ever. If you become interested in androp, why don't you watch some music videos?

Zepp Tokyo

Introduction

Hi! I'm Ayaka Suzuki.
I'm from Mie prefecture. I live in a very country side of it and  my house is surrounded by lots of green and beautiful mountains. Currently, I live in Kawaguchi, Saitama prefecture.
My hobby is to watch movies and the latest movie I've seen is Jurassic World. It's a great movie so I recommend you to watch!
I belong to Aoyama Announce Society which is a club. In this club, we do things like MC, Voice Acting, and  Program Producting. It's enjoyable and I really like this club.

There are so many clubs and cirles at this university, and I only know few of them. So I want to ask you, What kind of club or Circle do you belong to?

My Introduction

   Hi. I'm Jun Yamaguchi. This is the first time to write IE blog, so I'd like to tell you about myself.

   I live in Akiruno city with my family. Akiruno city is in the western part of Tokyo but there are a few tall buildings. Instead, my hometown has beautiful trees, rivers and mountains.

   I like listening to music, especially Japanese rock music. I know many Japanese rock bands. And my hobby is playing guitar. I bought my new guitar last month!

   Since I have no experience of going abroad, my English is not so good. But I want to improve my English skills through IE classes.  Thank you for reading my first blog!!

About me

 Hello guys! I'm Yuriko Koide. I come from Hakodate, Hokkaido. I was born and brought up in there. I really love my hometown. I will write about it sometime.
 I like to listen to rap music. My favourite rapper is 2Pac. His songs have touching lyrics and beautiful beats. I also listen to Rakim, Nas, Eminem... if you know any good rap song, please let me know!
 I don't belong to any circle or club activity but I am a member of black baito union, so I sometimes work on its activity. What we recently do is to negotiate with a company which runs syabusyabu onyasai. Some of you might know this as it has been the top of Yahoo news. Our activity is not only negotiating with a company but also to study about social problems especially about labour problems. It is not easy to solve such problems or change what bad company does but I believe what we do plays an important role in society.
 My part time job is teaching at a cram school. I started this job because I love kids. The job is not always fun (a parent got mad at me on the phone just 2 days ago!) but I am enjoying studying with kids. Do you do any part time job?
 I don't think I am a sociable person but I like to communicate with people. I hope I can talk to everyone in the class through IE. Thank you for reading and have a good night!

My profile

Today, I'll introduce myself.
I've lived in Saitama prefecture since I was born. My town is very country, so it hasn't a station... I drive my car to a station at the next city. You may be surprised at my having an own car, but in my town, we can't live without ourselve cars! Although it has passed only 9 months since I got the driver's license, I was accustomed to driving because I drive everyday.
I've been learning piano since I was 4 years old. I join a piano club now. Though it's difficult to take time to practice because I'm busy, I'll continue to play the piano from now on.
I like Disney! But I don't have my annual passport yet... I want it someday!
My favorite singers are arashi and ONE OK ROCK. Let's talk with me about them if you also like them!

About me

 Hi! I'm Wakana Yanagida. I'm from Shizuoka but I was born in Kuwait. Do you  know where Kuwait is? It's under Iraq and it is a little bit dangerous place. However, people were  really nice and i enjoyed my life there. I spent in Kuwait for 10 years so i feel sad to leave there.
 My hobby is to listen to music and to play tennis. I've been playing tennis for 6 years but i'm not that good. I belong to tennis circle, so i want to  practice alot to improve my tennis.
 I want to improve my English, too. I decided to go to the Department of English because i want to use English after graduation. My dream is to be a Concert Promoter. English  dosen't directly connect to the work but there might be a chance to use them if foreign artists come to Japan. I'm not doing anything to be a Concert Promoter but from now on, I will find some book about it and start working. I hope you will support me to grant my dream. I want to ask you, what is your dream or what do you want to be in the future?
 Thank you for reading my blog!

My first blog

Hi! Good afternoon!
I am very happy to write this blog because I had trouble to log in this site yesterday.
Thanks to Kaho I can finally write this blog right now.
Thank you very much, Kaho!!

In my first blog, I want to write about me.

I'm Momoko Kobayashi. I was born in Yamanashi prefecture. Yamanashi prefecture is famous for  Mt. Fuji, fruits and water.
Now I live alone in Kanagawa prefecture, but I want to return to Yamanashi prefecture as soon as possible.  Because I lived in rural area for a long time, so it is very difficult for me to live in urban area.
However, it is great experiences for me to live alone!

My hobby is to listen to music.
I listen to many kinds of music such as 60's ~80's music,Top40, EDM and so on! In japanese band, I love Mr.children. Also I am interested in Back Number.
If you have same hobby, please let me know. Let's go to SUMMER SONIC or something!

Please get along well with me!
See you soon.

A new start in IE3

Hi ! Are you enjoying your holidays?
I would like to introduce myself.
I'm Nami. I was born in Nagoya. Since then, I've been moving around because of my dad's job.
I've lived in Osaka, Thailnad and Tokyo. I have been to Germany too!
In Thailand I went to an International school and that was a start of studying English. Actually, I didn't want to go to an International school in a country where I don't know. I was too scared to go to a school where they teach everything in English. I was too young for that. I was about to be an elementary student. But my elder brother wanted to go  to International school... Unbelievable. He is so challenging. That made me feel even worse, going to a different school as my brother at a new place. So I decided to go to an International school. Now I appreciate my brother's decision. That now I like English and I'm here in Aoyamagakuin University.
I don't belong to any club here in Aogaku, but I belong to an inter-college dance club.I've been doing ballet since I was 5. I still continue ballet also. In the dance club I dance Jazz and hiphop. I enjoy very much.
I have a part time job near school which I started during the summer holidays. Before, I worked near my house at a coffee shop.

In this class I am a little anxious about the homeworks and a lot of things we have to do, but at the same time I am excited about seeing new people and improving my English.
Let's have fun together in this class!!

About my book report.

Hello!
Today is the last day of silver week!
Do you have any plans to go out?

Right now I`m doing my book report which is required to submit in the American literature Introduction class. The book I chose to write is called "The Great Gatsby" which is written by
F.S Fitzgerald.
In 2013 this book was made into a movie and Leonardo Dicaprio played the main character, Gatsby so maybe you have heard about this book.
If you have time, I would recommend that you read the book.

Since I`m in the department of English, I would like to read plenty of books.
If you have any recommend books, please tell me!

Introduction!

Hello! How are you doing? First, I would like to introduce myself. Almost all of you know me, but some of you don't. 
I am Mayu Morimoto. I am from Kochi in Shikoku. I was born and brought in there. Kochi is a very nice place. I will tell you about it later! I have three dogs. Jack Pinoko and Elle. I love them so much. 
I really like hanging out with my friends. I also like chatting! So please talk to me. I am friendly, actually! 
I am belonging to event circle "Senti Stars" which we learn about events(but not just events). I will introduce about this later on! 

I hope my English would be better thorough this blogging or other IE3 programmings. 
I'm little worried about this course. But I am sure I can do it with you guys. So let's have fun at IE3 class together. 
Have fun the lest of silver week! 

This photo below is my cuties. Please take a look at it!  

Self-Introduction

Hi!
I`m Megumi Tsuboi. .
Since this is my first time to post to this blog, I would like to introduce myself.
I live in Chiba and it takes about one hour to go to Aogaku.
When I was in junior high school and senior high school I belong to the brass band and played the clarinet. Although I don`t join the brass band in university, I still play the clarinet in my house when I have time.
My hobby is playing the piano which I have learned since I was five. I really love music!

I love English and  hope I will be able to bush up my English skills and be a good English speaker!
Anyway, I will make efforts to everything and do my best during this class.
I hope I can get along with many people though this IE class.

Thanks for reading! Have a great silver week!

About ME !

Hi! I'm Kaho Nakano.
It's my first time to write a blog. I hope you guys enjoy it!

I live in Jiyuugaoka, Tokyo now. But I was born and grew up in Chigasaki,Kanagawa.
As I entered university, and my brother was also a university student in Tokyo, we've decided to move. Jiyuugaoka is really convenient ! It only takes 10 minutes or so to Shibuya !
What I love about this place is not only good access, but also its fashionable places. There are many cafe and shops. It's really interesting just strolling the town.
When I was in elementary, I lived in America for 2years because of my father's business. I think that 2years changed my life. I would never loved studying English if I hadn't gone to America. That means I would never entered Aogaku ! Also I made wonderful friends there. I feel that they made me who I am today!

In university, I join Aoyama soaring team. We ride on a air plane called glider that has no engine. It's really difficult to explain here about how they are able to fly with no engine, so please ask me and I will explain it to you enthusiastically.
I love the seniors there because they are all nice and earnest. I respect them very much and I want to be like them someday.

In this IE class I want to improve my English and want to express what I'm thinking in English !
Let's do our best guys!!!

My Silver Week

Hi, I'm Maya:) Are you enjoying Silver Week? I'll tell you about an incident of this Silver Week.
I join a piano club. At the day before yesterday, a concert was held in an atelier at Yoyogi. It was a joint concert with two piano clubs of Aoyama Gakuin University and Rikkyo University, so it's called "Aoritsu." Though I didn't play the piano that day, I enjoyed listening to other people's play.
After the concert ended, we held a cast party and played darts. I've never play darts. It was more difficult than I imagined, so I couldn't even shed darts a target at first! But because seniors taught me how to shoot darts very kindly, I improved my skill little by little. Throughout darts, I could interact with Rikkyo Unversity students.
Listening to other's plays, I was inspired. I'm going to play the piano at Sagamihara festival and Aoyama festival. I'll do my best!

Today's happening

         Today, my three friends and I was planing to go to Mitsui Outlet Park Yokohama bay side and to enjoy shopping.
         One of my friends picked me up by car and we were heading to Yokohama. Two out of four can drive a car. Those who can drive took turns at the wheel. On the way, we stopped by a family mart to take turns at the wheel. 1 hour later, we arrived at the outlet park.
         "Let's go shopping‼", I said. Suddenly, one of my friends said, "Wait‼" We asked him, "What's happened?" Then, he said, ".........Where's my shoe???" As we looked his boots, there was his left boot nowhere. We struggled to look for his boot. However, we can't see it anywhere in the car. Then, He said, "....Oh!!! I remember!!! I left it at family market on the way. When we stopped by there, I took off my boots. When I closed the door, my boot may fall down from the car." This happening made our shopping turn into driving.
         After that, we called some family marts ,which are along the way we drove, one after another. The first, second and third family marts we called said there was no boot. 30 minutes after we started to look for his boot, we were giving up to look for. When I called the last family mart and I asked the clerk whether there was boot at its parking, the clerk tell there was his boot!!
         When we reached the family mart, it was already 6 o'clock. Finally, our shopping turned into driving from Tokyo to Yokohama.

Self introduction

         Hello, everyone:) I'm Hibiki Chubachi. Someone calls me "Mr. Chubachi." No, I' m a girl. I have some nicknames. For example, Hibi, Vivi and so on. Please call me as you like!!
         When I was a baby, I lived in Chigasaki, Kanagawa. Soon after, my family moved to Yamagata and settled down there. I had lived in Yamagata for 18 years. So, I have never been abroad... Now, I live in Setagaya-ku. The nearest station from my house is Meidaimae. It is convenient for me to live.
         My hobby is to sing a song.and to listen to music. I go to karaoke frequently with my friend. I hope to go with classmates of IE3 :) I like to listen to not only japanese music but also foreing music. These days, my favorite foreign singers are Ariana Grande, Katy Perry and Carly Rae Jepsen. As I want to listen to various muisc, please tell me your favorite singer. With regard to Japanese singer, ONE OK ROCK is my favorite rock band. My mother is their fan too. Someday, I want to go to their concert with my mom or my friends.
         Now, I'm worried about IE3 class. I don't think I'll pass this class without my classmates. If some problems happen, I want to solve the problems together. Let's enjoy this IE3 class.
             

To Kill a Mockingbird

     I chose To Kill a Mockingbird for my second book report. It is the story about a lawyer who tries to defense an innocent black man. While reading the novel, I couldn't help myself thinking what is right and what is wrong. Too strong sense of justice can be sword that hurts the others. Naturally, every man is not guilty. Racism never disappears completely...

Many thoughts go this way and that way in my mind, so it was a very hard task for me to put them together and make up as a report. I hope I did a good job. I'm not sure, though.x(

However, there was no enough time to read it completely. To be honest, I skipped some pages. So I'm thinking of reading it again during summer vacation. I guess I can get more information to realize the theme, or have new impression that'll broaden my horizon.

French

I had a French test last Thursday. It was too difficult for me, and I couldn't answer half of the questions. I hope I would pass.

Starbucks card

A week ago, my mom lost a Starbucks card that I gave to her for her birthday. She said she looked for it about an hour, but she couldn't find it, so I looked for it for her. Finally I found it. Where do you think it was? It was in my mom's bag!!

Cafeteria

Do you know how cheap the food is in the cafeteria? It's amazing ! I only had 450yen including the money inside my school card and I was full!

Bob Dylan

I've started listening to Bob Dylan since most of my favorite singers listened to him. I guess it's not bad. It's pretty easy to get bored since it's mostly repeating the same melody. To learn music, i'll listen to it !!!!!!!!

My brain

I really don't know why I remember things on the last minute. It always happened to me since I was little. At least I remember!

Caffeine

I'm staying up late to finish my homework right now because I tend to leave it till the last moment.
It's not really a good routine but I always fail to improve it.

So, I'm trying to wake myself up and I had a can of coffee downstairs at my living room.
However, I realized that listening to music or playing the bass guitar keeps me awake better than caffeine.
I don't know why but I get excited when I listen or play music and it keeps me from getting sleepy.

I recently started practicing playing new songs so that I can improve my skills.
It's actually very fun to have a hobby that keeps you awake.
You only have to make sure not to spend too much time just for your hobby.

To Taiga: Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday, Taiga!

I'm lucky that I found out your birthday is today before the date changed.
I hope you had wonderful day today and many nice presents!Becoming older can be tough sometimes but I'm sure it is worth it. You'll have to take more responsibilities but you will be more independent as well. I hope this year - and all the coming years will give you wonderful opportunities to challenge yourself and gain valuable experiences.

Book Report

I read "The Catcher In The Rye" for my second book report.

The setting of this book was in New York which was exactly the same as my last book.

I like reading books from New York because I know the place well since I lived around there.

Also, the main character, Holden Caulfield, is about the same age as I am, so it's easy to understand the character's mind.

I hope I can right a report that's better than my last one.

Today was my birthday

...and how unfortunate it is for today to be a Monday. I wasn't able to meet any of you and I had only one class - written French exams.

Ah, well, so it goes. It's partially my fault for not telling anybody about what date is my birthday.

The rest of the day went pretty well, adding final touches to my book report on Voltaire's Candide and a glorious sunset.

Utopian

Lately, I've been tripping on utopias from stuff that I've read. The one from the most recent, The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas, was like one of the greatest breaths of fresh air that I've ever inhaled when it comes to short stories. Omelas, by Ursula K. Le Guin (author of the Earthsea series, which was adapted by Studio Ghibli as ゲド戦記), is mainly a story about utilitarianism.

In the titular city, the folk live in compassion and peace throughout their lives, while a child remains locked in the bowels of some cellar there. This child, kept in suffering and given a meager amount of sustenance, is the very reason Omelas is prosperous and peaceful; if the child is taken out of his suffering and taken care for, Omelas is guaranteed to fall into ruin (mechanisms are not explained well, because this is probably a metaphorical story). The citizens are required to see and be taught about the child as a sort of rite of passage. Some rage, some cry, but eventually get over it and learn to appreciate the child. A few others walk away from the city, never to return - the ones who walk away from Omelas.

Would you stay in Omelas? I would, considering that leaving Omelas would do nothing but give me a sense of satisfaction. I believe that what counts is that everyone in Omelas is appreciative and acknowledging of the child's harsh existence as the preserver of their city. I still wonder whether the kid is conscious that his suffering is the equivalent of the happiness of a thousand people?

Candide's El Dorado is interesting too. Yet, I'm not sure that it has much glory without the rest of Candide's world in the background. What's more surprising about this heaven-on-earth is that the main character decides to leave it in order to chase down his maiden.

Although it might not be related, there's one more "utopia" that I've been conscious of recently, but it's not a heaven-on-earth in the sense of its meaning. It's, instead, a faction in one of the multiplayer games I play. Each faction has the ability to claim land for themselves on the server that I play on, but the virtual world gets reset every few months so that everyone can start anew.

One of the largest factions, Eutopia, was home to many players over several maps, from when the game was still in beta. It had some of the best facilities and most impressive homes on all of the server and I had the pleasure of being in the faction for a few months. That was about one or two years ago. Last time I checked, Eutopia had only one player to its name. Just like I only check in every once in a while, I suppose that real life caught up to everyone else. I still sometimes imagine how Eutopia sprawls through the land, now belonging to nothing in particular.

My favorite sweet

These days, I eat kuzumochi between meals. I don't like Japanese sweets on the whole, because I don't much care for bean jam. Bean jam is too sweet for me. However, kuzumochi is not so sweet, and its texture is very good.

Consecutive holidays

This week, I'll have five consecutive holidays from Thursday, so I don't have to prepare for the tests in a hurry. I'm looking forward to the holidays!!

Driver's license

 Tonight, my dad and I talked about me getting a driver's license this Summer since I have a lot of free time and it's only this year and next year that I have a lot of free time since last two years of univeristy is going to be career hunting and I know that I won't have much time after I graduate university. I have been driving on my dad's lap since I was a little girl since my dad works as a designer in Honda and is really good at driving that he got his driver's license in less than two weeks. Also, my personal driver that I had in Shanghai used to let me drive when I was 14 or 15 since you can get a license at the age of 16 in most countries except Japan. So I'm not so scared of driving. But my dad told me that I need to be responsible when I drive since I'm going to be responsible for people's life while driving. I hope that I'll be able to get a driver's license as quick as I can!! I'm also excited that if I get my license before I go to Hawaii in September, I'll be able to drive in Hawaii!!

Hair cut:)

 Hello people!! I am so happy right now and I am in such a good mood right now. And the reason is because I got a hair cut!! And it's looking so pretty!! And it's not the normal hair cut that I get. Because usually, I just cut like 2 or 3 centimeters of the ends. But this time, I had a huge change! I cut almost like 15 centimeters of the ends. Also, since I haven't cut this much since 2012 fall, I was so scared to go for it. But I am so happy that it ended up being so pretty. I know this doesn't really matter to other people than me, but it's just an update!:)

Bullying

I really feel sad when I hear about bullying. According to an article written by Rieko Saibara, who is a manga writer, One student in Iwate prefecture committed suicide because he was being bullied. It seems that he had been writing and telling about what was happening to his teachers, but the teachers did nothing to stop it. The one interesting thing is that he couldn't tell his parents about it. However, this seems to be a normal thing. One reason he couldn't share was because not going to school means falling out of society's net.
The fact is, you can continue living even if you don't go to school. School is not the answer to everything.
Having grown up without going to school, I feel that not going to school has many good points as well as challenges. Yet, here I am in University. I just hope that more people will be aware that one doesn't have to be ashamed of not going to school.

Whoa

Something big happened yesterday 

Every 18th day of the month, is my pay day from the work

I didn't expect that much but once I checked it,it was just like "Whoa! This is almost double amount from previous month, lucky:D!"

Money is not everything.

But surely 

Money talks everything to make people happy in second!

Gotta go shopping😍

New hair

Hi everyone!

On Friday, I had my hair cut and dyed it to a dark brown. My head feels lighter and it is no pain to dry my hair anymore. It's getting hotter and more humid so I thought a new hair cut will help me to overcome summer better. I don't think that I look much different but I might look strange to you. 

Typhoon

I don't like the stormy weather these days.
It annoys me on my way to school because I can't ride my bike on rainy days.
I have to wake up early and walk to the nearest station.
I miss sunny days like the beginning of this week.
I also have to work on my reports and study for exams so my upcoming weekend won't be as enhancing as usual which is upsetting.
I hope something good will happen in return.

Looking forward to the weekend

I haven't been excited about the weekend in a while. Usually I sleep and do homework on weekends because I'm at school, work or dance practice on week days. However this weekend I will go back to my home town. I will see my dance club friends from high school and go to my high school's school festival. My high school dance club kouhais will perform! I look forward to that. I hope that they have grown in their dancing skills and I look forward to what kind of show they prepared. Also I will meet my family back home. It has been 3 months till I left my home town and begun my college life here in Tokyo. Although I've somewhat adapted I think can never become a city girl. I mean my home town is so boring with rice fields and old people and limited places to hang out and have fun however, the thing I miss the most are my friends and the memories I have there. So I am very excited and look forward to it.

Exam Hell

Tomorrow, I have three exams in one day.
It is awful that I have to prepare for three completely different courses.
Also, there aren't much time between classes.
The worst thing is that I'm going to have a party during third period class which is in between the classes that will have exams tomorrow.
I won't be able to enjoy the party since I'll have to think about the exam next period and it'll be quite stressful.
I wish I had four different brains so that I can concentrate on each subject.
Well, what I've learned from this is that I should've prepared for the exams earlier so that I didn't have to make my brain mashed up with test preparation.