Macquarie in Akashi

Memo 2 Today I also went to a local primary school to get in touch with the little kids in Akashi. The kids I was dealing with were just so energetic and polite. They called me " 先生 " and asked me to play " トランプ ", a kind of playing poker.  It was fun and I enjoyed every second because not only I like the game itself, but I also got the opportunity to study the how Japanese children talk, the use of language is simple, basic verb, short sentence. In that way, I was able to follow up and did some shadowing.  It also expanded the range of my listening resources which makes my listening comprehension more consolidated. Kids were just so naive and cute, hopefully, they could stay that innocence even grew up:D (I am still waiting for senpai to send over the pictures to me :p) Another wonderful day, Blake

Memo 1 Today I tried to dine in the cafeteria inside Kousen, the experience is definitely memorable as it allows me to be a step further to experience a lunch culture inside a Japanese school. By following the instructions, I got myself a curry tonkatsu set meal (定食), despite commenting on the food itself, I found there are certain dine in etiquettes I have to keep eyes on.  First, we have to take a tray and get into the queue until you are up to get the food. After finishing the food, we not only have to return used dishes and the tray, we also have to put different tablewares to designated places and preferably rinse before return. I have grown much more respect to how Japanese are inherently willing to reduce the workloads for staffs. Looking forward to getting to know more about campus culture in Japan! Blake on 5th July

Hello~ 皆さんこにちは、 Apologize for coming late because of some technical reasons. To give you guys some ideas, t his is Blake a.k.a ブレーク from Macquarie University, Australia.  I am honoured to be here writing my own stories in  N ational Institute of Technology, Akashi College. I believe many of you have come across me at John's English classes or Global Terrace. But for those who have not, I am absolutely eager to see any one of you start dropping by Global Terrace in your free time to have a chat with me and Tony!  This is just a start of my blog, more will be coming! Stay tuned and leave any comments you want! Cheers, Blake and Tony

Hello again! It has now been a few weeks that I have been back in Sydney. I just wanted to write one last blog post to thank you all for being so welcoming during my stay in Akashi and tell you a little bit about what I did during my last few days in Japan! During my last two days in Japan I was able to do some sightseeing in Osaka and I even had time to go to Kyoto! It was a very interesting trip as I experienced a VERY full train ride from Osaka to Kyoto. I spent all day walking around Kyoto and I decided to rent out a kimono and walked around wearing it for about three hours.  Here I am wearing a kimono! Kyoto was super busy! View from my airbnb!! Thank you for everyone at Akashi Kosen for being so welcoming! I really enjoyed my time at the college and experiencing traditional Japanese fencing and tea ceremony! Hopefully I can come and say hello to you all in July!  Noora

Hi everyone, Today I thought I would write a short blog on studying overseas for those who were not able to come to my presentation. I know many students at Akashi College are interested in going overseas, whether it is for travel, study or work. It can be both exciting and nerve wracking to actually make that decision and to go. So here are some things you should think about before going. 1. Research universities in different countries and think about where you would prefer to go. 2. Look into the entry requirements for the university and start organising everything for applying. This can be getting all your appropriated documents ready, maybe studying for an entrance exam or even doing an English language test. 3. Start making a financial plan. How will you pay for the tuition fees and every day living costs? Research different scholarship options available. Different universities, companies and even governments may have scholarships available. 4. Check applic...

Hello everyone, So yesterday afternoon I gave a presentation at Akashi College about Finland. I talked about Finnish culture, customs and said a few words about the history. One of the main topics of my presentation was education in both Finland and in Australia. I don't normally like presentations and I was super nervous all day yesterday! But luckily a few minutes after I started the presentation I felt more relaxed. I still can't believe I actually spoke in front of people for over an hour!!! I feel very happy that I had the courage to do it. I hope everyone who came to watch the presentation really enjoyed it. If anyone still has any questions, don't be shy and come talk to me if you see me at the Global Terrace. Or you can even leave a comment in the blog. I am also happy to send the powerpoint slides to anyone who is interested. I hope that some of you feel more confident about looking into studying overseas, whether it is for a short exchange or completin...