Monday, June 30, 2014

Melbourne!!!

Finally, I arrived in Melbourne!!! The airplane left Japan at 8:50 pm the day before yesterday, and arrived in Sidney at around 7:00 am (in Japan, 6:00 am) yesterday. We had another flight from Sidney to Melbourne. It left at 10:00 am and arrived at around 12:00. It was very long flight, and I could not sleep well, so I'm a little tired now.

After the long flight, we met with our host families. At first, I was very nervous because this is the first time to go abroad and I worried about my poor English level.  But now, I'm in a good state because all of the members of my host family was very kind to me. In addition, we walked around the university I will go to yesterday. The city has both modern and old buildings, and they are beautiful. While we were walking around, I had many oppotunities to tell about myself or my opinion of the scenery. Moreover, the host mother told me ask questions whenever I have. Thus, now I can talk with them without worry.

Today, the English course we will attend starts. I'll do my best to learn!!!


Thursday, June 26, 2014

Preparing for Winter

The day after tomorrow, I'll go to Australia and spend six weeks there. So, now I'm preparing clothes and other things for my trip. As you know, Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere, so the country is going to be in winter soon. And the most difficult things to prepare is to choose which winter clothes I will bring. First, winter clothes are usually heavier and thicker than summer clothes. Therefore, I should think which clothes I really need. Otherwise, the weight of my suitcase will be over the air company's limit. Second, of course, Japan is in summer now, so it is difficult to imagine how cold winter is. What is worse, I have to feel clothes which are made from wool or other warm materials in my hot room. It's awful! However, I must endure this to make my trip more comfortable.

During the stay, I'm going to write this blog as much as I can. Maybe my blog will help you feel a little cool with the words, "Today was very very cold and windy." or "The temperature is 4 degrees now!" and so on.

I hope my first trip and study abroad will be successful and enjoyable. And I also hope all of you will have nice summer holidays!!!

Friday, June 13, 2014

The Finish Line Is Near!!!

Today, we had a test about The Old Man and the Sea. This was an essay type test, so it was a little difficult for me because I'm not good at writing. Actually, I prepared for the test by choosing a theme and writing about it. And when the test began, I wrote the same things on the paper. However, in a few minutes, I wanted to change the topic. Then I erased and started to write again from the beginning. So, I finished writing just in time, but I could only one sentence for concluding. I hope I can get a good grade.

Anyway, next Monday is a deadline of our five paragraph essays. And Tuesday is the last day of this term. Finish line is close to us!!! I will do my best on the finishing touch!

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Zozozo......Zotero!!!

Yesterday's class was "introduction of Zotero." Have you ever heard "Zotero"? Zotero is a very useful citation tool. When we want to use an article on the internet in our essays, we just move the cursor up to address bar and click an icon that says "Save to Zotero." And by doing just a few operation, we can do not only in-text citations but also putting information in bibliographies. However, Zotero is not a perfect tool, so we have to remember and re-check what information is needed in each pattern of citation. I want to use this tool and cite correctly in my essay.

The Monday's Class

In Monday's ARW class, we learned about how to write an introduction in an essay. According to Little Brown Handbook (LBH), openings to avoid are...


  1. A vague generality or truth.
  2. A flat announcement.
  3. A reference to the essay's title.
  4. According to Webster...  This means that you shouldn't begin by telling dictionary's definition.
  5. An apology.


I think I must keep these in my mind; otherwise I will start to write with any of these things.

Actually, I have to write a 3 page-essay for History of Western Music class by next Tuesday. However, I haven't started to write it yet. What is worse, I haven't read books about the theme. I should begin as soon as possible and use the knowledge about how to write an essay that I learned in this class. I hope my essay will become a good one.

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Not Be Defeated!

"Man can be destroyed but not defeated." This is the words of Santiago who is the main character in The Old Man and the Sea. This was said after sharks attacked, tore, and ate his giant Marlin. I think this phrase is similar to a well-known Japanese proverb, "Nanakorobi Yaoki." This means that a person stumbles seven times, but he/she recovers eight times.
As long as we live it is inevitable for us to encounter bad things we don't want to. Some of them may be other person 's or people's own faults, and others may be things no one can control, for example, nature. Sometimes we may feel discouraged, and cannot do anything and anymore. However, we should never give up. We should stand up again. This is a powerful and useful message, I think.

Unfourtunately, the author of this novel, Earnest Hemingway committed suicide with a short gun. It is said that this suicide was because of his psychological disease. It might have be unavoidable, but it is a sad story for readers who received the message"Not be defeated. "

Friday, June 6, 2014

Fictions

I'm so sorry to write the blog at this time (Oh, I wrote same sentence in the last time!).

In the last class, we learned about 3Bs in fiction. What's that? 3Bs are Background, Biography, and Bias. These points are important things to know when we read fictions. By doing so, we can deepen our understanding of the story and it will easy to make interpretations.

Other things we learned were "compassion and love" in a novel, "The Old Man and the Sea." We recognized compassion between the old man and the boy many times in the book. They have a strong and nice relationship through whole story, and at the end of it, I felt something warm in my heart, how he needed the boy, and how the boy loved and respected him.

This time I read so fast to catch up with the class, but I want to read it again more thoroughly if I have time to do it.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

The Old Man and the Sea

First, I'm sorry for writing this article at this time. I couldn't finish this yesterday.

Anyway, in ARW class, we are now working on reading a famous novel, "The Old Man and the Sea."  According to this article, I learned the writer of this novel, Earnest Hemingway was a difficult person unlike Santiago, who is a main character of this novel. However, there are also similarities between them. Both of Hemingway and Santiago are physically strong men and like fishing. The article has a picture of Hemingway, and I thought my image of Santiago was the person who was in the picture. Hemingway's eyes are little scary, but except this, he was Santiago.

Also, I read a material about stoicism in this novel. In this book, Santiago wasn't able to catch fish for 84 days, but he never give up until he caught a fish. Even when he was in a bad situation, he took it positively. This is important and necessary things to live through tough situation. As for me, I tend to take things negatively, so I admire his mental strength. I think I must follow his attitude and never lose my hope. Because my name is "hope."

Sunday, June 1, 2014

A Heavy Day...

The last weed has ended, and a new week starts. Although I had a few big events in the week, I felt so busy and tired. Why? Perhaps, I had two exams on the last Friday.

One was a mid-term exam of Principles of Language Learning and Teaching class. The content of this exam was based on a textbook that was not used in our classes. So I had to read and understand the book all by myself. At the beginning of April, I made a reading plan. However, since I had had a lot of homework and because of my poor time management ability, I couldn't read it little by little. As a result, by the last Monday, I could finish only five of 200 pages! That was the most terrible thing since I entered this university. Therefore, I worked hard on reading from Monday to the exam day, and I finished reading 150 pages, in other words, I couldn't finish. I don't wanna do the same things again!!! I hope I'll be a good planner and performer.

Since this blog is ARW class's journal, I'll write about the other test I had today (Sorry for a long introduction...). That was ARW's CWT about fallacies and argumentation. We learned about total to 13 fallacies through classes and homework. Some of them were easy to understand, but others were difficult to distinguish their meanings from each other. I took the test with my uncertain understanding, so my exam result was not quite good. I should examine them once again and use the knowledge when I write my essay!