Greetings, faithful readers.
I'm writing to you from a beautiful campus where I will be learning Japanese over the next two months. At breakfast this morning, I learned that some, if not most, of the instructors came here from Japan specifically just to teach this program. Beginning tomorrow, I'm signing away my right to speak English, so I'm taking this opportunity to communicate in the best way I know how. Tomorrow, though, you better be Japanese or be a wizard with Google Translate (hint: Google Translate is not your friend when reading Japanese). To be clear, as this presents the proctors of the program as strict, marching, commandants, who will slap me with a ruler if I speak English, they do allow for it if we need to go to the bookstore, for instance, and just ask us to keep chat with family and close friends to a minimum. Myself, I'd like to speak as little English as possible, but I'm not yet sure how much outside support I'm going to need. I've already met some good people in the school, many of whom are in my level, so I think I've got the foundations for a support system out here. Counseling is included in the program fee. Because yeah, it's that intense.
This evening, we have an orientation and reception. Then, bright and early tomorrow morning, we're committing to living as close to Japanese as we can. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to review my kanji, go for a run and break a sweat, and then I'm going exploring with some friends!
また明日！
