So, it's been a while since I posted round here! How've you all been?

I guess studywise the last 6 months has been a little slow for me... didn't really learn much new vocab at all! Although I think that was partially due to passing N1 in July and then going to Japan for a holiday so that urgency of gotta study gotta study gotta study dropped away a bit and I just continued to live in my immersion environment and use Japanese as a part of my every day life like normal.

However, I got into university so if I can get a B+ average in 2012 then in 2013 I can do an exchange year to Japan. Hence, the gotta study gotta study gotta study mentality has returned. Most unis in Japan seem to only have crappy cultural programs taught in English except Hiroshima and Touhoku university which by the looks of it so long as you have N1 you are free to study alongside the regular students. I'm going to be studying computer science (go figure) and am very excited about the whole thing... finally moving on to the next step in life sort of thing.

Studying in Jap wouldn't pose too much of a problem, except when it comes to writing I can only write like a primary schooler... so in order to combat this problem I'm thinking of keeping a dairy this year. A dream journal in particular but I suppose I can use it for regular diary stuff if I want to...

Also plan on losing 20 ~ 30kg... not an easy thing to do but you don't wanna be fat in Japan. All this pressure to improve myself has been one of the best things about the whole experience of learning Japanese for me so I welcome the challenge with open arms.

It's kinda shocked me how lax the last 6 months have been for me in terms of Japanese study... gotta keep kicking it in the ass.

G'day mate, welcome back.

Interesting that you're worried about writing ability. Is that mainly exams? Can't say i remember writing that much in compsci.

Long time no see, mezbup! Great seeing you back on the forums!
Sounds like a great plan to me! I'm thinking about doing the same thing actually. I'm currently doing a double major in Japanese and Political Science, and I'm thinking about doing an exchange year next year to study Japanese Politics.

Good luck with everything! You've done an awesome job until now - keep it up!

Well 万が一 I guess. I suppose it's also the last thing on the list to polish off. I mean, as an adult it's a skill that's expected of you even if it's not used and if I'm going to be living there for a year and going to uni then I definitely don't want to be stuck without it.

As far as my life in NZ goes it is kind of a pain in the ass when someone gives you a birthday card to write in and says write so and so a message and you have to admit you can't really write for shit despite being able to speak and read no problemo. Haha.

woah, are you me?

I'm also hoping to do an exchange (half) year in 2013, while studying software engineering and aiming for Touhoku university.
Though I might have to postpone/drop this plan if I can't get my japanese to an acceptable level, so that my university lets me apply for exchange (and I myself am confident enough on my japanese to do so..).

First of all, it is indeed a great plan, mezbup. And you do have the advantage of being at quite an awesome level to begin with, which makes it much easier (unlike me, not even sure if I was able to pass N4). Go for it!

Clasu Wrote:Though I might have to postpone/drop this plan if I can't get my japanese to an acceptable level, so that my university lets me apply for exchange (and I myself am confident enough on my japanese to do so..).

Exactly the same situation I'm in, Clasu. I'm doing a double major in Letters (Portuguese and Japanese) and my university has exchange agreements with several Japanese ones, but the main obstacle really is getting my language skills to an acceptable level. My grades and my curriculum are quite good, but I have a LONG way to go regarding my Japanese... I'm going to give it all throughout the next year so that I can try and go to Japan in 2013.

Dream journals are awesome. I like having access to my dream journals online, so I use http://www.lucidipedia.com/ to journal. But that doesn't really help your writing problem

Good luck, I don't see a lot of value in being able to write for me, since computers and keitai's are so prevalent. You can always whip out your keitai and copy the text from it if you're worried about things like bday cards.