It‘s been a long ass time since I last updated here, and then I was at a melodramatic low point in life (which happens less and less, but still does T_T). Still, I felt the need to update now. Better late than never, am I right?
This whole year at HÍ has been like a dream come true. Tomorrow‘s the final final exam of this year, an exam in listening. Later this month, our two lovely TA teachers, Matsuda-sensei and Kiyotoki-sensei will return back to Japan and in 2~3 months, so will our main teacher, Tanii-sensei, do as well. It‘s sad that we need to part with such amazing people, but we‘ve made promises (the class and them) to each other to see each other again in Japan. That would be so much fun. I can‘t wait.
Tanii-sensei has been so helpful to me, and opened a few doors for me. Just recently, she asked me to take part in „Háskólalestin“ (basically, the university travels to a couple of towns and promotes all kinds of things, including Japanese study). I accepted, and will go every weekend (from Friday to Saturday) with some Japanese folk, to promote Japanese culture. It‘ll be challenging for me, but also a lot of fun and I can‘t wait. A friend of mine wanted to tag along, and we had been told she could, but due to money problems, the school can only afford one student. However, there is one day she could come, due to the fact that it‘s only a whole day, and I‘m hoping she‘s allowed to tag along then. <3
Earlier this year, February-ish, us first years took an old level-4 JLPT test, because Tanii-sensei wanted to see how much we could get. Out of 400 points, I got 393 points. ... and I didn‘t even study for that/those tests. :< Tanii-sensei asked me if to take the old level-2 test, but at first I told her I was no where near that level and would probably do badly. She said that she knew I wouldn‘t do that good, but she thought I had vocabulary for it and wanted me therefore to try it. Another student in the 2nd year would also take it. Hearing that, I told her I‘d challenge it.
A week later, me and the 2nd year student took it. It was a really challenging test. The listening part was super easy, but twice I kind of zoned out, and missed vital parts of information that I needed. ;_; The reading part was.... interesting. Tons and tons of text. Both of us taking it were like „...... huh.“ But I did my best, I answered every question and left nothing blank. Afterwards, the teachers, us, and a couple of students having extra classes (including my friend) ate a delicious mango cake and macarons. The day after, we got our results.
..... Out of 400 points, 260 were needed to pass. And I got 280. I still can‘t figure out how I did that. To this day, it still amazes me. I thought I was nowhere near the level of being able to pass this test, but I did. It upped my confidence so high, I felt like crying. My teachers were surprised and very pleased with my test. The other student, albeit very good at Japanese, got under 200 points, and he studies almost every day. It is strange that I passed, but I have to thank my brain, out of all things. I think a big reason why I passed is also Arashi. I watch their shows, dramas, etc, without subs most of the time, and I‘ve forced myself to understanding them. Through the shows, I learn many new words, kanji and grammar and it‘s also a really fun way of studying.
A couple of weeks ago we held a „mini“ speech contest for the first year students. We were divided into two groups, and each group had 3 prices. We also had Japanese people listening in and giving us points, or writing down thoughts on each student‘s speech. It was very nervewrecking, but I did my best. The speech we had to perform was actually an essay Tanii-sensei wanted us to write, about an interesting family member. I wrote about my father. When we were announcing, the people in my group were a lady that had been introducing to us an university we could exchange to, and Japan‘s ambassador‘s wife, as well as two Japanese exchange students. I was really nervous, and it was probably very audible, but I really did my best. And I guess it was good enough, because I got first prize in my group. Not long ago, we got the comments from the judges and most of my comments said that my Japanese sounded very natural, that they heard that I had rich vocabulary and high grammatical capability and that my pronounciation was great. One even wrote down that I excelled the others. This also upped my confidence, and made me feel proud of myself.
Basically, these teachers have made me feel so appreciated as well as helped to improve my confidence in myself. I really cannot thank them enough. This year so far has been more than wonderful.
I will update sometime soon, hopefully, as well as during the summer.
