I have always been interested in foreign cultures and languages. Therefore I decided to participate in this exchange program with Curtin university. I would like to put importance on improving English skills, feeling some differences between Japan and Australia and interacting native speakers. Regarding English, I want to get some skills that I can talk in English with specific terms fluently. And also, I want to learn cultures or way of thinking which I can’t learn in Japan through the club activities, life in dormitory and conversation. Lastly, my final goal is to find what I want to do in my future. I have a dream that I want to make connections between Japan and other countries as my job by taking advantage of my English skills and experiences. However, it is too abstract. Therefore, I want to define my future dream through this study. And also I want to make this exchange program worthy.

It’s been about half a year since I arrived in Australia and I’m at the turn of this exchange program now. In the begging, I started by getting used to their English. I sometimes got a hard time in classes and daily conversations because Australian English is a bit different from American English, which I was used to hearing. Also since most of the students are international students, I had many opportunities to listen to English spoken by people from various countries. After I got used to this environment, I had less trouble in classes and conversations. Outside of school life, I feel that my personality has changed. In the begging, when I had opportunities to talk with others at events, I rarely tried to talk to them. It might have occurred because of my lack of confidence in my English. However, after living here for couple months, I became more confident in my English and began to talk to other students. I believe this kind of experience is hard to come by in Japan, so it was definitely good experience for me. From now on, I will also do my best to make my last semester an opportunity to train my English as well as review myself more.