steph's blog

My to-do list is looking much healthier now, so I’m a lot less stressed.

The list, in rough order:

• Ask Nishimura-sensei for a reference DONE! She’ll send it to the International Centre when she’s written it.
• Make a doctor’s appointment to get the medical form done DONE! Certified healthy :)
• Make another appointment at the International Centre (this will determine the deadline for all these other things… they’re rushed off their feet at the moment doing visas for the international students, so it might be a while. I hope they’re open over the break) DONE! Appointment next Monday
  
• Finish writing those damn essays Done!  Though to varying standards.  The application one is better than the accomodation, but surely it’s more important, so that’s okay
• Get ten million passport photos DONE! They’re really ugly though
• Pick up my transcript when it’s ready DONE!
• Remind McNeil-sensei to do my reference Done!  Well, the reminding.  We’ll see tomorrow if he’s actually written it yet
• HAND EVERYTHING IN
• DO A HAPPY DANCE
• Catch up on all the classwork I’ve been slacking on while stressing over this D:

I really, truly envy people who are good with words. Writing essays – hell, even writing blog posts – is always such a struggle for me. I would love to just be able to knock these things out and know that they’re going to have the effect I want, rather than agonizing over every word.

This particular bout of jealousy is brought on by trying to fill in the application forms for Kansai Gaidai. An essay about my ‘educational objectives’ to help the admissions committee know me better ‘as a person’. Another about my ‘personality and character’ to assist in making an appropriate match with a homestay family. This is like a kind of torture to me. Every time I think about writing these I just feel so overwhelmed and end up putting it off. But I want to get this application finished before the Easter break, so I have to perservere :/

(not even thinking about the huge looming problem of getting references. just. ignoring it.)

I just really, really need for this to all work out. I don’t even know what I’ll do if I don’t get accepted, especially now that I’ve told several people about my plans, so every little problem I encounter stresses me out to a ridiculous degree. The other day I went over to the international center to make an appointment with the guy I talked to last year, to check that I’m on track with everything, and the lady at the desk said there wasn’t a ‘Simon’ working there and made me an appointment with Mark instead. So of course I jumped on the Uni website and saw that there is in fact a Simon, and now I’m worried that this appointment is with the completely wrong guy and I’ll look like an idiot (and, possibly worse, have to wait another week for another appointment).

*sigh* Why so useless, self. Just get on with it and stop stressing.

I’ve started this blog so I can write about my preparations for, and hopefully experiences while, going on a student exchange later this year. My destination: Kansai Gaidai’s Asian Studies Programme.

I started the process last year, and was accepted into the Waikato Study Abroad Programme, a step in the right direction! I was told to leave everything else until A Semester 2009, so now here I am, in the first week of classes, with a to-do list that feels suddenly overwhelming. The main problem points being:

• I have to write about my goals and motivations and reasons for wanting to go on exchange, and why they should accept me. I am not an eloquent writer :/ My draft application has these boxes filled in with JAPAN ♥ ♥
• I need 3 references from University level instructors. I have only had one Japanese lecturer at Uni. I’ll also ask the lecturer who taught the Japanese History paper I did… in 2006… and hope he remembers me. But who else can I ask? I suppose I’ll have to pick one of the Biology department lecturers, but even if they remember me I was never a stand out student or, y’know, gave any hint of motivation to go study in Japan back then D:
• Waikato wants to know what classes I intend to take at Gaidai so they can approve credit transfers, but class sign ups don’t happen until I’m over there, and the order we get to sign up is decided by lottery so I might not have a chance to get the one’s I’ll be telling Waikato I’ll do :/

ANYWAY. First things first, I need to make an appointment with the exchange adviser to go over all this. Before I meet with him I’ll make a proper effort at filling in the forms. I also need an appointment with McNeil-sensei, who is in charge of credit transfers and such relating to the Japanese department.

And I must remember to be GENKI~ at all these meetings.  I am a sparkly snowflake and Japan would be lucky to have me~~~!  Ugh.  This might be difficult.