追憶〜京都への冒険2018

This one isn’t polished, and maybe not complete — but here it is anyway.

The year was 2018, and I was a second year COMP student at UNSW. At the time, I was taking Japanese courses, but I couldn’t take Japanese 1B due to my schedule. During one tutorial, my Japanese sensei told me about the Ritsumeikan Winter Japanese Program so that I could continue my Japanese 2A studies. I was very interested because I could finally not only visit Japan, but also study there for a whole month as well. I knew the time has came.

It was rather challenging applying for the program because I originate from China, so I had to have a medical checkup to prove that I didn’t have tuberculosis. In the end, my application was accepted, and I was ready to go to Japan, but not quite. I needed a visa, a business visa to be exact because I was staying in Japan just over a month. A tourist visa wouldn’t work due to the duration of stay. After all this, I was finally ready to visit Japan.

Adventure in Kyoto

It was January 9th 2018 when I landed at Kansai International Airport from Beijing. The airport was on an artificial island, and it was shocking to me. My friend was already waiting for me there so we could go to Kyoto together. It took us about an hour to get to Kyoto station. Then, we had to take another JR train to Emmachi Station. Finally, we walked to our dormitory. It was a long journey, but it was enjoyable for us.

I was in Kyoto until the 10th of February. Many things happened during the month. Everyday, we were studying Japanese in the morning and went for cultural activities in the afternoon. We also had lots of free time to further explore Kyoto during weekends. This 4 week was the happiest time in my life. When was I like that last time? I kept looking forward to the next day because I knew it would be better than today. My family also joined me in Kyoto as they were travelling from Tokyo.