July 23, 2016

I have been at my second host family’s house for two weeks now, and everything is going smoothly. My parents are still wonderful, and my roommate helps me with my homework.

As part of the program, every student is required to do an independent study project. For my project, I am conducting interviews of local Japanese Catholics to see how Japanese culture and language affects the practices of Catholics of a non-Western country. So far, the results have been fascinating. The project should conclude before I write my next post, so I will share my conclusions next time.

Beyond this, I am mostly doing homework and studying. On occasion, I have the opportunity to go out with friends. It is always a blast to be able to wander around a Japanese city with the ability to communicate with the locals. So far, this has been the most fun part of learning Japanese. I cannot wait to improve even more so that I can communicate more effectively and efficiently.

Here is a picture of me in my yukata:

And here is a picture of me making melon pan: