Welcome to 4 more days.

Seriously. Time. Slow the fuck down.

The last couple of days was filled with shopping and organizing (and by organizing, I meant dumping my crap in a corner of the room) what I need/want to bring with me to Japan. I need to review my Japanese this weekend, and I meant to do some reviewing for the past week or so but... Katekyo Hitman Reborn is taking over mah soul. A friend of mine recommended the series so I decided to check it out. The first 20 episodes are, whatever. I skipped a few episodes in the beginning but after episode mid-20-something, it becomes SO GOOD. Like, HOLY SHIT AWESOME GOOD.

Oh, and I need to overdose on some 8059 in hyper mode, please. < / fangirl rant >

Anyways, 4 more days. But why Japan? You have no idea (or maybe you do. I don't know, I can't read your mind) how many times I heard that question. My reason? I choose to attend the Asian Studies Program at Kansai Gaidai University because I wanted to learn Japanese. Oxford College does not offer a Japanese course, and I didn't want to wait until I transferred over to Emory University to take Japanese 101 as a junior. I already completed all the requirements needed to graduate from Oxford and so, instead of wasting a whole semester taking LOL-worthy classes, I decided to study abroad. Besides, I am an International Studies major. I need to study abroad at some point.

I want to learn Japanese because I like how it sounds. I like studying it. I enjoy listening to a voice message from a Japanese album or watching a backstage video and going "HOLY FUCK, I KNOW THAT WORD! HE SAID BLUE! AND DREAM!" Sure, I watch anime. I read manga. I play video games. I watch foreign television dramas, particularly Japanese and Korean, and sometimes Taiwanese. My reasons to learn Japanese isn't anything earth-shattering, if anything it's for my own personal gain and amusement. Point blank, I want to be able to understand the shet that I'm into instead of relying on translations or subtitles.

But it's not just that. For years, I've been reading blogs and seeing pictures that people post from all parts of Japan. Buildings, temples, the city and country life, the utter LOL products that the Japanese produce, and quite honestly, I want to experience and see that for myself. Something different from my own culture and society that I'm used to seeing daily. Am I expecting perfection? Fuck no. I know that I'm going to experience culture shock. Maybe I'll be miserable for the first couple of days or weeks going "WTF". Whatever the case may be, I'm ready to learn and grow from the good and the bad of my study abroad experience.

People tend to stereotype why I want to go to Japan. "Oh, you're going there because of anime." Sure, anime got me interested in the Japanese culture, I'm not going to lie. But from anime did I get an interest in Japanese music. And from Japanese music did I go, "what the fuck are they talking about?" and pursued to learn the language on my own. And from there, I watched Japanese dramas, movies, game shows, and was fascinated at the little mannerisms and behaviors that the Japanese generally have that made me want to learn more about this culture in a sociological viewpoint. Why do they do the things they do? And after awhile, I wanted to learn more about East Asia (one of my close friends is from China and she loves telling anyone anything China. Seriously, don't get her started LOL)

But it's not just East Asia. Lately, I've been fascinated by Eastern Europe and its relation to Russia. I love learning about their interactions with each other and with the rest of the world. I currently don't have a desire to visit these countries, but I want to at some point in the future. So I'm not solely focused on Japan and East Asia. Europe has my love as well. Hell, Eurasia in general is just fucking fascinating to learn about.

So I can't stand it when people just make assumptions that Japan = ANIME LAND. Honestly, grow the fuck up. Do you really think I'm going to another country soley for one particular type of Japanese entertainment? Because I can just stay right here in America and get the same damn thing (oh, holy internet you~). Like furreal people. That just saddens me, okay?

Wow. I think that'll be the longest post I'll ever write in this blog. But I'm glad I'm able to express my reasons for going to Japan. I'm doing it for myself and myself only. If you don't agree, well. That's your problem.