漢字、ひらがな、カタカナ ♡ Studying Japanese

As many of you know very well by now, I'm an undergraduate student in Japanese studies, which includes language classes and since my dear fellow blogger Jessie from Bijou Heart asked me about it, I decided to put up a small something for everyone, who wants to study Japanese or is studying Japanese or just generally interested in this kind of stuff: 

How do I study for my Japanese classes?

Generally, I should start with explaining, that I was always rather strong in the academic language/fine arts field, which means - for example - that I learned my second language, English, rather easily (this does not so much apply for my third language, French, that I learned for 6 years but can't remember nor use most of now, whatsoever).

Also, I'm a really ambitious student, which means that I study and work a lot.

But that's something, I honestly think you need to do if you want to do well in a language, that you can't practise as much in your everyday life (at least if you're not living in a community with a large number of Japanese members, that form an inviroment where you're forced and/or encouraged to practise and use what you've learned). 

I will focus on written Japanese and how to study kana and kanji, since the different alphabet appears to be one of the biggest obstacles when people try to approach a language that is so different from European languages.

And though there shouldn't be any reason to be scared of them, overcoming the fear of contact with kanji is freaking hard. Even now, in my 4th year, a text that bristles with characters I don't know strikes a weird kind of fear into my body.
If you want to read about spoken Japanese, let me know in a comment below and I will try to make it happen.

     

2015 in a nutshell ♡ 2016 resolutions

I hope you all made it over to 2016 in one piece and spent an enjoyable New Year's Eve with people you like. I spent my New Year's Eve with my boyfriend and two of my best friends (we played Mario Kart and Mario Party and drank tea).

As promised I will combine a small 2015 résumé and the annual new year's resolution post today and make it one spectacle of memories and promises for the month that still lie ahead of us.

2015 in a nutshell would probably look something like that:

      

5 things to do for a little rebound ♡

The holiday season is not necessarily a time with lots of space for relaxation, especially if you have a big family and therefore many lunches and dinners and brunches (urgh, way too much food) to attend but because it's still the two weeks at the end of the year that you can spend hidden from university stress and working schedules (at least to some extent), we should try some slow movement to let our minds and bodies rest from all the work and stress and responsibilities.

I am a person who struggles to get out of the habitual jog and stress without feeling painfully fallow which then frustrates me. 

One reason more to share some tips with which I try to get out of it to finally get a break of some sort - which lead me to today's topic: 5 things to do for a little rebound.

시작이 반이다 ♡ traveling to South Korea

I'm starting this introductory post for the upcoming postings about Korea with a Korean proverb in the title:
시작이 반이다 "shijaki banida" - Starting is half the task.

After finally making up my mind, I think it is about time, that I gather my ideas and thoughts and talk about my trip to South Korea and the time I spent on the other side of the planet.

Traveling is life just as life is traveling vice versa. - Jean Paul

旅心は里心になった。♡ yen to see distant places

旅心は里心になった。

"wanderlust became homesickness." is the title of today's update. 

The last about my trip to Japan, back in spring 2014. I can't believe how long it took me to actually share everything I experienced and I still think there are a lot of things, I could not include or simply wasn't able to express with words.

   

study and organisation tips

It is always kind of hard to get into the 'back to school' feeling in spring - when there are no offers for supplies and pretty much no one cares about your university necissities.

The pattern of my first 12 years of education differs so much from what university is like, where I live. The school year - up until I graduated - started in August or September and ended in June/July.

However as soon as you change to university, things change likewise.

Now, I have summer terms and winter terms and it actually makes a lot more sense to me.

The terms itself however can feel like a whole school year felt to me a few years ago.

Getting back to school is a big topic in general. If you look it up you'll find thousands of hits, clicks, pins, tweets, tips, videos and whatnot. Everyone gets excited about their latest supply haul, new markers and planners and I'm no exception.

Though it means getting back into schedules and having a lot of work already peeking up in the distance, I like these times of the year.

It's really motivating and after a break of roughly a month, going back to a regular schedule for everyday, with appointments and deadlines {that guarantee to keep you busy} seems kind of desirable and I find myself looking forward to it a lot.

I always was the kid that enjoyed going to school anyway, but that's another topic.

Since the 'back to school' time differs a lot between university and school - unless you're from South Korea or Japan {the two countries I know, where the school year starts in spring} - I decided to post this here kind off-time - but in synchro with my personal schedule.

I will share general tips and rules I try to stick with, to make my study routine more efficient and fun. I can't reinvent the wheel, whatsoever so you probably heard of the things I'm going to talk about already.

words ♡ 初心忘るべからず

 "We should not forget our beginner’s spirit"
初心忘るべからず

I decided to start today's update with this Japanese saying. 

It's one of my favorites and suits the situation quite perfectly. As many of you know; I went to Japan from March 3rd and returned March 31st 2014. I'm still writing updates about my experiences on my JAPAN tag, here.

In memory of this - my first - trip to Japan, I decided to give away some details about me and my intentions to start the degree course I'm currently in and how my interest for Japan and East-Asia in general, were formed and shaped from early childhood until now.

This post will be kind of sincere and personal and with a lot of text passages - I would really much appreciate comments and feedback since I haven't spoken that honestly and directly on this blog in some while and I would like to know how my readership thinks about it.

2015 ✧ new years resolutions

A new year has started and though I usually spend my NYE quietly with my family or closest friends I watch a lot of people getting really motivated once the new year has arrived and we need to get used to write a 15 instead of 14, though it will probably take 5month until we finally get a grip of the new number.

I really enjoy seeing people breaking free and out of their usual habits, looking for a change in them.

It's inspirational and motivating and so I want to share my resolutions, here with you, too.