I have had a blog for a total of one day now, and have dreaded composing my first post. If you have never had a blog before, I suggest you create one -- there's nothing better for exploring one's own self-confidence than writing an entirely public diary. Truthfully, I've never actually kept a diary (even those of a more private variety), and thought that perhaps having people holding me accountable would encourage posting. Unlikely. I've already faced so many unforeseen issues with this blog than I could ever have expected. A title, for instance. I wanted something witty, yet professional. Catchy, but meaningful. Fun, but serious. Easy, right? Absolutely not... After a bit of thinking, I decided on "From Kansas to Kansai". You know, because I'm from Kansas, but I'll be studying abroad in the Kansai region of Japan? Hey, I already said I wasn't too impressed with my mental prowess on this one...
Another issue I encountered was the formatting. I am pretty unfamiliar with blogging sites, but Blogger uses HTML (I'm not sure if this is unique or not...). At first I was pretty excited, since I was pretty good with HTML in my day. Then I remembered that "in my day" was about seven years ago, and that I can recall virtually nothing about how to actually use HTML and must therefore relearn everything. That fact forced me to add yet another bullet to my growing to-do list, an event that results in a not-so-happy Leah.
Privacy settings are also causing me problems. I really don’t want my personal information floating around everywhere, but I also want the blog to be somewhat personal. This blog will hopefully serve two purposes – it will essentially be my personal journal, but I hope that it can also be a reference to other people who want to study in Japan, or go to Japan, or like Japan, etc. Anyway, serving as a guide and trying to remain anonymous are two conflicting ideas, but I’ll be trying to find a better way of not seeming too abstract, while also reserving what needs to stay personal.
Finally, I have come to the conclusion that I flat-out do not like to write. I love to read, and assumed it would transcend fields. I was very, very wrong on this account. Here’s my problem: I am simply not witty enough to warrant a lot of writing. I also don’t have the vocabulary required to sound any sort of intelligent. It had never really bothered me before – I can write shopping lists and refrigerator notes like a maniac, but anything more intense than a greeting card, it seems, is out of the question. Hopefully my writing will improve (or I’ll learn to ignore dignity, I’m not too picky) over the next five months that I’ll be forced to blog.
Now, this blog was created to document my experience studying abroad in Japan. I leave in less than two weeks, a fact that I have yet to truly absorb. I got my Visa in the last few days, which was a long and drawn out procedure I would recommend to only the bravest of souls. First I needed to buy my plane tickets, which lightened my wallet by about $1,500. Okay, my parents paid, but that’s beside the point. Then I had to send my travel and personal information to the school I will be attending in Japan, and they, in turn, relayed the information to the Japanese Embassy who cleared me for entry into the country. They sent the information back to the school and the school sent this special little "Certificate of Eligibility" back to me. This process took over a month. Then I sent the certificate to the Japan Consulate in Chicago in order to get my Visa, and received it nearly two weeks later (due to a combination of shipping and the Consulate being closed through the holidays). Okay, it wasn’t too strenuous, but it was certainly frustrating. But now I have a cute little page in my Passport that says I’m a bona fide college student.
With official matters out of the way, the two important necessities left are finances and packing. I’m doing my best to ignore both until absolutely necessary, but those days are certainly approaching. The financial aspect should be pretty straightforward – get enough money to live off of for a semester and open an account at a Japanese bank. Goodbye, college savings… Packing will be the more taxing endeavor. How does one pack for living out of a suitcase for a semester? I have a suitcase packed to the brim when I go away for a weekend, so needless to say, I might have to learn how to be a little more reserved with my packing. Getting back will be the more difficult issue – after all, I will have everything I left with, plus what I expect to be an endless supply of souvenirs. But we’ll face that bridge later…
Well, there it is – my first blog entry. Not too shabby, hopefully… So, what is the proper way of ending a blog post? Sincerely? Love? Best regards? Yes, I realize it’s not a letter, but I don’t much care. This blogging thing is turning out to be far more trouble than I expected.
Hey, it's John from MSampersandT. I thought I'd say hello since your posts looked lonely without any comments.
ReplyDeleteI think if your writing is good enough that you can use more then one four-syllable word in a sentence without spelling anything wrong, you're good enough to get by on the internet. Just say what comes naturally and don't worry about it. Besides, a lot of famous writers don't even especially enjoy it. The only difference between Robert Heinlen, for example, and anyone else was that after he started, Heinlen started to get physically ill if he didn't write for too long. But I wouldn't worry about you getting quite that attached to the field.