50 things that surprised me when I was in Japan - Part 4

   Hey guys ! Look what I've found : the unpublished 4th part of the 50 things that surprised me when I was in Japan ! Of course, it dates back to 2016, when I first traveled to Japan, but if you've never been there yet, it might surprise you as well.
   Let's stop talking and get right into it !

1. Bathrooms

   As a first point of this article, I am going to speak about a very famous fact : Japanese bathrooms have othing to do with ours ! The washbasin is separated from the bath. The bath-room (literally speaking) is composed by… a bath, a shower head, and is built with materials that make the room completely waterproof. Yes, this means you can put water all around you !   This is the way Japanese bathrooms are made. Japanese people do not use shower stalls at all. My boyfriend was really surprised when I showed him how the French bathrooms were looking like.   But, this is understandable that Japanese bathrooms are equipped with baths only, as we know the « bath-culture » they have.

2. Onsen, or a place where you take a bath naked together with people you don't know

   Onsen are one of the most famous places in Japan ! I do believe it is worth trying. However... I would completely understand if you don't feel like doing such a thing !

[Echange au Japon] L'enfer au paradis ?

   Eh oui. encore une fois, je suis partie, et encore une fois, je reviens vous voir avec un post de retour et de blabla...

   Mais, j'ai mes raisons et, au lieu de vous faire un post de retour bateau, disant que je ferai un nouvel article bientôt, je vous propose d'appuyer sur le joli bouton READ MORE que vous voyez juste en-dessous et de découvrir ce que j'ai pu faire depuis bientôt un an.

   Déjà, sachez que je fais cet article avec une thématique bien précise : comment j'ai vécu cette année au Japon. Vous aurez (peut-être un jour, comme d'hab) d'autres articles orientés sur les expériences que j'ai eues là-bas, ou sur mes progrès en japonais. Mais ce n'est pas le sujet ici.

   Pour résumé la chose en quelques mots, je dirais que cette année m'a brisée. Je n'ai jamais été aussi bas de toute ma vie.

   Quand je suis arrivée (et si vous me suivez sur insta (@anais.dsnt), vous devez déjà le savoir), j'étais plutôt heureuse et enthousiaste de passer l'année dans ce beau pays. Nouvel appartement, bourses, copain à moins de 1000km, ... Je pense qu'il est d'hors et déjà clair que tout ne s'est pas passé comme prévu...

Exchange to Japan - A complicated arrival

   Hello everybody,

   Once again, it's been a pretty long since the last time I wrote anything here. Today I would like to tell you about everything that has happened since I came to Japan in August, and in English this time !

Yes, those are traditional clothes from Korea...

You will understand why.

   Just before that, my boyfriend came to France to spend the month with my family and I, travelling mostly France, but also Spain and Germany. On August 22nd, we left Paris, and had a transfer in Seoul.

Coming back soon

Hello guys !

   It's been sooooo long time since I haven't written a word in this blog... again ^^'

   A lot of things happened in my life recently, and I have no time to dedicate to writting articles... 

   But don't worry : I'll be coming back soon (June for sure). And, be ready to have plenty of new articles about Japan, my next trips to Spain and Germany, my exchange to Nagoya, but also new articles to find the motivation to study !

   To make you wait, I however have something that might interest you : a while ago, I made a video on YouTube with Lindie Botes (an amazing polyglot) for her series of the Polyglot Princesses ! To watch it, just click here and tell me in the comments what you thought about it !

Don't ask why. I just wanted to post a pic of my lovely kitty ~

Coucou mes petits passionnés !

   Ça fait encore un sacré bout de temps que je n'ai pas écrit sur ce blog, et je m'en excuse graaaaanndement !

   J'ai des semaines très remplies, et ça ne va pas vraiment en s'arrangeant ^^'

   Mais, ne vous inquiétez pas, je serai de retour bientôt (en juin, grand max) pour vous écrire plein de nouveaux articles sur mes voyages au Japon, bientôt en Espagne, et en Allemagne, mais aussi sur mon prochain échange à Nagoya, et sur plein de nouveaux petits conseils pour garder toute votre motivation pour étudier à l'approche de l'été !

   Pour vous faire patienter, j'ai un petit quelque chose qui pourrait bien vous intéresser : il y a déjà un moment, j'ai réalisé une vidéo avec Lindie Botes (une fille extraordinaire) pour sa série des Polyglot Princesses (inutile de vous traduire, vous aurez compris). Je vous mets le lien juste ici. N'hésitez pas à la regarder et à me dire ce que vous en avez pensé !

   Sur ce, je vous fais plein de bisous et vous dis à bientôt !

A~

50 things which surprised me when I was in Japan - Part 3

   Hello everyone ! It's been a while since I didn't write in English, isn't it ? Today, I wanted to share with you 10 supplementary things which surprised me during my trip to Japan. 

1.     Tea, tea and tea

   As a complete teaholic, I was really excited to come to Japan ! It is not a cliché : Japanese people do drink a loooot of tea. For breakfast, after your meal, in the middle of the afternoon, while eating, ... All the occasions are good to take a good cup of tea. The most famous one is green tea. Macha, Sencha, ... Japanese green teas are really tasty ! My host-mother, knowing that I really loved her tea, was filling me a bottle of hot green tea she had just made, every single day, so that I could drink it all day long.

Look at this wonderful japaneses-style teapot !

Envoyer un colis au Japon pour PAS CHER

   Cet article est dédié à tous ceux qui sont les correspondants de quelqu'un qui habite loin, très très loin de leur terre natale et qui en ont marre de se ruiner en leur envoyant trois paquets de bonbons !

   Je vous en avais parlé ici : ma toute première correspondante était une jeune fille japonaise de mon âge. Elle aimait bien la France et voulait améliorer son anglais ; j'étais (déjà à l'époque) totalement amoureuse du Japon, et je rêvais de parler la langue du pays du Soleil Levant (je ne sais jamais où mettre les majuscules dans cette expression).

   Après quelques semaines, nous avons décidé d'un commun accord de s'échanger des livres. C'est à ce moment-là que j'ai découvert que la poste doublait, voire triplait le prix des marchandises contenues à l'intérieur de mon petit colis...

Trip to Spain - San Sebastián, Irrisarri Land, and sightseeing

   Hello languages passionates and others keens on world travels ! Please, note that this is my second article in 2 weeks. I am progressing.
   One of the reasons why I did not post at all two weeks ago was that I was in Spain with my family. For the ones who follows me on instagram, you probably saw tones of pictures of the places where I went ! However, I thought it would be nice to make you a little summary of what I did, to make you discover Spain a bit through my eyes.

   Let's get started !

Day 1 - Arriving

   After 10 hours in car, we finally discovered Spain beautiful landscape ! It was kind of rainy this day, but mountains were really beautiful. The place where we slept was in the middle of nowhere, in Arantza. It is called Irrisarri Land. This was the second time that we came there. It is a quiet place, and there are a lot of activities that you can do !

   The vue from the window of our room was unexpectedly attractive, the clouds floating in the middle of the mountains.

   I had the pleasure to speak spanish with most of the staff, and I finally watched funny TV programs straight from Spain !

50 things which surprised me when I was in Japan - Part 2

   Hello everyone ! I'm back today, terribly sorry for being late, but here anyway, with the second part of my “50 things which surprised me when I came to Japan” !

   Today, let’s speak about gaijin, japanese children and restaurants.

1.     "Oh gosh, an alien !"

 Yes, strangely, this is one of the most common reaction Japanese people are going to have if they are not living in a place where they can see a lot of foreigners. As a French girl, I see a lot of different “types of faces” every single day : Asians, Blacks, Arabs, … But, this is not the same for Japanese people. I clearly saw and understood that I was different from the others : with brown curly hair and a white face, this was really obvious…

   People were looking at me, staring at me and I heard sooo many times “Oh ! Gaijin da !”. This was pretty funny to be considered as a so much special ‘thing’. But, from time to time, the interest you provoke towards others make them react a… pretty strange way. I remember once, in the underground, a group of high school students, or university students, looking at me, and making "hello" with their hands, super excited, like children.

Life update

Hey everyone !

   I finally finished my Baccalaureate exams, which means : I AM IN HOLIDAY ! (and, incidentally : I can study languages as I want !)

   So, knowing that, to make my little come back after a soooo long time, I thought that I could make a little life update !

Study

   To begin, let's speak about the project that I have for next year : I will study as well Japanese and psychology, and I am really enthusiastic about that ! These are really two things toward which I have a deep interest. The language of the land of the rising sun, and the science of the human's mind...

Languages 

   About the languages that I am learning, I'm just slowly adding some german, korean and finnish, even if my aim is to get at least an A2-level in German at the end of the summer.

   I am currently trying to rise my japanese level to a B1 level, to get myself prepare for next year, and am reading literature in English and Spanish.

50 things which surprised me when I was in Japan - Part 1

   Hello Japan lovers !

   I'm back here (after weeks, yay !) to speak about Japan. I waited a long time before writing an other article about it, but here we are !

   Japan is a country radically different from our western world so, I sometimes was really surprised by some things, some behaviours, some ways to speak. This is why I decided to make a 4-article series about what can be crazily amazing and... weird in Japan !

     1.     Courtesy

   Japanese courtesy is absolutely not a myth. As crazy as it seems, Japanese are extremely gentle, kind, with everybody, in general. If you are a gaijin, then, they are going to make their best to make you feel comfortable, and to help you sightseeing.

Voyage au Japon - Jusqu'à Fukuoka

   Coucou mes p'tits passionnés, Japan lovers et autres petits curieux, c'est en me passant en boucle la bande-son de Kimi no na wa que je vous écris ce petit article.

   Comme à mon habitude, je suis à la bourre, et pas qu'un peu ! Je me suis laissée déborder par un week-end très chargé... Mais je suis là et vais enfin vous laisser découvrir mon tout premier article sur mon voyage au Japon !

Boutique typiquement japonaise sur l'île de Nokonoshima

   J'ai énormément de choses à raconter, et en même temps très peu sur ce voyage...

Voyage au Japon : mes appréhensions, mes attentes

   Coucou mes petits passionnés, je m'excuse de mon retard de publication : j'ai eu un week-end et une semaine plutôt chargés !

   Je viens tout juste d'avoir un premier contact avec la famille japonaise qui m'accueillera dans, maintenant une petite dizaine de jours ! La gentillesse et la bienveillance des Japonais m'impressionnera toujours.

   J'ai également commencé à lire Las Luces de Septiembre de Carlos Ruiz Zafón en espagnol. La couverture est très attractive et j'ai hâte de me lancer enfin dans un livre en espagnol autre que Divergente. J'ai l'impression de sentir un côté un peu plus littéraire chez Zafón (ou peut-être est-ce dû à la traduction de la saga de Roth) mais, ne parlant pas espagnol vraiment couramment, je ne peux rien affirmer...

   Je vous ai déjà fait un article sur mes sentiments quant à mon prochain départ pour le Japon, mais, cet article va explorer un tout autre sujet : d'une part mes appréhensions, d'autre part, mes attentes. Deux thèmes qui évoquent d'une certaine manière le voyage en lui-même et l'immersion dans une culture aux antipodes de ma petite France.

How am I feeling about going to Japan ?

Hello to you, Japan lovers !

   A while ago, I thought that it would be good to write an article about how I feel since I know that I am going to Japan.

   Well I think I have a deep problem with this word..., when 2016 was slowly beginning, I was deseperatly looking for a way to go to Japan before my Bac, because, I wasn't sure to be able to express myself for 10 minutes in Japanese only, and also because I absolutly wanted to see, to visit this wonderful country before going to university.

   Tôkyô or Fukuoka ? With or without homestay ? In summer or in October's holiday ? ...

   However, during all this period I felt a deep excitment ! I was comparing the different type of school I could choose, the different things I could experience.

   When I finally found Wahaha in Fukuoka, found a way to pay this travel, and, that my parents accepted to let me go on my way, I spent one entire week saying to everyone that I was going to Japan, that it was going to be wonderful, that I would visit so many things that I dreamt of.

   When I was looking at the things around me, I was picturing in my head, how it would look like if it was not a french landscape, but a japanese one. And happened a weird but so pleasant nostalgia. 

どう日本へ旅行代を支払うの？ー How do you pay your travel to Japan ?

お早うみんな！
今日は日本語で書きたい。やってみたい！誰が私の日本への旅行代を支払うについて。。。

よし、みんなはお父さんとお母さんのお金を使うするとおもってるよね？
けれど、私のお金だよ。どうして？父さんと母さんはこのお金がない。もちろん、２０００ユーロは本当に大金、だよね？問題は：日本に行きかった。
それで、私は日本へ旅行代を支払うと言ってしまったよ。

Un engouement de plus en plus grand pour le Japon : effet de mode ou réelle attirance ?

  Coucou tout le monde ! Il y a quelques jours, j’ai croisé une de mes anciennes maîtresses de primaire. Nous nous sommes mis à discuter sur le Japon. Elle m’a appris que sa fille était attirée par les USA et le Royaume-Uni avant de me dire : « Je pense que les personnes qui veulent aller au Japon sont animées par une vraie passion car aller là-bas provoque un véritable dépaysement, c’est comme aller dans un autre monde. ». Oui, enfin, à peu de choses près, mais, dans le même esprit. Cette idée me trotte dans la tête depuis et il m’a pris l’envie d’écrire un article sur le nombre montant d’aficionados du Japon…

   Si vous vous intéressez un minimum à l’archipel nippon, vous avez probablement remarqué que de plus en plus de monde semblait attiré par le pays du soleil levant. On peut se poser une question évidente : est-ce un simple effet de mode ou l’attirance pour ce pays est-elle réelle ?

Why am I coming to Japan ? －どうして日本に来ますか。

   Hello guys ! I wanted to write a small article about an important thing : why I am coming to Japan. Well, as I told you previously, I am travelling to Japan this year ! But, what I forgot is to tell why I do so.

　As I spoke about in my article « Apprendre la Japonais », I ''follow'' CNED japanese classes. In my opinion this organism is quite bad concerning oral practice : there isn't any direct conversation with any teacher. So that, I noticed that I wasn't really progressing, apart when I was speaking to my Japanese friends.

　I choose to officially study Japanese in high school because I wanted it to count in my Baccalauréat (in preparation of the studies I want to do) thanks to a 10-minute oral. BUT, I'm absolutely not feeling able to speak during so much time with a good Japanese...

   That is my first reason for wanting to go abroad, in the land of the rising sun : to improve my language skills.

Penpals : My experience

Hi guys !

   Well, today I want to tell you about my penpal's experience.

   I always thought having a penpal with who you can have a reciprocal exchange was an amazing thing !

   As I started Japanese in high school with the CNED and no proper teacher, I was worried about the evolution of my language skills. I was right. When you just can't practice a language, can't have an exchange with a same language speaker, things are becoming quite hard...

Big news !!! - 重要なニユース ! ! !

Ohayô minna !

   I wanted to share with you guys a big moment in my life. I have a super great thing to announce you : I'm gonna... go TO JAPAN !!!!!!!!! Yay !!!!!!

   I prepared everything and finally convinced my parents to say « yes » and here we are !

I'm so excited and want to share all my experiences with you guys.