Doing a homestay in Japan? (where you stay with another family while you study)?
I am in the age range of 24-26 , is that too old to do a homestay in Japan? I think I would make a good guest , i dont eat alot and I dont party, drink or smoke and am outgoing and shy at the same time but is 24-26 too old to do this or do alot of people that age do homestays?
Kansai Gaidai exchange = homestay or dorms?
I'm not sure which would be best for me. I have never lived on my own before, nor with friends. I'm quite a shy person and don't go out much. I can cook and clean up after myself. Would the dorm-life prove too emotinally straining for me, what with ahving to deal with all sorts of 'strangers' around me and living communally? And what if there are ******** people -.- Alternatively, with the homestay, I would be using my Japanese skills more. But the families can be quite restricting as I've heard, demanding you home by set curfews and not treating you as an adult. And commute times can get quite lengthy. If I were in a homestay would that give me enough opportunities to go out with other friends that I'd need to make for myself? I have been on a homestay before, but that was just for a weekend. Though I'm quite close with that family and I'd feel a bit bad if I were to ditch them for another family :( But I'd have to because they're in Okayama and KG is in Osaka. Would a homestay relieve the stress from living away from home for a semester or would it restrict personal growth? Anyone with experience with both please leave some comments :)
Is a homestay a good idea?
I highly recommend it! I did a homestay when I spent a semester in Japan, although it was organized by my university and not by a commercial website. My host family was rather busy so I didn`t spend much time actually going out and doing things with them, but simply having a house full of people to talk to and ask questions of really helped me make sense of all the unfamiliar things that piqued my curiosity. And just living with ordinary people and seeing their daily lives really helped me gain a better understanding of Japanese culture. The prices you listed seem quite reasonable, much cheaper than a hotel or renting an apartment. If you`re worried about safety (which I wouldn`t be, since Japan is a very safe country overall and most people who would volunteer to host are quite kind) see if the homestay organization can give you contact information for people who have used their services. Or find someone who has done a homestay and then ask them what site they used and how they felt about it. A former customer can best tell you whether any given company is reliable. And if you do get there and find you have problems with your homestay, well, no one`s making you stay there. You can pack up and find a new place at any time.
How can a foreign student find a good homestay in Moscow?
I’m from Moscow. If I understand correctly, homestay is when you live in someone’s apartment with local family? i think the only way to do it is if your university provides you with contacts of families who do this thing. When I studied semester in Spain our university provided with list of reliable contacts to rent an apartment and that’s how I found mine. My friends looked for apartment in internet and got into a scam. So I really recommend you not to try search for homestay by yourself in internet, better use some reliable contacts if your university provides you with any. If not, better look for apartment to rent, and in this case better use some checked contacts as well. Not that Moscow is some special kind of criminal place, it’s just general thing I would recommend to anyone going aborad. The safest way is to stay in dormitory provided by your Moscow university. It would probably be not comfortable and not very nice, but it will be easy for you to find friends there - Russian and other natioanlities, get to know Moscow and then together with your friends you can find a apartment to rent together if you want. Years ago I met french students in Moscow at some party in a very nice big flat at central Moscow - they rented it together with some other students they met in Moscow. So, yeah, I think you should opt for dormitory at first (embrace yourself, it might be very not fancy), get to know new people and Moscow, and then look for apartment with your new friends, may be Russian. Looking in Internet for some not approved by University homestays is risky.
Is homestay cheaper than living in a dormitory for international students, in Japan? If it is, how can I find one?
It depends on whether you have to pay or not and how much.I managed to find 3 homestays when I was a student, 1 for free another one for 40 000 yens/month and the last one for 30 000 yens. I used only internet.It's hard to find but not impossible. I heard that some agencies opened. Maybe it's easier now.
Can a TAXI in Japan fit a lot of luggage??!?
Generally, Japanese cars are smaller than American cars. So the answer is NO. You have to call a wagon-type taxi if you want to carry 4 baggages.
What Student exchange program to Japan is recommended?
if you want to experience the japanese school life as in going to high school almost every program requires you to do homestay the only programs that dont are the ones that are language programs during the summer (or really anytime in the year.) ( GenkiJacs is a good language program) also for college you can stay in dorms in a japanese college. Programs that are good are rotary YFu and AFS for high school programs but again they require homestay ( you can maybe request or ask if you can not stay in homestay but the answer is most likely no. so pretty much the only dorm stay program is language programs and for going to college
How long did it take you to fully learn Japanese and how?
I am learning Japanese by reading novels written by Dazai Osamu. Prior to meeting Dazai, I still occasionally read accessible novels and plays on my comfortable bed in Tokyo, but such pastime did not develop my appreciation for Japanese language in any significant way. I read a novel because the plot interested me. I read a play because my friend promised a dramatic finale. Nothing deep or beautiful crossed my peripheral vision. It was all whimsical and light-hearted.Then one day my Japanese teacher assigned my class The Setting Sun by Dazai. He told us that Dazai is one of the greatest writers of the 20th century and guaranteed the most beautiful portrayal of the postwar Japanese aristocrats. I was intrigued. Anticipating a sensational decline and dynamic actions in the book, I read the novel the day it was assigned only to find myself in tears after the seventh chapter. This was the first time I cried reading a book. The novel was not dynamic in any way—at least physically. None of those fight to death duels you see in Hamlet and other western literature. Barely anything happens on the surface. However, under the hood, all of the major characters were gradually pushed towards death by the tides of the time and paradoxically, it was just beautiful. Breathtakingly so. I didn’t know what made me cry. The plot was certainly depressing but I did come across other equally depressing ones. The death of the two major characters were not the most tragic ones I’ve witnessed. I was just baffled. It was only when I read the book the second time around that I realized that it was Dazai’s craftsmanship that touched me deeply.His frequent use of commas, spacings between paragraphs, mathematical symbol, etc. all contributed to creating the hopeless atmosphere and grim future prospects for the surviving characters. Just take a look at the images above. Even if one cannot read Japanese, the paragraphs themselves surely appear as lonely as the characters! It blew my mind.Before I met Dazai, I thought I knew Japanese. I could read newspapers without a problem. I could talk politics in Japanese without a problem. I could write sentences that many of my teachers called beautiful without a problem. Dazai then introduced me to a whole new level of Japanese that I have been working on daily for the past four years, and I know that I have a long way to go.I am terrible at estimation, but I think I still would not fully understand Japanese even after another thirty years.