Brief outline of my experiences in the US

I would like to introduce my experiences in the United States. Details may be in other articles and I will write here briefly of my experiences.

My father was transferred to the branch in the United States and my family went with him to live together. The period of living in North Carolina was about 4 and a half years.

And my second experience was in my university years. I went to study in Illinois as an exchange student for about 10 months. This time was more important experience for me. As I got older and could understand the cultural differences compared to my childhood, I think I felt different after this experience.

My experiences in North Carolina 

I was 7 years old and my brother was 3 years old. We both knew nothing about English or the country. We first had trouble communicating with other students and teachers at school. I'm not sure how my brother felt about those days, but I remember I was frustrated and could only nod my head yes or no. I wasn't even sure if I was able to understand what other people were saying to me.

However, I was able to learn the basics of English skills during this time. As a child, I couldn't understand the cultural differences. I probably didn't have enough knowledge to understand Japanese culture too.

I would like to write articles of this time in some ways. I am forgetting about those days and wanted to write down and share my experiences.

My experiences in Illinois

I went to Illinois from August 2005 to May 2006 as an exchange student. In Japan, my major was English American literature. I studied English and also wanted to study more about American literature. My graduation thesis after the exchange program was about the literature written by African American. 

The lectures at the university were tough and I was reading English all the time. I remember I was trying my best but couldn't read all the pages before the next lecture. There are many memories coming back to me that I would like to share. The experiences of my days studying abroad may be different than the days who are actually studying now.

After this experience, I really feel that my ideas of international relationships and understanding of cultural differences did change. I feel that I should understand about my own cultural background more in order to understand other cultures. Before studying in the United States, I was trying to learn more of outside Japan. It was difficult to explain Japanese culture in English. That's because I didn't have enough knowledge about it.

I would like to share other experiences from these days in other articles as much as possible. 

Thank you always for reading my note.