Short update- 9 days before the adventure beginns

It has been a long time since my last post (again) and although I can’t realize it right now: It’s only 9 days till my departure to Japan!! I still have very much to do like packing my suitcases and bringing the rest of my stuff to my parents’ house, but the fact that there is only around a week left for me in Germany almost kills me. I want to spend as much time with my family, friends and boyfriend as possible, but at the same time have to prepare for my year abroad… I’m really looking forward to it, but as the day of departure comes nearer, I’m getting more and more sad to leave everyone behind in Germany. Maybe that’s a feeling that everybody who went abroad for a long time knows.  But for me it’s a new feeling that I haven’t known until now and I just can’t get used to it (actually I had to see a doctor because I couldn’t eat anymore and it would even make me throw up, but I’m fine now).

So the last 2 months were very challenging for me, but I somehow managed to do everything I wanted to do. The best thing was that I finally got my Visa last week which almost made me cry. I just kept staring at it and repeating “I’m going to Japan!” in my head.

I also booked a hotel for the first 5 nights in Shinagawa Tokyo, because I can’t check in at my dormitory until September 5^th. Luckily my former colleague, Mai, will show me around Tokyo at the beginning (thanks Mai!), so I really don’t have anything to be afraid of in the first days. We already made a short plan of what we want to do, but not in detail. I just hope jet leg will not make me too exhausted.

However, this is just going to be a short update about what I’m doing right now. I’m thinking about posting one more time before going to Japan, but if not: See you in Japan!

Procrastination and lack of motivation (75 days before the adventure starts)

Aaaaaand here I’m again, three months later. There’s so much going on right now and I wish I could just skip time until at least the end of July.

Last post I wrote about my preparations for the JLPT N2. That time I still was full of motivation and ready to begin to study for the test until my Japanese is good enough to actually pass it. But then there came the summer semester and with it the one thing that is every student’s constant companion: procrastination. And that is exactly what I’m going to write about in the first part of this post.

The reasons why I´m writing about this topic are (1) because maybe if I write about it and actually think about possible ways to overcome it, I’ll finally be able to do all the things I planned for a day and (2) because I’m (ironically) procrastinating some work right now and figured it would be a good idea to post something on my blog (which I also procrastinated for a long time).

Okay, so having made that clear, let’s start.

Basically there are two types of procrastinating and everyone knows them: (1) procrastinating something you don’t want to do doing another thing you also don’t want to do, but you like it better anyways (e.g. procrastinating homework cleaning your room) and (2) procrastinating something you don’t want to do doing fun activities (e.g. meeting friends, watching a movie,….)

I feel like people tend to procrastinate things especially if there is a deadline. That’s interesting because even if it is the same thing, the fact that there is a deadline stresses people out and the activity isn´t as attractive as before. For example, when I was in high school I learned Japanese as a hobby and learned it almost every day for two years until I was able to pass the JLPT N4 with a very good grade. But since I’m in university learning Japanese isn’t just a hobby anymore, and -surprise, surprise- I began to procrastinate homework and learning sessions.

In other words, back than learning Japanese was an excuse for me to procrastinate school stuff, but now it has become something I need an excuse for to procrastinate. And these excuses are fun activities. So I feel like I’m not improving myself at all lately. That’s not only true for learning Japanese, but also for other university stuff (I still have to write one 10 page long seminar paper and haven’t started yet), preparations for my year abroad and even little things like replying to persons or cleaning my room.

I just got tired of my life here in Germany. Don’t get me wrong, I still have much fun here, I’m always enjoying the time with my friends and family, but I need something to change, something new in my life. Two years of doing more or less the same things at the same place is enough. I really need something to change. And that is going to happen in 75 days. Maybe that is exactly why I’m procrastinating so much lately. I think my mind is already in Japan and that makes me unable to focus on the things that are left to do in Germany.

But I have to figure out a way to overcome this lack of motivation and enjoy the rest of the two months left in Germany at the same time. Starting next week I’ll try to do a To do list every morning and reflect what I have done in a day at the same evening. I’ll try that for a week and then I’ll see if it works out for me or not.

In other news, I finally received the official acceptance letter from Keio University and will apply for a student dormitory (I’m not going to say which one yet, that’s for another post) on Monday. We have a plenty of time to do so, but I’m going to apply as early as the portal opens, because the earlier you apply, the highest is the chance to get a room in your favorite dorm. The only problem is that the portal opens at 10 am in Japan, which would be 3 pm in Germany. So I have to set my alarm at 2:50 tomorrow before sleeping. A bit annoying, but if it’s worth it….. I won’t know until the mid of July which dorm I’ll stay in, but that’s just one month waiting so it’s okay.

I hope next time I have something more exciting to talk about 🙂