In this post, I would like to talk about my last holiday in Japan, because I went back to Armidale during this summer holiday. I haven't been to Armidale for seven months, but Armidale hasn't changed a bit. I was very happy to meet my host family and friends. I also met Tsurumi students who are studying abroad in Australia now.
My friend had a holiday at that time, so she picked me up in Sydney. We visited various tourist spots around the city. After that, we went to Armidale by train because it's cheaper than going by plane. However, it’s about eight hours from Sydney to Armidale by train. Unfortunately, we had to change to another train at that time, so it took about nine hours.
In Armidale, I could meet many friends, teachers, and my host family. My friends hold a party for me. I was very surprised and happy because it was a nice party. My host family hold a party too. It was a Japanese food party. We made sushi, spring rolls, and dumplings.
When I finished ELC, all Japanese students went back to Japan because we just had a year study program. Other students still study at UNE, such as Chinese, Korea, Vietnamese, and so on. I thought their English was getting better because they need to speak English every day. However, I don’t have many opportunities to speak English in Japan. I belong to the English communication course, but many classes are using Japanese. We don’t need to speak English in all classes. After I went back to Australia this summer, I came to realize again how difficult it is to keep my English speaking skill.
In Australia, I found many Japanese things, so I will introduce things that I found last year.
First of all, there are UNIQLO (ユニクロ) stores in Sydney and Melbourne. I was very surprised at the price of items, because the prices are too expensive. However, when I went to UNIQLO, there were many people in the shop. Secondly, I saw DAISO in many places because there are over twenty shops in Australia, especially in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. In Japan, we can buy one item for 108 yen, but in Australia is 2.80 dollars.
Thirdly, there are MUJI (無印良品) stores in Sydney and Melbourne. I could not look at any items because it was closed, so I didn't know about the prices. Next, there is a very big Kinokuniya (紀伊国屋書店) in Sydney. In this book shop, we can buy both Japanese books and English books. If you buy Japanese books there, the price is double the Japanese price.
In addition, I found shops that have many Japanese food, like Japanese convenience store. In Sydney, there are many Japanese restaurants too, such as sushi, tempura which is Japanese style deep fried battered seafood or vegetables, ramen, soba, udon, and so on. When I saw many Japanese things, I was very happy to see the Japanese writing. In Armidale, there is just one Japanese restaurant which is called Ten Koo. This restaurant is open only at lunchtime, Monday to Friday. I could not go many times because I had class Monday to Friday.
I think that in a big city like Sydney, it's easy to get Japanese things, but in Armidale, it's too difficult to get Japanese things. When I stayed in Armidale, I sometimes missed Japanese food. Although we can get Japanese things easily when we stay in a big city, there are also many Japanese people. It is not good for studying English, so Armidale is far from Sydney, which makes it a good place to study English.
In this post,I will write more story of my first holiday. I went to my first host family’s house and Monash University. After that I went sightseeing in Melbourne city. If you want to go to Melbourne from Japan, it's about a ten hour flight.
Now, I would like to talk about a little information . Melbourne is one of the most comfortable places to live in the world. Also, another cities of Australia are comfortable city to live in. Melbourne is the capital city of Victoria, Australia. Before Canberra was fixed in capital of Australia, Melbourne was capital of Australia. Melbourne was founded on the Yarra River. Yarra River is a very famous river in Melbourne. There are many museum about the colonial period of Melbourne, so we can learn about the old days. In addition, the Flinders Street Station is a symbol that is British style building and Federation Square is a modern architecture. These two buildings are expressed nowadays of Melbourne. Do you know a tram? If you go to Melbourne, it is a useful transportation because the tram is a favorite means of transportation used by city residents. This is typical sight in Melbourne.
There are many things to do in Melbourne. For example, there are many streets where we can eat delicious food. Also we can go shopping. There are many zoos and aquariums, but we can't hold a koala in Melbourne, because state law prohibits holding a koala. Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Park are World Heritage sites. The F1 Grand Prix and grand slam of tennis are famous in Melbourne.
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| Flinders Street Station |
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| City of Melbourne |
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Queen Victoria Market
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In this post, I would like to talk about my last holiday in Japan, because I went back to Armidale during this summer holiday. I haven't been to Armidale for seven months, but Armidale hasn't changed a bit. I was very happy to meet my host family and friends. I also met Tsurumi students who are studying abroad in Australia now. 
When I finished ELC, all Japanese students went back to Japan because we just had a year study program. Other students still study at UNE, such as Chinese, Korea, Vietnamese, and so on. I thought their English was getting better because they need to speak English every day. However, I don’t have many opportunities to speak English in Japan. I belong to the English communication course, but many classes are using Japanese. We don’t need to speak English in all classes. After I went back to Australia this summer, I came to realize again how difficult it is to keep my English speaking skill.
