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Back to School!

Well, I've received notification that my application was accepted, so it's official now: I'm going back to school! I'm going to be taking Japanese courses from Camosun College starting in September.

I've been wanting to take proper Japanese lessons for a few years now, but there is no place in town that offers them in the evenings or weekends. Since I work full time during the week, there really wasn't any options for me. I've seen the occasional Japanese mini course offered at a few organizations, but these didn't seem like very substantial programs. I want to learn Japanese properly, and not from a few hourly sessions.

So I talked with my boss at work and got the green light to take a few classes during the day as long as I come in and make up the missed time in the evenings or whenever. He actually encouraged me to do this sort of thing, which is a great change from my past employers. So starting in September, I will be taking one Japanese class per semester (which is only a couple hours a week).

I can't register until June, so hopefully there are no problems getting the single class I want, but I'm excited. There are 4 classes in total, spanning 2 years. Unfortunately, the classes are only offered in a sequence of semesters (each one is a prerequisite for the next) and they aren't offered in the summer time so I can't complete them any faster than the 2 year span. But that might be for the best since I don't want to over work myself too much.

Anyways, it has been about 6 years since I graduated, and I'm actually looking forward to being in school again. I love to learn, and I miss the whole school atmosphere. Mind you, it will be quite different this time as I will be working full time and only taking one class at time, but I'm still excited about it. Plus, I will finally start advancing my Japanese skills at a fast rate again. It's hard to learn yourself once you reach the stage where a lot of studying is required to progress. It's too easy to put off studying when you don't have a teacher, or assignment or test to push you forward. At least, I find it much easier to be motivated when I'm in a class with deadlines.

It will be great to be in classes again, and it's great that I can do this sort of thing while still working full time. It's nice to have the option to go back and take any courses I want, and I can't wait until September comes along. Maybe soon I will be able to know what my wife is saying when she yells at me in Japanese, haha. Watashi wa tanoshi mi!