My Precious Memory of Portland Trip

My Precious Memory of the Portland Trip

I had a great time during the Portland Trip. I learned many things about American culture and experienced a lot of new things. I especially liked visiting Columbia Basin College. This activity was one of the precious memories of the trip. From this experience, I learned three things: my English ability, differences of Japanese and American culture, and improvement of my presentation topic.

First, I really enjoyed talking with American students at Columbia Basin College. My partners were all boys and I talked with three people. When I talked with them, they admired my English. Even if it was a compliment, I was very happy to hear that. It made me more confident speaking English. I noticed myself that I understood what they were saying clearer than before. During the last semester, I visited a high school and talked with my pen pal. I felt she spoke really fast and I couldn't catch up with her. Now, I feel more comfortable listening to native speakers' English. The speed of speaking depends on a person, but I had a little more confidence than before from this experience.

Second, it was really fun to share each culture. They were interested in Japan and I am interested in America, so we compared and contrasted Japanese culture with the American one. We showed our driver's licenses to each other. They were very interested in my license and tried to figure out each word's meaning. It was fun to transfer each word and teach them Japanese. If I become a Japanese teacher for English speakers, I think I can enjoy the job. When I looked at my partner's license, I found a heart mark on the top of his license. He told me it means he can donate his internal organs when he dies. I was very surprised by it, because we don't have that system in Japan. Both of my partners had the mark on their licenses, so I felt Americans are positive to contribution. It is a really good thing, so I think Japan also should use this system to help people. My partners also taught me about American college. I asked them why they chose the college. One of the partners said it is because he can have many opportunities of meeting new people like us. I was glad that they enjoyed meeting us.

Third, we talked about my presentation topic. My topic is Japanese relationships, so I was really worried to tell about it to Americans. I think a Japanese relationship is not such an interesting topic and also difficult to understand for Americans. However, when I talked about it, my partners listened to it with great interest. I was not sure that they understood my explanation, but I was happy that they showed interest about my topic. They gave me new knowledge about relationships. When I talked about Honne and Tatemae, they gave me what Americans call it in English or how they would behave in the Honne and Tatemae situation. It helped me to think about new ideas about my topic. I noticed that I have to make clearer examples and explanations of Honne and Tatemae. They made me to think about my topic deeply again. I will improve my topic and want to make my presentation better.

From this visit, I learned many things. My partners at Columbia Basin College told me many new things like the differences of driver's licenses. Also, I noticed my English ability from our talking. I hope my speaking skill will improve more in the rest of the semester. I talked about my presentation topic, Honne and Tatemae, and got a lot of useful information from them. This experience is unforgettable and helpful for me.