Crystal Woo: I Never Want To Leave
I’ve been in Japan for a little over a
month now, and I’ve already fallen in love with this city and the people. The
city is beautiful and spotlessly clean. The mountains make me feel right at
home. Everyone—from my dorm manager, to my classmates, to strangers on the
street—is incredibly helpful and friendly. One of my favourite aspects of
Sapporo is how bicycle friendly the city is. Nearly half the people on the
streets are riding bicycles and you’ll encounter entire street blocks lined
with bicycles. When I first arrived, I was shocked to see people leave their
bicycles wherever they pleased without so much as a lock. My teacher was
equally surprised as I told him the risk of having your bicycle stolen in Vancouver
is fairly high.
I love taking a bicycle out and
exploring the city, with my friends and on my own. My school and friends have
taken me to a historic clock building, the TV Tower, to parks and we’ve had
multiple barbeques. There is so much to do and see. There is currently an
international food festival and ramen festival at Odori Park, which is in the
downtown area. I’ve made friends with people in my class, in other classes, and
at my dorm. I’ve also been able to meet up with Airi, whom I haven’t seen since
she came to Capilano last year.
School is great so far. I’m trying and
learning completely new things. Flower design turned out to be much more
difficult than I would have imagined. I accidentally crushed some of my orchids
while arranging my bouquet. Pottery is exceptionally fun and my teacher,
Shimozawa sensei, makes it look incredibly easy. I’m very excited about
copperplate engraving and I’d love to be able to continue doing it when I get
back to Canada. However, it is the most difficult class to understand because
although my Japanese is improving and my teacher speaks a little English,
copperplate engraving involves words and terms that even in English I am not
familiar with. So far, however, the language barrier has not been too bad.
Crystal Woo is a Bachelor of Design in Visual Communication (IDEA) student at Capilano University. Crystal is currently studying abroad at Hokkaido College of Art & Design (Bisen) in Sapporo, Japan
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