Homestay or Dorm

[Passion]

All right, so I'm planning on studying abroad in Japan this fall, and I'm a little conflicted. I have the option between doing a homestay or staying at a dorm.

If I do a homestay, I'll get a full Japanese experience. I'll get a chance to really practice and improve my Japanese. However, I feel like this could be sort of a crapshoot because I know some Japanese families can be strict about curfews even if you're an adult (and I really want to get into the party/night scene while I'm over there).

Then, you have the dorms. Obviously, I'm guaranteed to have independence if I go for a dorm. However, I'll be surrounded by other English speaking people most of the time and won't get the full Japanese experience (not that it's necessarily a bad thing, but I really want to improve my Japanese, considering I want to be a translator).

Also, note that my classes are going to be in English, so getting my practice through classes is out of the question (though I might take another Japanese class).

So, what seems to be better option? I could end up picking a family who's relaxed about letting me do whatever I want, so I don't know.

[Jon]

I think it depends on your priorities. Getting the full cultural and language experience could be really exciting. However, bear in mind that even if the family is "relaxed" they might not be wild about you coming home drunk at 4 in the morning (thin walls and all that). Putting myself in their shoes, if I'm a middle aged person with a college kid staying at my house, even if I'm not "strict" I'd probably place some restrictions on you just for my own sanity.

[Passion]

You make a good point, Jon. Though I'm planning to probably go out about 1-3 times a week, I think maybe a dorm would be the best option (plus from the sounds of things, it will be a 1 and half to 2 hour commute if I do a homestay).

So I'm going to ask another question. How can I best immerse myself in the culture? I've heard stories of how a lot of people that go abroad tend to stick with people of their own culture and not broaden their horizons. I don't want to end up being like one of those people.

I'm sure Mark or someone else who has experience in this area could give some good tips. As someone whose speaking and listening skills in Japanese could use some work, I want to get as much out of my visit as I possibly can.

[SeXyBaCk]

Alright, I saw this yesterday and wanted to say something and I didn't have time to reply. Are you going over there to learn japanese and for how long? I spent some time in korea due to a woman I was seeing and some of her friends were living in these dorms of language schools and I was pretty shocked at the lack of space. If it's just for a few weeks okay, if it's for a year, I would imagine (Japan being even more crammed for space) you will find it hard to put up with that. So personally I would be leaning heavily towards the living-in, which will be limited in space as well I'm sure, but you won't feel like you're a chicken in one of those factories. You'll just have to play by their rules.

Now the commute is a big thing however... I would try and get more info on that before making a final decision. You're not going to experience the culture much sitting amongst surgical masks on the train or tube.

The best way to immerse I find is tagging along with locals or if the language is too big a barrier tag along with expats that are really fond of the place and want to convince others of it's greatness. Befriend locals that deal with foreigners, maybe some of your younger teachers/instructions, go have a beer with them..theyll introduce you to their friends and so on.

[Passion]

(04-27-2012 10:22 AM)SeXyBaCk Wrote:  Alright, I saw this yesterday and wanted to say something and I didn't have time to reply. Are you going over there to learn japanese and for how long? I spent some time in korea due to a woman I was seeing and some of her friends were living in these dorms of language schools and I was pretty shocked at the lack of space. If it's just for a few weeks okay, if it's for a year, I would imagine (Japan being even more crammed for space) you will find it hard to put up with that. So personally I would be leaning heavily towards the living-in, which will be limited in space as well I'm sure, but you won't feel like you're a chicken in one of those factories. You'll just have to play by their rules.

Now the commute is a big thing however... I would try and get more info on that before making a final decision. You're not going to experience the culture much sitting amongst surgical masks on the train or tube.

The best way to immerse I find is tagging along with locals or if the language is too big a barrier tag along with expats that are really fond of the place and want to convince others of it's greatness. Befriend locals that deal with foreigners, maybe some of your younger teachers/instructions, go have a beer with them..theyll introduce you to their friends and so on.

SexyBack

It's too bad you didn't reply sooner, because the decision had to be made by Friday. I read it a couple days ago, but didn't have the chance to reply back.

Anyway, one of the biggest turnoffs for me with the homestay was definitely the commute. For this semester of college, I've been living at home and commuting to and from school, which is about 40 minutes by train. Now, I'm already not a big a fan of having to go this far everyday each week (not to mention missing things going on at campus, not making nearly as many friends, etc.), but just imagine how much worse it be if it were a 2 hour commute?

I'll be staying in Japan for a couple of months. I feel like my Japanese skills are at a level that if I were given the opportunity to challenge myself more, I would improve a lot (I've been learning for 3 years now). So, this was a big decision in me studying there. My goal is actually to become a translator and interpreter in Japanese (and some other languages once I've learned Japanese to a decent level).

I may or may not decide to live in Japan, depending on what I think while I'm over there, though even then, I'm not sure if I want to settle down there. I'm getting the urge to explore the world and live in different places for a time.