Nothing New...

Hello all!

Adam has finally gotten to Japan, and it seems like everything is going good! They're keeping him busy with orientation and workshops and karaoke, so he hasn't been able to talk to his friends and I all that much, but I suppose all of this orientation is necessary.

In the meantime, I'm almost ready to apply to SWAP, and begin my own venture to Japan! Nothing particularly exciting has been going on with me while Adam's in Japan, so I haven't been updating the blog much, but I thought I'd add a few lines explaining what little there is to explain.

That's it for now!

New Plan!

As far as Japan goes, things seem to be going my way again! For a while, I was getting piece of bad news after piece of bad news, but I think I'll finally be able to manage, thanks to MUN and their SWAP program. First, however, I will share my information and thought process that led me here.

Bad news #1.
No company that will sponsor a work visa for me is situated anywhere near where Adam is situated. This meant 1 of 2 things for me. The first option was that I'd have to go live somewhere in Japan where I would have a job, but be nowhere near my boyfriend. The second option would be to go live with Adam, but find a visa and a job on my own. I decided that the second option would be preferable. At least Adam would be able to guide me in "life in Japan" while living with him.

Bad news #2.
In order to get a visa, I would have to fly myself to Montreal to drop off a form in person, and stay there a week to wait for it to process. Now, as much as I love Montreal, I just can't afford to go live there for a week! Especially while trying to save up for living in Japan! However, several options for trying to circumvent this arose, including getting someone near Montreal to apply on my behalf, or asking absolutely everyone I knew for a monetary birthday present so I could get there myself.

Bad news #3.
I don't know anyone who lives near Montreal who I could trust with my visa application to apply on my behalf. I believe the closest person I know is about half a day's car ride away.

But despite all of this, I've found a way to get a visa, and get to Japan without going too much out of my way. The SWAP program, brought to us by Memorial University and their trusty travel agents will allow me to apply for a visa worry-free, and make sure all of my paperwork is in order before I get to Japan, where I would even stay in Tokyo for a couple of days to figure a few things out. Yay! It will cost me a fair amount to do this program, but much less than a trip to Montreal, so it all works out!

For a little more on Swap, this is the Canadian website: http://www.swap.ca/

I would still need to get a job once I'm there, but I'm taking it bit by bit, and the way I see it, I won't worry about it until I'm there.

Second Post

Hello again!

Well, I haven't been doing too much writing of late, but my plans for Japan are coming along so that I'm actually beginning to see it happen is the distance. In other words, a tentative plan is in the works.

I'm looking into a "working holiday visa", which I believe will let me visit/work in Japan for about a year while I figure out how long I'm going to stay. Either way, I'll be there for at least a year, the same amount of time as my boyfriend, and if I want to stay longer I will probably have an employer by that time who will (hopefully) vouch for me. While my boyfriend is doing the JET program and I am not, there are a few things I need to figure out on my own assuming that I can get this visa:

-Money to survive for a while if I don't get a job right away (I'll probably be fine with this).

-Getting insurance before I go, or just after I get there, due to the fact that it's mandatory in Japan.

-Getting a job (obviously).

-Actually getting to Mie Prefecture and the town I'm supposed to be in (with my boy, who is already allocated to that area) without getting lost.

In the meantime I'm trying to not let things worry me, I still have my convocation to think about and whatnot, and I don't have this visa yet -- I don't even have my passport yet! So getting to Japan might be a slow process. In any case, that's all that's going on now, and I will update this again once I know more.

Thanks for reading!

Welcome!

Hello, and thank you for reading!

I suppose an introduction is in order, therefore, I will explain my intentions with this blog. I have been severely out of writing practice for some time now, and I need a little motivation to get back into it. As a shy and quiet High School student I would scrawl out my emo poems, angsty complaints and ridiculous short stories on loose leaf, then cram them into the back of a binder where they wouldn't see the light of day. (and, frankly, after re-reading some of that crap, that's where it should stay!)^1

Now that I've (almost) graduated with an English degree, I'm pretty good at essays, but I think my creative writing has not improved since High School -- I want to change this. Hence, this is where the blog (and hopefully lots of you brilliant and insightful readers!) comes in. I want to publish various things here, from poetry to stories to experimental... whatever. I will not claim that anything I post will be brilliant, or even good, but I do want it read so that I can figure out how to do better!

I hope that after posting each piece I'll have the time and wherewithal to accompany it with my own criticism. I'll explain in general what I was trying to do, and how it could be better, or why I think it's awesome or not. I also hope to get some feedback! Please, if you would like, post some constructive criticism, all in the hopes that someday I will not suck^1.

I suppose that's it for now! Have fun reading this, because I'll have fun posting!

Footnote:
1. Here is where I would put a smiley emoticon, but I really want to get away from that. Oh well, okay, just once. :)