Good-bye Melbourne!

I left Melbourne on the 10th of December. In fact, it took a quite long time to come to this conclusion as I had been wondering whether I should stay there longer or not. But finally I made up mind to go back to Japan for good. In the next Advanced Diploma course, I need to study both translating and interpreting but I realized that what I really want to study is only interpreting. So I decided to go back to Japan, find a job and keep studying at an interpreting school…..hopefully that will be the best decision for me.

It has been nearly 2 weeks since I came back to Japan and I have become completely lazy like a couch potato. I know it’s about time to start job hunting but I actually don’t know what I want to do for work now… Maybe I should rediscover my feelings with the new year.

Looking back at my life in Melbourne, it was absolutely fantastic! I've got a wonderful experience I will never forget as well as many friends. I really appreciate the people who supported me while I was staying there from bottom of my heart. I am very happy to have had the chance of studying in Melbourne. Therefore, no matter what may happen in the future, I will never give up my dream.

The trip to New Zealand

I traveled to New Zealand from the 10th to 20th of November. This trip was a big challenge because it was the first time for me to travel alone! For all that, I joined a bus tour which took us to the southern island of New Zealand for 9 days.

There were 15 people in our group and most of them were from Europe. As they are young, probably early 20’s, they always got into any activities aggressively. I also had a go at some activities such as glacier walking, sky diving, jet boating and mountain biking.


One of my favorite towns in New Zealand is Queenstown. The town is very small but it has a big beautiful lake and many shops and restaurants for tourists. I really liked walking around the lake because the air is clean and the harmony of the lake and mountains is picturesque.


I saw heaps of sheep on grasslands by the mountains everywhere I visited. I have heard that the number of sheep is larger than the population in New Zealand. That’s amazing!

I was really impressed by the beauty of its nature and what I experienced there are great memories I will never forget.

My best friend came to Melbourne!

My best friend came to Melbourne all the way from Japan! I had heard she was going to stay here just for a few days, so I had planned a nice itinerary for her in advance!

The first day, we went to St.Kilda beach which is my favorite place in Melbourne. Luckily, when we walked along the pier, we found some penguins sleeping peacefully between the stack of rocks. They were so lovely! After that, we went to Victoria Market where so many various kinds of stalls are located.


And then, we looked around the Old Melbourne Gaol, which is a museum but used to be a real jail from 1851 to 1923. When I went inside a cell, I felt chilly and spooky…actually I wasn’t scared though.



The second day, we took part in a day tour of three famous sightseeing spots. Firstly, we went to Dandenon which is in the east part of Melbourne and we took a steam train called the Puffing Billy. The train ran through the mountains, so I felt very comfortable and relaxed! After eating lunch at a winery, we went to Healesvill Wildlife Sanctuary where we could see animals in a mostly natural state. We could see a lot of Australian animals there.


Thanks to my friend’s coming, I enjoyed looking around Melbourne again. I definitely had a great time with her. I hope she enjoyed this trip as well.

My new course and future

I have been living here in Melbourne for nearly 7 months, amazing! You know, there is a saying, "Time flies like an arrow". I certainly think that is true. Day by day, I feel time passes so quickly, especially when I am having fun.

My new course, Diploma of Interpreting, started 2 months ago. At first, it was quite hard for me to switch between two languages. Even with a basic dialog, sometimes I can’t perfectly translate English into Japanese or vice versa. I always feel my English is still poor and try to find a way to overcome it.

The course I am taking right now is very basic and insufficient to get to a professional level. Therefore, I am considering taking the next course, which is the Advanced Diploma course. In fact, the course is very famous for its difficulty and I am not sure if I can keep up with the class. In addition, if I take this course, I would have to stay here one more year, which means it would take more time and money. But I believe it is worth doing.

Thinking about my future, it is very vague because I can’t imagine what it is going to be… Am I going to be successful in the future? I hope so!!

The trip to Great Ocean Road

My friend and I joined a 1 day tour to the Great Ocean Road last week. The small mini van, which the tour guide drove, took us to a variety of sightseeing spots.


One of my favorite places was “Angahook State Park”. When we strolled through the park, we could see some Koalas in the trees. Most of them were sleeping peacefully there. But when we approached a Koala, he came down from the tree and showed us his lovely face. He was so cute that I will never forget this wonderful experience.


Another of my favorite places was the “12 Apostles”. This spot is a very famous natural scenic site viewing vertical cliffs and 12 projecting rocks from the sea. People say that some of the rocks look like human faces. The scenery was impressive as the contrast with the sea, the rocks and the light of the sun was very beautiful.

I enjoyed this trip very much! I think Melbourne has a lot of good tourist attractions.

World Cup Soccer 2010

Are you watching the World Cup Soccer now? I really like watching it and the Japanese team is fairly strong this season.

First, they beat the Cameroons 1-0 and then, they got beaten by The Netherlands 1-0, actually I watched the game at a sports bar in Melbourne and many Japanese gathered there to support the Japanese team! It was very vibrant atmosphere! Though they lost the game, we paid honor to their great performance!! In the third game, they got a victory over Denmark 3-1, thank God!!!

Since they gained 6 winning points, they reached the quarter-finals. I was very happy to hear the news because they had lost every game and took lots of criticism 4 years ago.


My favorite player is Shunsuke Nakamura. He used to be a main player. However, because of his bad condition, he is rarely given the chance to participate in the game and this may be the last world cup for him…. I am dying to watch him playing on the pitch!!


I also supported the Aussie team. Despite them getting 4 winning points, they couldn't reach the quarter-finals because Germany and Ghana, who are in the same group, beat them. As a matter of fact, Ghana got the same number of winning points as Australia but they just outweighed them in total points…what a pity!

Graffiti in Melbourne

Melbourne has a lot of Graffiti. This is one of the surprising things for me! You can see variety of types of Graffiti which are painted on the walls of alleyways. Some of them look like real art, others are hard to understand…..for me.

Actually, Graffiti may become part of tourist attractions due to it being eye-catching, attention-grabbing and unique. At the same time, it can be vandalism because it destroys public property.

When I took a train in Melbourne for the first time, I was shocked and scared as a world of Graffiti was painted with some swear words on the walls and the windows. I have no clue about who could do such an awful thing… In Japan, I have never seen any graffiti inside public transportations.

I think that Graffiti can be art only if it is painted on permitted places and people enjoy looking at it.

Eureka Skydeck 88

I went to Eureka Skydeck 88 with my friend last weekend. This tower is the highest public vantage point in the Southern Hemisphere with a height of about 300 meters, similar to Tokyo tower. You get a wonderful view from this tower. I was so excited when I saw the panoramic view of Melbourne. It was so beautiful that I still remember what it’s like!

In addition, we got an experience of “The Edge(=observation deck)”, a glass cube which projects 3 meters out from the building - with you in it - suspended almost 300 meters above the ground!　Actually, I like heights and wasn’t afraid at all of being there. The view from The Edge was wonderful. It was like I was standing in the sky!


I think that Eureka Skydeck 88 is a sightseeing spot worth visiting. If you come to Melbourne, I highly recommend going there.

Am I Chocoholic?

As you know I love sweets!
I have been hooked on chocolate since I came to Melbourne.



One of my favorite chocolates is hot chocolate. It tastes so nice! I can’t help drinking it everyday!!! There are heaps of cafes in Melbourne and every café has hot chocolate on the menu. In Japan, I didn’t have enough chances to drink hot chocolate as it is not so popular and is hard to come by. Even so, it is worth drinking!!!



Another thing for this is Tim Tams. This is a very popular chocolate biscuit made by Arnott’s, Australia. It tastes so yummy! There are a variety of types of Tim Tams in Australia such as Double Coat, Chewy Caramel, Classic Dark…and so on. I want to try to eat all of them while staying here.
For further information, you can check the URL below.
http://www.arnotts.com/our-products/products/arnotts-tim-tam.aspx

Probably, I am getting to be a chocoholic. I think I need to be careful not to eat too much chocolate because of gaining weight.

My favorite place -St.Kilda

I went to St.Kilda with my friend the other day. St Kilda is a famous place known for the beauty of its beach. It is located close to the city, about 20 minutes by tram.

When I saw the beach for the first time, I was very impressed because it was breathtakingly beautiful! We walked on the sandy beach a little bit and then sat down to have meat pies and hot chocolate that we had bought at a bakery along the way. I could definitely relax with this beautiful scenery and delicious lunch!

There are a lot of nice cafés, restaurants and lovely bakeries along the beach. Every bakery displays a large amount of bread in the window! Amazing!!!

It is said that penguins show up at the pier at night. I missed the chance to see penguins because I went there in the morning. Next time, I want to go there at night.

I would say that St.Kilda is one of my favorite places in Melbourne !

The Holiday Plan

I am on vacation now for more than one month!

Actually, I am not going to travel this time as I want to study more in preparation for my next course, Diploma of Interpreting. I have decided to take a General English course at another school for one month to improve my speaking skills.

When I was in the previous school, I found that I was poor at asserting myself when it came to discussions because I never learnt how to express my opinion logically when I was a student in Japan.

I am supposed to take a national qualification for interpreting called NAATI (=The National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters Ltd) in November. I am very nervous because I heard that it is very difficult to pass the test.

However, I am going to do my best to be one step closer to my dream! Of course, I am going to explore Melbourne during this vacation for fun!!!

The First Blog

Hello, My name is Sakae. I am Japanese and living in Melbourne.

I studied English at the language school of RMIT from Feb to May and I am going to study interpreting at the TAFE in Jul.

I have been living here for about 3 months. At first it was quite hard for me to get used to my new life in Melbourne because I couldn't get along with my host mother...she was strict with me.

Since I moved to the current shared house, my life has become peaceful and I can enjoy my life in Melbourne now!!!

I am going to share the latest news of mine from Melbourne from now on.