帰国報告　　夏目研土曜セミナー（03/09/13）担当：山崎　友久

My experience in Australia

It has passed about two weeks since I came back to Japan. I am glad to come back here without any big accidents. Because of the difference between here and Australia, I am feeling that my life in Australia was like a dream and it is a little bit sad for me. Today, I’d like to look back on my experience in Australia and tell it to you. 

  This item list is what I want to talk in this speech.

・           Reason
・           Characteristic of Australia
・           About University of Technology Sydney (UTS)
・           Holiday (Trip,Festival etc..)

(1) Reason

  Firstly, I tell you the reason why I went to Australia. Since I was a junior high school boy, I have studied English with enthusiasm. However, the education which I have received can be described as ‘dead’ English because the contents include too much grammar, you know. I wanted to learn ‘live’ English which is practically used in daily life. So, the reason why I chose Australia is only because it is one of the English-speaking countries. To be honest, I hadn’t known about that country very much before I went there.

(2) Characteristic of Australia

Secondly, I want to describe how Australia is. Australia has many wild animals, for example, kangaroo, koala, crocodile and so on. I have some photographs of them which I took in Australia , so I show you. The left one is crocodile in an aquarium. The upper right one is camel in a park near Ayers Rock. The lower right one is emu in the same park. Do you know emu? Emu is a big flightless bird which is peculiar to Australia.     

Comfortable climate and abundant nature are also Australian features. In particular, I was impressed by its beautiful seas. I show you some other pictures again. The upper left one is Manly beach where I went at the first class of UTS, University of Technology, Sydney. The contrast between transparent blue-green sea and snow-white beach still remains in my heart vividly. I like this beach the best. The lower left one is Bondi beach which is one of the most famous beaches in 　Australia. The right one is Bronte Beach where I had been for BBQ with classmates of St.Marks International College ,the private language school which I went after I had finished the class of UTS. Jerry is my friend at St.Marks. He is a Thai person and he knows well about Japanese TV drama and comics. When I met him for the first time, he said I looked like Okinawa fighter in a Japanese boxing comic.

Anyway, in addition to these two characteristics, Australia has unique policy which is called ‘multiculturalism’. In the past, Australia was a British colony. So, Australian government restricted entry especially of Asian people. After Australia had won independence from the United Kingdom, the government changed its policy to get along with Asian countries. So, people who live in this country have various kinds of nationality. Actually, UTS has some 40% of students who come from a non-English speaking background. I felt that Australian people had less prejudice to foreign people and it must be because of this policy. It is also thanks to it that I could eat the foods from various countries, for example, China, Korea, Vietnam, Italy, and of course Japan. But Japanese food in Australia seemed to be more expensive than that from the other countries.  

(3)About UTS (University of Technology,Sydney)

Next, I talk about UTS, which I went to as a Japanese exchange student. UTS is one of the biggest university in Sydney and has about 30000 students. There are 9 faculties in UTS and the two largest faculties are Business and Engineering. However, I didn’t belong to any faculties. I studied at The English Language Study Skills Assistance , called ELSSA Center.ELSSA Center is on level 18 at Tower building which is shown in this photograph. ELSSA Center provides us, Exchange students, two programs, Advanced Diploma in Australian Language and Culture ,called ADALC, and Australian English Language and Culture, called AELC. My class was AELC. This is the picture of students in ELLSA. All students are Japanese and they are from Hokkaido, Yamanashi, Tokyo, Okinawa and so on. From Monday to Thursday, I took the class about English and Australian culture.

There were five teachers in our class and I introduce two teachers, my favorite teachers in them. The teacher in the left photograph is Deborah who taught us at the class in the morning on Tuesdays. She was very fanny teacher. I have never seen teachers as fanny as her. She taught us how to conduct oral presentation and how to make questionnaire. One Tuesday, I was suddenly struck by stomach ache after the last big oral presentation. Then she kindly took me to the health-care center. The teacher in the right photograph is Kate who taught us at the class in the afternoon on Tuesdays. She taught us how to write essays and I liked her class the best. My first impression to her was that she looked cold to students. However, she was also kind person in fact because she helped us write essays even late after class. She was so nice as to give me copies of materials of her class when I told her that I left them in a train with my carrier bag. I’d like to appreciate the kindness of two wonderful teachers.        

(4)Holiday(event, trip ,etc..)

The following is how I spent my free time and holidays. I often played with Takaya at Yamanashi University on holidays. This picture was taken when we played soccer on a Saturday. I also play kickboxing and karate twice or third times a week after class. Kickboxing was most exciting sport for me. The teacher looked like Kakuta, Japanese K1 fighter.

I participated in two events in Sydney. The first one is Easter Show. Easter is a festival to cerebrate the revival of Christ. These are the photographs of Easter Show at Olympic park. The second one is ANZAC day. ANZAC stands for “Australian and New Zealand Army Corps” and this is the public holiday to pray for victims of World War and honor for remaining soldiers. On this day, I could see the march which these photograph shows.

During long vacation, I have tripped three times. At first, I went to Hunter Valley. It is the place which is famous for its wine. In this tour, I could go to three wineries and taste different type of wines. Because I am weak to alcohol, I couldn’t drink too much. I preferred white wines.

Next, I went to Cairns for farmstay and diving. Unfortunately I had already lost my digital camera before this trip, so I can’t show you photographs. But I take many photographs using disposal cameras so I will show you later. During this trip I participated in a lot of tours, for example, diving, bungee jump ,aboriginal park and so on. Because I needed to swim more than 200 meters to get a diving license I had practiced to swim before then. In spite of this hard practice I hadn’t got able to swim so I tried to do introductory diving. I could see Great Barrier Reef at this diving and it was fantastic for me. When I dived under water, I felt that I seemed to be another world. Aboriginal museum in Cairns was interesting for me. An Aboriginal person taught me how to throw a boomerang. After going this museum I went to Kuranda park by skyrail. I was happy to hold a koala in this park. I also went to a farm to do farmstay. Farmstay is a kind of homestay and we can stay farms without pay for accommodation and foods to help their works. The aim of farmstay was to ride a horse and I could achieve it.

Last trip was to Ayers Rock with my sister and it is the most impressive place in Australia for me. Ayers Rock is located at the center of Australia and it is called Ululu in aboriginal language. These are the photographs which I took during tour to Ululu. The view from the top of Ululu was like a landscape in a fairy tale and it seemed to have influenced on my philosophy of life. This mountain is called the Olga’s or Kata Tjuta,(an aboriginal word means “many heads ”). This is located about 20 kilo meters from Ululu and it is the place modeled for "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind".

  In conclusion, I have had various experiences in Australia. I have got to like Australia. I could learn many things. It is not only English. Although I have lost many property in Australia, I have acquired irreplaceable memories.