Just a quick up-date
Not much going on right now really. A friend of mine has a B-day party on Wednesday. We are going to an Indian resturant. There are many birthdays in May. Two of my sisters, my step-mother, 5 of my friends, several of my friend's friends and their parents, etc...
I'm going to be busy the rest of the day creating samples and tomorrow I have to analyze them with the scanning electron microscope (SEM). I noticed at the grocery store that the potatoes were in a bag marked fruits (in English) and the strawberrys were in a bag marked vegitables (in English). That was probably the best part of my day. Currently I'm spending all day in lab doing almost nothing (with classes that I have to go to sometimes), but at the beginning of June, Nagoya University has Meidaisai (Nagoya University festival). That will probably be my next article and I will post pictures (of course).
Recently, I have mostly been studying on my own and working on my Statement of Purpose for graduate university applications (Statement of Purpose is required by every graduate university in the U.S.A. and is one of the most, if not the most, important things the evaluation committee judges applicants on). I still can't figure out how to tell my professor that I want to go back to the U.S. to study (I don't know what his reaction will be). I don't want to sound rude when I explain the reasons (which is mainly the level of education in Japan is not as high). I also have to ask him for a recommendation letter in order to get into the other universities. I decided that I will tell him by the end of this month or the beginning of next month. It seems more likely that I will get entrance in the Fall semester of next year (September 2008) rather than the Spring semester (January 2008). So, I have around 7 months to 16 months left in Japan.
I'm going to retake the GRE next month (the GRE is a test that is required to get into any graduate school in the United States. The score will also determine which schools you can gain entrance to). My last score was okay (I made a perfect score on the math section), but I want top improve on the verbal section a little. Although my score meets the requirements for any school in the U.S., I want to retake it because I want a better score (also a better score will make me look even better to the graduate school). That's not the only reason, the score reports are only good for about 5 years, but many schools would rather it be more recent. Since I took the GRE about 2 years ago, I'm going to take it again. If I can get a 500 on the verbal section, I will be happy (that means my score will be around 1300, which is good). My main problem with the GRE is that I cannot read as fast and the way they word some of the problems is confusing (even i n the Math section, they try to trick people on the wording-which is wrong because it is the MATH SECTION). There arn't to many schools that do Spring entrance where I want to go(I only know of University of Texas-Houston (which is MD Anderson) and Texas A&M University). I would rather go to University of Texas (MD Anderson) rather than Texas A&M, because it is a better school and the research is more interesting (plus they are better funded). Even if I were accepted to Texas A&M and not MD Anderson, I would really consider not going to Texas A&M, because I would have a better chance of getting in MD Anderson in the Fall semester. Still the Spring and Fall deadline for applications to the graduate schools are really close together, so I will have to work on about 5 or 6 applications at the same time (which means 5 or 6 different statement of purposes). Also, MD Anderson's application has another essay that I have to write about socio-economic problems and/or education disadvantages that I have had in my life (and I can't think of any).
If I'm not fluent in Japanese by the time I leave this place to go home, I think I'm going to continue studying Japanese in Texas until I'm fluent. Maybe in several years I will be completely literate as well. I'm told that if you learn a language and then never use it, you will forget it. I don't want to learn Japanese and then forget it all (I only understand around 70% of what people say to me these days, and that's only true if I get an okay nights sleep). I will have to find a Japanese language tutor when I return home to Texas.
Well, I have to go eat lunch. As I said, next article will be over Meidaisai (which will be around the second week of next month). So, until then. See ya'll around.
Adios
(because I don't consider this an article, there's no quote today)
I'm going to be busy the rest of the day creating samples and tomorrow I have to analyze them with the scanning electron microscope (SEM). I noticed at the grocery store that the potatoes were in a bag marked fruits (in English) and the strawberrys were in a bag marked vegitables (in English). That was probably the best part of my day. Currently I'm spending all day in lab doing almost nothing (with classes that I have to go to sometimes), but at the beginning of June, Nagoya University has Meidaisai (Nagoya University festival). That will probably be my next article and I will post pictures (of course).
Recently, I have mostly been studying on my own and working on my Statement of Purpose for graduate university applications (Statement of Purpose is required by every graduate university in the U.S.A. and is one of the most, if not the most, important things the evaluation committee judges applicants on). I still can't figure out how to tell my professor that I want to go back to the U.S. to study (I don't know what his reaction will be). I don't want to sound rude when I explain the reasons (which is mainly the level of education in Japan is not as high). I also have to ask him for a recommendation letter in order to get into the other universities. I decided that I will tell him by the end of this month or the beginning of next month. It seems more likely that I will get entrance in the Fall semester of next year (September 2008) rather than the Spring semester (January 2008). So, I have around 7 months to 16 months left in Japan.
I'm going to retake the GRE next month (the GRE is a test that is required to get into any graduate school in the United States. The score will also determine which schools you can gain entrance to). My last score was okay (I made a perfect score on the math section), but I want top improve on the verbal section a little. Although my score meets the requirements for any school in the U.S., I want to retake it because I want a better score (also a better score will make me look even better to the graduate school). That's not the only reason, the score reports are only good for about 5 years, but many schools would rather it be more recent. Since I took the GRE about 2 years ago, I'm going to take it again. If I can get a 500 on the verbal section, I will be happy (that means my score will be around 1300, which is good). My main problem with the GRE is that I cannot read as fast and the way they word some of the problems is confusing (even i n the Math section, they try to trick people on the wording-which is wrong because it is the MATH SECTION). There arn't to many schools that do Spring entrance where I want to go(I only know of University of Texas-Houston (which is MD Anderson) and Texas A&M University). I would rather go to University of Texas (MD Anderson) rather than Texas A&M, because it is a better school and the research is more interesting (plus they are better funded). Even if I were accepted to Texas A&M and not MD Anderson, I would really consider not going to Texas A&M, because I would have a better chance of getting in MD Anderson in the Fall semester. Still the Spring and Fall deadline for applications to the graduate schools are really close together, so I will have to work on about 5 or 6 applications at the same time (which means 5 or 6 different statement of purposes). Also, MD Anderson's application has another essay that I have to write about socio-economic problems and/or education disadvantages that I have had in my life (and I can't think of any).
If I'm not fluent in Japanese by the time I leave this place to go home, I think I'm going to continue studying Japanese in Texas until I'm fluent. Maybe in several years I will be completely literate as well. I'm told that if you learn a language and then never use it, you will forget it. I don't want to learn Japanese and then forget it all (I only understand around 70% of what people say to me these days, and that's only true if I get an okay nights sleep). I will have to find a Japanese language tutor when I return home to Texas.
Well, I have to go eat lunch. As I said, next article will be over Meidaisai (which will be around the second week of next month). So, until then. See ya'll around.
Adios
(because I don't consider this an article, there's no quote today)
posted by Ben at 9:04 PM
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