This time, I want to write about my life in America.
After I received the first bachelor’s degree in Spanish from a Japanese university, I became an office worker. I worked in the office every day, but I didn’t like my job. At that time, I was in a relationship with my boyfriend (later fiancé and now husband), and I talked to him about the future by phone.
Since I was young, I had dreamed to live abroad, and I wanted to improve my English. As an alternative career, I wanted to be an English teacher in Japan. Because I completed the teacher preparation program at the Japanese university.
One month later, I quit a job and came to Florida. After moving, I attended English classes and studied for going to university.
Most universities were required to submit TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) scores for non-English native speakers.
My first language is Japanese. I had no other options to proof my English ability. So I took the TOEFL. I tried nine times to reach the required score for admission.
Japanese and English are very different languages. TOEFL was a difficult exam for me. But later I knew that the GRE (Graduate Record Examinations) was much more difficult than TOEFL.
In 2009, I was admitted to the hospitality program as a transfer student.
What is the Hospitality Management Program?
Hospitality management is the study of the hospitality industry. Students study accounting, finance, marketing, HR, information technology, and culinary.
To get a job, I became a college student again. I studied in one of the best hospitality management programs. Compared to my study at a Japanese university, this program was more practical and offered a job opportunity to students.
To complete the program, a minimum of 500 hours (in my time, 1300 hours) of hospitality or tourism-related working experience was required. Soon after I got a work permit, I started working.
Studying was hard, but I enjoyed attending the classes and interacting with professors and classmates.
I took a photo with a cooking instructor on the last day of class.
Wine class was my favorite. I studied the history of wine and had wine tastings. Also, I had assignments to write about my experience visiting wine bars.
In 2012, I received the second bachelor’s degree in hospitality management. By the way, my cousin manages a BBQ restaurant in Nagoya (my hometown). If you are interested, please take a look here. → 肉の匠 知多屋
I got into the first graduate school, but I left. In 2017, I became a graduate student again and received a master’s degree in language education.
My interest is bilingual/multilingual education and sociocultural linguistics (e.g., second language acquisition, language variation, and the relationship between language and color). 😊
Next time I will write about my life as a graduate student.
Thank you for reading. 🙏
Photos by LILI
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