Friends

Friends

　　
Olivia is my classmate for the fall quarter and my first friend in the U.S. She is really funny and talkative, so she always asked me to just chat or work on assignments together. Thanks to her, my English speaking and listening skills improved, and I enjoyed my life in the U.S. Though Olivia is from Korea and I'm from Japan, we didn't feel a language barrier between us because we learned that expressions and feelings were more important than vocabulary and any fluency in comunication, as we spent much time together. 　

She is my best friend　　

　　
They are my classmates in Level 4 and 5 classes. They are really kind and caring about friends, so they hold birthday parties by buying big cakes. They always helped me whenever I had some concern, regardless of their age. We had students who were not only the same age as me but also much older and younger than me. However, nobody cared about their age, so I was surprised when I learned that a friend of mine was 29 years old. I hope you get along with your classmates as much as you can and rely on each other without feeling a barrier to not only language but also age or culture.

Classmate's birthday party after class The last day of our classs 　

　　
They are my American friend and his grandparents. His name is Mason, and he suddenly came and asked us,
"What are you guys doing?" when my friend and I were chatting one day. Actually, I thought he was a stranger at first. However, when I understood he was just curious about us, I thought it was a great opportunity to speak English with a native speaker of American English. As I thought, we always chatted about our daily lives, our favorites, our cultures, and so on. Later, I got the reason why he wanted to talk with us so much. It is because he hopes to be a teacher and wants to get multiple values.
Mason's grandparents were really kind. They always let us try something new, like baking American cookies, playing American games, taking us to Costco, and so on. Those were really good days.
Actually, my host family was not so good. They didn't take us anywhere without paying money. So, instead of them, Mason's family made me have fun every time I saw them.

　Aquarium with American friend My American friend and his family　　

　　
Akari is my friend who went to study abroad and spent much time together. We always helped each other improve our English. We always tried to communicate in English, not only during our classes but also during our daily lives, even through calls and messages. So, other people, like our teachers and classmates, were surprised at how high our motivation to learn English was. After coming back to Japan, we are trying to speak English only between us. So, if you can go to study abroad with your friend or classmate, I recommend you not avoid staying with them because they are supposed to be the only people who can share your precious memories after coming back to Japan. But if you don't feel embarrassed by speaking English with your Japanese friends and choose a hard way to speak English consiously, I highly recommend you do that.

This is Akari. You can also explore her web pages !　　

　

This is my boyfriend, who I met while studying abroad. Green River College has many students who are from different countries and have diversity. Thanks to my boyfriend, I could go to many places in Seattle and get many memories and valuable experiences. I can still learn other languages because he is Taiwanese and speaks Chinese, English, and Japanese. So, if you want to try an international relationship, you should use many opportunities.

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		Olivia is my classmate for the fall quarter and my first friend in the U.S. She is really funny and talkative, so she always asked me to just chat or work on assignments together. Thanks to her, my English speaking and listening skills improved, and I enjoyed my life in the U.S. Though Olivia is from Korea and I'm from Japan, we didn't feel a language barrier between us because we learned that expressions and feelings were more important than vocabulary and any fluency in comunication, as we spent much time together.
She is my best friend

		They are my classmates in Level 4 and 5 classes. They are really kind and caring about friends, so they hold birthday parties by buying big cakes. They always helped me whenever I had some concern, regardless of their age. We had students who were not only the same age as me but also much older and younger than me. However, nobody cared about their age, so I was surprised when I learned that a friend of mine was 29 years old. I hope you get along with your classmates as much as you can and rely on each other without feeling a barrier to not only language but also age or culture.
Classmate's birthday party after class	The last day of our classs

		They are my American friend and his grandparents. His name is Mason, and he suddenly came and asked us, "What are you guys doing?" when my friend and I were chatting one day. Actually, I thought he was a stranger at first. However, when I understood he was just curious about us, I thought it was a great opportunity to speak English with a native speaker of American English. As I thought, we always chatted about our daily lives, our favorites, our cultures, and so on. Later, I got the reason why he wanted to talk with us so much. It is because he hopes to be a teacher and wants to get multiple values. Mason's grandparents were really kind. They always let us try something new, like baking American cookies, playing American games, taking us to Costco, and so on. Those were really good days. Actually, my host family was not so good. They didn't take us anywhere without paying money. So, instead of them, Mason's family made me have fun every time I saw them.
Aquarium with American friend	My American friend and his family

		Akari is my friend who went to study abroad and spent much time together. We always helped each other improve our English. We always tried to communicate in English, not only during our classes but also during our daily lives, even through calls and messages. So, other people, like our teachers and classmates, were surprised at how high our motivation to learn English was. After coming back to Japan, we are trying to speak English only between us. So, if you can go to study abroad with your friend or classmate, I recommend you not avoid staying with them because they are supposed to be the only people who can share your precious memories after coming back to Japan. But if you don't feel embarrassed by speaking English with your Japanese friends and choose a hard way to speak English consiously, I highly recommend you do that.
This is Akari. You can also explore her web pages !