New Year

For me it's not only the start of a new year but also my birthday. I've been thinking a lot about the past and also how I want to proceed in the next year as a 21-year-old. So much has changed in this past year it gives me a lot to think about.

This time last year I looked like this:

During 2010 I have started a relationship, finished my 2nd year at university, moved country, begun studying in Japan and had quite a style makeover. Of course the biggest change is moving to Japan. It has made me grow up more than simply moving to London did, it's highlighted a lot of issues I need to work on in regards to Japanese and being here has really made me more concious of my style. 

Right now I look like this:

It's been really useful being here where I can visit my favourite brands so often and pick up gal magazines whenever I want. At first I really wasn't sure where I was going style-wise but now I'm so much more focussed on how I want to look. I hope into 2012 I can keep getting more confident in this respect.

That brings me to my resolutions:

1: Be more focussed on studying

I've always worked quite hard but lately I've noticed a lot of weak points with my studying I need to work on. By putting in more effort I hope I can fix these and work towards my goal of fluency in Japanese and confidence using it with both native speakers and other learners a like.

2: Lose weight

I've gained some weight I'd rather lose over that last year and I would like to lose it. I also want to get fitter in general because I feel so unfit and that's so not sexy. I'm pretty good at eating clean when I can be bothered but I get lazy when it comes to exercise so I'm going to try and work harder in that respect.

3: Be more organised

This applies to various things, from tidying my room regularly to keeping in better contact with my family. I need to be more proactive and organised in so many aspects. This includes thinking about my future. In September I start my final year of uni and I really need to think harder about what I want to do with my life after studenthood.

4. Improve style

I already mentioned how I feel like I'm doing better with my style. I want to continue this and most of all, not go back to how I was before once I get back to London. Confidence is a big part of looking good and I want to maintain the confidence I've gain so far. My make-up still needs work and I want to be able to put together better co-ordinates with the clothes I have.

Caught the study bug

My exams and my revision for them was pretty hardcore (once I actually started doing it >.<). I wasn't that surprised to be perfectly honest though considering how hard they kept us working all throughout the year (well at least the Japanese department did). However, now I've finished exams and don't have any classes I have literally no idea what to do with my time. Me, queen or procrastination, is feeling guilty any time I'm not actually studying. But studying for what? A test I have to take in September?

So basically no every time I sit down to crash in front of, oh I don't know the whole of Green Wing, Jersey Shore, Adventure Time, Black Books, The Fresh Prince or any film I've cared to crack out, the first think I grab (and I've noticed some of my flatmates doing it too) is my flashcards usually.

I would however recommend making flash cards to any other Japanese student. Especially anyone at mine because trying to remember 1000 kanji and all there readings for a stupidly difficult exam takes constant drilling and they really useful for that. And you can get friends involved which makes you feel like less of a revision hermit. Another thing I did was condense all the grammar points from the two textbooks we used this year into a flip book so I could go through it quickly every now and then. Especially useful since one of my textbooks is all in Japanese and a bit of a chore to revise from. (You might notice it's a bit crumpled. I may or may not have gotten a little bit over stressed while revising and may or may not have taken that out on a few sheets of paper)

The only thing that seems to actually stop me from even thinking about studying during my summer break is actually going out and doing things. So far I went to the beach with some friends (and spent most of the day indoors due to some typical British weather ;_;), did that photo shoot thing yesterday, went to the cinema like a billion times (X-men is awesome!) and erm....got drunk? I can't really remember lol.

I hope I'm cured of my compulsive studying disorder before the awesome Unni arrives. B-gumi have lots of stuff planned so I'll blog a lot about that