Half a year has already passed since I came to Canada. I felt the time in February flew by more quickly than the other months because I experienced a busy two weeks in that month preparing for my mid-term test and assignments; writing essays, preparing presentations and a teaching workshop, and paper tests. I can’t get used to standing in front of audiences and talking about my topic, though I’ve already experienced doing that many times both in Japan and Canada. In addition, I often wondered about the construction of an essay and setting a thesis statement. An essay’s introduction should be stated from general information to specific; however, my grammar and structure errors are often pointed out to me. I need more practice and want to become used to writing an essay because I’m supposed to write a graduation thesis in my university. I’m doubtful about whether it has same construction as an essay in Canada or not, but I hope it’s helpful for me to prepare the graduation thesis.

     Fortunately, I had an opportunity to eat Chinese hot pot. One of my Chinese friends invited me to her house, and we held a hot pot party to celebrate Chinese New Year. Actually, I couldn’t image what a Chinese hot pot was as I’d never eaten it. As my friend said to me, China has many kinds of hot pot, and their flavors are different because of China’s big geography. My friend is from near Sichuan which has spicy cuisines, so we enjoyed spicy hot pot. Since I like spicy food, I liked that hot pot. I had a precious time with my friends, and we promised to make a Japanese hot pot next time. I want to do well and hope they enjoy my Japanese dish.

     After the mid-term test, I had a break week, so I went to Niagara Falls and Toronto with my friend. I anticipated going to Niagara Falls and expected it would be frozen; however, it wasn’t. One of my Canadian friends told me it’s uncommon. I was a little bit disappointed. But anyway I felt good emotion toward the beautiful falls, and I was able to release my bad pressure about my mid-term test. I experienced a fresh thing when we crossed the bridge connecting Canada and U.S. on foot. It is the one of my valuable experiences.

     This trip provided an outlet for my stress; therefore, I thought I will try anything and study even harder. And I want to overcome my next challenges. These days, I bought some English books, so I aim to read at least one book in this month.