From Australia_Report on St. Andrew’s CC_June 14th_2016

From Australia, Report on St. Andrew’s Catholic College_June 14th – Marin Nakamura

Now Term 2 of St. Andrew’s Catholic College is getting close to the end, which means that the day for the exchange students from Otsuma Nakano to go back to Japan will be near.  The following is the final report by Marin Nakamura.

Hello, everyone there!

My morning starts from Nutella and a bread gazed out the morning sun rises from the terrace.  I am admiring the beauty of the scenery every day. Out of all the scenery I have ever seen before, this is the most beautiful sunrise. By the way, do you know Nutella? Nutella is the brand name of a sweetened hazelnut cocoa spread. The main ingredients are sugar, palm oil, and hazelnut, followed by cocoa solids and skimmed milk. It’s very famous in here, Australia and most people spread this on bread. These weeks have been going so quick that I am getting impatient, because my leaving date is approaching. I have only one and a half week left in here, Cairns. I can’t believe that

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On the last weekend, I watched the arrival scenes of Cairns High formal. The American calls it “prom”, but in Australia it’s known as the year 12 formal. Depending on the schools, sometimes this event can also held in year 9 and 10 students. In St. Andrews, it’s also held in year 9. Basically they are called year12 formal, year 9 and year 10 formal.  I heard that this event is normally organized by either student committee or school. Since year 12 students is the final school year, every students and teacher gather at one place.  It’s the one last major event before the students go their own way. Formals are usually held at local reception centre or school. Where I went to see the formal was held at Cairns International Conference Centre. Every girl is wearing a formal dress and as for boys, they are wearing formal suits which is tuxedo with bow and tie. A partner can be your boyfriend, best guy friends and your best girlfriend. In Cairns High, most girls came with their boyfriend. They were wearing a gorgeous dress with sparkle, make ups, accessories and so on. I heard that on formal day, girls are busy all day for their make ups and go to the beauty salon to get their hair style gorgeous.  Do you know what to expect at the formal? You’ll be placed with your date in vintage or unique cars that will bring you to the formal location and the thing that I really wanted to do the most was the formal walking on red carpet feeling like a star. The around of the red carpet was filled with people taking photo at year 12 students and the camera flash was amazing. It was so bright and I felt like watching a star. As I said before, I enjoyed watching the car that arrives in front of the red carpet. Most people appeared in Mercedes or vintage car, but some people was riding the big truck, limo or the bus!  They were outstanding in the crowd. I don’t really know about after the arrivals but according to what I heard is after the arrivals, they have a dinner which is a multicourse meal provided and generally dance to popular music played by a hired DJ and spend the night with their friends. Everyone looked gorgeous and they were radiant. We don’t have such kind of year 12 formal in Japan, so I’m jealous of them. I really wish I had this kind of formal culture in Japan, wearing a gorgeous dress and show our parents and teachers how much we have grown up.

On the last Friday, I went to the dinner with my friends. They organized everything for me and took me to the restaurant called “Rattle N Hum”. I had a steak there and it was so delicious! The restaurant was crowded that we hadn’t expected. The reason is because there was a big triathlon called “IRONMAN Asia-Pacific Championship”, which was held on 12th of June. I thought it was Halloween, because many people who are participating to the triathlon were wearing a fancy costume to stand out. For this reason, the restaurant and the around of Esplanade was crowded. After the dinner we went to the night markets as well and I was surprised to the number of the Japanese clerk. We had so much things to talk about, that time had passed so quickly. I had so much fun and we promised to go to dinner again while I’m here in Cairns.

I can’t believe this is the final report from Cairns, Australia. There were so many things that I can’t write down about all things in every two weeks. I feel honoured to be the students at St. Andrew’s and thank you so much for giving me this kind of opportunity. I have been able to experience so many things and the past two and a half month was fulfilling. I was surprised at something new every day because of the cultural difference between Japan and Australia. I cannot express enough my feelings of appreciation to my host families, teachers, parents, friends and everyone who supported me. I can’t believe leaving here in one and a half weeks. I really love everyone. I hope I will be able to improve my English skills further in the last one and a half weeks and I want to make use of this experience in my future.

Thank you for reading my final report!

All the best,

Marin Nakamura,

こんにちは！

私の朝はNutellaを塗ったパンをテラスで日の出を見ながら食べることから始まります。毎日ホストファミリーの家から見える様々な景色に驚いています。私が今まで見た日の出の中で1番綺麗だと思います。ところでNutellaを知っていますか？Nutellaとはヘーゼルナッツココアペーストのブランド名です。主な材料は砂糖、ココア、ヘーゼルナッツなどを混ぜ合わせたもので、オーストラリアではどこの家庭にもあり、パンに塗って食べるのが一般的です。ここ最近は毎日があっという間に過ぎていて、帰る日にちが近づいているので焦っています。もう残り一週間半しか残っていないことに驚きです。ホストファミリー、友達と別れるのがとても辛く最後の日は涙が止まらないと思います。

先週の週末にCairns High という高校のformal arrivalを見に行きました。アメリカではprom、オーストラリアでは高校3年生のformalと呼ばれるのが一般的です。学校によって中学3年生や高校1年生でformalをする所もあります。St.Andrew'sでは中学3年生でもするそうです。基本的に学校が主催し公共のレセプションホール、または学校の敷地でパーティーをすると聞きました。Cairns Highのformal はケアンズ国際会議場で開かれました。formalは卒業する前の最後の大きなイベントです。パートナーは彼氏、男の子の友達、または女の子の友達でもよいのです。女の子はゴージャスなドレス、お化粧、アクセサリーとオシャレをし、男の子はタキシードを着ていました。formalの日は女の子は朝からお化粧、美容院と大忙しです。目的地の会場までビンテージカーやスポーツカーで来ます。到着するとレッドカーペットを歩きながらパーティー会場へ向かいます。レッドカーペットの周りにはカメラのフラッシュがキラキラしていてまるで、芸能人を見ているようでした。先ほども少し話したように私はレッドカーペットの前に次々と到着する車を見ているのが楽しかったです。ほとんどの人がベンツやビンテージカーで現れ、たまにトラックやリムジン、バスで来る人もいました。私はarrivalしか見ていないのでその後のことはわかりませんが聞いた話によると、arrivalの後はディナーやダンスがあり、夜は友達と過ごすそうです。高校3年生とは思えないぐらいみんな美人で輝いていました。日本ではこのような文化はないのでとても羨ましく思います。ゴージャスなドレスを着て、両親や先生達に私たちがどれだけ成長したか見せるよい機会だと私は思います。

先週の金曜日には友達とご飯に行きました。全て計画してくれてRattle N Humというステーキが有名なレストランに連れて行ってくれました。6月12日（夕食の次の日）にIRONMAN-Pacific Championshipというトライアスロンが開かれたためレストランや、エスプラネード周辺はすごく混んでいました。夜ご飯の後はnight marketに行ったのですが、日本人の店員さんの数に驚きました。友達とのご飯は楽しすぎて時間はあっという間に過ぎてしまいました。

これが最後のレポートだと考えられません。2週間に1度のレポートでは書ききれないことがほとんどでした。St.Andrew'sの生徒として学校に通えたことを光栄に思います。私は毎日が新鮮で文化の違いに驚いていました。このような留学という機会を与えてもらえて本当に嬉しいです。私の滞在を受け入れてくれたホストファミリー、先生、私の両親、友達、また私を支えてくれた全ての人々に感謝しきれません。本当にありがとうございました。最後の1週間半どれだけ英語のスキルを上げられるか、またこの経験を将来に活かしたいです。