キャンピ

わたしは　よく　キャンピングを　します。　わたしは　OA Leader　です。　らいしゅう　キャンピに　いきます。ALTTって　いいます。　キャンピは　おおきいこうえんで　ありまあす。キャンピが　だいすきです。

This was on OA Frosh Trip 2011.  It was totally epic.

The lakes of the Boundary Waters in Minnesota, near the border with Canada.

The Colorado River in Utah.  This might have been a bit posed...

サイクリング

わたしは　げつようびから　どようびまで　サイクリングを　します。

So as a freshman last year I decided that I wanted to try out the Princeton cycling team.  I had run cross country in high school, but I ended up getting injured so many times that it wasn't worth it anymore.  It was all for the best, though, since I really do love cycling.  Last year I raced the Spring season, which was awesome.  The picture below is from my first race, at Rutgers.

Here I am in New York City, at a race hosted by Columbia.

This is the finish line camera in New Hampshire.  I actually ended up getting 2nd place in my division!

 Anyway, cycling is a great way to burn off the stress of school, and I try to go almost every morning.  It's a great sport and I can't wait for the season this upcoming spring.
サイクリングが　だいすきです！

きょう

きょうは　ビジー　です。　わたしは　ごぜんろくじよんじゅうごふんに　おきました　 そして　しちじはんに　あさごはんを　たべました。　バナナと　シリアルを　たべまして。　はちじから　くじまで　アイクリングを　しました。　そして　じゅういちじに　ぶつりがくのじゅぎょうが　ありました。そして　じゅうにじはんごろ　ウィルソンで　ひるごはんを　たべました。そして　さんじさんじゅっぷんに　にほんごのじゅぎょうが　ありました。ろくじから　しちじまで　にほんごのテーブルが　ありました。いま　ねます！

ばてる

(;´ρ`) ｸﾞｯﾀﾘ
わたしは　ばてる　です。いま　ねます。
But I don't really mean physically tired.  I'm mentally exhausted.  I really do love all of my classes this semester, but they're beginning to take their toll.  My engineering classes have a decent amount work, but aren't really that bad.  I'm taking a class on European Culture, which is really interesting, especially since we get to read a huge variety of both literature and history, but, as I said, we read a lot.  My physics class, unofficially known as Death Mech, lives up to its name.  Finally, Japanese is great, and I'm really excited about how much I've learned in the last four weeks, but it's also quite a time commitment.  I think that this week is just particularly bad though.  And, in any case, Fall Break is right around the corner.  In the end, all the work will definitely be worth it, since I really won't have another chance to learn so much cool stuff in such a short amount of time.  だいがくが　すきです。

きょう

きょうのあさ　わたしは　ろくじはんに　おきます。　しちじはんに　あさごはんを　たべます。　はちじじゅうごふんに　サイクリングを　します。　じゅういちじに　じゅぎょうを　いきます。ごじはんじ　ばんごはんを　たべます。だいがくが　すきです。

Forming Sentences

わたしは　きのうの　ばん　デスノートを　みました。　わたしは　きょうの　ひる　にほんごを　べんきょうします。わたしは　あした　としょかんで　えいがを　みます。
So, I'm really not sure how grammatically correct these sentences are, but I've made it to the point where I can really start forming more flexible sentences about things that I do in my everyday life.  This is where the language really becomes interesting, because we move beyond having a formula where you can change out a word or two, and instead can mix and match words and structures to suit our intention.  I can't wait to expand my vocabulary and really start speaking Japanese.

P.S. I've never really watched anime before, but some of my friends convinced me to try it out since I'm taking Japanese, and it's really quite good.  Shadowing off of it is hard, though.

Goals in Japanese: Part 1

I've got a lot of goals for this semester in Japanese, but right now I'll list some specific ones that pertain to improving my pronunciation and listening comprehension in the next couple of weeks.

Goals:
In the next few weeks, I would like to be able to correctly form each individual mora, working especially hard on the r- and g- groups.  In addition, I need to work on the correct way to fit a double consonant into a word so that it doesn't sound like a full break.  I would also like to further familiarize myself with all the times when vowels are dropped, so that I don't pronounce all words exactly as they are written instead of how they should be.  Finally, I need to work on distinguishing when one word ends and the next begins during listening, so that I can more easily make sense of longer sentences.

Activities:
In order to complete the above goals I intend to do Shadowing for about 10 minutes three times a week.  I will also attend the Japanese language table practice speaking and listening in an informal environment.  In addition, I will shadow one episode of anime per week to gain experience with a wider variety of speaking styles, beyond those posted on Blackboard.

Hopefully these activities will help me make progress toward my goals in the next few weeks.