ロレックスパリマスターズに行ってきた。
お久しぶりです。
2ヶ月ぶりのブログ更新です。
今回の舞台は、、、憧れのフランス、パリ。
誰しも一度はパリに憧れたことがあるのではないでしょうか。
パリと聞いて頭に浮かぶのは、エッフェル塔、凱旋門(競馬が好きな人は凱旋門賞かも)、ルーブル美術館などでしょうか。
世界中から多くの観光客が訪れており、世界でも有数の人気観光地となっております。
しかし、タイトルにもあるように、今回の旅の目的は、
ロレックスパリマスターズ2018を観戦すること
でした！
なぜパリまで行ってテニスを観に行くのかと疑問に思われるかもしれません。
実は私は、中学生の時にソフトテニス、高校大学では硬式テニスに打ち込んでいました。
そんなこんなで、男子シングル界に君臨するビッグ4として有名な
ロジャー・フェデラー、ノバク・ジョコビッチ、ラファエル・ナダル、アンディー・マレー、そして皆さんご存知錦織圭選手には心底憧れており、NHKの無料放送があれば必ず録画して部活の後に観たりもしてました。
いつかフェデラーの試合を生で観戦してみたいと常に願っていた私が、ベルギーの隣国にこれらの猛者が一堂に会する大会が開催されると知れば行かない訳がありません🔥
テニスに興味がある人は勿論、やったことない人も楽しむことが出来ると断言できます！
以下イベントの詳細、注意事項となりますので、参考にしてみて下さい。
What: Rolex Paris masters
ちなみに、、、ATP1000という規模の大きさ、ツアーファイナルへの出場権獲得への最後のチャンスということで、ランキング上位選手はほとんど出場します。2018年は怪我で参加辞退したナダルを除いてお目当ての選手は全員観ることが出来ました。
選手登場シーンでは突然明かりが消え、まるでクラブに居るかのような音楽と共に選手がコートに現れます。
手前にいるのは錦織圭選手、奥にいるのはあの伝説のフェデラーという夢の対決でした。一生のうちに叶えたかった夢がこんなに早く叶うとは…
When: 10月29日〜11月4日
僕がチケットを取ったのは、11月2日の準々決勝の一日券です。なぜこの日に選んだかと申しますと、一日で準々決勝を行うため、シングル4試合全て観れてしまうという超お得チケットになってるからです。
Where: ベルーシアリーナ(AccorHotels arena)という場所で開かれます。
室内コートのため寒さの心配もしなくても大丈夫。
How much: ピンキリです。コート近ければ近いほど値段が高くなります。僕は100€の席を確保しました。それが大体このくらいの距離になります。
まあお財布と相談という形になるでしょう。
最後に、注意すべきことを何点か。
- 身分確認の出来るものを持参しないといけない。パスポートなど。
- 軽食を持参しておく。場内には軽食を買うことも出来ますが、かなりお高いです。水ですら400円くらいします。。。
- 英語が通じない警備員がいる。 フランス人の中にはフランス語しか話せない人も多くいるようで、荷物検査の際に全く会話にならず困惑しました。
- アナウンスや映像、インタビューまですべてフランス語で話される。
以上、フランス旅行についてでした！次の舞台はアメリカでのボスキャリについて書きたいと思います！
今までは英語で書いていたのになぜ日本語にしたのか疑問に思われるかもしれません。
理由は2つあって、１つ目は読者の数が限られることで、２つ目は時間が掛かるため更新率が極端に低くなってしまったことです。
当面の目標であるトータル10記事を達成する為にも、まずは継続して更新することが大切なので、日本語でのブログに変更することにしました！
これからも宜しくお願いします！
迷いと後悔(Is the decision I made is right or not?)
3 weeks has passed since I came to Belgium.
How quickly the time goes always surprises me. I heard that Bansyu autumn festiva has started in my village.
Today, I'd like to talk about my thought. It would be boring because I'll just write my complaint...So, if you don't like to see my complaint, you had better stop reading here.
At first, I regret having studied abroad in Ghent.
You might think that how lazy I am or I shouldn't complain too much because I made decision to go to Belgium.
TRUE. EXACTLY. I can't say anything back.
But, nobody said to me that Ghent uni is bad choise.
What made me think like this way?
I totally agree that ghent uni has more beautiful campus and is located in historical, beautiful city. Of course, I'm so happy that I made very good foreign friends!...
However, I'd like to point out some bad point which depress me these days.
Firstly, I can't integrate myself into the culture in Belgium. In particular, I can't understand that people go out at night and scream together,drinking beer.
Futhermore, what's worse is they throw away rubbish on the road,which causes bad smells next morning...
DONT take it for granted that the roads in front of your home are always clean.
Secondy, there are few community that let foreign students belong.
I have lookeed for some organization which accept international students who can't speak Dutch.
However they all require me to communicate in Dutch!!!
Dutch is one of the most difficult languages in the world.
I think that I need community or mission which I devote myself into and spend all my time and effort.
I lost two great great great community(KIBER and part time job.)
KIBER SA was very demanding, sometimes forced me to prepare for the lecture without any sleep.
Sometimes it made me feel depressed.
However, I definitely think it's worth doing and the experience wouldn never fade away in my life.
Part time job at cram school also gave me warm community and invaluable experience.
I literally love my job at cram school.
I can't describe the detail because the use of SNS regarding to cram school is prohibited.
What's a pity is I had to give up teaching English halfway. (受験には間に合うのはせめてもの救い)
To be honest, I wanna go back right now and teach again.
Nothing to say, I can't go back to Japan.
So, how do I overcome this?
I think the only way to get over myself is to find something like KIBER and part time job!
This is my conclusion.
I hope I will find soon!!
Good night!! zzz
(the view from library is spectacular,right?)
I had a trouble...
Hi!
It's been a week since I posted the latest blog even though I planned to post every day at first. It's sometimes as cold in Ghent as on December in Japan. Seriously.
Moreover, although I don't wanna make an excuse, I've been busy with making new friends, registration of course, scholarship and so on.
By the way, what I'd like to talk about is insignificant. So, I'll apologize in advance.
As the headline tells, I have trouble in organizing the course which I'll take for 1st semester.
Ghent university stipulates how many credit I have to take,24 credits each semester, however I think It's very terrible for me.
Why?
BECAUSE there's few course which I think I want to learn from the bottom of my heart!!!
This is the very dilemma,right?
I know this situation is attributed to my low score of TOEFL...I should've get 87 score somehow which would allow me to take master class.
After all, I ended up with taking 8 classes to satisfy the requirement as if I were freshman.
Anyway, I cannot change anymore, so I'll keep my mind energetic once more.
What I and foreign students have in common with is ....to eat food. （食べることは世界共通）
Hello, I haven't posted for several days. (because I spent almost all my time into cooking and registration for staying in Ghent.
Surprisingly, It's been a week since I said goodbye to my parents and co-workers in Japan.
You might think that I miss friends in Japan and feel lonely.
I'd say that this is true and wrong.
Why?
Because I spend a great way of life with foreign students who have a completely different background from me.
When I was in Japan, I was wondering if I will be able to get along with many friends in a remote and strange country.
Then,I start to live in my room which is fully equippd with necessary appliance except for kitchen. That's why I have to go to the common kitchen which every one can use.
To be honest, I felt like this," Why doesn't this dorm install the kitchen? What a bother?"
But I don't wanna go out just to go get junk food or eat an expensive dinner every day. Obviously, I know that it causes me to run out of money soon or later.
So I tried to cook something to eat( not the one you eat in Japan) with a few cooking utensils.
The first outcome was actually not tasty at all. Not too bad, not good. This is the first one.
What's great is the power of cooking.
Cooking is worldwide, common, simple.
My best respectful teacher said to me that playing tennis is the good way to interact with foreign people because tennis doesn't require high language skill, require only a ball and a racket.
I realized that "Cooking is similar to tennis in terms of simplicity, universality and joy."
Someone often speak to me and teach me how to cook well when I cook in
the kitchen. This creates a conversation.
I can improve my English skill.
I can learn different culture from them.
Now I'm absorbed in cooking. Cooking is necessary if I work in remote area.
I swear that I become good at cooking and spread what I would learnd somehow.
A little courage turned my life happy! (とにかく勇気を出して話しかける大切さ）
Good morning. I'm Mebaru. How is it going in Japan?
It's too cold today here to go out without thin clothes. My app tells me that it's 9 degree.
How cold it is even in September! Does this cold weather come from a bit higher latitude than Japan's one? Anyway, I have to get more warm coat as soon as possible.
To begin with, I quit the style of writing a blog, which I applied for the past two article and would chage it to much simple one.
The importance of having a little courage is what I'd like to write about.
I think that I'm not a person who can make a lot of friends and I have rather shy personality.
In the beginning when I started to live in the dorm, I felt so awkward every single time I saw someone. I don't know how to greet in English and what to talk about.
Yes, I guess I was regared as totally miserable and unsocial guy.
So, I tried to say 'Hallo, how are you?' To say this words needs a little courage for me.
Greeting is amazing! After saying 'Hallo, how are you?', the situation changed.
Nobody ignore me and look down on me. What's great is not only reducing the awkwardness but also making me easier to start a conversation with them.
Since then, I have kept greeting when I bump into other people,
Keep in mind that chance won't come to us unless you try to catch.
Good night!
Consecutive surprising days 1~3日目 (from the day I arrived at Ghent to Welcome days)
Dag!
This is greeting in Dutch. I learned from the book which I bought in Japan.( However I haven't read yet. Just 1st chapter for now hahaha)
Let get started!
Today' s blog is about what I saw and experienced since I arrived here.
Sep.18th
It's was totally busy then. The day started with 12 hours flight from Thailand to Brussels airport. After arriving here, I had to move to Ghent university.
However, I had no internet!!! That's why I started to walk around center of city in order to find SIM card shop. Pulling 24kg suitcase on the bumpy roads which were made of brick, I and my friends got pretty exhausted.
After managing to get SIM card, we went to registration office to get student card and to dormitory to let me get the access to my room.
First day was so busy that I slept like a log for many hours.
By the way, I got first foreign friend.
Sep. 19th
Today was also hectic.
What I did today were mainly two things.
・Swap shop
It was like a enviromentally friendly event which every student living in dorm could participate in and get a lot of second-hand furniture such as s pot, a blanket, dishes and a glass which suits for a specific beer in Belgium.
This was organized and run by a certain students association. As they said, it's a waste of money to buy new things even though we can use scond-hand goods which the past students left for us.
I think that It is a great idea to open such a sustainable event for international students which actually don't have enough money to freely use for free of charge.
・City tour by boat
After going back to drom from swap shop , we walked around Ghent city with Japanese friends and a student who came from Korean.
We joined the boat tour and went to some famous antiquities through the river for about 2 hours.
What's special about it was that...
Ghent city has the very historic atmosphere everywhere!!!
While you can enjoy walking all the time in Ghent, Himeji has a few places to visit( castle, garden and Syosya-zan).
Sep 20th
Today was an orientation day for international students and I went to UFO building as one of them.
There were more than 1000 students from all over the world! I felt lonely because Japanese are minority for the first time in my life.
Majority was European students which came to Ghent as Erasmus program.
I heard that they can study at any European university unless the univerisity belongs to Erasmus partnership. In additon to that, they are mostly master or degree students so I wouldn't take same class with thiers. (In fact, due to my low TOEFL score, I couldn't get allowed to take master class. I should've studied more when I was freshman.)
Since three days passed since I arrived here, I were gradually getting used to this life and environment. However, the only thing I can't get used to is the students who live in the same floor.
I have my own separate room and bathroom except kitchen.
So, I have to use the kitchen with the other students who came from a various different country. This is very tough for me because I have never cooked by myself since I was born.
Although I can buy some foods and eat them, I thought it's not worth studying abroad.
So, I and the other Japanese friend just went to kitchen.
What's great was some foreign students talked to us!!!
What a relief!!! It became easier for me to go to kitchen room since then.
3 hours later, I participate in the welcome party near my dorm.
I could drink Belgic beer and talk with a lot of international students.
This was the very INTERNATIONAL.
Thanks to courage form the alcohol, I tried to talk with as many people as possible.(maybe, 30 or something.)
I was happy to know there were many students who knows something with regard to Japanese.
To update every day became difficult for me. So, I'll slow doen the frequency I post the blog. （too early lol)
留学始まりました！ My styudying abroad has just started!
Self Introduction&Resolution
I'm a college student and study business administration, mainly corporate finance,at a university which is located in western part of Japan.
What I like to do in my freetime are tennis, going fishing for getting dinner lol.
Why I started a blog now?
Because I have 20 hours for transit at the airport in Thailand...but I have nothing to do.
I forgot to mention why I'm in Thailand now!
In fact, I am heading for the Ghent university in Belgium as an exchange student.
I left Himeji yasterday afternoon, so 26 hours have passed right now.
I feel nervous because my hip is hurting and the flight from here to brussels would take 12 hours.
Although there are many concerns I have but I decided to make full use of this exchage program for 10 months.
I don't know what my life in foreign country which is about 10000km far from Japan would be.
However, I'll make a full use of this great opprtunity.
See you next time,bye.
