UMSL B 2009

This is Aki.

The trip back to Japan was very long. It took about 15 hours from the airport in St. Louis to Narita Airport. I still have some jet lag from the trip.
I feel safe and relax to be back home. However, at the same time, I also feel some regrets. Since I lived in the dorm of UMSL for more than 3 weeks, it was weird that I'm sleeping in my room.

Looking back at the experiences I had in UMSL, I have changed in the way of looking at my environment in Japan and its differences comparing with the US. For example, I felt that Japan is much safer than the US. However, the attitudes of people in the US are better than Japan. I've found out that there are some advantages and disadvantages between these two countries.

I have good time in UMSL. I learned how to get along with American people. Also, the business plan was very hard and took alot of effort to complete the task. However, it also was a great experience to see the procedure of business.

Overall, EAP in UMSL was great!

Hi this is Takahiro. Today we went to the Cardinals game. The game was between the Cardinals and the Astros. The Cardinals won 3-2 and it was an awesome game. I think everyone enjoyed the game.

The train ride home was terrible. It was like the Saikyo line in Japan. People were crammed and it was horrible condition.

We are going back tomorrow, everyone is packing now and trying to get some rest for the long flight.

Hello this is Chuck.

Today the other 15,000 students of UMSL returned for their first classes. As a student myself, it was also time for me to begin again. I did not have any breaks during this Summer, and with Rikkyo group here, there has been almost no time to rest.

Due to the scheduling of the recordings of each group's presentation tomorrow, I will be forced to missed a very important introduction. Also,　all of my professors gave lots of homework for tonight. This might make my part in the filming a little less than spectacular.

While I was in class, everyone went to a business to help with their understanding of American operation. They all said it was even more interesting than the first trip. Food was also provided to them.

I hope that everyone does well and that the DVD productions live up to what was done last year. Until then, please wish us luck. It will be two very difficult minutes for us all.

There is not enough time to do everything, yet we all continue to manage. Even with a heavily filled course load, my focus has always been absolute. The same can also be said for my team members.

Time is passing quickly, and I am now beginning to worry that my new Japanese friends will be leaving in only a few days. We all will meet again some day...

Hi!
This is Kina's turn.

I went to the city museum today. And I was really excited!!! I thought it was just a museum but found out that it was theme park which is made out from trashes.

We enjoyed throwing ball, big slide, etc...
We ran, jumped, slide down, bump my head, feel down into the hole, etc.
And Sho-san drank Raspberry Sharbet and his tongue turned blue! He was crazy. It looks like monster!



In the class of the professor, we had a practice of our business plan presentation. We went 2nd.
Our group had all the scripts and powerpoint presentation. However, we had some troubles of thinking where to turn the slide. I need more improvements into my presentation.
But! No worry because our group is going to run the practice again before the final.

It's Rubii writing....I know it is not 20th today,,,,I missed it (>_<)!!!

Finally we have handed in our business plan!!!
And also finished making power point presentation!!!!!!!!!!
I feel soooooooooooooooooo better than last week!!!

Only thing left is recording the video,,,
and PACKING (^^)

6 days left to return to Japan,,,can't wait to eat Japanese food!!!!
I want to eat normally....!

But anyways, we are going to city museums tonight, and play baseball tomorrow..?
and Six Flag,,,on Sunday?? yea, something like that.
We still have busy days going on........!
But I hope everybody in UMSL can have fun and go back to Japan--!!

(Finally! this is the last time I write this blog!!)

Rubii

Hi, this is Aki's turn. Today, I'm going to talk about what happened during our group working. And this is our member Chuck who's making weird stuff while we are working...



Karen (Group C) will do the hair salon and she can do my hair like "%#'$%(';'#)...(laugh)

Yeah, I know it's weird (*｡′口`｡*)

We also went to the pool and had fun time...alright at this point you might think we are not working but we ACTUALLY are working (^^)

We finished our financial plan and now putting final checks into our works like grammar and its content. In the afternoon class, we talk to the professor and checked our financial plan. I think we changed a small bit.
It's a LOT of work and don't think that we won't finish it by today but we will manage it! Because there are good members in Group B.

Hope your business plan, Hotel Ninja will go well!

Hi this is Takahiro.


Today we wrote a thank you note to the business people we ate with last night.
Everyone learned how to learn a letter in English so it was a good lesson.

In the afternoon we didn't have Hauff's business class. Instead we went on a field trip to visit get more business experience.


We had a good dinner and now we are working on our group project.

We go back to Japan in 8 days. We are excited and sad at the same time.

Hello,
This is Chuck, Rubii, and Kina reporting in for this wonderful Monday.
Although I`m sick today, we enjoyed a long day of fun. Classes were spent getting closer to the completion of our business plan. We`ve all been working very hard to finish out various parts of the puzzle with great success.

Tonight we met Ginny. She`s a local businesswoman hoping to open a professional kitchen in which she will prepare gluten free baked goods.
She started by telling us of the many reasons she had for starting her bakery. Ginny`s daughter has a disease called Siliac, which makes her ill when eating wheat. Unfortunately, wheat is used in almost all baked foods. Therefore, Ginny resolved to help her daughter and the community all at once.

We all had a lot of fun asking about her future plans and learning how to build our own.
As for now, we are currently stressing to complete the business plan before Thursday.

Wish us luck!

Today is Nao's turn!!

We went to the GATEWAY ARCH today and went to the top.
The view was so beautiful!! I was amazed!

After that, we had a lunch at the spaghetti factory.
I ate too much.
Also, we walked to the Union Station and went shopping.
It was too hot, but a wonderful day!!

I returned to the dorm at 4:00 p.m. and took a nap.

Afterward, I went ice-skating with Jessica and my friends.
It was so exciting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, I am in my group working hard.
I have to write summary after this.

I will do my best!!!!!

about picture
Isao took this picture at mall at lunch time.
this ice cream was sooooo delicious;)

hi!!
everyone
im shiori
today was free day (working project day, also)
i woke up at 10:30,am
i slept a lot :)
and went to big mall with friends!!!

i went shopping with aerie♪
i talked a lot and bought a lot!!!
for this program, i made credit card
i used it and felt SCARY!!!!
do you know how mush i spend?!
oh gosh,,,
i have to work everyday after i got japan:(
but i had fun
SO,,,
no problem;)!!!!

around 8:00, we started to work on project!!
its getting harder and harder to make a business plan every time
but
ill do my best♪

tomorrow will be field trip♪
im sooooo exsited;)

Shiori

Hi, this is Kina writing.

We took the bus to go to the boat trip. The trip was 2 hours from our dorm to the place. I did rafting down the river with my friends. It was really fun but I got suntanned all over me and didn't like it. The reason why is that it is painful.

The problem we had during the boat trip was that the bus was delayed for picking us up. We had barbeque dinner and played "Darumasan ga koronda". Again, I got suntanned. The bus came around half past 5ish. We have arrived at the dorm around 8 in the night. I was exhausted from all the activity but it was fun. Although, I got suntanned pretty bad and was painful when I touched it.

Currently, we are working on the management plan and operation. We are also working on the marketing research and still have a lot of things to do. But we will manage it somehow (^^;)

Kina

It's Rubii's turn again!

We've gathered all the information, which is a start.

We haven't gotten very far with the project yet, but it is looking good!

We still have about 2 more weeks to go ,so I'm looking forward to how it is all going to turn out!!!
We just need to work a little bit more.

I am always tired during afternoon classes, so to begin with, I will try not to fall asleep in class any
MOre!

We have a float trip tomorrow. I hope everyone has fun!
We have a day off the day after tomorrow.
I hope I can rest and refresh so I can get ready to work hard again.

Rubii

Good evening.

This is Takahiro writing.

Today was a pretty fun day. We got to the the Mills Mall which is about 20 minutes away from our dorms. The mall had a many outlet stores and everyone seemed to be enjoying shopping. There was also a food court inside the mall, and they had food form all over the world.Me and my friends went to Panda Express which is a Chinese fast food restraunt and enjoyed some tasty food.

Tommorow we have another presentation on marketing. So we are preparing right now. I hope wecan finish up fast and go to bed soon.

This is a picture of us working on our project.

This is Aki. I just got back to the dorm from classes. I'm writing this blog a bit earlier than usual. The thing is... I'm going to the live concert today at Verizon Wireless Arena near St. Louis. Ok, I know that I have to do homework. I actually finished the homework for Jessica's class. I wrote the description of possibilites in partnership. It uses my brain and making me some headaches...perhaps (^^;)

Today, we did the TV commerical of my business (Hotel Ninja). I think we did good and hope that it gives impacts to the customers. In the next class, we had discussions about tables of contents and title page, job destribution, etc. My job of the business plan is doing the opertation, management plan, overall schedule, and community connections.

Ok, I think this is it. I'm going to the dinner now and concert. I'm excited!!! ^^

Hi this is Chuck writing with Akihiro.

Today we had fun at a Barbeque. Everyone spent the whole time in the swimming pool playing. I worked the whole time but still had fun.
Rikkyo students met my Japanese teacher.
We finished writing our script for marketing the business we have chosen: a ryokan or Japanese style inｎ. Shiori (Itoh),　
Takahiro, Nao, Kina, Akihiro, Rubii, and I have planned the commercial. We hope it will be fun. This week will be very busy, because of all the homework. However, we will record the commercial for our Hotel Ninja together, which will make it much easier.
I am not a Japanese student, but by working with them, there is a chance for　me to learn of international business. This is not my project, as I will not receive credit for its completion, but I am a member of the group. I hope that we may all learn from each other and grow together.

Chuck

hi!!
i`m shiori (itoh)
i was suppossed to write this blog on last saturday,
but i couldnt...
so i`ll write now about my last saturday :)

saturday was the 2nd day that we spent time with our host family
we woke up at 9 and went to the house of my host mom's friend, which is by the lake
they had a boat so we got on the boat with the host family and their friends
it was GREAT!!!

sunny hot day,
on the boat,
cool wind,
feeling great
with great host family

The host sisters, Alex, Loren, and Arisa and I got on the inner-tube
we also tried to water ski, but not arisa :(
it was my first time, but i was able to do it for 3 seconds!!!!!
haha
We had a lot of fun at the lake, it was great!
i really loved it♪

after that, we went shopping and bought a lot of things.
after we got home, we had dinner(it was super super delicious hamburger that my host dad made ;)
after that, we played table tennis (we were good at it so our host family was surprised)←　JK ;)
after that, we started to watch Shreck
but in a few minutes i fell asleep

BUT arisa was doing her HW
i cant believe it...
she is a crazy girl, arisa
haha ;)

it was a really fun day,
next time i get a chance to water ski
i want to stay up for 10 seconds :)

Shiori :)

It's Nao's turn today!!

Today was I went to a church, and I prayed to the god...
Afterward, we drive for sight-seeing, to the famous places.
And then, after that, we went to peach picking,
I picked full small backet!! (although I didn't eat them)

I went to dinner with my host family and host father's mother
because today was her birthday and we celabrated her.
I gave her birthday present -FURIN- like a wind charm.
and I think she was so happy (^ω^)

So, we visited my host father's office at UMSL.
I must say his room was very modern.

FINISH!!!!!
NAO

I was supposed to write my blog on Friday, but I was pretty busy.
So, I am writing it today.
It's Kina's turn today.

I felt really nervous, but at the same time, really excited.
I knew the host family was nice, from the meeting party on thursday,
but because she was so nice, I kind of felt tired.

On friday, with Hana's host family, I ate hamberger and ice-cream,
which were very delicious!!!!! (^^)

P.S
Mrs.Ichijo
I'm sorry, I was filed to write at the time...
I will do my best next time!!!!!

Kina

It's Rubii's turn today!! (by the way, it was Aki yesterday, he didn't mention his name,,,)



Today was the first class day. We basically did introduction of ours and class.
And we kind of start project, and decided the topic...
which is about.......some Japanese stuff to be set in US.
(I'm not sure if I can say it in here (*_*;)



After class was what nervous me the most -meeting our host family.
My host family was 30minutes late (!), but they seem nice,,maybe,,I hope?
I hope everybody who's in UMSL can have fun for the weekend with their host family (^ω^)♪



So, as Anthony says, I guess I must go to sleep (isn't it too early to go to bed at midnight????)
I don't want to be like Takahiro and Kalen who got picked up and threw over his shoulder to go to their room (>_<)




P.S
To Mrs.Ichijo
I'm sorry I could not make it on time, I had technological problem!!!!!