Asaka Matsuda

 

My name is Asaka Matsuda. I am a student at Kansai University in Osaka. I lived in Nara with my parents, my older  sister, and my younger brother when I was in Japan. Nara is one of the most historic areas in Japan. There are a lot of cultural treasures there. My parents work at a shop for traditional Japanese foods. My sister is also a Kansai University student and studies economics. My brother is a junior high school student and belongs to a soccer club. When I was a first-year university student, I was studying English, Spanish, and cross-cultural studies. My hobby is listening to music. I especially like J-pop. I also like to read books in my free time.  Now I live in Green Island with my host father and my host mother. My host father is a talkative person, so he always talks to me a lot about New Zealand. He also likes watching rugby games on weekends. Before I came here, I did not know anything about rugby, but now, I am enjoying watching games with him. My host mother is incredibly good at cooking. She makes many kinds of meals for me, and everything is great taste. I love her muffins. I came here to study English. I strongly want to improve my listening and speaking skills because listening was the worst band in the last IELTS, and I sometimes need help communicating what I think in English. I hope my English level will improve. I will stay in Dunedin until November and go back to Japan. I have not decided what I will do after graduating from the university, but I think I want to put my study abroad experience to good use in the future.