Meridian Jordan
USA
Life Up North
My name is Meridian Jordan, I grew up in Anchorage, Alaska with my little sister, parents, and our tiny army of pets. Growing up in Alaska I spent most of the time outdoors when it was warm, and at swim practice when it was too cold to go outside. I spent my summers outside of Missoula, Montana with my grandpa spending our time hiking, fishing, river floating, and camping. I love Alaska and living up north. It's been hard to find a place that compares sometimes.
I started the Japanese Immersion Program in 1st grade and finished my senior year of high school. The Japanese Immersion Program is an amazing program that helps students become proficient in Japanese. I studied Japanese for 5 hours a week for 10 years, I've taken a little more than 1000 hours of Japanese lessons since I was 5!
In the program, we had many opportunities to use our Japanese in real life. We used our Japanese through songs, skits, and speeches for the Japanese Speech Contest. When you take honors Japanese you get to spend 3-5 hours a month with a native Japanese speaker talking about different subjects in Japanese. Many participants in the programs hosted Japanese interns working at the schools in the program and we got to hang out with them. Japanese has been a big part of my life between helping set up for the Japanese festivals we put on for the community and helping out the younger kids in the program learning Japanese made me into the person I am today.
Moving to The (Worlds) Big City
I've been learning Japanese since kindergarten, my school system back home has a Japanese Immersion Program. My parents enrolled me and I've been studying ever since. I knew I didn't want to go to college right after graduating so an internship in Tokyo felt right. I've been studying the language, culture, and meeting people from Japan since I was 5 years old. It made me excited to come here since I already had a better understanding of all things Tokyo than some other foreigners might have.
Me n' BffTokyo
I decided to do an internship at BffTokyo because I liked the fact that they prioritized the information and made sure it was honest. I admire the dedication to quality posts and caring about our readers. Working in Tokyo has been the experience of the lifetime. They weren't joking when they talked about ling hours and hard work here! The people you work with and the pride you feel when you see you're doing something worthwhile and watching this company grow has made every day better than the last. I'm thankful for the type of job experience I've gained here because it's made me so much more confident about my abilities and has already opened so many doors for me back in the states.
じゃあね, See You Later!
From first-hand experience I know, learning Japanese is hard. I've been studying for 13 years and I still don't know what I don't even know. But it's a great language and wonderful culture. Sticking with it is one of the most rewarding feelings when you get to go out and interact with locals here and make new friends around the world. The people, food, experiences in Japan are one of kind. It's been a wild ride here in Tokyo but I know I'm going to miss it. So, if you're looking for an experience like none other, come check out Tokyo. BffTokyo's always here to be your Ultimate Guide. じゃあね, See You Later!
