Saori said she applied for the Scholarship because it would be a good chance to meet up with tertiary qualified Australians and to learn something about Australia. Although she is an English teacher in Japan she thought coming and meeting up with Australians would help her formal English. She spent some time in New Zealand and that made her eager to learn more about Australia. Life here, Saori said, is very relaxing compared with her teaching life in Japan.
People here are very laid-back.
University studies are tough but she enjoys travelling around Australia, particularly in the Outback, just enjoying life in Australia and learning Aussie slang. The local people suffer from volcanic ash in the Japanese sticky and hot summers. When the ash is heavy it falls like rain so people put up their umbrellas. It is awful, she said, however Sakurajima provides good soil which produces local products like mandarins and radish. The mandarins are the smallest in the world and the radish are 3 to 4 times the thickness of my leg, she said, and are delicious.