勉強に関する思い出
11月17日は、韓国では大学入試修学能力試験(日本でいう、大学センター試験)の受験日。ここKNUでも朝早くから受験者が参考書片手に門をくぐる姿がちらほら見えました。受験=1年間の猛勉強!勉強に関して、我ながら「よく頑張った!」と褒めたい年が2回あります。それは小2の時と高3の時。小2の夏、私は父の転勤でアメリカのNJ州にある郊外に家族と引越し、いきなり現地校に転入させられました。もちろん、英語なんかさっぱりわかりません。そんなこんなで1年が過ぎ、忘れもできない出来事が!その年の最後の通信簿に私だけ進級するクラスが記載されていなかったのです。担任いわく、「彼女は英語力がないから進級するのは難しい」と親に告げられました。その事実は幼い私には非常にショックの大きい事でした。幼いながらも、一生懸命に環境に慣れ、少しは友達もできた矢先の事でした。それから数日後、母に「先生にいって英語のワークブックをもらってくるから、頑張って勉強するか?」と聞かれ、「頑張る」と応えました。今、思えば相当負けず嫌いな子供だったのかもしれません。(苦笑)それからが地獄の3ヶ月の夏休みの始まりでした。遊ぶ間も惜しんで、毎日、毎日英語のワークブックの山との戦いで...それは7歳の子供が円形脱毛症になるほどのストレスでもありました。当時は子供用英和辞書もありません。だから、わからない英単語は大人用の英和辞書で引き、わからない漢字が出ると漢和辞書を引き、載ってる意味がわからないと国語辞書を引く。わからない英単語がある度にこの繰り返し。このおかげで、私は辞書を引く早さ、調べる楽しさ、一度苦労して調べた物に対しての記憶力、漢字の読み方とその意味を一気に身につけることができました。この努力が実を結んだのか?!新学期の日に無事に進級することができました。その後、私はそこで15歳まで家族と共に暮らしました。以来、努力をすれば必ず克服できるという自信にもつながりました。それから10年後、高3の時、私は日本で大学受験を控えた受験生をしていました。当時、私の家族はまたまた父の転勤でアメリカへ。私は子供の頃から転勤族で入った学校を出たことはなく、父に懇願して日本の高校だけは出たいと言い、単身残ることになりました。そして、その年は最悪なスタートで始まりました。まず家族と離れて早々、盲腸で入院。その後は受験勉強一筋でした。私の場合、3年が過ぎようとしていて大学入試の帰国子女枠もなく、推薦入試と一般入試しかなかったのです。帰国後、3年弱で日本で受験勉強をしてきた学生達と対等に闘うにはハンディは正直大きかったです。が、悪運があったのか?!それなりの努力が実ったのか?!・・・無事に東京の大学に進学することが出来たのでした。当時はしんどくて、辛かっただけだったけど...今、振り返るとあの頃があるから今の自分がいるのかもしれないとつくづく思えるし、「まだまだこれくらいで、へこたれるな!」とも思えます。だから、やっぱまだまだ頑張らなくっちゃね。Nov.17 is a national entrance exam(In Japan, it's Center entrance exam for universities) for universities in Korea. At KNU this morning, I saw many students with a textbook in one hand walking around to come to take the exams. Entrance exams means a year of hard studies. It also reminded me of my memories about studying. There were years in my life that I can say to anyone, "I did study hard!" It was when I was a second grader and a senior in highchool. In the summer of my second grade year, my family moved to a surburban town in N.J.,U.S.. due to my father's transfer. I was soon enrolled in a public school in town. Ofcourse, I had not known any English at all. But year went by and a shocking incident happens. On the last day of scool, only my report card had no next year's classroom was written. Later my parents were told by my teacher that " My English level was not high enough to be kept up in the class so I should stay back a year." This was a great shock to little me. It was when I tried my best to adjust to my new environment and I started making new friends,too. Few days later, my mother said to me, "You think you can study English all summer long if I asked your teacher to give you English workbooks to do?? You think you can really try hard?" My reply, "I will try really hard". When I look back, I must have been a kid who just hated to be a loser. Anyways, it was summer to remember! Studying every day from morning to night, hardly no time to play. It was a very stressful summer for me and I got a 10yen bald on my head by the thime summer was over. At that time, there were no English-Japanese dictionaries for children. So what happens if I don't know English word? I first look it up in the English-Japanese dictionary, then I look up in the Kanji dictionary because I'm too young to be able to read hard Kanji. After I look up my Kanji, I look up in the Japanese dictionary to find out what the Kanji means.This was repeated over and over whenever I stumble upon a word I don't know. Thanks to this process, I have achieved many things such as being able to use the dictionaries very fast, fun of doing a research, the memory never to forget,once I had alot of difficulties trying to find out the meaning, and being able to read and understand hard Kanji at an early age. I guess all my hardships of the summer came to a happy result. I was able to go up a grade with my fellow classmates on the first day of the new school year. Then, I lived in U.S. until I was 15years old with my family. This experience gave me alot of confidence and taught me if there's a will, there's a way.Then 10years later, when I was a senior in highschool getting ready for my university entrance exams and my family was again living in U.S.. due to my father's transfer. As a child, I was always moving around, in and out of schools because of my father's transfer. I begged my father to for just once! let me finish the school I'm enrolled in. I stayed back in Japan by myself. The start of my senior was not a very good start. Right after I was seperated from my family, I was hospitalized for appendix. After that I was studying really hard or my exams. To tell you the truth, there was a big disadvantages for me brcause it had been almost 3 years since my return from U.S. has passed and I couldn't try to enroll myself in universities with admissions for returnee students from overseas. There was no chance that I could do well as everyone else who were raised in Japan to study. So my only choices were to take the recommendation entrance exams and a normal entrance exams like everyone else. But I did study hard that year and luckily or not, I was able to enroll myself in a university in Tokyo area. At that times, it was nothing but unbearing and hard and stressful days. But when I look back, maybe it's that experience that keeps me who I am today and that it always reminds me "It's too early to give up! Just give it a little more push!" towards my life. So, I guess I should give it a try, right?!