横浜豪州人

So a lot's been happening since the last time I wrote a blog.

To start off with, after a long year of preparation and anxiety I received good news that I'd been accepted into 横浜国立大学, Yokohama National University. Unfortunately the news still hasn't sunk in, even though I should be hell excited... I think I may be in denial about it. I dunno why I always must assume the worst, a common thought of mine is that they're gonna change their mind and say I can't go anymore, so I guess I won't be able to relax until I set foot in Japan.

I received a scholarship too, it's a bit less than JASSO but it's still extremely helpful for me. Thank you, IDP Australia, I would be financially unable to go to Japan without the support I have been given. I'm still seeking additional support, the weak Australian dollar has made it a little painful for me money-wise.

In other news, I've had this name "カメロン" since I was a child. My Japanese teacher (an aussie) had given me that name when I was five years old and I just hung on to it for as long as I could. After high school I kinda changed it to 亀論, but that name is, well, kinda crap. It means "turtle theory", which is nothing special to me and just seems to make japanese people giggle. SO, I created a full new name for myself:
新留 亀倫It's read like にいる かめろん, which is a perfect transcription of my English name although the reading of the "倫" kanji isn't common, but atleast it's a legal kanji. The meanings for each of the characters have special meaning to me;
新 - I guess this could represent the fact that I'm a newcomer to Japan;
留 - I'll enter Japan as a 留学生, so I think this kanji has a significant personal meaning;
亀 - (カメ) was a nickname given to me by my first really close Japanese friend back in high school; and
倫 - (funky pronunciation ろん) Means ethical, moral, companion.. a much nicer meaning that "theory", eck. Some people have said this kanji suits me quite well, although I wouldn't say I'm a goodie goodie.

Has anyone else made themselves a kanji name?

Also notice the new banner up the top, I stole found a photo of Yokohama which looked really cool, you can see Fuji-san in the background. BTW, 豪州人 is an old fashioned way of saying "Australian", I just hate using katakana.