Can you believe you can change your mind in a week? I’ve never been to such a fabulous place where I really want to live. Living in the southwest is now my dram. There are a lot of my favorite places such as Acoma Pueblo, Grand Canyon, Museums, University of New Mexico and Santa-Fe. I changed my mind from seeing people of all nationalities. I could learn everything I saw from different aspects, for example, religion, language, culture, academics and reexamine my future.
First of all, I was really impressed to go to a religious village, Acoma Pueblo. It’s called Sky City. There is a lot of beautiful scenery I’ve never seen. I felt and found a lot of religious things including origin, faith and traditional events. When I visited there, I couldn’t record and take notes in order to respect and to protect their religion. Acoma people have a kind of strong religion and group consciousness because Acoma people had to protect themselves from enemies for a long time ago. That is why they live in high place. By the way, can you imagine the life without electricity? There is no electricity. They cherish nature. They do dry farming and make pottery which is known as the thinnest pottery in the south west. The white strip is applied in their pottery. I think it is one of the symbols of Acoma because Acoma means white people. Some Acoma women sold small ornaments whose shape was a frog. According to them, frog shows good meanings. As a traditional event, they have ceremony in kiva which is underground. The reason why kiva is underground is that people believe the mother earth. It means people emerge from mother and ground. There are 11 families and about 30 people in the pueblo. They try to protect and hand down their own religion to the next generation. Everything there is related to their religion. I learned how important their religion is from them.
Second, I heard various languages during the south west trip in particular at the Grand Canyon. During the bus riding, I concentrated on hearing language. I sometimes distinguished people’s nationalities by their language. There were people of all nationalities. I found some languages have a few common points, for example, the language which is spoken in Europe comes from Latin, so I could know where travelers were from. Some travelers who were not American asked me where I came from. I said I came from Japan but one of them thought I came from Hong Kong by seeing face. I think Asian faces are similar. Even Japanese cannot tell Japanese from Hong Kong; however, language show nationality. It is very interesting for me. I notice other attractive points. I met Native American there. He seemed to have the Indian dialect as I do Kansai dialect. It was sometimes difficult to catch his talking. Dialect shows which parts of a country people are from. Even though people speak language, they have a hard time to communicate. I think English I learn in Washington State is one of the English. I have one more story. I met some Japanese who traveled there. They can’t speak English. They communicate with foreigners with gestures, so they don’t have a problem in communication. One of the men worked in China for thirty years. He understands what Chinese say but he cannot speak Chinese at all. Actually, he could work there with Chinese colleagues. From my experience, I try to have communication and I can understand what a foreigner wants to tell regardless of the language level. In addition, I realized English is one of the biggest languages again. I am getting curious about language.
Third, when I visited many museums, I touched a bunch of art works through my all senses. I saw international arts and Indian art work. In particular, I like pottery. How did each tribe decide their own design? What do designs symbolize? I came up with many questions about pottery. My favorite one is Acoma pottery. It’s just cool. I don’t know what meanings it has. I like seeing drawings. Georgia O’keeffe’s works encouraged me to take some actions. They are powerful. As I saw her works, I wanted to draw something. All works are involved with cultures or thoughts. Someone is in the same landscapes which are actually located in different places. Then, she starts to draw in both places. Do you think she draw the same picture? I don’t think so. She feels the different breeze, taste and smell. The picture contains artist’s feelings at the moment. I learned some artists’ lives. Art brings me happiness. I want to live with art for the future. I will try to draw picture on my sketchbook.
As an academic aspect, I found something new at the one university. What a cute university! That’s The University of New Mexico (UNM). I am curious about studying abroad. The university fascinated me. As soon as I arrived there, I was so excited because the buildings consisted of adobe style. There were various classes, including Japanese class, a lot of nature and huge library. I joined Japanese class and had a good conversation with students there. My partner didn’t take Japanese class. He just followed his friend who takes Japanese class. At first, I was uncomfortable because I had to talk with my partner who wasn’t interested in Japan; however, that was wrong. I misunderstood. He tried to exchange conversation with me. Looking back, he had interest in Japan and followed his friend. He seemed to be more curious about Japan. There are lots of services or facilities. The students of UNM have many options and use many services such as the place where students get help about writing. They have a cinema and big science lab. I really wanted to study management or business. The UNM has over 200 degrees including them. I think it is important to choose a university that has classes or environment you really want to learn. I visited a library. Compare to MWU, it was the more spacious library. Inside was so wonderful and artistic; moreover, I saw many studying students. It must be so comfortable space to study. I was surprised by just this atmosphere. I imagined I would study in this library. I wish I were a student at University of New Mexico, I could be there as long as I want. As you can see, this university is my favorite. If the fabulous university like this were in Japan, I would surely apply to the university. By this visits, I am getting more interested in studying in the U.S.
Looking back on the fabulous trip, I recognize my favorite place is Santa-Fe. Santa-Fe with enormous blue sky means the holy faith. At first, I couldn’t understand why it was named holy faith. As I spent a fantastic time there, I understood and the name was appropriate for this town. The huge sky was going to reflect on my future. During my stay in Santa-Fe, I thought of my future under the sacred sky and pictured my dream on the huge sky. I want to live there once in my life. I really love adobe houses and color like brown and turquoise. Whenever I saw these colors, I felt very comfortable and it was tranquil. The passage of time was so slow as if time stopped. The town seemed to be created by people. Moreover, the streets are lined with cute rows of adobe houses and stores. Everything I saw fascinated me. And then, there are many historical buildings and interesting stores. I can know history and customs through resources. I like history regardless of country. It is a good place to study history. People are calm and seemed to be slow. Most of stores were closed early. I think it is one of the personalities of people there. It might be related to religious thinking. I found a difference. Unlike urban people, people who sell something don’t force us to buy goods. I think the situation happens by different thinking or personality. I also enjoyed shopping and I met a lot of Native Americans. It was the first time I did. Some asked me “Where are you from?” I thought they didn’t know where Japan was and Kobe was. I didn’t expect them to answer they knew Japan and Kobe; furthermore, some Native Americans have been to Japan. Others have children who study in Japan or have Japanese friends. I wondered why many people know Japan and I felt pride of Japan at the same time. Even though Japan is a small island, it attracts many people over borders in many ways. I am glad and proud of myself as Japanese. If I live in the southwest, I could know people’s thinking gradually and I could tell more about Japan. I seriously have to live there someday. The trip gave me a other dream.
As you can see, I broadened my view. I think I could get more options and various thoughts for my future through just one week trip. I learned not only history but also my future. I mean I could know new ideas in my life through my experience in the southwest. It brought me the new way I stand. It will be unforgettable memory.