[3D ACADEMY English + Exercise Course testimonial] Marina

—What was your reason for choosing the exercise course?

Since I hadn't had much free time since my student years, I thought it would be good to gain something besides English. So, as a nurse, I wanted to take better care of my health and chose the exercise course.

Also, I was worried that seven classes a day would be hard for me, since my mind wasn't used to English yet. I thought it would be more worthwhile to study English while also moving my body in moderation; that was another of my reasons.

—So you wanted to separate the time for studying English from the time for exercising.

That's right. Although, even when exercising, the trainer gave me instructions in English, so I practiced the language there too.

—How does that exercise course work, specifically?

First I run for 20 minutes on a treadmill. As soon as I finish, I go straight into the weight routine. For this routine, on my first day of studying abroad they asked me what my goal was for exercising and whether there was any particular muscle area I wanted to strengthen, and based on that they put together a personalized program for me. For example, Mondays focus on the legs, Tuesdays on the arms, and so on.

Every day there are between 10 and 12 exercises, so it's quite tough (laughs). Of course there are breaks and it's not excessively intense, but without a strong will it's hard to keep up an hour and a half of weights every day. Even so, I was able to complete a whole month without missing a single day, so now that I've finished everything I feel a huge sense of achievement.

—After completing the exercise course for a month, do you feel any results?

I feel huge results. By lifting weights almost every day and also watching my diet, avoiding eating or drinking too much, I lost weight and my abs became defined; I'm very satisfied. Since I came to Cebu, I wanted to go to a beautiful beach, so I'm really happy I was able to slim down. If I already feel so many changes in a month, I think in three months I could completely transform my body.

—Did you travel to beaches or islands on the weekends?

I went every weekend. That was my motivation to work hard at studying English and exercising (laughs). The school excursion to Caohagan Island was also wonderful.

I also went to Bantayan Island by myself. When I told my one-on-one teacher that I would go alone, he was surprised and said, "Why are you going alone?!" (laughs). But I thought that if I went with Japanese friends, I would inevitably end up speaking Japanese and it wouldn't help me practice. I asked the teacher a lot of questions so that I could go to a faraway place by myself and come back without problems.

He taught me things like the reference prices for motorbikes and which expressions to use depending on the situation, and all of that also helped me study English, besides becoming a good memory.

—What did you think of Caohagan Island, where you went on the school excursion?

It was truly worth going to Caohagan Island. Since it was a school excursion, at first I hesitated about going, because I thought that being with friends I was already comfortable with, we would end up speaking Japanese.

But when I found out that the visits to local homes were part of an original 3D ACADEMY program, I decided to go. When I got there, I could see what life is like on an island where there is almost no electricity, and I think it was a great experience for learning about another culture. It wasn't just that the sea was beautiful; they let me mix into the island's way of life, which was a truly valuable experience.

The children on the island didn't speak much English either, but the island people were very kind and open-minded, and I was thrilled to feel that we could understand each other heart to heart. I came to learn English, but beyond the purely technical side, I learned something essential about being human, like the desire to share an emotion with someone or to connect with another person from the heart.

—You also went to Moalboal, right?

Yes, I went to White Beach. I went alone there too, and while I was alone on the sand, some young local university students spoke to me and invited me to their hut.

We ate a local lunch together and sang songs together. They also taught me about Filipino culture in English and I, in turn, taught them about Japanese culture in English; being able to have that cultural exchange in English gave me so much confidence.

—Is there any class that left a special impression on you?

Honestly, they are all very good teachers, so I can't pick just one who made more of an impression than the others. Before coming to Cebu I had heard that there might be a Filipino accent, but I didn't notice it at all, and they were very easy to understand. When I couldn't understand something, they helped me by changing how they said it or by speaking more slowly.

Also, since I'm a nurse, I was very interested in the Philippine health system. The thing is, the Philippines is usually classified as a rather poor country, and yet people have lots of children, right? Even to such simple questions, they always answered me seriously, and I really liked that.

—So you also learned things beyond English.

That's right. The teachers responded with great dedication to my need to learn about Philippine culture and social system beyond English, and although the month went by incredibly fast, it was very enriching.

And I think that vocabulary and grammar can be studied on your own, but pronunciation, speaking and listening comprehension have a limit when you study alone. So, even though it was a short period of one month, by speaking and listening to a lot of English there, and by having my sentences corrected, I feel that my conversation ability and my pronunciation improved noticeably.

Even on Bantayan Island, when I spoke English with Americans and Italians, they told me, "Your English is very easy to understand because your pronunciation is clear," and that made me so happy; I felt that the effort of that month had paid off, and it gave me a lot of confidence.

—You studied very diligently, didn't you?

I tried not to speak Japanese as much as possible. I had classes until three, and after two hours of exercise I was exhausted (laughs); after that I would just shower, eat and go to sleep. Since I fell asleep at nine, I ended up waking up around four, and at that hour nobody had gotten up yet, so I could study in an environment where I could concentrate. That's why the cafeteria and the self-study room available 24 hours were a great help to me.

—What did you think of the school food?

I thought there would hardly be any vegetables in the Philippines, but they served vegetables at every meal, and I was really grateful for that. Also, since it was buffet style, I could adjust things myself, for example by taking more meat and fewer carbs, and I liked that too.

Also, the special menu that Mr. Ueno prepared made me very happy as well. It seemed incredible to me that I had no problems at all with the food.

—How do you plan to make use of what you learned here from now on?

Now that I finally have an English level good enough to enjoy traveling alone, I want to steadily keep up the studying I can do on my own so I can speak better and better. And since I'm a nurse, I'd like to keep leveling up so that I can answer with confidence not only in everyday conversations, but also when foreigners ask me about specialized topics.