About a month and a half ago, our teacher handed out papers to those who wanted to participate in the speech contest. Now, since my sister had participated in this contest during her stay in Japan, the teachers didn't really give me a choice. Haha. In order to compete in the final competition, we had to present the first two minutes of our speech first to a few students and teachers. They would then pick the top 10 best who would then be picked to perform in front of everyone.

After writing my speech in English, I had my friend Maho Sagawa and my father translate it into Japanese for me, and I began to memorize. The day of the elimination, I spent 2 hours practicing and I had everything memorized. But as I noticed during my Japanese speech I performed back in Canada, I apparently get REALLY nervous while performing a speech in front of a crowd. Even though I have everything memorized, I seem to still forget as I am performing. And this time was no exception. I didn't think I did very well, and I was surprised to hear that I was picked to go through to the finals.

Even though my dad had worked very hard at translating my speech, apparently it wasn't the best way to present my topic, so after having memorized half of it, my teacher decided to rewrite pretty much the whole thing. Therefore, one week before the contest, I started to rememorize my five minute speech. Now keep in mind I was still going to class, still had tests, homework, and other studies to keep up with. I also had judo practices to attend and other life necessities to perform.

Now knowing about my nerves problem, I prepared myself this time in order not to forget in the moment. I had memorized most of it three days before the event. I practiced in front of my friends many times, my Japanese friends helped me with the intonation, I practiced in front of my class, people I barely know, and my family. We had a rehearsal the day before and I practiced with formal clothes on, knowing that I would be wearing them during my performance, I took pictures from the stage to help me visualize later. I even practiced with my friend by having her read the first three words of any sentence, which I then I had to complete. So, I knew my speech pretty well.

The day of, my teacher and my classmates wished me good luck. I left class early, wearing my suit and tie, and arrived there early, which allowed me to walk on stage one more time before the performance. After that, I went outside to practice some more. A lot of people complimented me on my suit, and one of my friends even told me I looked awesome, and that made my day.

Next, the time to perform. I was number 6; therefore I got to see others perform before me. All the participants were nervous, and you could feel the tension in the air. Soon, I was called up, I walked up the stairs, took a deep breath, smiled, and off I went. I'll let you see for yourself how it went.

Nonetheless, I received some money to buy my textbooks next semester as did everyone, but not only that, I also received a special frame, although I'm not quite sure why. Most likely because of the topic I chose for my speech.

Soon it was over, my stress relieved, and I was on my way back to the dorm. I then hurried as much as I could and made it back for the last hour of practice.

All in all, the experience was... beneficial. I actually learned a lot of grammar and vocabulary thanks to the help of everyone. I am kind of disappointed with my personal performance, but, I can say that I gave it my best.