Hi, I’m Lauren from Melbourne, Australia. I’m 24 years old, with an Australian mother and a French father, but strangely my last name is Italian. My father is actually half French, half Italian which I guess makes me half Australian, a quarter French and a quarter Italian! It’s very confusing, but I was born and raised in Australia, which also means that I can’t speak French fluently. I can say bits and pieces in five languages because I have taken beginners courses in Vietnamese, French, Italian and Japanese all fairly unsuccessfully. I can count to 7 in Vietnamese, 99 in Italian, ask basic questions in French and order food in Japanese. So far, I have found Japanese is the easiest language to pronounce, and Vietnamese is the hardest.

I have traveled to many places, I regularly go to Paris to visit my father, but this is the first time I have ever lived outside of Australia. I came to Tokyo for a working holiday whilst my boyfriend does a 6 month exchange at 東大 . My first 2 months here were spent sight seeing in Tokyo. It was so relaxing to just enjoy some time off after I finished my degree and working full-time. Before I came to Japan I was completing my degree in History and Archaeology (Archaeology is kind of like Lara Croft in Tomb Raider, but with more research and less adventure!) I also managed a designer jewelry boutique in the Melbourne Hyatt Hotel. That was a really exciting job because I was surrounded by beautiful things. I got to buy jewelry for the store and I got to work with famous designers and magazines.

Now that I am in Tokyo I am happily chatting with new people at Leafcup and I also have a position as a research assistant at Tokyo University. It’s not as prestigious as it looks on paper; I am doing research into the use of idioms in English for a Professor at the Hongo campus. I am just a contractor, it’s not like I have tenure. Still, it’s interesting work and I like the Professor very much.

My hobbies are Pilates (a type of stretching and relaxation exercise) and I love to do water aerobics. But my all-time favorite activity is Wedding Planning. I’m actually planning my own wedding here in Tokyo. I’m very excited to be getting married in Shinto Tradition and I will be wearing a red Furisode. I love parties; maybe that’s why I have a blast at the Leafcup International parties.

Things I love about Tokyo: The incredible efficiency of the public transport, the plastic umbrella covers that you stick your wet brollies in (we don’t have this in Australia, it’s genius!), Onsen, the free tissues that are handed out everywhere, and I love Omotesando. It’s the best place in Tokyo, there’s always something good to see and I found an Authentic Vietnamese restaurant in the Metro Station 。 I highly recommend it.

So now you know something about me, come in and tell me about you. I might even tell you why Melbourne is better than Sydney.