japanigans!

Just some thoughts about Japan so far.

I love people with random English sayings on their shirts. I really want to get some. So far I’ve seen ones that say, “You should try to not miss the train,” “I only did it because he told me,” “The elephant parade is coming.” I don’t know where one acquires these, but when I find out, it’s what everyone is getting as a souvenir. Karen and I did see one today that said “The deadline is over. If you want it,” but, it was cut for girls and I don’t think it was Karen’s size. It was in a sale bin.

It feels really weird being a minority. People stare at me. It’s kinda uncomfortable. I feel weird on the subway when I have a seat next to me, but someone looks at it and decides to walk to a further seat instead of sitting next to me.

I have no idea how to use my keitai (cell phone). There’s too much stuff happening on it. I have a feeling I am going to get a ¥20,000 charge or something next month without even knowing I did anything.

Nanzan really sucks at orienting us. I feel like instead of taking 5 days it could have easily been 2 or 3. I feel bad for the people who have to travel an hour or more. They had to come to school to fill out a course registration form. Seriously. That’s what we did yesterday. It took 15 minutes.

That’s all for now. I’ll update what I did (or really didn’t do, since school-wise, we just had like 3 half-hour orientation sessions this week.)  later this week. Classes start tomorrow. Should be fun.

You know you love me. xoxo

Hey people!

So far, Japan has been great. It’s just really, really hot here. I think it was about 31-32 degrees yesterday. The heat isn’t that bad, but the humidity is what really makes the weather intense. I’ve never experienced it being so humid, so consistently. But aside from sweating all the time, Japan is awesome.

Yesterday, we got the results of our placement test. I got into Intensive Japanese 400 which is what I was expecting and aiming for. So, now that I know that I am pretty relieved that I didn’t mess up on the placement test. After the results were passed out, we had a really boring orientation that was basically common sense about life in Japan and “what to do in emergencies” kind of things.

Following the orientation, there was a welcome party for the new exchange students and some current students at Nanzan. There were a lot of little foods that were just kind of a random assortment. They had like sandwiches, potato wedges, and fried chicken. They also had some sushi and dumplings. After the welcome party was over, we went on tours with current Nanzan Students. It was fun to walk around and see the campus and find out which building had what things, I don’t know how much I really remember from it though. But, I have a better idea that I did before.

After the tour, Karen and I went with some of her dorm-mates to the Ward Office to apply for our 外国人登録証明書 (Alien Registration Card) and the 国民健康保険 (National Health Insurance). We took the subway, which was a first since being in Japan. It was nice, not too crowded. I suppose in busier parts of town at more rush hour times they would be a little more packed.

I went home and took a nap after we did that, and later that night Karen asked if I wanted to go for a walk. So I went over to Nanzan and met up with her. We walked towards 名古屋大学 (Nagoya University) since neither of us had been there yet. It was a nice campus. On our way back, we stopped at a 7-11 (there’s lots of コンビニ [read: “conbini,” short for convience store, there’s a lot of them here] and a lot of them are 7-11’s or Circle K’s. There’s also this one “Lawson’s” everywhere. It’s weird.) and got some 氷結 (some drink that is lemon or grapefruit flavored and delicious). We then stopped in this park at Nagoya University. We sat there drinking our dranks, then this security guard walked by and like noticed but didn’t care. Karen was getting bit by mosquitos like crazy so we just started walking. Japan is awesome, you can walk down the street just drinking and no one gives it any thought. We walked by and went our separate ways. But it was a nice night.

So, to recap:

• Got into the level I wanted in Japanese.
• Took my first subway ride in Japan.
• Bought my first alcoholic beverage legally, ever.
• Loving Japan.

xoxo.