First Day of Classes

...was yesterday!

Kicked off with "The Latest Japan on TV News." It's basically a class where you watch the news and the teacher preps a vocab/phrase list to go along with it. So you study that and then each week there is a quiz on the previous week's content. There's one paper to write at the end about a news event and your thoughts on it.

Since all the classes are in orientation mode, they are only meeting for half of a normal period, and then repeating the same info for the second half. I get suppose it's useful if you aren't sure about which classes you will take, but if you registered with confidence it's annoying and makes your schedule really holey for the first week.

The next class I went to was "Developing Discourse Ability in Japanese." This is perfect for me because I actually get quite frustrated speaking. My conversational ability is pretty low on content, consisting of lots of fragments and basic info. This class is for learning how to make people listening to you really be able to imagine what you are describing and react to it emotionally. Like, they'll actually be interested in what you're saying because you're saying more than just, "Yeah, the party was fun." Stoked, even tho it will mean I'll have to talk a lot...


The last class of Friday was "Japanese Sentence Patterns for Communication (1)." This one worried me a bit because the pre-test was a little shakey. I'm considering taking the second half of level 4 simultaneously to review some of those patterns while learning the new ones instead of taking Extensive Reading (I think they meet during the same period, so I'll be able to take orientation for both on Monday and decide.) The other thing that is scary about these grammar courses is that everything depends on the tests (75% of your grade). That is a lot of pressure. If the tests are similar to the pretest I think it might be hard to figure out which pattern the teacher intends us to use...but maybe I'll get used to it through the homework. No matter what I have to take this class, so...

The Gundam Research Association was hanging out after school. I had to ask for directions to the meeting room, and then still got a little lost, but once I found them it was pretty fun. They planned a cherry blossom viewing party, and even though it was really cold we followed through and went to a park. Ate more chips 'n junk than I have in the past year altogether, haha, but it was fun to get try a bunch of different snack foods at once, since I don't usually buy them on my own. When we all got too cold at the park, we went on to round 2 at an izakaya near Waseda station. Everyone got prettttty plastered, but they all seem like basically good guys. Yeah, I'm the only girl :P Most people use Twitter and Facebook it seems like, so it's easy to stay in touch.

In other news, my homestay situation got messed up, so I quickly worked with a housing agency (?) to find an apartment near school. I haven't even moved in yet and I'm already getting teased for living in a boring neighborhood, but...I kinda feel like I'm lucky to have found such a sunny clean room within walking distance of school at such short notice, so I will just deal with whatever neighborhood it is for now. If I need to break the lease later, I guess that's just life. Sucks that they are all two years in Japan, though (just like phone contracts, which...yeah I have a phone now, too! Can't figure out some of the functions, but it's an iPhone so for the most part I'm used to it already. 4S, ftw!)

As for why my homestay got messed up, well, it seems like just a misunderstanding. I thought I got across the fact that I did not want to share a room. My understanding of 'share house' was that I would be able to share a house with a Japanese family, but if more people show up and the rooms are split with curtains, that is just not a comfortable scene for me. I feel bad to cancel, but I feel like we worked it out in a fair enough way.

I have a lot more stuff to think about like buying a fridge and laundry machine, futon, cooking supplies etc. I do want to try to cook! The latest issue of Tabeyoubi is all about things you can do with just a frying pan, which is perfect for my house haha.

Other random news, uhhh I joined the student co-op so I can get discounts on textbooks and cafeteria food. Today is Saturday but I'm still going to campus to take a tour 'n hopefully buy a book.

I'll try to post some picture next time so it's not as boring :P

Just mentioned this blog on FB

Well, it seems like I'm here so I should try to say something about it. Finally I'm studying abroad in Japan. The gist is that I'm doing a year of intensive Japanese at Waseda University in Tokyo, the 別科日本語専修課程. So I'm called a bekkasei (which means...special course student lol).

Yeah so for those not following along I quit my job back in November for the immediate purpose of going back to school, but also for other reasons. It was a hard decision but I (think?) I'm very happy to be where I am now.

That said, I'm extremely nervous about my homestay which kind of starts next week. I've met them before and even stayed with them before, but I dunno. I'm just nervous like that. I think I'm more suited to living alone, and probably having people are all the time and sharing their space will really stress me out, but I need to force myself to speak Japanese and sitting around alone on the Internet is not a good way to do that.

I'm really stressed out about my part-time job because as much as I love writing I just don't know if I'll have the energy for it. Or more precisely, if I choose to have the energy for it, I could choose to put more energy into my studies, which seems like the correct course of action. Seriously just breaking my head over this one. For multiple reasons.

Let's talk about school, though. I had general orientation on Tuesday and it was boring, but went better than expected, i.e. I met some people who were nice. The act of speaking Japanese to non-native speakers was not as painful as anticipated. I think the challenges for Asian learners are different enough that I don't cringe so much as I do when talking to other white kids, maybe? That's kind of racist, but I can be less judgmental somehow around Asians, sorry :O

Yeah, if I'm going to write here I might as well be honest.

So the orientation went ok and I learned a bunch about MORE PAPERWORK etc haha. I'm still in tax hell as well, so it's just no end to the unpleasant paperwork.

Yesterday I took the Japanese placement test. They use the J-CAT. It was hellish and I guessed a lot, but I came out a Waseda level 5, which means like...upper intermediate. I need to choose classes based on this level, but it's very difficult. I need to take 11 classes because most of the classes are only 1 credit and only meet once a week. The intensive course I tested into is 3 credits and meets twice a week.

Here's the list I have so far, but I may change it:

Intensive Japanese 5
Empathetic Conversation 4-5
Extensive Reading 5-6
Vocab Building 5-6
Honorific Expressions for Communication 5
Reading Comprehension Skills for Intermediate and Advanced Learners 5
Enjoy Short Novels: Reading, Listening & Watching Videos 4-5
Music of Japan: from Nursery Rhymes to Lieder 4-8
Developing Discourse Ability in Japanese 5
Learning Japanese Through Films - Think and Discuss What a Film Appeals to Us 5-6
The Latest Japan on TV News 5
Japanese Sentence Patterns for Communication (1) 5

So that is the total amount of credits I am allowed to take. I could take one less class, but it seems like I should try to take as many as I can? I dunno. Also, I think this will be extremely difficult, but I think I made the mistake of underestimating myself in college so I'd rather work myself to the bone here than waltz through...

Here is my idea of what to take second semester:

Intensive Japanese 6
Japanese Sentence Patterns for Communication (2) 5
Hesitant Expressions, Responding to and Commenting in Japanese 5-6
Kanji Learning Through the Media 5-6
Communication at Workplace 5-6
Learn Japanese Through the World of Hayao Miyazaki 5-6
Contemporary Japanese Through Cinema and News 6
Listening Comprehension: Radio News, Note-taking, and Summarization Exercises 6
Critical Reading 5-6
Japanese Idioms 5-7
Learning Japanese: Reading Out Loud 5-8
Natural Expressions in Japanese 5-6


I kind of feel like it's do or die.