As the Summer Intensive Language Course came to a close, most people left to go back to their home countries, but a few of us are sticking around for the year. We had a grueling last three days of class, with an in class essay, then a final exam (mine took 3 hours) and then a speech. We all said goodbye to our senseis, one who was incredibly sweet, and the other who was slightly insane.
But we were finally finished and we got to enjoy ourselves. The three helpers in the Cultural Program Lounge put on one last activity for us: a benefit barbecue. We paid to get delicious food out in the nature of the campus under a thunder and lightning sky, and most of our money went to help out the disaster victims. Then on Friday after classes were officially over, we had a farewell party with everyone, and later on a large group of us headed out to an izakaya to celebrate. Izakayas are essentially smallish restaurants known for having cheap drinks and small appetizers, mainly built for a night out with friends or winding down after a long day of work.
Joyce and me at the campus' farewell party. She went back home to Hong Kong after the Summer course ended :[
At the isakaya. Kim, me, Miranda, Joyce.
Kim is my room mate for the rest of the Summer, as well as my travel buddy!
Miranda, Joyce, Laura (also went home after the Summer course, unfortunately), and Na.
Some of our delicious foodstuffs.
I was sad to see so many great people leave, especially since after 6 weeks you finally start feeling like you're getting to know people. But I hope to stay in touch with at least some of them. Now that the Summer Intensive Language Course is over, one chapter of my time abroad has ended, and I have moved onto chapter two: Summer Travels.
Before I jump straight into this list, I want to clarify that some of these points may be generally incorrect, or could be exclusive to Tokyo. I could also have some of my reasonings wrong. This list is simply something I compiled based off of my own experiences throughout the year that I lived and traveled throughout Japan. This list is also not, in any way, a complete one. I'm sure if you search the internet you can find many other very true facts about Japan that I have forgotten to list here. In urban areas there will, at any given time or place, be at least one コンビニ ("conbini" / convenience store) within walking distance. Japanese people don’t usually have middle names . Japanese people are very interested in each others' blood type - it's like astrology in America, except people take it very seriously. Expect to be asked what your blood type is at least once. Japanese deodorant supposedly doesn't work very well. I brought my own deodo...
Just a short (15 minute) walk from campus there is an elementary school, and I was one of the people who visited it today. When we first walked in, we saw a bike rack... full of unicycles!? Two steps into their territory and Japanese children are already proving their superiority over me. We walked into the school building where we took off our shoes and were given slippers to wear. Then we met all the children (the 5th grade class) in the gym. Each of us was paired up with two children. My partners were Yuta (the boy) and Olivia (the girl... obviously). The children gave us a tour of the school. Olivia is half British and fluent in English just as much as she is in Japanese, so I received a very comprehensive tour. Her accent was very interesting, as you can imagine. Yuta was pretty good at English, too, but was a little bit shy and spacey. This elementary school was just amazing. They had classrooms for each grade...
Being away from friends and family has gotten me down a bit lately. It's been a month, and the homesickness started to kick in. Also, I think I understand what they mean by culture shock now. I admit, I was starting to regret my decision just a little bit. All I could think about was how long it would be until I could have a hug from my mom and my dad and my boyfriend, and my mind started to become physically tired from all the Japanese. It's exhausting to feel like you don't understand a single thing in your life; when you don't understand what anyone is saying, when you don't know anything about where you are, when you don't know anything about the people around you, and when nobody who truly loves you is by your side, and won't be for another 11 months. But then I remembered: I may not understand anything around me, but I understand myself. It sounds so moral-y, but I honestly think it's important to remember. I need to remember it, and...
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