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Learning and Living Japanese

I expected to place in to level 2 Japanese, but I am in level 3.  It's not very difficult, and I've learned everything we've gone over so far already, but since I forget vocabulary really quickly and also don't retain most grammar points, this level is good for me.  Not to mention the fact that my kanji level is essentially nonexistent.
Luckliy, my room mate, Eduardo, and Melissa are all in my class, so I have plenty of people to talk with.
Classes are from 8:50 to 12:50 every day, except on Thursdays there is an additional class from 1:50 to 2:50.  In addition, we each have to sign up for one individual (one-on-one) tutorial session each week for 20 minutes.
We definitely dove right into everything, with a quiz the second day, and a speech tomorrow.  We've gone over 3 grammar points already and have two sets of vocabulary and a set of kanji for studying.
Other than all that, we've had at least one orientation each day; some for ICU, some for the actual summer program (SCJ), and some for the UC system, exclusively.
I've been kept in classrooms a lot so far, but tomorrow is Friday.  Tomorrow Eduardo and I plan to go to the city hall in Mitaka City to get our alien registration cards and mandatory national health insurance.  Then Saturday Melissa and I are going to Shibuya (a very popular and famous hustle-bustle shopping filled place).
I don't have much more to tell you, since I've been submerged almost entirely in education these past few days, and most of you reading this wouldn't understand if I relayed that part of my days, so hopefully you can wait until I have news about my weekend.
At the orientation yesterday, we received our dormitory assignments for the year, and I got the Global House!  Let me explain: my school continuously told me that I had no choice but to be in Zelkova house, which is a dormitory that allows no visitors whatsoever, has a strict 11:00 curfew that locks you in or out without leniency, doesn't allow people to visit each others' floors (even same genders), has showers that only allow you to get 20 seconds of water at a time, and has security cameras everywhere.  It's known as "the prison."  So, I put Zelkova as my first choice.  But somehow I got my second choice, instead.  And because of the large number of dropouts for abroad programs, everyone who applied to a dorm got one (last year 6/10 UC students had to find their own accommodations).  So, not only do I actually get to live under a roof, I get to live in a dorm that has no curfew, no visitation restrictions other than gender mixing in rooms, is set up as a suite with 4 single rooms sharing one kitchen, living room, and bathroom, and is essentially a normal living space.  Global House is the most requested one.  I'm happy.
Other than that, the only other things I can think to tell you are:
- My bed and my pillow are essentially bricks, and I only have one blanket (please let Global House be different).
- It's cooling down a bit, finally.
- I think I'm going to invest in a bike when the school starts, for travel, shopping, convenience, and fun reasons.
- I miss you all!

Comments

  1. WOW! You're very own personal space!!! :-D When was the last time you had a room all to yourself pumpkin!
    I'm glad you're in Global House, I know how concerned you were about living in Zelkova House.
    And me...well I don't have to visualize you banging on the locked front lobby door at 11:31pm now...
    Sure do love you sunshine ~ mommy ~ xoxoxo

    ReplyDelete

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