First Full Week of Classes - Completed!

It's so nice to know that my first full week of classes is done! I'm feeling very optimistic about this semester and am excited to learn a lot of new things. So far, my language courses seem the most challenging, but they are supposed to be. Thankfully my classmates (most of which are returners) are usually confused when I am, so I'm not behind - the classes are supposed to be tough! Their scheduling will take a while to get used to though. It's six courses, but three of them are technically the same and are included in one syllabus, but we have two different teachers. Then there are two meetings for Speaking/Listening and one Kanji course.

I was considering celebrating this first week with karaoke, but the chosen place would have been in Takarazuka and I really did not feel like riding the train tonight. So I'm enjoying a peaceful night in to de-stress from the week and get ready for the weekend.

For the first time in my life, I have overdue library books! I was so shocked when I received the warning email! What happened was I heard the library assistant say they were due on "san-jyuu-nichi" (the 31st) but she must have actually said "jyuu-san-nichi" (the 13th). Gah! Thankfully, the library is open tomorrow, so I'll be returning them.

After my four classes today, I stopped by the classic guitar club and was able to play for a little over an hour. It was so nice! They have a lot of sheet music with things I've never seen before and people all around practicing their own pieces with varying levels of difficulty - it was fun and beautiful! I really love music, though it doesn't come naturally to me. (Moves onto existential topic) this reminds me of what I was thinking about just now, while watching my anime. In it, these characters were saying "ever since that performance, I knew I had to beat him" and "because of that performance just under 4 minutes, I'm a pianist" but I haven't really gotten that moment of purpose. That epiphany in which you know with your entire soul what you want to do and then find out you are a genius/natural at it or worked to be extremely talented. Though it's a nice idea and makes for quick backgrounds and explanations in stories, is it realistic? How many people have had that epiphany? How many people have that certainty?

I'm just throwing in some pictures to show how beautiful the campus is and to partly commemorate this first week.

Some things I wrote frequently about but have not really updated on

• Haven't seen any new birds yet: crows, finches, bulbuls, doves, and sparrows are still abundant.
• The weather hasn't heated up or stabilized, but it is definitely not winter-cold like it was when we arrived. I also haven't been using my heated carpet (though I still use the extra blankets!)
• Food every night is new and delicious. Tonight was fish with a potato salad side and bread. Yesterday was Japanese rice omelette with lots of tomato sauce (I love tomatoes!). Also, match+chocolate=the best.
• I'm still getting use to coinage and having to buy things frequently. I know the coins, but am slow with them at the moment.
• I still plan to travel and sight-see, but it won't be as frequent since school is starting (it is study abroad, after all).
• Electricity is apparently really expensive in Japan, so I see a lot of ways of conserving. For instance, if you want to use hot water, you have to turn on the gas before actually being able to access hot water and then turn it off when you're done. If you use it for too long, it automatically shuts off and becomes cold. Also, some parts of our school have motion-activated lights, including stairwells, some hallways, and many bathrooms. But there are some contradictory points like the prevalence of electronic billboards in urban environments and heated toilet seats (constantly heated it seems).
• Speaking of bathrooms, I have a few things to say. One, they are so clean! Usually public/school bathrooms are ridiculous, especially when you realize adults have been using them. Second, there are no towels, paper, or electronic driers. You just...shake your hands? Third, there will usually be a mixed option of fancy toilets with a lot of buttons and squat toilets built into the floor (no I have not yet tried them). There are these soap dispensers that seem quite common and look like water dispensers for hamsters, I guess? You push against the bottom of the nozzle and soap comes out. 

Also, the other day, I went to a CIEC sponsored "Coffee Hour" (with no coffee) in which a lot of study abroad, exchange, and regular students came to chat. I talked to so many people (about 90% of them Japanese, in Japanese, with Japanese names). I honestly remember like five of the 30 or so names to which I was introduced. It was a lot of fun though! At one point, I felt like a celebrity because each person in this group of 8 or 9 wanted a selfie; after the 4th or 5th person, I asked if it was homework for some class and they kind of smiled shyly and were all "yeah," then left. It was still fun though. The only thing was, after spending about an hour-and-a-half, talking loud over the music and background conversation, and interacting with so many people, I was exhausted (and did not write up a blog that night). I think the next coffee hour will be held on another KGU campus and it is encouraged that we go to see how beautiful the other campus is.

I think that's it for now. Hoping to get some good rest to have a productive weekend! Next week, I finalize my fall course schedule and start getting into the school's rhythm.