First Week of Classes
So, gonna start off with something I've put off for way too long, which is posting some pictures I took last weekend. Last time I showed pictures from the area around my apartment, but now I'll show you what the area near the IUC is like.
Right outside the Sakuragicho subway station is this big plaza-type thing. If you go straight forward in that picture those covered stairs lead to a moving walkway, which is apparently solar powered. There's a sign that shows how much energy is currently being generated, how much has been generated today, and how much has been generated in total. These days I usually follow the walkway around into a mall and walk through there since it's air conditioned, but there's a different way I used to walk when I was taking these pictures that's more scenic. On the way you can see an amusement park off in the distance, and some sort of naval training ship called the Nipponmaru. As you can see, this route takes you along a river, and eventually you get to a bridge where you can get a better view of the amusement park. There's also another section of the park on the other side of the river with smaller attractions. Just across the bridge is the Pacifico Yokohama, which is where the IUC is. It's pretty big, so I took several pictures of the compound. It was cool seeing the IUC on this sign the first time I came here. That was when it really started to feel real. The IUC is up on the fifth floor, which you can see is kind of dark right now due to setsuden (the practice of conserving electricity). I also took a picture of the map of the fifth floor since it's kind of an interesting layout. As you can see, the IUC is just part of this floor, and the rest belongs to various other organizations. This is what the entrance of the IUC looks like, and here are some classrooms and the computer room. Not pictured is the library, where I'll usually stick around to study after classes end. Now that that's out of the way...
So, today ends my first week of classes, though we only had morning classes this week (in the afternoon we usually had things like disaster training or interviews with the IUC director). Afternoon classes start next week. It's been pretty intense so far. In my class, at least, we have to write a short essay pretty much every day, which the teacher then reads and corrects. We've also had to do, like, short monologues in class which get recorded and uploaded for us to listen to later. In addition, we're expected to study kanji on our own, but the pace they've set is kind of insane. It's not really that bad since it's mostly been kanji that I've learned before so far, but we're supposed to be taking like three of these kanji quizzes per day. I've...mostly been keeping up. The quiz rate does slow down later on, presumably once we get into less common kanji. One thing I should clarify is that even though there are quizzes and I have to write essays and stuff, we don't have grades or anything here. Your work here is totally based on your own motivation to learn, which is honestly kind of nice (The quizzes do get "graded" but it's just for feedback). I'm going to have to catch up a bit over the weekend, though.
Speaking of the weekend, the only thing I really have in mind is going down to the Yokohama Museum of Art to see an exhibit of paintings by Nara Yoshitomo, an artist I studied a bit in college. I also have tentative plans to go karaoke with some other students...sometime. Well, only one other student right now, but we're going to see if we can find anyone else who wants to go sing anime songs looool
Right outside the Sakuragicho subway station is this big plaza-type thing. If you go straight forward in that picture those covered stairs lead to a moving walkway, which is apparently solar powered. There's a sign that shows how much energy is currently being generated, how much has been generated today, and how much has been generated in total. These days I usually follow the walkway around into a mall and walk through there since it's air conditioned, but there's a different way I used to walk when I was taking these pictures that's more scenic. On the way you can see an amusement park off in the distance, and some sort of naval training ship called the Nipponmaru. As you can see, this route takes you along a river, and eventually you get to a bridge where you can get a better view of the amusement park. There's also another section of the park on the other side of the river with smaller attractions. Just across the bridge is the Pacifico Yokohama, which is where the IUC is. It's pretty big, so I took several pictures of the compound. It was cool seeing the IUC on this sign the first time I came here. That was when it really started to feel real. The IUC is up on the fifth floor, which you can see is kind of dark right now due to setsuden (the practice of conserving electricity). I also took a picture of the map of the fifth floor since it's kind of an interesting layout. As you can see, the IUC is just part of this floor, and the rest belongs to various other organizations. This is what the entrance of the IUC looks like, and here are some classrooms and the computer room. Not pictured is the library, where I'll usually stick around to study after classes end. Now that that's out of the way...
So, today ends my first week of classes, though we only had morning classes this week (in the afternoon we usually had things like disaster training or interviews with the IUC director). Afternoon classes start next week. It's been pretty intense so far. In my class, at least, we have to write a short essay pretty much every day, which the teacher then reads and corrects. We've also had to do, like, short monologues in class which get recorded and uploaded for us to listen to later. In addition, we're expected to study kanji on our own, but the pace they've set is kind of insane. It's not really that bad since it's mostly been kanji that I've learned before so far, but we're supposed to be taking like three of these kanji quizzes per day. I've...mostly been keeping up. The quiz rate does slow down later on, presumably once we get into less common kanji. One thing I should clarify is that even though there are quizzes and I have to write essays and stuff, we don't have grades or anything here. Your work here is totally based on your own motivation to learn, which is honestly kind of nice (The quizzes do get "graded" but it's just for feedback). I'm going to have to catch up a bit over the weekend, though.
Speaking of the weekend, the only thing I really have in mind is going down to the Yokohama Museum of Art to see an exhibit of paintings by Nara Yoshitomo, an artist I studied a bit in college. I also have tentative plans to go karaoke with some other students...sometime. Well, only one other student right now, but we're going to see if we can find anyone else who wants to go sing anime songs looool