3 Weeks In...
So it’s been a while since I last updated. Sorry about that.
So far Japan has been super fun. I live in Ontakesan, which is a part of Ota-ku which is a ward of Tokyo. My neighborhood is pretty small and very quaint. I've been trying to do some serious sightseeing while I'm here so I've already been to some of the big shopping districts, like Shibuya, Shinjuku, Harajuku and Ikebukuro. Tokyo is just so big that there's so much to see! I love it. I would like to make it out of Tokyo so that I can see the countryside which is supposed to be a lot different.
I live in a dorm with all the other study abroad students and in a way this just kinda feels like freshman year all over again--the whole having to make new friends and all. Plus everyone is still hardcore into the group mentality. Anyone who I was friends with freshman year knows what I mean. Remember when we used to roll into Valentine with like 10 people? It’s the same thing, except we tend to stick out just a bit more in Japan.
Nevertheless, I’ve met some pretty cool people here so far. Also, my Japanese is getting better. It's still pretty bad, but I guess it could be worse. A lot of the students here don't know any Japanese at all and they're having a pretty rough time. Unfortunately, since I live with all the other SA students it’s really easy to just hang out with them all the time so it's pretty hard to branch out and meet the Japanese students. But it’s still relatively early in the semester so I’ve still got time to meet people.
In case you were interested, here are the classes I'm taking:
Elements of Japanese II
Japanese Culture
Sociology of Race and Racism
African-American Experiences.
I was really interested in taking the last course because I thought it'd be so cool to learn about African-American Experiences from a different perspective but it’s definitely not what I expected. All the classes here are just really ridiculously easy. It feels like high school, except maybe a bit easier. My Japanese language class is the only class that I'm actually learning things in and it's also the only class I'm doing actual work in. It helps that my Japanese teacher is super nice.
The nightlife here is pretty crazy. I’ll dedicate a separate post to that later. But here’s a sneak preview: the trains stop running at around 12:30AM so if you miss the last train you’re pretty much stuck wherever you are until 5AM with tons of other drunk people. Imagine the possibilities.
In case anyone's interested I finally put up pictures on Facebook. You should be able to see them even if you're not my friend. Let me know if you can't and I might put them up on Photobucket for you.
But yea, there’s a brief overview of my first three weeks in Tokyo. The general consensus is that Tokyo is a really cool place for me to be right now. I’m glad I went abroad.
So far Japan has been super fun. I live in Ontakesan, which is a part of Ota-ku which is a ward of Tokyo. My neighborhood is pretty small and very quaint. I've been trying to do some serious sightseeing while I'm here so I've already been to some of the big shopping districts, like Shibuya, Shinjuku, Harajuku and Ikebukuro. Tokyo is just so big that there's so much to see! I love it. I would like to make it out of Tokyo so that I can see the countryside which is supposed to be a lot different.
I live in a dorm with all the other study abroad students and in a way this just kinda feels like freshman year all over again--the whole having to make new friends and all. Plus everyone is still hardcore into the group mentality. Anyone who I was friends with freshman year knows what I mean. Remember when we used to roll into Valentine with like 10 people? It’s the same thing, except we tend to stick out just a bit more in Japan.
Nevertheless, I’ve met some pretty cool people here so far. Also, my Japanese is getting better. It's still pretty bad, but I guess it could be worse. A lot of the students here don't know any Japanese at all and they're having a pretty rough time. Unfortunately, since I live with all the other SA students it’s really easy to just hang out with them all the time so it's pretty hard to branch out and meet the Japanese students. But it’s still relatively early in the semester so I’ve still got time to meet people.
In case you were interested, here are the classes I'm taking:
Elements of Japanese II
Japanese Culture
Sociology of Race and Racism
African-American Experiences.
I was really interested in taking the last course because I thought it'd be so cool to learn about African-American Experiences from a different perspective but it’s definitely not what I expected. All the classes here are just really ridiculously easy. It feels like high school, except maybe a bit easier. My Japanese language class is the only class that I'm actually learning things in and it's also the only class I'm doing actual work in. It helps that my Japanese teacher is super nice.
The nightlife here is pretty crazy. I’ll dedicate a separate post to that later. But here’s a sneak preview: the trains stop running at around 12:30AM so if you miss the last train you’re pretty much stuck wherever you are until 5AM with tons of other drunk people. Imagine the possibilities.
In case anyone's interested I finally put up pictures on Facebook. You should be able to see them even if you're not my friend. Let me know if you can't and I might put them up on Photobucket for you.
But yea, there’s a brief overview of my first three weeks in Tokyo. The general consensus is that Tokyo is a really cool place for me to be right now. I’m glad I went abroad.