Today was pretty dull, actually. We gathered at KUIS this morning and went through Academics orientation. Pretty much, we were told to show up to our classes and that we were not permitted to drop below 15 credits NOR could we drop Japanese. Hannah and I both elected to add a third IES area course, as IES permits us to have up to 19 credits. Thus, my official schedule is:
M,T,R,F 9-12:10- Japanese
M 2-4:40- Japanese Society and Culture
R 2-4:40- Japanese Art and Society
F 2-4:40- Architecture and Urban Planning
Everything, with the exception of Architecture, starts on the week of the 14th. Apart from that, we were taken around Shin-Urayasu and Meikai with some of the E-Pals. After we ate at the food court, a few of us (Nancy, Mindy, SeungYe, Hannah, and myself) went to the 100 yen store, the bank, the bus pass window, a cake shop, and back to our house to study. SeungYe wasn't feeling very well and nancy had forgotten to sign up for the Tokyo Tour on Sunday, so we called Watanabe-san. The five of us didn't study too much, but ended up having a pretty good time. Shin-san came around and fixed our wireless, but my computer still doesn't want to pick up on it (which, as Hannah says, is rather funny since I have a netbook)
Tuesday
Today was the big placement test. It was broken up into three different parts- listening, reading, and the "interview." The listening wasn't too difficult, the reading was, in the first half, a joke and in the second a terror, and the interview was... well, I just can't say I really know what to say when people ask me to tell them about what I think about Japanese as compared to American culture and what I think about the state of the world in my mother tongue, let alone my second language. It really caught me off guard. Overall, I felt really disheartened by the exam.
Tonight, Endo-san came over as well and is now making us seperate our own garbage. I mean, it's not that big of a deal, but we're worried about how many of the duties she is supposed to do by contract that she is going to fork over to us. I'm not her biggest fan because, regardless of me trying to communicate with her, she mocks my Japanese (like repeats me verbatim in a mocking tone). It's a little disheartening. She asked SeungYe and I about what our parents did and is offering to make us Yakisoba. It makes us all nervous though, because we don't know if she'll charge us or not. We'd all rather not get in that situation.
Wednesday
Break! What a fun break it was too! I'm looking forward to having Wednesdays off this semester. Although, it's a bummer Mindy won't. In the morning, Hannah and I went to get our Aleing Registration cards in Gyotoku. It was a pretty simple walk, but my map dyslexia kicked in and, well, I kinda didn't have us turn when we were supposed to again. A minor setback, but I still really need to learn how to read a map. When we got to the office, Hannah realized she forgot her passport. Also, SeungYe had some problems with the office telling her that the IES provided pictures were too small... but they told Hannah that they were the right size. Nevertheless, they took my US passport-sized pictures. On the way back, the two of us saw Mountain Dew in a vending machine and, getting terribly excited, bought some.
When we came back, SeungYe joined us and we left to go the the largest mall in Chiba (only a stop away!) Too bad we got on the wrong train... We ended up getting stared at even more there! It must be it was even more odd to have foreigners at that stop than it was at Ichikawa. When we got to Minimi-Funabashi, we apologized profusely to Mindy (who had been waiting) and went into LaLa Port (yes. LaLa Port. Yeaaah) There were so many shops o-o; It was amazing. The most amazing, surprisingly, was the Disney Store.
Unlike in America, the Disney store here had a lot of useful goods for adults. Aprons, hats, chopsticks, cell phone charms, bags, etc... and it was a million times more adorable than normal Disney stuff. Don't ask me how, but they managed it. Yeah. So, I bought Halloween Disney cell phone charms... they are adorable pumpins that look like Mickey... ^^;
On our way out, we stopped at a Crepe shop and dined out outside across from Ketucky Fried Chicken. They have a "Kenta-kun" outside almost all of the "Kenchiki"s here- and by that I mean, a statue of the Coronel. Yep. So we posed with him. Yeahhh. I love being dorks.
Tomorrow, we have an entrance ceremony. I wonder if it will be interesting... Hannah and I were talking tonight about how they always seem so boring in anime! Hope it's not that way!
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