First Week of Classes Over!

First week of classes is over! Well, one and a half kinda. We started two Thursdays ago, which is pretty odd. Anyways, campus is absolutely beautiful during golden hour, so I took the opportunity to grab some pics. It's interesting to note how western building design dominates the architecture of most colleges, and I would say the majority of all lower level educational buildings as well.

This was the most unprepared I've ever been for the beginning of school in my life. I didn't so any of the pre-class online materials since I was on my Hiroshima trip, didn't buy my textbooks, and didn't do any studying 😅. Thankfully, my professors are taking things slow so far. I've been catching up and it's been busy, walking up and doing homework or studying, going to class, feeding myself, hitting the gym, more homework before sleeping and then doing it all over again. My poor time management for this week has forced me to study during my train rides over to the other campus.

My Japanese classes have been the hardest, but it's a good level of challenging where I'll really have to push myself, but I'll improve quickly if I maintain my effort. The trade off is that my general education classes are all taught in English, and they move slowly and the material is pretty simple, due to the fact that they are intended for Japanese students who are building English fluency.

It's been really interesting being in these classes, especially my history and culture classes, as an international student with external perspectives. Learning alongside my Japanese peers and constantly comparing and contrasting what we know and what we think has been really cool, and a fun way to explore being an International traveler/student.

I've been cooking a lot more and experimenting with different dishes which has been fun. Getting a feel for what I like to make, what's easy to make, and what's cheap to make. Creating lists for the best stores to buy certain products at for the most bang for my buck. This week I tried Shabu Shabu with Yan, Ethan, and Alex. Its pretty much like hot pot, and this place had all you can eat meat, veggies, and sushi for only 2500 yen each! You could also get infinite curry, waffles, and ice cream. Pretty crazy.

We went to karaoke again, myself, Pota, Ryo, and Shijin. We biked over to a pretty cozy little karaoke building. Lots of space and a very cool room. People had drawn all over the walls, so I added a few of my favorite artworks above. Enjoy, and see you next post!