End of Orientation

Well the last two days have been great. Stressful, frustrating, but great. I can already tell that I am going to be challenged here way more than at Hobart and I am very excited about that.

Yesterday was orientation. Started with the usual boring school stuff like forms to fill out and going over school rules and whatnot. Then we were issued our school bikes. That was really fun because we went on a bike tour of the area around JCMU with some Japanese college students from a nearby university. They showed us the train station, the ridiculously large shopping center where we will be buying groceries and such, and pointed spots we will go visit later like Hikone castle (which is actually one of Japan's national treasures). After that we had the rest of the day off to work off the jet lag and to study for the placement exam. That night Seth and I went to Coco's, the restaurant that is connected to the JCMU academic building. We met up with a big group of the other students, most of whom are pretty cool btw.

This morning we took the placement exam first thing at 8:30. That thing destroyed me. I did very well on the grammar section but my writing section was a disaster. The oral interview was kind of shaky because I was so nervous (by the time I took the interview I had been working of the writing section and my morale was really low). The whole time after the test I was freaking out. All I wanted was to not be placed in level 1 because that would be pretty much just review for the entire semester. I was positive that was where I was headed and that thought drove me crazy for the next 5 hours. Luckily Aizawa sensee thought I should be in level 2. Never have I felt a greater sense of relief.

Just now I got back from the last activity of the day which was a meeting with kids from a nearby high scohol, Maibara High School. There were about two of them for each of us and communication was slow going at first because they were so shy. Once they got used to us we all talked for about 45 minutes before they had to leave. It was a lot of fun but they told us to use english since the students were working on that. I would have much rather had used only Japanese; I am ready to start the immersion already.

Thats it for today, I have some pictures to put up but I'm lazy. I will probs get myself to do it before bed tonight. I miss you all very much and I hope all is well.