Daily Life in Japan

Well, I figure since I update constantly about the places I've gone to or what I've been doing for fun, I figured I'd take a second to reflect on what a typical weekday is like here in Japan. Basically, I wake up every day around 9 a.m. to get ready for the day. I then go on a 20 minute walk to school for Spoken Japanese class. I love this class. Not only is it a good clash to refresh my memory on older grammar patterns, but I'm learning brand new things in it too. Moreover, there has been a myriad of vocab I've already learned, most of which are great for everyday situations. I also love my classmates, but I feel like in most Japanese classes I've taken, I've had a lot of fun with my classmates. Next is Japanese Reading and Writing. While I find this a bit less entertaining than Spoken Japanese, the readings have been very useful as well. For example, last week we read a sample email a foreigner would send to a Japanese company requesting a meeting or interview. Then I usually get lunch at the cafeteria or a nearby restaurant with friends, and then prepare for my afternoon lecture. My film class has been pretty decent so far. The movies have been great, but the discussions are a bit lacking in comparison to Tufts. The same goes for my Popular Culture class. That being said, my culture Professor is pretty intelligent, so I enjoy his lectures. Then I head home or to the gym, grab some dinner, hang out with friends, and do some homework. All in all, a pretty simplistic schedule, but I'm really enjoying meeting and getting to know all the people here.

As for the Japanese people, there are moments where I've noticed some interesting things. There is obviously sometimes a little bit of indifference or distaste toward the foreigners from the older generation (represented by the word gaijin/foreigner), but I really haven't encountered too many issues with it. Once I begin conversing in Japanese, all sense of being a clueless foreigner is forgotten, and I feel like the Japanese accept me a little more for learning their language. The Japanese students are amazing too. Most of them are fairly quiet at first, but as long as you are willing to put yourself out there and say hello, they love it. They love meeting the study abroad student and hearing where they come from, and I love hearing more about their culture, especially what large differences there are between Japan and America.

So what does this all mean to me exactly? Well here it is: basically, I could see myself living in Japan in the future. There are so many amazing and interesting things in this country that I'm still yet to see or even comprehend. I feel like even though I've only been here for a month, I could really become a part of this culture. Whatever aspirations I may have had about working abroad sometime in the future have been solidified by my experience here to this point. I almost feel bad in a way that I'm enjoying this experience so much that I feel like I will need to be back her sometime in the future (and no, there's no girl involved, so don't get any ideas). You can do research, take classes, read books, watch documentaries, but until you have fully thrown yourself into a culture that isn't your own, you'll never fully understand it. I love the fact that I get to be a student both inside and outside of the classroom, my only regret is that I haven't been here before now.

That's it for my life chat, I hope you all enjoyed per usual \^o^/. As always, I love hearing from you all, so feel free to give me some news. As for future plans, I may be going to Kobe on Sunday, so that should be interesting. Next week is the week before spring break, so it should be a little hectic, but nothing too serious since classes have been so sweet up to this point. Then I'm heading to Tokyo for spring break, which will be insane. Plenty to look forward to if you're enjoying my blog! BTW, the picture right above is called Purikura, basically it's like hopping in a photobooth, but you add all the extra stuff in the background and such after taking the pictures. Sounds weird or boring right, but it's actually a lot of fun. Until next time!

P.S. T-sull, what's going on kid? Of course I heard about Vrabel and Cassel, I check the sports section all the time online. I like the trade, Cassel needed to go and although I love Vrabel, he is getting older. Now they have a bunch of picks, hopefully it'll pan out. What'd you think of the B's deal?