Orientation Week~

I got a bit behind on blogging, sorry! Last week was all orientation all the time, from Tuesday to Friday. I started every day at 9 or 10 and then we finished at 5 pm or later. Then I had to figure out dinner and whatnot so I haven't really had the time/energy to blog. But although it was a tiring week, it was pretty successful! I talked a bit about the listening and written test and the welcome dinner on Tuesday already. On Wednesday we had our interviews. I wasn't that stressed out because I am used to speaking Japanese, but the questions were really hard. Apparently they were based somewhat on the essay you wrote, so not everyone had such hard questions. I was a bit bummed out afterwards because I hadn't been able to answer everything well.

Then we had lots of paperwork to do, a lecture on bicycle and general safety, a library tour, and an introduction to the University Co-Op. I guess for the Co-Op you pay a fee to join, then you can get some general services and earn points on Co-Op purchases to get money back. Since you get the fee back anyway when you leave, there's no reason not to join really. I just need to figure out the paperwork this week. Finally, students receiving a scholarship from Ritsumeikan had to attend an extra session basically about how to get the scholarship money. We had to open up a bank account at the Japan Post Bank so the money can be deposited there.

Thursday morning I had to go to the Ward Office to get my alien registration and enroll in the national health care. Lots of paperwork and waiting. We also had a crime and safety seminar, disaster preparedness session complete with earthquake simulator, and a campus tour.  On Friday, a couple buddies took us to the bank and helped us get our accounts. Japanese bureaucracy can be pretty frustrated but now I have my account. 

 Then we had a health center session and a club activities session. I really want to join a club to make Japanese friends. But in Japan some clubs are super serious, and they won't let in members who are beginners or who can't commit for four years. Other clubs or "circles" are a lot more relaxed though. But most of the club information is in Japanese so it's pretty challenging. It seems they have a fencing club though! I'd like to do fencing or maybe Aikido, or a movie club or something. I'll definitely have to look into it more this week. 

Finally, we got our Japanese class placement. I was disappointed because I was placed in level C. The levels go from F to A. But USF told me that I could not get credit for level C because it would be a repeated level. I don't really think that's true (that the content is all a repeat of stuff I've already learned) so now I have to argue with them to make sure I can get the credits and keep my scholarships. I was also placed into the lower C level, which means we will go more slowly (yay) but not cover as much content, which might make it hard for me to move up to B level next semester... We also got our traditional arts courses placement, and I was happy that I got into Ceramics (the only one I applied for). It's off campus on Saturdays, which is a bit inconvenient but also maybe a bit more relaxed and fun. I'm figuring out all my classes now. I have a lot of good options. The weird thing about classes in Japan is that the registration deadline is later than when the classes start. You also can't add classes after the registration period, only drop them, so I may start with 18 credits or so and then drop whichever one I don't like.

I have met some really cool people that I think I will become good friends. I also met a lot of awesome Japanese students who were our SKP buddies. They even took us out to a nomihoudai (all you can drink) party on Friday night! It was pretty crazy lol. There were huge pitchers of beer at the tables and then you could also order specific drinks from the bar. Some people were definitely past their limit haha. After the event we went down to the riverbank where there were some street performers. It was some kind of festival that night so the atmosphere was nice. But I was a bit stressed about making it home before the last bus and making sure everyone else got home safe too. It was a good bonding experience though! I feel like so far it's been easy to meet people and make friends. We are all kind of going through the same experiences and feelings right now, and we need a lot of help from each other. And so although it's only been two weeks, my new life is starting to feel pretty natural. Next week school starts, so that will be a whole new thing though!