Author Topic: So now I'm going to Japan. For a year.  (Read 8289 times)

Offline Quemaqua

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So now I'm going to Japan. For a year.
« on: Saturday, September 01, 2018, 08:55:05 PM »
Hey guys! I could have sworn that I posted about this somewhere but nothing came up in a search, so at the risk of repeating myself, here's the scoop.

I haven't been around the boards much lately just because I've been unbelievably busy. In addition to tutoring all four semesters of Japanese at my university over the last semester, I also got accepted to the university study abroad program and to my host university in Matsumoto, Japan. 7 or 8 scholarships later, I managed to get it funded as well. I leave in 11 days. I'll be living there until next August.

It's ... I don't know what it is. I'm obviously incredibly excited, as this is an opportunity I've wanted for years now, and one I thought I would only get while having to divide my time between study and teaching English to stay afloat. I'll just be studying Japanese and basically nothing else, which means I'll get what I really need more than anything: practice on all fronts. So that's all super awesome. The weird part is that I've been dating someone since not all that long after I got back from China. We met last September, went on a few dates, and since she lived like an hour and 40 away from me, she started staying over a lot. Then she started staying with me more than at home, and after a while even though it was fairly quick, we decided to move in together. I was very up front about the fact that I was leaving, and even though I'd actually promised myself that I wouldn't be in a relationship when I left, and even though she said she'd never do another long-distance relationship, everything has just worked so well. We get along, daily life has been great, and though she's not my usual type in some ways, it's probably been the best and most functional relationship I've ever been in. And the two of us feel really okay with me leaving. Not happy about having to be apart for so long, but confident that we're going to be fine through it. Time will tell if we're right, but I'm already toying with the idea of proposing.

ANYWAY. All that said, she's now living with me, so will be taking care of the house and my dog while I'm gone. It's been a really lovely time, and it's going to be emotionally difficult to leave her, in addition to my family, who I live about 5 minutes away from now. I'm going through periods of reality versus denial about all this. Some days it feels real and it's emotionally unsettling, and other times it feels like it's still a dream and it couldn't possibly be happening.

But the reality is there's not much time left. Not even two weeks anymore. I've got a billion and a half things left to do, and it's crazy. On the one hand the fact that I'm going seems like a no-brainer, like a completely obvious thing, an inevitability. Of course I'm going. On the other hand, I kind of can't believe it. And I'm 100% unprepared for the whole venture, because I was expecting to have the whole summer to hardcore study and do basically nothing else, and instead I got a girlfriend, moved my girlfriend in, sanded down a ton of wood paneling and repainted our bedroom (which turned out amazing but took a week), helped her parents move out of their cabin, and ran a training for other language tutors at the Student Learning Center where I tutor Japanese. That and a billion other things. I also bought a Pixel 2 and got on Google's Project Fi service, and bought a Macbook Air (I know, what?) which I've been enjoying. Hopefully those should get me through all my international phone and computing needs.

Oh, and I also managed to get accepted to the Gilman blog program. It's one of the scholarships I got, and they pick a couple of people to blog on their site through their semester or year abroad. So hooray, more things to write!

Anyway, it's all bonkers and I don't even know how to talk about it without being all over the place. Either way, I'll still be around, but I'll be around from Japan. Wish me luck! I'll definitely throw some updates and pictures and stuff on here. Google is going to seriously regret allowing me to have a Google Photos account.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline Cobra951

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Re: So now I'm going to Japan. For a year.
« Reply #1 on: Sunday, September 02, 2018, 06:09:34 AM »
That sounds incredibly stupendously amazing.  Man, congratulations.  Make the best of it.  And yeah, make Google real sorry!  Pics, please.  I'm jealous.

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: So now I'm going to Japan. For a year.
« Reply #2 on: Sunday, September 02, 2018, 12:16:23 PM »
Thanks man! I once spent two weeks in Ireland and took 1600 pictures, so no worries there. I may break the internet.  ;D

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline ender

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Re: So now I'm going to Japan. For a year.
« Reply #3 on: Wednesday, September 19, 2018, 05:55:51 AM »
Awesome! I just got back from my second trip a couple of days ago. I was there for 2 weeks, in Osaka, Kyoto, Hakone and Tokyo. You're going to have the greatest time ever!

Offline ender

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Re: So now I'm going to Japan. For a year.
« Reply #4 on: Wednesday, September 19, 2018, 05:57:56 AM »
Damn I just realized that you were probably there the last few days I was. Could've met up!

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: So now I'm going to Japan. For a year.
« Reply #5 on: Wednesday, September 26, 2018, 05:49:45 AM »
Well shit, yeah, we probably could have! Though I did have a set itinerary which was like ... moving pretty fast.

I've been here for just about 2 weeks now, and it feels like a lot longer. I've had some time to get used to things, and I'm all set up in my apartment. It honestly hasn't been a particularly big adjustment, just because I'm pretty familiar with Japanese culture and such, so the culture shock has been close to zero. Much harder has been missing my dog and my girlfriend. THAT has been rough. There's been a little depression about being lonely too, though I've made friends here and there with other foreign students, but I've yet to truly get to know any Japanese people at the school. I did a lot better at the hostels I stayed at the first days. It was a nice mix of foreigners and Japanese natives, and there was a whole lot of drinking and sharing and practicing Japanese and English. I had such a fucking blast. Now I've been in my apartment for a little over a week, and classes start tomorrow. It feels like a whole different thing, and it's been hard getting back into the study vibe after so much travel.

Anyway, you don't care about that, you want pictures! I understand. So here, a brief synopsis of my travels and a boatload of pictures (and a few videos here and there):

Album 1 - Leaving and getting there. Pretty self-explanatory.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/iSk9dYZkyM8Jfb2Z7

Album 2 - Kamakura. Night 1 (after a very long process of getting into the country, getting my bags, figuring out the trains, and finally getting to Kamakura and making the walk to my hostel), day 2, and the morning of day 3 on my way out to Nagoya. I stopped at the Daibutsu after trying to figure out the bus to get there, then walked down to a vegan/vegetarian-friendly restaurant down by the water. On the way back I went to Hasedera, a big and very pretty temple area that’s really more of a tourist thing and with some museumy-type stuff. I don’t know whether monks use it for anything anymore, or what. Eiheiji at least has monks walking around doing stuff, and they let people come and sit zazen (Zen-style meditation) several times a day. Spent that night very, very drunk with a lot of good friends I made at the hostel, and then left to Nagoya a bit late and hungover the next day.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/LBfTPf9y2ftWSePA8

Album 3 - Nagoya. This isn’t too exciting, and only features a couple of pictures. This is day 3 through the morning f day 4, when I started on my way to Fukui. Nagoya is, I think, Japan’s 4th-largest city, so it’s a pretty big place. Tokyo-like. I have friends going to Chukyo University there, so I met up with them, but I was so tired and my friend Matt’s new compatriots were so typically young, American, and boring, that I decided to head home after we ate (at one of the least vegetarian-friendly restaurants I’ve ever been to) and they wanted to go to a club. This experience very much reinforced why I’m glad I’m in Matsumoto. Matsumoto is a pretty good-sized city as well, and like most urban areas of Japan, pretty modern, but it’s also far less so than Nagoya, which felt like it could have been a city more or less anywhere. I’m sure time there would reveal many unique facets, but I wanted something a little more culturally interesting.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/oK2vNumZo7Rowk897

Album 4 - Fukui and Eiheiji. I was burnt out as heck, but I forced myself to stick to my plan to go to Eiheiji despite being a hair’s breadth from saying screw it and just moving on. I had less train trouble here, but the busses got me. I finally tracked down the bus, and caught the last one leaving Fukui station for Eiheiji, which is a very mostly-Japanese attraction at this point. I was the only foreigner I saw anywhere near Fukui except for one guy buying something at a 7-11. Eiheiji was an adventure, but one I unfortunately didn’t get to fully appreciate because I was so rushed. That was a real bummer. I had to rush through the self-guided tour, and spent most of the time taking pictures rather than really getting to enjoy it properly. The little town around the temple is very quaint and nice, and it would certainly have been a fine long afternoon to wander through there, talk to some old ladies at souvenir shops, and try some local restaurants. Who knows, maybe I’ll find my way back. One of my older male Japanese friends on HelloTalk was really impressed that I went, and clearly was fond of the place himself. After that was all done, I took my sweaty, disgusting self back to the last bus, barely made it in time to buy a ticket and board, and got back to Fukui, where I continued by train to Kanazawa.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/QsXNMuhrHDcKHX4S6

Album 5 - Kanazawa. This was a big one, my last big stop before arriving at my final destination, Matsumoto. It’s a pretty big town, and a big touristy spot, so it was lousy with foreigners. Whereas I’d met nothing but Chinese tourists at the hostel in Nagoya, and had seen no foreigners at all through Fukui and Eiheiji, in Kanazawa there was a foreigner seemingly every 50 feet. My hostel was a pretty good mix, though, with maybe 6 or 7 Japanese guys and gals, a couple of Americans, an extremely intelligent German girl, and a fun-loving Aussie chick who couldn’t speak a word of Japanese, including properly pronouncing “konnichiwa”. The place was called “Shaq Bighouse”, and the guy who runs it is a young middle-aged Japanese guy with an adorable daughter who is friendly, personable as all get out, and extremely accommodating. The digs were a little meh, but the people were fantastic. Got pretty amazingly drunk again and spent a lot of time just talking to everyone. Practiced a decent bit of Japanese here and there too.

The next day I, thankfully, felt just dandy despite drinking and it being hot and humid, and the temperature had cooled a little bit and there was a little more cloud cover, so I decided to spend what time I could in Kanazawa. I went to a vegan restaurant called “Los Angeles” where the middle-aged couple who ran it very much appreciated my praise of their food and privately kept gushing about my Japanese to each other, which is always funny because my Japanese is still dog food. Then I walked over to Kanazawa’s big castle and toured the grounds, which took a very long time. But it was quite worth it. I unfortunately didn’t make it anywhere else because it was so big, including the garden that’s right next door. Oh well! This is what happens when you decide to tour places you could spend a week in over the course of a single day. I headed back to the Bighouse where Shaq had let me stash my bags for the day even though I’d already checked out, said my goodbyes to he and a few of the remaining Japanese, and walked back to the station. I thought my troubles were over, and then struggled with tickets again. The train system is really a nightmare to navigate if you don’t know what you’re doing. As it turns out, friends told me they had way less trouble because they just talked to a ticket agent. Whoops! Serves me right for being antisocial and using the kiosks. The lines were a lot longer at the ticket counters. Anyway, I made it to Nagano eventually, and thought all would be well, but then it got ULTRA confusing because of multiple points of exit and not being sure where the ticket counters were, and not being sure where I was supposed to actually even board the next train. Then I couldn’t find my station when I tried to buy a ticket, because at least 3 of the entries appeared to be for the same thing, and ultimately I missed the last limited express out of Nagano Station.

This is the only time Google’s Fi service has failed me. For some reason despite having good signal, I just couldn’t get any data to work, so my phone was useless. In the end I did get the right ticket despite the train having left, talked to an agent to get more information, talked to two off-duty train drivers headed home who gave me the right train to take to Matsumoto, and confirmed with a guy on the train that it was headed to the right place. I felt very accomplished, but VERY tired, and the train took a good 40 minutes longer to get there due to so many stops. But it was actually a fun experience in hindsight, and I got to see another side of the train system, and practice being completely effed and all alone in a foreign country. Wee! I had a pretty long walk with a lot of luggage to my hostel in Matsumoto, but it was my favorite of all of them. I met a pair of Israeli backpackers, two more Germans, and a couple other folks. Had some more konbini (convenience store) food and passed right out.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/5uhszVJzqAsoMs828

Album 6 - Matsumoto. I was of course already in Matsumoto in the evening, and didn’t have to get to my orientation at the university’s International House until 3. I emailed Ms. Koike, who had been my contact since the start, and turned out to be kind of alarmingly young and cute when I met her later on, and she told me I should catch a cab and get there early, and that I could come back and drop my stuff off before the orientation. I tried that, but couldn’t find a cab to save my life, so I walked about a half hour with my bags from the hostel to the International House. I paid for my futon rental, and then a staff member took me and a couple of others back to the Corpo Riverside building where I’m actually staying. The Japanese dorms are nicer than International House, some of which I explain in one of the videos. I talked a bit with the driver, who seemed to think Matsumoto was pretty cool when all was said and done, and I arrived with a frenchman and an actual non-exchange student named Hiromu who is one of the tutors (or “help the foreigners not die their first semester” volunteers). My tutor is still off somewhere else enjoying the last of his summer, though we’ve been in contact via phone.

Anyway, we went to the grocery store, bought some food and house goods, came back for orientation, and then got oriented. At least in theory. It was all in Japanese, and probably the majority of the non-Japanese didn’t understand more than half of it. Myself, I probably caught about 20%. I got the gist, but I’ve definitely got questions. Paperwork is a nightmare here, and there are always 20 pages of information for everything, and yet somehow you still feel lost. But I digress. We had a BBQ party that night to celebrate the new arrivals, and we ate for free, which did me no good because … well, it was a BBQ. It was fun, though, and I started in on the cardinal sin of hanging out with other foreigners. But at that point I was so exhausted, and Japanese felt like so much mental work, I let myself do it. I hung out with them a bit again today while we hunted for a secondhand shop to buy some cheap stuff, but the stuff wasn’t all that good or all that cheap. I’m hoping once my tutor and some of the other students I know return, they’ll help me hang out with more Japanese people, but everyone says it takes a good 6 months to start really getting your stuff together. That said, a few of the foreigners are already really good, including some who’ve never been here, so I really feel like a small fish at the moment, especially compared to Chico where I’m a big one. Funny enough, I recall one of my Japanese professors giving that advice to my friend who went to Chukyo. It’s more fun to be a big fish, he said, so go somewhere where you’re bigger. But he also said that Shinshu was the right place for me, and I have no doubt that he’s right. This is where I need to be.

So I got moved in, got some stuff, and set the place up. It feels pretty comfortable now, but I’m still sorely lacking things like a garbage can, bath towels, dish towels, and all that. But the place seems to be in working order, despite the fact that it’s undergoing renovations that will rather severely inconvenience us for a few more weeks (more on that in the video too). Either way, it feels homey enough, and I’m finally past travel-mode and ready to actually sit down to the task of not sucking at Japanese anymore. I honestly have no idea how well I’ll do over the course of this year, but I’ll try my best and hope it comes out well in the end. At least being here will give me a chance to really focus and keep away from English so much. Anyway, Matsumoto is cool, I’m here, and you can see a little bit of the place in some of these pictures and videos.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/HTAMp81vbrTsyw4f6

I've since gone through several "guidances" or orientations about all kinds of stuff, had a thoroughly demoralizing placement exam which landed me in a class quite a bit lower than I'd have expected before I came here, gone to the City Hall and bank to register with the government and make a bank account, set up everything with the school, buy shit for my apartment, learn how to operate all the little different things in the apartment (gas range, tiny Asian-style washing machine, weird plumbing, manual boiler for when you want hot water, etc.), and try to generally get myself on balance. It's been a challenge. I'm pretty exhausted at the end of every day.

Anyway, classes start tomorrow, and I feel sort of prepared? I guess? It's been a hell of a ride, and despite the difficulties I'm enjoying myself. But those difficulties are definitely taking a toll on my aging old man body. Not to mention drinking and smoking too much with a bunch of people 10 years younger than me. My language skills have improved to a degree, but I've got a long way to go, and a big part of me is realizing just how short a time a year really is, even though parts of it feel long.

Hope you guys are doing well, and sorry I've been so absent. Just too much going on these days.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline ender

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Re: So now I'm going to Japan. For a year.
« Reply #6 on: Wednesday, September 26, 2018, 06:49:51 AM »
Beautiful photos! Ugh, makes me miss it! Can't wait to hear how things go as you get settled in more. I love Japan.

Offline Cobra951

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Re: So now I'm going to Japan. For a year.
« Reply #7 on: Wednesday, September 26, 2018, 08:36:54 AM »
Aging old-man body?  Get real, kid.  You have 30 years before you're allowed that excuse.  ;)

Thanks for the details and the great pix.  I think I've learned a few things today.  Get your bearings, have fun, and keep us in touch.

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: So now I'm going to Japan. For a year.
« Reply #8 on: Wednesday, September 26, 2018, 11:55:12 PM »
I'll do my best! I'm so frazzled right now, and just tired. I'm looking forward to this weekend even though we only have two days of classes. haha

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: So now I'm going to Japan. For a year.
« Reply #9 on: Sunday, September 30, 2018, 11:24:32 PM »
Well, there isn't too much new to report. I posted a few random videos of me walking around narrating nothing in particular, and we had a typhoon that turned out to be ... not much? At least I guess. Nobody said too much about it today, and I slept through it.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/EDK6fJ94GQATCHfN8

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: So now I'm going to Japan. For a year.
« Reply #10 on: Friday, October 26, 2018, 04:03:50 PM »
Album 16 - Taimatsu Matsuri - Went to a crazy festival where they set a lot of stuff on fire and drag it around the town while everyone drinks and inhales too much smoke. A friend and I participated informally, as did a fair number of random people. It was as fun as it sounds, plus there were fireworks!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/JJwy8Mi2HhnBn4X96

Album 17 - Kamikouchi - Beautiful highlands valley with lots of trees and pretty things. Spent a long day here with a couple friends and took about a billion pictures. Pictures of the fall leaves I think turned out especially nice. Also there's a video with monkeys.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/aQT7SwQVi1egPUt27
« Last Edit: Tuesday, October 30, 2018, 12:27:28 AM by Quemaqua »

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline Cobra951

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Re: So now I'm going to Japan. For a year.
« Reply #11 on: Monday, October 29, 2018, 09:11:39 AM »
16 looks like a pyro-apocalypse.   ;D  Beautiful nature shots in 17.  Is the weather often that pretty?  I'm sick of the crappy weather around here lately.

You look like you're enjoying yourself quite a bit.  I think I'll live vicariously through your images for a while.

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: So now I'm going to Japan. For a year.
« Reply #12 on: Tuesday, October 30, 2018, 12:43:34 AM »
Please do! I enjoy sharing them.

Yeah, the weather here has been wonderful. Fall is a very nice time of year. The leaves change, the temperature and humidity drop, it actually gets cold, but on sunny days the sun is so powerful here that even though the overall temperature isn't that high, you still feel warm. Today was another good example. I have some more pictures coming at some point soonish, from another trip this weekend, and I even took some on a walk around town today. Just need to sort through everything.

Japan, like any place, has plenty of problems, but it's a really lovely place. I'm going to be sad to leave. There's so much that I love about being here.

I realize also I've skipped a bunch of stuff, so here's a few more for the interim:

Album 08 - Yohashira Shrine Festival - Another festival. This one is a bit more straightforward, just some music and wandering around eating from random food stalls and such. There's some pretty nice video of fireworks in this one too!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/WFgm5QmUMTfqTERN9

Album 09 - My apartment - Just some random shots from my apartment. I threw stuff in here if I shot it in here, so it's all pretty random. But you can get a sense of how small it is.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/JWGCZwgqGaWZK8RCA

Album 10 - Matsumoto - This is a big one. Basically just a bunch of stuff from the town I'm living in. It's kind of another assortment of god knows what, but there's some nice ones in here, I think. This is a really nice town. It's very ... I don't know. Urban in some ways, but still out in the countryside. Big, but not really that big. Small enough to be pretty walkable, but that can end up being a very long walk, depending where you're going. Surrounded by mountains. Going to try to update this with a few things from my walk today too, which will probably get on there before anyone sees it.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/13gFWngR5xAtJG8j9

Album 12 - Matsumoto Castle - This is one to skim, as a lot of the photos are of displayed stuff inside the castle, which is something of a museum. Only interesting if you love Japanese culture, are a history buff, can read Japanese, or some combination of those. There are some nice shots of the city from the castle top, though, and the castle at night is gorgeous.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/wU26ZbXUrjH2MTuk8

Album 13 - Soba festival - More festival stuff. Food and whatever.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/nKsE5Gch599DAB7M6

There are others, but smaller albums from trips out here and there to eat or shop, with friends, etc. I'll avoid posting them to prevent overloading, unless somebody asks to see them.

Also, the last thing is this writeup I did on my blog, which in turn links to a blog post I did for a scholarship website, ironically the one scholarship which has yet to come through for me. But that may or may not be of interest to anyone, so I'll toss it on here too: https://bookruptcy.com/2018/10/14/japan-adventure-part-4-sunrise-in-the-land-of-the-rising-sun/

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: So now I'm going to Japan. For a year.
« Reply #13 on: Tuesday, December 18, 2018, 11:34:12 PM »
Wrote another blog: https://gilmanprogram.wordpress.com/2018/12/17/one-day-one-step/

Album 18 - Friends and ramen - nuff said.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/5JMVLkztiwPg3LRs7

Album 19 - Another festival - Tons of video in this one. My favorites are the jazz band. The one where the dude loses his sheet music is fantastic.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/wtni7JY99CXwVXd69

Album 20 - Bus hike - Went some places I'm feeling too lazy to explain, but they included a temple and an old Edo-era town that they turned into a tourist trap. It was fun but a little too rushed, didn't get to explore the town much.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ecMrTiUXQgSXXGfd9

Album 21 - Massive fireworks in Nagano - They have a big fireworks festival there which is just incredible. I've never seen anything like it, doubt I ever will again. Mostly video here, but a lot of it is worth watching. The longer clips of the 2+ minute displays are great. It was about an hour of actual fireworks time, different groups putting on different displays. And we were close. The only downside is it was FREEZING. As soon as we stood up to leave I realized how cold I was and felt like I was going to die. haha
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ugKb11R21g6a2vfF7

Album 22 - Daio Wasabi Farm - Kind of is what it says on the tin, but it was quite pretty and there were some interesting cultural additions like statues and shrines on the property. Was a fun and interesting trip.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/1fowM5JiZCsPMfy58

Album 10 redux - Matsumoto - I always add stuff to this one, so there's always kinda more in it. Now included.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/13gFWngR5xAtJG8j9

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline Pugnate

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Re: So now I'm going to Japan. For a year.
« Reply #14 on: Sunday, July 28, 2019, 02:35:58 AM »
Did you encounter any tentacle penis monsters?

Offline ender

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Re: So now I'm going to Japan. For a year.
« Reply #15 on: Monday, July 29, 2019, 07:15:24 PM »
Do you still live there?

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: So now I'm going to Japan. For a year.
« Reply #16 on: Thursday, September 26, 2019, 11:03:34 AM »
I am only several months too late to that reply. Sorry, ender.

Life has been nutso busy. My long spring break was fantastic. My girlfriend (now fiancee--more on that later) came to visit in late February, and then none other than our own Belmont came in March. Was a fantastic time, got to tool around a bunch and look at things, visit interesting places, take tons of pictures, and of course buy a lot of unnecessary bullshit, especially games. I'll try to round up some pictures and such maybe this weekend, if I can find the time. I've got everything in albums of course, but you know.

Then the second semester hit, and everything really went to shit. Apparently some of the leadership at my university decided they wanted to make the program more beneficial for THEIR students rather than those of us studying there, and this entailed a bunch of unpleasant changes to the program that made our lives a lot more difficult, and sadly I don't think benefited their students either. All told it was largely the same as the first semester, just with more bullshit, more stress, and less free time. It wasn't the end of the world, but it did make it a lot less enjoyable, and killed my desire to go out and do the stuff you're supposed to do as an exchange student: travel and meet people.

I talked to some of the faculty about it, and they remained good folks, but there was little they could do given that the orders came from on high. Nothing changed, but at least I made our collective dissatisfaction known, and everyone was able to communicate. In the end, I don't regret going, and I did have a great time, but there was a lot of BS that could have made it a thousand times better, and it really hindered my learning and practice at the end, unfortunately. My Japanese is not where I want it to be after a year in the country. Part of that was also the overabundance of American students, European students, and English-capable Asian students there at the time, and my age being substantially above that of the average college student.

But I'm not complaining. I had a great time, it was mostly covered by scholarships (mostly), and it was ultimately a great experience that I will never forget. And I came back with a whole lot of amazing books and games and comics and everything else.

I've been back home since mid-August, and immediately had to start dealing with stuff at home. I got a job at my home university's study abroad office, and am working on the first semester of my last year, which is super busy. I have almost no time to breathe. On the bright side, I didn't have any culture shock going to Japan, and I haven't had any returning home. Maybe all that meditation has really paid off.

It's good to be home, even though I desperately miss Japan in a lot of ways. But I also proposed to my girlfriend about a week and a half ago, and so all my plans are now very home-focused. I don't want to abandon my language studies, but I need to start thinking about getting work, and my Japanese didn't improve to the degree to which I wanted it to if I was going to use it professionally. It was a fairly major blow, but I'm shifting trajectories, so we'll see how it all pans out. Either way, I'm in a pretty good place despite being way more stressed out than I'd like, especially since I was way more stressed out from April to August than I wanted to be to begin with.

I'll try to post some more links to pictures later!

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野