first week of class

Hello~

This week was my first week of classes. Actually, it's not over yet; I have class on Saturday mornings...

My classes are Japanese, Economic Modernization of Japan (a modern economic history class), and Comparative Cultural Studies (looking at how Japan is viewed by the West and vice versa). The nicest part is that I have Thursdays and Fridays completely free!

I've uploaded some pictures here so please go look at those!

For orientation we had to keep a journal, so here is an excerpt from mine:

II. Differences
Bathrooms: Bathrooms are really different than ones in the US, both public and private ones. Most public bathrooms don’t have dryers or towels, so I bought one of those cute hand towels to carry around. And sometimes they have the squat toilets which I don’t know how to feel about. Actually I first saw one of those in the airport and I was a bit confused. Also, bidets are everywhere here. I thought that they would only be in people’s homes, but some public bathrooms also have bidets. I still haven’t ventured to try one, but I do like the heated seats. Something I really don’t like about the bathrooms is the rushing water sound-maker. It turns on when you wave your hand in front of it I guess to cover up any sounds you might be making. I think they are kind of annoying though, especially when they turn on just from me walking into the stall. Private bathrooms are really different too because the toilet gets its own room and then the shower, bath, and sink get another room. In some ways it’s really nice, for example no waiting to use the toilet if someone is in the shower, although it’s quite convenient to have everything in one place. Another nice thing is that the shower/bath room is really big!

IV. Surprises
The food here is really, really good. I knew I liked Japanese food in general, but I was surprised by the quality of food. Even stuff from the conbini tastes good. I’ve been to a bunch of random restaurants and haven’t been disappointed once. And it’s not that everything is just decent. In the US I ate a lot of things that were just OK but still edible and slightly enjoyable. But here in Japan almost everything makes me think, “Mmmm, this is so good!” Something else that surprises me sometimes is what I am eating. I can’t always tell what things are by looking or by the name, so I’ve been consuming a lot of unknown items. There isn’t always someone around that I can ask either, so there’s a bit of mystery surrounding my meals.

And lastly, I've been writing down words I don't know as much as possible, so I'll share some with you-

maegami - bangs
risu - squirrel
kayui - itchy