It doesn't seriously feel like it's been that long of a time being here. It feels as though I was stressing out on what to pack happened days ago. I guess this is what my mother feels like when I was going off to college, yet she was (probably) thinking of how it seemed like not too long ago she would be walking me to the bus stop for my first day of kindergarten.
Looking back now, it really did go by quickly. Orientation lasted two weeks and I only had two weeks of classes. This is crazy business~! From having to sit through the boring same old, same old orientation stuff. Don't get me wrong; there has been a few interesting ones (such as the sexual education seminar). In the US, it's mandatory for schools to discuss sex ed, but in some countries, they don't get "the talk." So that is why I had to attend the meeting. Now, because Americans and many other nations got that talk before, there is always someone in the audience who makes it uncomfortable by laughing. Luckily, there was no one doing that this year. After attending that seminar, it was surprising to me on how little I knew on the subject after being introduced to it in ninth grade. In this seminar, they actually showed us what each std looks like so we would be aware of it. I never knew what they looked like; we only learned about what the symptoms were. It was an interesting experience sitting through that lesson and seeing how the subject is taught in a different country. So yeah, enough on this paragraph?
Before classes started up, all the international students and new fall semester students had to attend a semi-formal Matriculation Ceremony to be introduced into the Japanese schooling society. The ceremony would have been really interesting if it wasn't so boring and hot. When my body gets too hot in a situation where I can't do anything to cool it off immediately, it tries to fall asleep to regulate the temperature, or something like that. I kept nodding off, but catching myself. I eventually did "wake up" - I never actually fell completely asleep - I was fully awake for the rest of the program. We listened to speeches and then they called our names one by one. Once they called your name, you stood up and said "yes" indicating that you were there and will be an official student of Akita International University (AIU for short). There was also a somewhat famous violinist person playing there. She was really talented! After that, we all got to eat some fancy and some casual foods in the cafeteria in our semi-formal outfits.
Rebecca, Ivan, and myself... UC kids representing!!
Credit: Sara Birnbaum
Thomas, Sara, Rebecca, Yuzu, Kelly (me), Heather, Gustav
Credit: Keli'i Lum
Credit: Mim!!
Credit: Mim~!!!
So once that was over, classes started up the following week. I am in the following courses: Business Practice in China Today, Japanese Language, Japanese Literature, and Manga Mania. Let me just tell you a bit of each course.
Business Practice in China Today - this class is very interesting. We discuss exactly what the class sounds like we would discuss: today's business in China. I really like the course and usually eager to do the homework and attend class. It's a shame that I usually have no idea what any the business terms mean though. When I told a classmate of mine (who is a business major) that, he told me "just assume that it is talking about how people are stealing money and corruption." XD In the class, only 8 full-time AIU students are business majors. Out of the 35 in the class, only 4 are foreigners.
Japanese Language - it is a continuation of my previous schooling at Ursinus. Actually, we are going over a chapter we have already covered so it is a nice review for some of us. We did learn a few new things in that course (like the stupid pitch pattern!!!). However, we are going over kanji so slowly. I prefer Mizzy-sensei's method of teaching about 5 each and being tested on it then repeat. Sure, it might not help us remember them completely, but I don't think this method would be any better than that. I would hate to say it, but a lot of students will only memorize for the test. I admit that I do this sometimes. I am trying to change that though~
Japanese Literature - where do I begin? This class is so boring. I dislike saying that about classes, I really do, but I can't help it for this one! It is dreadful. I guess dreadful is too harsh of a word to call it. Hear me out: the professor has a very thick accent and speaks in a monotone voice. Everyday to class, people bring in extremely sugary drinks and snacks just to stay awake. It is also very hot in the room so like I had mentioned before at the matriculation ceremony, everyone is trying to stay awake. This class is so bad that a person I met (who was a Japanese Literature major in his home university) had dropped it! That's how bad it is~!! >.<* But I'm trying to be positive about it... let's move on?
Manga Mania - last but not least. This is class is also very interesting. I am not a huge fan of anime or manga but I don't dislike it. I can appreciate the effort the creators put in to the making of it - from the idea to getting people to back you up on it, designing the characters, story line, getting published, getting an anime adaption, drama adaption, etc. But for the actual product, I am not so easily impressed. I took this course to figure out why there is such a hype on the anime/manga culture and why it has such a huge fanbase, which is probably larger than than the official fan base of DBSK/TVXQ/Tohoshinki (5.5 billion in 2008 with continuous rising popularity). Apparently in 2008, that band was announced to have the world's largest fan base by Guinness World Records (I couldn't find it on the actual website itself, though). And let me just say... there are a lot of manga/anime fans in my class.
But enough about classes, you are probably bored of hearing about all of this, no? Well, I don't know what else to talk about... but whatever. This will be all for now. I'll keep posting updates and everything as soon as I can! ^_^ Thanks for reading and feel free to comment here or on the facebook post that you got this from. <3
When I read this comment "it was surprising to me on how little I knew on the subject after being introduced to it in ninth grade." I thought you were talking about sex! Then I read on... whew.. Ok cleared that one up for me.
ReplyDeleteHaha~ well, that is why I cleared it up. After the seminar, some lady came up to Heather and I asking us about our thoughts on the seminar. We both agreed that it was helpful and possibly more helpful than the one we learned back home. We later found out that her husband was the gynecologist speaking at the seminar. It was her job to evaluate how he did and how the audience thought he did. It was really cool to speak to her. She mentioned about her husband thing last so we were praising him doing a great job before even knowing that. XD
DeleteLol, business!! I much prefer communications ;3 But anyway, business terms are hard to grasp - I struggle with it myself. Ray says that always try to break down the word/phrase because it's usually describing something simple. Integrated Marketing Communications basically means using multiple promotion strategies aka using lots of stuff to get your product/company/whatever out to the people.
ReplyDeleteI like the course; it's interesting. But yeah, the vocab terms are difficult like doctor terms. Why can't they just use the simpliest/most direct words instead of fancifying it? I would like to take a communications course (besides the public speaking one that I loved). I feel like it would/could be useful to have a little bit of knowledge in that field to help with teaching. What do you think?
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