Meiji Gakuin

It is hard to believe I have already been in school for a month. Time is passing so quickly. It feels like I was just signing up for classes last week.

The Japanese education system is very different from the American system. In Japan, high school is taken very seriously. The students work hard to try and get into the top universities in the country. Some students even attend cram schools at night. Once they get into university life gets easier. University is almost seen as a break in between high school and your job. The university classes are not very hard. They just need to get enough credits to graduate. Their grades do not really matter all that much. When it comes to job hunting, it is the name of the university that really matters. Also, students must find a job their second to last or last semester of university, unless they are continuing on to graduate school, to graduate. This is so different from the American system. At home, high school is considered a joke and university is when you really need to work hard.

The system for signing up for classes was really different. At home, we sign up for classes a semester in advance and have the first 12 days to change our schedule. Here we spent the first week just trying out classes and when you turned in your schedule you cannot change it. During that first week, students are allowed to sit in a class and then get up and leave part way through to try out another class.

The only class that was not decided this way for the exchange students was the Japanese language class. The first day of classes, we spent the morning taking a placement test. At first, I was disappointed in my class placement. I was put in the lowest level. We are using a book I used my first year of Japanese two years ago. Now, I would not trade my class for anything!  J I love my teacher. She has a great teaching method and is very easy to learn from. The class mostly focuses on speaking. So, it is the perfect level for my spoken Japanese. I may have some trouble when I have to transfer my credits back, but I will be able to speak Japanese better than the upper level Japanese students back home.

Japanese is the class I spend the most time in. We go to class for 3 hours in the morning 2 days a week. My other classes are ridiculously easy (it is kind of driving me crazy). They are all taught in English and are only held once a week. My favorite class is an anthropological look at current marriage trends in Japan. I will be writing a blog about it soon, so more on that later J I am also taking a class about the architecture of Tokyo from a historical perspective. I love this teacher, She always gets off subject, but I find her tangents interesting. Then there is my business class. I am learning concepts I have already learned back home, but it uses Japanese companies as examples so it is still interesting.

And then there are my classes I barely consider classes. One of these classes I consider a complete waste of time. It is about Japanese Society and Culture, but there is no lecture. We just waste time doing group presentations that really do not say anything of substance at all. But I love my last two classes! They are sumi-e and sadō. Sumi-e is pretty much just an art class. We get to learn how to paint with sumi (black ink). I find the class very relaxing. Sadō is a class about the Japanese Tea Ceremony. So every week I get to go to class and eat an okashi (Japanese sweet) and drink tea. I am learning how to make and serve the tea. It is very complicated. We start out every class with quiet meditation. It is the perfect class to end my week.

Another big difference from back home is my school schedule. At Texas State, I am usually lucky enough to have my Fridays off. At Meiji Gakuin, almost everyone has Wednesdays off. All of the clubs meet on this day. It is odd to have a day off in the middle of the week. And to top it off, my longest day is on Friday. On Fridays, I am at school from 9am to 6pm. But my favorite classes are on that day so I do not mind.

Meiji Gakuin has two campuses, one in Yokohama and one in Shirokane, Tokyo. I attend classes at the Shirokane campus. It is small, but lovely. We have a chapel, tea ceremony rooms, courtyard, and an amazing cafeteria. I love the cafeteria. It is a big open feeling building. It is almost completely made of windows so it is very bright and cheerful. One of the coolest things is the system for getting your food.

There is a glass case that has fake food versions of all of the possibilities. Each meal has a card in front to it that say the number (for ordering), the name, the amount of calories and the price.

Then you go to the machines. You put in your money and push the button with the number that corresponds with your chosen meal. It gives you a slip of paper with the number on it.

Next, you grab a tray and get into the correct line (there have been a couple of times when I managed to get in the wrong line :P) Hand your slip of paper to the person at the counter and wait for your food. Sooo funny story… be careful when you try to turn in line and you have a big bag on your shoulder. You might knock over the metal pole line divider things, cause a domino effect, make a lot of noise and embarrass yourself. Yes, I know this from personal experience. I am not going to eaven try to lie and say it happened to a friend…

There are machines with free water and green tea next to the utensils. So that is the last stop before finding a table.

I think the coolest part of the cafeteria system is at the end. You go to this one area and turn in your dirty dishes. Rubbish goes into the trashcan (there is almost nothing that get thrown away), utensils into one tub, cups into another, rinse your bowl/plate, drop it into the big thing of water and put your tray on the rack.

Oh and the food is good too :) My usual lunch: Kake Soba

Yeah…I know I get entertained by the strangest things, but their system is just so efficient and leaves almost no waste. I wish it would work back home. Oh well. I will finish this post off with some pictures of the campus.

Enjoy, Caitlin

the courtyard

the chapel (side view)

no idea what this building is, but I like the old world architecture 

against the modern building in the background

another random building

the chapel (front view)

Child-Like Wonder

No matter where in the world I may be, one thing NEVER changes…

I need to take time out of my hectic life and just act like a kid.

In the past two weeks, I have had some pretty epic child-like adventures.

Sunday before last, I went to Ueno Zoo. The trip was originally just going to be a day at the park, but once we discovered how cheap the zoo was there was no turning back. We spent the the afternoon wandering around the zoo, being silly, and taking pictures. At the suvenior shops there were headbands with the ears of various animals. Needless to say there were numerous pictures taken.

I think we spent at least 20 minutes watching the red pandas. They are sooooo much cuter than giant pandas!

Don’t get me wrong. I still love giant pandas, but when it comes down to it they are not the most exciting of animals. Although, they do lend themselves to adorable caricatures.

We also spent quite a bit of time watching the penguins. There was this one penguin who kept walking to the edge, acting like he was going to jump in and then would just walk away! I wasted so much time trying to get a picture of him mid-jump. The other penguins picked up the slack and put on a good show :)

The next Sunday, the Buddies (students from the university that are paired with the international students) threw us a welcome party at Yoyogi park. It was a blast! We sat on tarps and shared food, drinks and laughter. After a while the toys came out. Some people played with various balls and Frisbees, but I could not be torn away from the jump rope! We had one of those long jump ropes that can fit 4 or 5 people at once. It was so exciting and utterly exhausting :)

To round out my child-like adventures last week we visited the Studio Ghibli Museum. Coolest museum ever. Studio Ghibli is like the Disney of Japan. They make animated films for various age groups. My favorite is Kiki’s Delivery Service :) Some you may have seen or heard of are Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Howls Moving Castle and Ponyo.

The museum is like one big Alice in Wonderland style house. There were loads of random animated windows and projectors, different sized doors, rooms that led nowhere, spiral staircases and even an area that was set up like the founder’s studio.  The studio rooms’ walls were covered in sketches, watercolor landscapes that look like photographs, and transparencies painted with the moving items in the scene that would then be put on top of the landscapes to create the final image. The museum was a place of wonder and silliness. I ended up buying stuffed animals at the souvenir shop. The first is the cutest piece of soot you will ever see (from Spirited Away) and the second is the cat from Kiki’s Delivery Service.

I have realized in the past few years that you cannot be serious all the time. If you don’t indulge in some child-like moments, you begin to lose that sense of child-like wonder and excitement that makes everyday a joy. I urge you to take an afternoon off. Do something silly and rediscover your child-like wonder. It could be as simple as a day in the park, watching your favorite childrens movie, or playing your favorite childhood board game.

Have Fun!

-Caitlin

Faffing around the Dorm :)

There are a little over 20 students and 2 caretakers who live in the dorm. The caretakers are one of the nicest couples I have ever met. We would never try to go around any of the dorm rule because we would not want to disappoint the caretakers.

As for the students, we are from all over the world: America, England, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Germany, Switzerland, and France.  About half of the students are from America and England. Overall, everyone is really nice.

My closest friends in the dorm so far are the students from England and another American.  Dan, Emelie, Sophie, and Zara are from Oxford Brooks University, Olga is from Manchester University, and Chandler is from the University of Vermont. Chandler may go to the school in the north, but she is really a Southern girl : ) She grew up in Georgia.  It is so nice having another Southern girl around. Olga, Zara and I have been watch episodes of TV shows or a movie almost every night. Although, that has been a bit harder to do now that school has started and we are about to run out of episodes of Secret Diary of a Call Girl. Dan has decided he wants me to have a British accent by the time I leave. I must say it is coming in quite nicely.

I have been learning all sorts of British English. You can catch me saying Uni instead of University now. But my new favorite word is definitely “faffing”: ) It means to just waste time doing nothing in particular. Dan is a master faffer. He is always faffing around when me need to leave.

I knew there were differences between American and British English, but I never expected we would have a 15-20 minute conversation of word confusion. The British students were trying to explain a specific word to Chandler and me. They told us they missed squash…so we automatically thought of the vegetable and were like ok…that’s strange. Apparently, we were very wrong. Squash is a flavor thing you put into water. I equate it to a liquid crystal light and even that still is not right.

As for the dorm a building, it is really nice. We take our shoes off at the entrance (SO JAPANESE :P) We have two shoe cubbies and a mailbox by the door. To enter the door you use a keypad by the door. Instead of a key we use a code.

The rooms are big! I have a bed (with a futon for a mattress-it is more comfortable than the mattresses I had at Falls Hall at Texas State), desk, chair, file cabinet, and a very large closet.

(the view from my room)

Each floor has a restroom, but the showers are on the basement floor with the laundry machines. Also on the basement floor are the kitchen, dining area, and courtyard. The kitchen is large and small at the same time. The majority of the space is taken up by the shelves that serve as our pantry. We are each assigned a basket for our pantry items, a shelf in the refrigerator, and space in the freezer. The only downside to the kitchen is there is no oven…I had to make a birthday cake in the microwave the other day…tasted surprisingly good.

The dining area is where we all hang out. There is a large TV for us to use. In the mornings while we eat breakfast, we watch Japanese children’s programs. I think I will know the ridiculous dance that ends the program by the end of the year :) Japanese TV really deserves a blog all to itself, but I am going to just give you the highlights:

-Every other channel is a food program

-Even the hard hitting news is broadcast from a studio with a brightly colored set that hurts your eyes and uses little pictures and diagrams (watching them explain Japanese politics is hilarious)

-Almost every show has a panel of famous people to watch the show with you. Their reactions are shown in a box in the corner.

-There are so many strange game shows. Our favorite so far has been a show where a panel of famous people has to guess if the person standing in front of them dressed as a girl is male or female.

More to come :)

-Caitlin

Welcome to Japan

Keeping up with a blog has been much harder than I thought it would be. Although, I really should not have been so surprised, I was never good at keeping a diary either. I have been living in Japan for about a month now and I have a lot to talk about. So, instead of writing one long blog, I am going to break it into smaller blogs focused on specific topics. Get ready! Blog overload begins….NOW!

The flight from DFW to Tokyo was not as bad as I had anticipated. I was very worried about my seat assignment, because I bought the cheapest ticket possible (woot student rates!).  My seat was in the second to last row on the aisle right next to the restrooms…Turns out I had nothing to worry about. When I boarded the plane, I was astounded by the number of empty seats. I went ahead and walked all the way to my seat in the very back. One of the flight attendants approached me and told me to just wait until right before take-off and then find a better seat. I ended up with a window seat!  and no one sat next to me : )

For you to understand how absolutely empty the plane was, sit back and imagine this. Grown men stretched across the five middle seats to sleep and there still being empty rows to be had. The flight may have been 12 hours, but it felt much shorter. On long flights each person is given a computer on the back of the chair in front of him or her. You can use it to look up flight information (where we are, how much longer, the time), play games or watch TV shows and movies.

The only disappointing thing about the flight was the movie choices. Usually the movies are movies that have recently been in theatres, but are not yet out on DVD. Sadly, I have seen all of them in theatres this summer and none of them were movies I wanted to watch again so soon. So, I spent most of the flight either sleeping or watching TV shows. I discovered some new shows I really like (SUITS for example) and watched episodes of some of my favorites (HIMYM, 30 Rock, Entourage).

When I arrived, two of my Japanese friends who spent last school year at Texas State were waiting to pick me up. They helped me check into my hotel and settle in. Then we went back to the airport to wait for our friend Michael’s flight to arrive.

That night we all went to the Beer Garden next to Michael’s hotel for dinner. It was so much fun! There were grills in the middle of each table and the servers brought us platters of meat and vegetables to cook on the grill. The food was amazing.

My hotel room was awesome! I stayed at the Nartia Hilton (I found a great deal on yahoo travel). I was given a room with a queen sized bed just for me : ) I slept really well.

The next day, we were picked up at the airport by the school.  I, of course, was the crazy lady with too many bags, but I don’t regret it one bit. My room feels super homey thanks to all of the stuff I brought. One group left on the first bus, while the other waited for the rest of the students. I was in the second group.  It was nice, because it gave me time to get to know some of the other students but more on them later.

After helping us move our stuff into our rooms, some of the Buddies (students from the university who help out the international students) took us to the 100 yen shop (AKA dollar store but way better) and a cheap grocery store. While we were gone, the other Buddies made us dinner. It was so nice not having to cook that first night. I spent the rest of the night unpacking my multitude of bags…

Oh yeah, one more thing. Remember how I was really worried about my money situation (if not go back and read my earlier posts). Well, that first night I learned that I have been awarded the JASSO scholarship. The JASSO is a scholarship given by the Japanese government to international exchange students. I will be receiving 80,000 yen each month! With the exchange rate where it is right now that is roughly $1,000 a month : ) To top it all off, the next morning I learned I have received another $1,000 for the year from the Texas State Alumni Association.

Over the next few days I will be posting more about my first month. So keep an eye out!

-Caitlin

This is it!

So this past week I have had to deal with the detestable Things 1 & 2.   

   

Thing 1: Packing

Over the past few years, I had thought I had become a master packer. I had earned to only take a small duffle when going home for the weekend. I could fit all of my stuff to move up to college in just my dad’s truck. (Ask my roommates if you don’t believe me. They were amazed when they saw all of my stuff disappear into my dad’s truck.)

Now take that truck and try to fit into 4 suitcases, 1 carry-on, and a large tote bag. Yeah…that’s why it took me a week to pack. It was one of the most stressful things I have done in my life. All of my clothes (including winter coats), my Japanese books, electronics, etc. had to fit in those bags. I did discover the wonder of space bags, but they can only do so much.

This mission was accomplished with a little cursing and some tears. Thankfully we have a better, cheaper plan for sending my stuff back home. When my family comes to visit in the spring, I will send suitcases full of winter clothes and coats back with them. (They will only be bringing one bag and they get two checked bags free J)

Thing 2: Goodbyes

I spent about a week in San Marcos saying goodbyes to my friends. I’m not saying it was easy, but the reality of the situation had not hit yet, so these goodbyes were not on the level of the goodbyes of the past few days.

In the past two days I have said my five hardest goodbyes. The first was my mom. She left Monday morning at 5am for a work conference in San Francisco. Thankfully, we said goodbye in the dark. If I had seen her tears, I don’t think I would have been able to stop crying yesterday. The second happened yesterday afternoon. I spent the afternoon with Myrrh, one of my grandmothers. Her goodbye was heart wrenching, because she is 96 years old. She is not in bad health but I am scarred she will pass away while I am gone.

Then there was this morning… three huge goodbyes at once: my dad, my brother, and my boyfriend. I feel bad, because we were running late and I was super stressed out (thank you packing). When we got to the airport, I had to hurry or I would miss my flight. So as I hugged each one of them in front of the security gate, the tears finally started to pour.

As I sit on this plane, I realize yet again that there is nothing better than the feeling of a plane taking off. While I watch the sun rise over the horizon, I think about how life is one day after another and you just have to take them as they come. And I remember the words my grandmother told me yesterday “You have to do what makes you happy.” I think these are the words I am going to try and live this year by.

I will see you on the other side (of the world :P)

-Caitlin

The Countdown

Hi my name is Caitlin and I am a senior at Texas State University (although if you are reading this you probably already know that :p). My major is in International Studies with an emphasis in business. I have loved the past three years at Texas State. It truly was my home away from home. Over the years, I have had many families at Texas State: my Orientation Leaders, my brothers in Phi Sigma Pi, and my Japanese class lunch group.

 I created this blog because in exactly one month I will be boarding a plane to Tokyo, Japan. I will be spending my senior year of college in Japan! It is all starting to hit me now and my emotions have been super conflicted. I am excited to be spending a year in a foreign country. I can't wait to sign up for my classes (yeah, I'm a nerd). They all sound so interesting. I am also excited to make new friends and explore new places :D

But, I am also nervous. I am scared my Japanese will not be good enough :/ and then there is the constantly nerve racking thought of money. I checked the exchange rate of USD to Yen the other day and it does not look good. As so right now it is only 77 yen to 1 USD. Which means I will be paying almost $1,000 more for housing than I originally thought. Then there is the cliche new kid feeling of not being able to fit in. I am scared I will not find a group of close friends.

And to top it all off, I am starting to realize the magnitude of the fact that I will not see my friends and family for an entire year :( I have been enjoying spending time with them this summer. I am going to miss the family dinners that are full of laughter and good food. I will miss my friends and our silly escapades (ex. laura's first fort). And I will really miss my boyfriend, Daniel, I have loved getting to see him almost every day this summer.

So, as you can see my emotions are like a roller coaster (specifically the one at six flags fiesta texas that is just two loops and you just ride forward and then backward-yup that's how it feels). I have a feeling this month will go by too quickly. I am going to have to savor my last moments under the big blue Texas sky. Well that's all for now. I hope this blog helps everyone keep up with what I'm doing (and that my life is not too boring- I'll be sure to add pictures to my posts) TTFN

-Caitlin