A detailed life update

Some of my dear readers/viewers have expressed a desire to know more about what I am actually doing, how I am adapting and settling in. I realise I have essentially ignored the fact that I am at university in this blog, and mainly focused on the funny or bizarre things I have seen or done.

So here goes, and feel free to ignore this post if you don't care ;) 


In the beginning

When I first arrived I was overwhelmed, jet lagged, confused and more than anything I felt lonely. Can you imagine being flung into a foreign country where you do not speak the language, and no one seems able or willing to speak your language? That was hard. Suddenly everyone you meet is handing you paper written in Japanese, (or 'Google translate's' version of English) telling you that you must do this, buy that, meet this person, go there etc. But all you want to do is lie in your bed and sleep. For the first couple of days, as soon as I was done attending meetings or tours, I would hurry back to my bed and curl up. Obviously this did not make meeting people any easier. But, what you forget whilst wallowing in your own sorrow, is that most people are in the same boat, or at least a very similar boat, one fuelled by culture shock and exhaustion. Eventually once you clamber out of bed long enough you begin to make friends. With that, you begin to explore, and the more you explore the more comfortable you feel. It is like someone is slowly turning on the lights in what was once a dark and unknown place.

Breakfast

As time has gone by, that ridiculous pile of paper has slowly reduced.

Bedding ✓
Sign up with the university ✓
Get a bike ✓
A bank account ✓
A phone ✓
National Health Insurance ✓
Placement test ✓
Sign up for classes ✓
Attend said classes ✓
Get other insurance (life insurance, fire, hitting others with your bike insurance) ✓
Sign up for trips ✓
Get a job ✓
Sign up for scholarships ✓
Tidy your room and make it feel like a home ✓
and so on...

Each item is like a weight off your shoulders, allowing you to relax further into your new life.

I have talked about some of these things before, but quite a few items on this list are very different from England. I plan to talk about banks and ATMs in a future post, because they are so different and kind of fascinating (or at least I think so).

Insurance
As you will probably know, most of the world does not have an NHS, so here you have to directly pay for your health insurance on a monthly or yearly basis. After a student discount it costs around £20 a month, and as I understand it, as a foreigner it is not optional. Essentially the insurance means that if you are taken ill, the insurance company will front 70% of the bill, whilst you must still pay around 30% of the bill. On top of this, the application form was entirely in Japanese, so I didn't have a clue where to even start. However, luckily for me my tutor here is lovely and actually filled it out for me, which I was incredibly thankful for!

You can even go diagonally!
This is terrifying when it is busy!

I mentioned before the excess of bikes here, coupled with the lack of any sort of system (or at least none that anyone follows), and the crazy riding skills of the Japanese, the pavements here are a scary place to be. Even worse are the cross roads, at each corner waits at least 10 bikes (at the rush moments between lessons), and as soon as the lights change colour and begin to chirp (yes the lights here chirp), suddenly there are bikes coming at you literally from every angle, all competing to get onto the small pavements. It is amazing that more people do not get hurt. Due to this, unorganised chaos, there is a serious need for insurance to cover you incase you hit someone with your bike.


My 'job'

L-Cafe

At this university there is a place called the L-cafe or English cafe. A little deceptive as it is not very English, and most people continue to speak Japanese in there, but nevertheless, international students hold language lessons in there on a regular basis. I figured this might be a good opportunity for me to earn some pocket money, whilst also giving me the chance to make new friends and gain a new experience. As a result I am not signed up to teach three lessons on a weekly basis. I am to hold conversation classes, essentially me attempting to encourage English out of students, and correcting their grammar, and I am to hold pronunciation lessons. I guess this is because I might be the only student on campus with an English accent, and those wishing to go to England want to imitate the way I speak, as essentially everyone is taught American English. This has resulted in me practising how to enunciate more clearly, for example pronouncing my T's in wa'er (water). So we shall see how that goes.

I bet you cannot guess which drawings are mine...

Classes
For my Visa to be valid I must take 7 classes or 10 hours a week of studies. I take 4 Japanese language classes, and have three other classes. One of my classes 'Study of Japan' looks amazing, as it is essentially a school trip every week, visiting High Schools, a Tatami factory (Japanese style flooring) and shrines, with the addition of a week learning how the traditional tea ceremony works. So far, with the exception of the language classes, my lectures/seminars have been fairly easy, so I am not complaining. Though as some of my classes are with Japanese students as well, the class is there to essentially challenge their English abilities, and as such the sensei's have hinted towards additional work for us, the international students.