Japan: 9/1-2/2008
Hirakata, Osaka: September 01, Monday
Went to school, did a campus tour. Went to the ATM machine so Ann could withdraw some money. Went to a language lab orientation (mandatory). Met up with Sontiam from South Africa, and went with him to the grocery store so he could get some food. Came back, replied to some e-mail and Facebook messages (stupid Facebook... it looks like I'll actually kind of have to use it now), and went out to dinner with Ann and Yui and some of Ann's friends.
Ann's friend is named Kyouhei-- they apparently met on Facebook. Anyway, Kyouhei brought along two friends: Maho, who turned out to know Yui, and another guy, whose name none of us caught. T_T We went to dinner at a place called... um... Tomato Onion? Something like that. I'm not sure. T_T; It was good-- and it was American food. O_o; But they had what they called Hamburgs... so like hamburgers... except not on buns. WTF? It was odd. O_o; But very tasty. But pricey. Oh, well. ~_~;;; It was out by Makino Station, so it was a bit of a walk.
Afterwards, they left and Yui and Ann and I went back to our room. We sat around a bit before Yui went into her room and chatted with her new roommate, a Russian girl who studies in Ireland. She's really nice, but very shy. Then, we got to meet Huey, Ann's new roommate from Singapore. We chatted about languages and colleges and studies for a bit-- she's fun. ^_^
We all parted ways. I finished putting together my photo album, and we went to bed.
Hirakata, Osaka: September 02, Tuesday
Oh, man-- the placement test SUCKED!
First, there was just a general language information test. Whatever. Then there was a listening comprehension test, which sucked because it confused everyone. They only read each exchange once, and our answer sheets had answers but no questions so you had no idea what you were freaking listening FOR! ToT; Then we had the grammar portion. Which portions you had to take depended on your backgrond and comfort level, so we had a packet with sections A, B, C, and D. There was also an optional kanji test.
Because I've done 4+ years of Japanese, I had to take sections C and D, and then I had to take another one-- E. I was ALSO required to take the kanji test, even though I'm not doing a reading/writing class. Then, to make matters worse, I had to take a stupid freaking INTERVIEW! ARGH. BLARGH. I hate interviews! T_T; The interviewer was nice, but... ahhh!
So, up until this point, our room had five people: Barui (spelling?), the girl from Russia/Ireland; Huey, from Singapore; Ann, from Maryland; Yui, from Osaka; and myself. We were fine like that. Barui was never around, although she was very nice, and Ann, Yui, Huey and I got along extremely well.
Then, Yui went to go take a shower.
And the room exploded.
Amy arrived from the UK. Two girls-- I don't know their names, although I think one is named Diana or something, and I think they MAY be from Egypt-- then arrived. Then Ashley arrived. Then a bunch of random people who were just checking out the Seminar House arrived. So all of a sudden, we had like, 15 or 20 people in our unit. O_O;
Yui came back out of the shower and got very confused at the sudden mass of English everywhere. I don't blame her, poor thing. x_X; It was so many people, though-- Yui, Huey, Ann and I got overwhelmed. x_x; The new girls were tired so they chilled in their room, Barui was out again, and the random new people just made themselves at home. What the heck?
Hiroko (my conversation partner) and I STILL couldn't get our schedules to match, though, so we were unable to meet yet again. T_T;
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