イニシエーションスタード！

This week is the new dorm student's initiation week, which means that all week each dorm has to dress up as a certain theme. Somehow, I ended up being the leader for our dorm. (By somehow, I mean the only new girl without a full grasp of English lost janken-pon and I felt bad...) so I've been bugging people since we got here to get everything ready. :')
Our dorm is dressing as the Avengers (albeit in a fairly lazy manner)!

As well as this, we also have to do a dance on 'バカ山/bakayama' , one of the two big hills in front of the Honkan, which is the main class building. We haven't fully finished it yet, but hopefully it'll be good we we're first up!

I've also been up to a fair bit the last week or so, but not had time to write about it! So far, I've been to...
Tsukiji,the world-famous fish market, at 5am with Canada House (the men's dorm) and 3rd Women's Dorm. Us Keyaki folks weren't technically invited, but a friend of mine got invited and took me along. It was really tasty!

Jindaiji temple, which is right down the road from our university. I got a 'omikuji' (fortune thing) for the first time, and got the most lucky one! Yeess! I also got to try Japanese pear ice cream (delicious) and odango, which was tasty.I do love me some Japanese food.

Harajuku and Shibuya, to meet up with Eri and Ayaka - two lovely 2012 Ango-Japanese society members. They helped me get a phone even though it took forever, and we went for ramen!

I feel like I might maybe be getting into the swing of things here, even though classes are INTENSE.

I got into Intensive Japanese C, which is the highest Intensive class. That means I'm taking J5 and J6, which would normally be done in a semester each, both in this semester. But then I'll be in the Advanced class which would be amazing! However, it has meant that my brain is 100% fried by the time I finish classes most days. I hope that it'll be worth it and I don't get kicked out for being too sucky, haha. 

I'm here and making mistakes already!

I've arrived at ICU! Woooooo!
I actually arrived in Japan on the 29th of August, and spent 2 nights in a hotel in Asakusa to settle in a bit before we moved into dorms,and hopefully get over the jetlag. Still feeling it,but certainly glad that I had those extra days!

This was right by where we were staying!

Yesteday, I moved into my dorm (Zelkova House/欅寮) and it's really modern, the girls on my floor made dinner for us all which was nice, but I didn't meet my roommate until I came in to go to sleep and it's been a bit awkward so far! I hope we slowly become friends, or at least just.. don't have the room in complete silence. I've met the otherセプテン(September students) too, and everyone's lovely! We also got our Residency Cards and National Health Insurance today, so I'm finally a real resident of Japan!

So, on to the mistakes.. I've learnt a few things about eating manners (which I only just learned), and how to behave in shops. I'm glad I knew some stuff before, like that you should always change your shoes at the genkan and things. I've also been really struggling with my Japanese, mostly due to a lack of confidence I think, as well as a slight lack of practice during the summer holidays. I hope that I improve quick and can become better friends with the girls in my dorm! There are a few that can speak passable English, but not too many.. or at least they haven't tried to speak it, but that's all good for me. A girl called Minori helped me get to Musashi-sakai for shopping today, which was really sweet of her, and a girl nicknamed Ouji (Prince) seems pretty friendly. It's a bit weird coming into a place where everyone is already friends, but I think I can deal with it. Our initiation begins next week (which I'll talk more about later) and that should get us all closer together through the magical medium of making absolute fools out of ourselves. The guys floor seem pretty friendly too, and actually waaaaay more fun.. they've been playing video games, badminton (yes, inside), drinking and generally other stuff that I'd love to join in with but I can't :( The middle-of-the-common-area Sumo wrestling I could do without, though.

Tomorrow the real orientation begins, with our Matriculation Ceremony and lots of talks! The Japanese Language Placement Test is on Wednesday too, so I can find out what level class I'll be in. It all feels pretty overwhelming at the moment but I'm hoping that I'll get into the swing of things soon!

Also, bathroom sinks are at midget-height, I'm average/on the tall side over here, and random things are technologically amazing (toilets are heated and have sounds playing, and the cafeteria has a machine that knows what you are just by putting your empty tray down?!)

That's all for now!  I'll leave you with a photo of my new university:

Less than a week to go?!

In the last three weeks or so,I've done.. approximately nothing in terms of preparation, eep!
Yesterday I finally began to pack, which has been pretty interesting. It's quite hard to figure out what to take, and although there's videos on Youtube and things it hasn't really been much help to me. Maybe when I'm not lazy I'll write out a list, but for now you can just enjoy a photo.

Packing like a pro.

Today I finally went and ordered my cash from ace-fx.com , and it was really weird to do this kind of stuff online but we'll see how it goes! The exchange rate was waaay better than even the Post Office, so I took the plunge. Yesterday I also ordered the Caxton FX World Traveller cash card, as it reduces the fees I'll be paying on withdrawing cash by a lot. I still can't quite get used to the idea that I have to pay to take out my own money though, silly banks.

However, I really haven't brushed up on my Japanese this summer so getting very nervous about how I'll do on the placement test - but I don't really have time now to get cramming for it, there's too much to do! The next few days will be full of goodbyes and emotional stuff, which I'm not very good with. 

Less than one month to go!

It turned August yesterday, and that only means one thing - I'm being told by everyone 'you're leaving this month!'. By.Everyone. T___T Of course I'm super mega excited, but there's a few things to do still! I figured now would be a good time to list through all of the prep I've been doing.

Dorm acceptance

The Japanese Embassy in London! 

I have a place to liiiiiiive~ It's called Zelkova House/欅寮 (Keyaki ryo) and it's referred to as a bit of a 'prison' with extreme security measures.. eep! Roommates are also going to be a thing I'll have to get used to. Being a university student in England, I've got used to student accommodation - in first year I lived in university owned accommodation, and in second year moved into a shared postgraduate house (although I'm an undergrad), so housemates are a part of my daily life. However, we don't really do roommates here! I really hope we get along!

Visa application

I went on down to London and applied for my Visa,and it's arrived safely. All that has to be done is fill in a form, take your Certificate of Eligibility and a few other things to the embassy, pay a fee and hand it in. It was a bit scary though, because there's a security guard and metal detectors to get through as soon as you step through the door! I'm glad it's done now though.

Booking flights

Although it seems simple, this seriously took the longest of all. It took me seven hours to book a flight for me and my classmate. As I submitted my payment details online, the website glitched and I was left in 'did my payment go through or not?!' limbo, as the airline said it didn't, whereas my bank's fraud department messaged me asking if it was really me. After phoning the bank and going through three people, they promptly hung up the phone on me, so I had to go down there in person. It also turned out my debit and credit cards had my name spelled wrong on them, and after this I got another hour of waiting on the phone to try and book the tickets... surely no-one else could be this unlucky :') 

Packing and Planning!

Luckily my friend who I'll be travelling with has booked our hotel for the first two days before dorms open at a ryokan in Asakusa. I've been talking to some American girls online who are going to ICU too, and we're all going to stay in the same hotel!  It'll be nice to have some friendly faces on our first few days at university.

I haven't quite started packing yet, but I've bought some nice new clothes and a gorgeous camera (the Fujifilm SL1000, for those who're interested) to take to Japan with me. I've been puzzling over what omiyage to take too, but most importantly... started sorting out ~concert tickes~! Being the huge K-pop fan I am, I'm hopefully going to see SHINee /and/ SMTown Live in October, where I think I'll cry a river of tears over how perfect SHINee, f(x) and Henry are. My poor heart won't be able to take it </3 

Still to be done is to actually pack my stuff, which means buying a few more things, and trying to remember some Japanese, maybe. 

Carrying on with Second Year Kanji Hell

These kanji are the second half of what was my final exam mega-revision list, all coming from the book series Minna no Nihongo Chukyuu 1. Instead of having a dedicated kanji book like the first two in the series, we instead were given kanji to learn from the reading section of the textbook - meaning we had to learn random-ass kanji I don't think I'll ever even see again (here's looking at you, 産児 and 経緯度). Again, this is nowhere near all of what we had to learn, but it's every one we were tested on during the year - so more of a highlight list.

珍(めずら)しい	Rare
非常(ひじょう)	Emergency
興味(きょうみ)	Interest
居間(いま)	Living room
座布団(ざぶとん)	Cushion
畳(たたみ)	Tatami
材料(ざいりょう)	Material
柔(やわ)らかい	Soft
素足(すあし)	Barefoot
快適(かいてき)	Comfortable
清潔(せいけつ)	Cleanliness

反対(はんたい)	Opposite
必要(ひつよう)	Necessary
簡単(かんたん)	Simple, easy
相手(あいて)	Partner
間違(まちが)い	Mistake
僕(ぼく)	I (for a guy)
宇宙(うちゅう)	Space
自身(じしん)	Own
紛(まぎ)らわしい	Misleading, confusing
普通(ふつう)	Usually

過去(かこ)	Past
寝坊(ねぼう)	Sleeping in late
遅刻(ちこく)	Late
一生懸命(いっしょうけんめい)	Trying hard, trying with all your effort
危険(きけん)	Risk, dangerous
意識(いしき)	Consciousness
傾向(けいこう)	Trend
調(しら)べる	Investigate, find
失敗(しっぱい)	Failure
悲観(ひかん)	Pessimism
位(くらい)	Place

彼(かれ)	Him
結構(けっこう)	Fine
葬式(そうしき)	Funeral
立(た)てる	To stand up
腹(はら)	Stomach, abdomen
結局(けっきょく)	After all, eventually, in the end
勧(すす)め	Recommendation, advice, suggestion
嫌(きら)い	Dislike
速(はや)く	Early, soon, quickly
無意識(むいしき)	Unconciousness
数日(すうじつ)	Few days
販売機(はんばいき)	Vending machine

留学生(りゅうがくせい)	Foreign students
南半球(みなみはんきゅう)	Southern hemisphere
難(むずか)しい	Difficult
経緯度(けいいど)	Longitude and latitude
教師(きょうし)	Teacher
面(めん)	Mask, surface
観察(かんさつ)	Observation
差別(さべつ)	Discrimination
実(じつ)	Actually
努力(どりょく)	Effort

将来(しょうらい)	Future
記者(きしゃ)	Reporter
理想(りそう)	Ideal
不思議(ふしぎ)な	Strange, mysterious
迷(まよ)って	To lose one’s way
成功(せいこう)	Success
雑誌(ざっし)	Magazine
解決(かいけつ)	Resolution
静(しずか)	Quiet
閉(し)めて	Close
現在(げんざい)	Current

甘(あま)い	Sweet
丸(まる)い	Circular, round
本当(ほんとう)	True, really
掘(ほ)り当てる	To strike, find, dig up
消(け)す	Turn off
次々(つぎつぎ)	After another
消(き)えて	Die away
笑(わら)う	Laugh
信(しん)じ	Believe
次(つぎ)	Next
雷(かみなり)	Thunder
怖(こわ)い	Scary, fear
地震(じしん)	Earthquake
震(ふる)えて	Fall (rain)
濃(こ)い	Deep (colour), dark, strong, thick

発展途上国(はってんとじょうこく)	Developing country
経済(けいざい)	Economy
素晴(すば)らしい	Great
絵(え)	Picture
共通語(きょうつうご)	Lingua franca, common language
健康(けんこう)	Health
髪(かみ)	Hair
伸(の)びた	Stretch, extend, lengthen
輝(かがや)いて	Shine, glitter, sparkle
国際(こくさい)	International

喫茶店(きっさてん)	Coffee shop
誕生日(たんじょうび)	Birthday
成人(せいじん)	Adult
家庭(かてい)	Home, household
誇(ほこ)る	Boast
患者(かんじゃ)	Patient
確認(かくにん)	Confirmation
結果(けっか)	Result
偶数(ぐうすう)	Even
地域(ちいき)	Region

掌(てのひら)	Palm (of hand)
太陽(たいよう)	Sun
壊(こわ)れて	Broken
配慮(はいりょ)	Consideration
厳(きび)しい	Strict, severe
条件(じょうけん)	Conditions
伺(うかが)い	Ask
屋根(やね)	Roof
形(かたち)	Form, shape, figure
完成(かんせい)	Complete
街(まち)	Neighbourhood, street
騒音(そうおん)	Noise
窓(まど)	Window
含(ふく)まれて	Include