Sunday, February 8, 2009

Update. 1 month here


Hello friends and family, another update here.









First of all i like to apologize for not updating sooner, i have been caught up with schoolwork and socializing. Wow, I have been here for a month now, I cannot believe how quickly time has gone by. I have finally accepted that I am in tokyo, the shock and denial has left, and acceptance has flown through like a cooling summer breeze. I like it here, one thing i still find hard to believe is how many people are in this city. It seems where ever I go, the streets and stations are PACKED with people. Since this is everywhere, its hard to notice how many people I am dodging just to get to my destination.

The dorm is.... Interesting to say the least. There are a lot of students here, packed into this small building. Lots of people means lots of personalities, and with that comes certain "clicks" groups of people that share the same interests. I get along with everyone in my quarter of the dorm, i see and talk with them every day. However, I barely know anyone else, except some girls I met when I first got here. Everyone else is the stereotypical college kid, the kids with the "LETS PARTY" creed. They are always talking about going out and drinking, i find it funny actually. I'll here people come home around 2-3 in the morning, stumbling and trying to get the front door open. Anyways, enough about that, on to school.

School is good, although I am busy doing work almost every night. I just finished my first essay for college composition, talking about violence in fairy tales. Although I am not sure of my grade in that class, I have done all of the work to the best of my abilities, which should mean I have an A. We are already starting another essay, the second draft is due in 2 days, I still need to work on it.
Foreign Government and politics is my Favorite class, the professor is from the UK, and his dry british humor always brightens up my day. Whenever he is talking about other european countries, he always has some sort of comment to say about them, "Oh those silly scandanavians are always complaining, because their country is so flat" I dont understand it, but he just sneaks those little comments in the lecture and everyone cracks up. The only grade, besides participation and attendence, in that class so far is the first quiz, of which I scored the highest in the class, 86.7%. I really like learning about different type of governments, and how they are applied in present day politics.
Japanese class is very challenging, but I am learning a lot. There is a quiz every class, twice a week, So i am studying everyday. However, I am learning japanese at a very quick pace, from studying, then going out to apply it in conversation. I was struggling in the class, but after I got back into the habit of learning a foreign language, I was acing quizzes and tests again.
Mathematics is so boring!!!! The professor does not know how to keep a classes attention. Although the class is only an hour long, they seem to last days. The fact that he has a speach impediment does not help either, he stops mid sentence to make a strange noise in his throat before proceeding. I know all of the material still, last class he spent 30 minutes reviewing the coordinate plane, which i learned 8 years ago! But, since the class is easy, I am doing very well, and will get some easy credits out of it.

I havent been going out much anymore, just saving my money really. I did go to a karaoke place a couple weeks back with dorm mates. It was really fun, and is THE thing to do here. besides the random songs I didnt know, I picked "shook me all night long"-ACDC, "Dont stop believing"-Journey, and "Bohemian Rhapsody"-Queen.

Money is kind of tight now, It seems the falling US dollar really affected the amount of yen my financial aid has paid for. I only spending money on food for now. My food situation is good, I bless the Italian blood running through my veins every time I take a bite of the food I cook. Ive had people willing to pay me to make spaghetti sauce for them, after they tasted how wonderfully I make it.

Last but not least, Valentine's day is just around the corner. I have a valentine! her name is McKenna, and she is wonderful, we have been getting close over the last couple of weeks.

Thats all for now, I am going to get back to writing my essay. Leave comments! I want to know what is going on with everyone, and what you think of my current events. I love and miss you all!!! Hopefully i will update again sooner.
Love, Tony