I'm sitting here typing this and the temperature in my bedroom in my parent's house is now a lovely 38 degrees Celsius. I don't know what it is, but the combination of no ventilation and the plethora of electronic equipment running (hi-fi, decks, PS3, laptop, lamp...) the room gets baking hot. I'm not kidding, its like walking into a tropical heatwave. The good news is that this will help me recover when I go to Japan and have to deal with the hideous humidity.

At the moment, I've been sent an electronic exam to do for Seijo (my uni that I will be going to from September.) It all looks a bit easy and is comparable to first year Japanese at my uni. The only thing I failed to actually do was some horrendous idiom that I have never come across before. お目にかかる - to meet (honorific) or to be recognised.

Its odd, because I really struggled remembering all this honorific crap. I hardly ever use it and all seems so rusty. Anyways, the 'exam' is a piece of piss and all it does is show I can master what they actually expect of me. According to the e-mail, classes start on the 24th of September and we will be using this.

The funny thing is, I've never used a textbook to learn Japanese and I don't think I have ever used one inside an actual academic class. For sure, I use them outside of class for grammar revision and vocab, maybe even reading practice - but not for actual learning inside the classroom. This is going to seem odd. Also, I can't quite decide where my actual level is - I mean, I have mastered nearly all of the JLPT level 2 grammar and kanji - the only thing that is letting me down is vocab. Pure and simple. I feel sorry for the teacher sending the forms out, because we are asked what textbooks we have used - and I simply have to say 'none'. Although, I would love to add 'because they suck... that's why!'

The wonderful thing about Sheffield is that all the material we use in class are produced by the language staff and as such its far easier to understand. Most textbooks that teach you Japanese presume that you are either a) American or b) a businessman. When you are neither it becomes really tedious having to seep through American English expressions and words and then learn some kanji for 'principle agreement'. Waste. of. time. Looking at internet copies of the above book, it seems I have pretty much mastered everything in it. Wow, this is going to be fun!

The suckiest thing about Seijo is that because there are very few international students, there are no groupings - its just one class. Hence if everyone is at a much lower level you have to sit through that level. That said, if everyone is at a higher level, I have to sit through that. But I would prefer the latter over the former anyday. Still, I need to go over the stuff I have done, because I'm forgetting some simple stuff. I also need to go back over first year kanji again. Overall, my aim at Seijo is speaking Japanese - I don't give two twiddly fucks about learning the same shit I've been doing in Sheffield. So balls to that quite frankly.

The best thing about these forms was a question that read 'Why do you want to study Japanese?'

Hmmm... just give me five years to answer that one. You really don't want to open that pandora's box and discover what has been lurking inside there for the past 24 years.

As for the whole year abroad, things are really stalling. I've done nothing for it so far. No studying, no booking, no insurance, no travel plans, train tickets, shipping costs etc. Nothing. Nada.

Despite this lack of energy and scholarship monies and anything resembling a sexlife I just thank myself a little that I haven't been enrolled at Doushisha. Basically, the University of Sheffield have formed a partnership with Doushisha university in Kyoto. Every year 10 people are sent there on an academic exchange (literally our year abroad as part of Japanese Studies.) The amusing thing about it, is that it seems to have developed a curse, with the people being assigned there, dropping off the course like flies. I just know, had I not selected Tokyo on my list of choices, I may have been sent there and would have been contemplating my Japanese future. I think out of the 10 that were assigned there, only 3 are definitely going. o_O

Right I've got forms to fill and stuff to unpack tomorrow. The spare room in our house is full of my crap and I need to sort it out.

Anyways, I have to go now. My chair has just melted into the ground.

Jaa ne.