I remember Nagai-sensei (the legendary Japanese grammar teacher of Sheffield) was trying to explain to me the notion of being shocked びっくりする and used the example of, if I hypothetically went to her office and told her I will be leaving Sheffield and quitting Japanese.

Hmm. I suppose its always nice to have sensei on your side. My advice to anyone would be to speak to sensei and get her on your side. I suppose, ability will show but hard work will always shine. I'm sure even if you aren't the best at what you do, but give 100% and get help then that counts for something, and its something I'm always impressed with. The people who come with no Japanese ability whatsoever are the people I really admire the most on this course.

Overall I have mixed feelings over the second year, but if we have a more relaxed approach and smaller groups I may just feel that I have something worth fighting for... I will also feel pretty shit if some good people drop out, because there are such nice people doing this course and it would be a bastard to see them not doing the degree any more.

I'm just itching to start even though I feel very unprepared for all my modules so far. And for what its worth 上手じゃないよ！