Damn! Where does the time fly, when you are having fun eh? Let me summarise things so far...

Monday: First day excitement and something of damp squib in more ways than one. Classes started at 9am and although its an early start, I would happily get up at 4am for my grammar teacher. The grammar, was kinda pointless and very soft - thankfully she must know how much we are all feeling about our Japanese after 4 months off.

The day ended with a bit of a rush. A 5 hour interlude and then an introductory spell about Japan's Minorities. I then rushed home in the rain and then onto Las Iguanas in the rain and said a sad farewell to my friend Michiko whose birthday it was and also who is going back to Japan next month. How I'll miss her. Our relationships is so unusual, and I kinda think of her as an older sister. I tell her all kinds of crap about my relationships and social life and she in turn listens and makes me feel good about myself. If all goes to plan, I'll end up seeing her sooner than some of her other friends in Sheffield, which really brings home how long and how far some people can be apart from each other at times.

Tuesday: Tuesday is a pain in the arse, because I have three classes and have a ton of fecking work to do. It starts by having some more grammar and writing in Japanese at 10am and ends with Nic giving us a sheet to read in Japanese which half of us can't read. The size of the class also takes the proverbial with people sitting on the windowsills and ceiling. Yes, the class is that big! Before that, I get the luxury of Japan's Minorities in the same room, which also has capacity problems. Sort it out Sheffield!

Wednesday: We recieved the dreaded talk by Angela-sensei, the head of our second year, who instilled confidence in us by telling us how hard this level is. If you miss several classes, you get refered and sent a letter, then if you fail the exam, you get told to switch degrees... and its not optional. In short, YOU WILL FAIL, YOU WILL NOT GO TO JAPAN, YOU WILL BE A LONER FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!!! Tbh, although a lot of what she said was tough, I agreed with her. If you struggled with last year's Japanese you will find this very hard. Likewise, people who are struggling along will probably never improve whilst on the course, given the intensive workload placed on us poor bastards. I hope for the class size's sake at least, some people will do the honest thing and drop out (what a terrible thing to say behind the keys of a laptop overlooking a tiling shop in central Sheffield.)

Later on it was the dreaded Japan Society Intro thing. This was kinda surreal for several reasons; Firstly, I totally underestimated how many people would turn up. In the end it was a lot. And secondly I seem to undersell myself sometimes. I just randomly start chatting to Japanese and English alike after just one pint of Czech beer. I am also pondering something else, which I'll talk about later and which I think is hilarious and sad at the same time.

There was a few nice girls there (well what can I say) and I ended up walking four of them back home (I am a kind person amongst this fragile shell of a hubris.) And lastly, we found another full-time Japanese student!!! And he's from KANSAI! Brain overload. Seriously. I just can't wait until next week, when we have the big intro thing and another bout of tandem learning.

Thursday: Today? Oh today was boring. In fact, today never happened. That's how interesting it was. I had another spell of lexicology today with my lecturer reminding me of a Eddie Izzard type character with a severe bout of lexiphilia (love of words.) No actually, he just doesn't love words, he REALLY loves words. Words cannot describe his love for words. Haha. Me and my flatmate also completed Resistance Fall of Man on the PS3. And then we are waiting to for number 2, to justify the crappy ending of the first one.

Friday: Tomorrow I have just the one lesson, with the delightful Arai-sensei, whom I was so close to adding on facebook. Technically we have one mutual friend. The friend in question whose birthday it was on Monday and who is leaving Sheffield as we speak. I think I'll do the Japanese thing and keep my distance and respect the honoured gakusei-sensei hierarchy.

Plus, I don't want her to see photos of me drunk in some nightclub, before my kanji test on Monday morning. I've learnt one thing about the Japanese people in my four odd years of socialising with them - THEY TALK!

So busy right now, so...

jaa ne!