Tests, Internet, and Socializing

    I have had another fun filled day today. Not as full as tomorrow will be though. Actual orientation starts tomorrow, so I'll be in meeting after meeting after meeting for the next two days.

    I had the wonderfully fun experience of taking my Japanese Language Placement Test today. And I say wonderfully fun in the most sarcastic way possible. We 'started' at 9:30am. The first hour was spent 1. filling out the emergency contact form online, which I did three days ago, and 2. watching a DVD of one of the staff members (who was standing right there in the front of the room) walk us through every single possible step of the test. There were different sections of the grammar part, and you were placed into a section based on the number of years you had studied and then you moved up or down depending on your score. I've studied for 2 years at university level, which placed me smack dab in the middle (third) section. Did I understand anything in that section? Almost nothing. So, after that discouraging start I was sent to the second section. That one went a little better, but not by much. In my opinion the those two sections were a similar level of difficult. I didn't score particularly well on the second, so I got to take yet another section, the first and easiest level. Whereas the 2nd section was maybe 1/2 a step down from the 3rd, the 1st section was about 3 steps down from the 2nd. They wrote out every sentence and possible answer in romaji. I can read hirgana thank you very much. It's my vocab and grammar skills that are sucky. And after all of that, I still had to take two more sections on the reading and recognition of kanji. I didn't expect to do amazingly well on that, and I fulfilled my expectations.

    However, after that sad start to my day, I was able to find my speaking partner, Miyuki, and we spent an interesting hour or so chatting and being awkward. I had my computer with me, so I showed her pictures of Hollins and Tinker Day and Fencing, which she seemed to enjoy. She really liked the crazy Tinker Day outfits!

    Then, some of the girls I met yesterday showed up, sat down, and started talking to us. They were meeting people there too, so pretty soon there were 8 of us (Japanese and exchange students) sitting and speaking in the constant mixture of Japanese and English that I am starting to get used to. Miyuki had to leave, and soon after so did I. I got my laptop registered for wireless internet, which I am using right now to post this! YAY, no more being tied down by a cord!

    It didn't take very long to register my laptop, and it was still early in the afternoon, a little after 2pm (14:00 as they say here). I went back to the student lounge and rejoined the group that was still there. People came and left, but there was usually at least 4 or 5 of us at any given time. It seems to be a very past-time for students to sit in groups and just talk. It's not an uncommon  thing for me, except that I'm usually sitting in a group and talking for hours with people I've known for longer than a day. Also, some students will come and talk for only ten minutes and then leave again. Some will talk for 30 mins., leave, come back for 10 mins., leave again, come back again, repeat. And others will just sit there the whole time, for hours on end, talking to everyone who comes and sits. I sat there with them until after 4pm (16:00).

    When I got back to the dorm, there were more people to  talk to, sitting around the table in the kitchen. Then, just as I was headed into my room for some rest, one of my roommates came back. She left soon after though to go to a karaoke place. She asked me to go with, but I had had enough of socializing for the day. I got the room to myself for a couple of hours, and I laid on my bed and read for the first time since I got here. Then I walked to the supermarket and got some food for the next three days. It was nice and relaxing. I've been constantly surrounded by people for the past four days, and that pattern will likely continue for the next four, and probably for the foreseeable future. I know that I am not a naturally social person, but it was really brought home to me by how happy and relaxed I felt, laying on my bed, all by myself. I guess I'm trying to say that I have been getting out and talking to people and being social, which is good. I need to meet more people and not stay holed up in my room as I mostly wish I could. But it's also nice to have that alone time.

    And since neither of my roommates are back yet, I'm headed off for some more uninterrupted reading time. After I finish posting this.  And replying to yesterday's comments. And adding pictures to Facebook.