First Week of Class

Technically, I only had one day of classes this week. Where does it have me right now? Dumbfounded.

I had European Spiritual(?) Culture first thing. The name of the lecture surprised me but - that's how it is. It's mostly concerned with Culture Crisis and 19th Century Europe. I think. I didn't really understand since the lecturer only took attendance this first class. We'll be watching some work done by Mozart in the next class. Or so he says. There was something of Wagner and Bizet too, I think. I wonder what I got myself into? ...

My second class was a Seminar with Kitamura-sensei who does the literary side of trans(?)cultural cultures. Exophony... I think she called it? It had to do with literary products by immigrants to Japan at least 50 years ago. As well as some contemporary ones. It's not an easy class but since there are few students, the professor dedicates lots of time to go into detailed explanations.

My last class was on Techno-culture. Now, this class is with Tsukahara-sensei. He's... not quite eccentric, but the level of 'professionality' he's trying to bring into the Uni is unbelievably... extreme. He's trying to teach the scientific side to culture. I thought it would be interesting since he'd be doing projects with nuclear bombs/energy sources, WHO, global warming etc etc. But. The class is as difficult as it is interesting. We were bombed down with a book assignment and a 2000-ji report due next week's class and a mini-research project due the week after and another essay for the week after that. I don't believe that I even have the time to regret my choice as it is or even the time to think over since... well it took me an hour to read a tenth of that book! He said it would only take at least 3!! Well... he did offer me a week's extension, understanding my situation. I declined it. ...Why? Well. As much as I wanted the extension, I wanted to know how far I could reach in the class, too. I don't want to be 'the foreigner' in the class forever. Some of the local students don't take it well at all that the lecturers always favour the foreigners... and it bugs me too, sometimes. But I am grateful that we don't always have to ask for extensions! It's a very very thin line.

Well. After that unbelievable day with classes, some of my friends, Eriko, Non-chan and Nazuna, decided to go to karaoke! (Since we thought it would be the last day we could go out without worrying too much about classes - and I'm starting to believe we were right...) It wasn't as enjoyable as we thought it would be - since we were still worrying about the classes we were to take; to cap it off, Nazuna and I went hunting for the book assigned to us in Techno-culture (misery loves company right? That's partially why I think we took this class together). I only found it around 10pm at night, at which point we just bought it, went straight back to our apartments... and slept.

I woke up this morning with a relatively clear head until I recalled that... including the book assignment, I had another book and an article to read by the end of this weekend. And my reports? ... Help!

I was working at the school (teaching English) today so I had time to read between breaks and on the train. But as it is... I hope I don't tire myself out before next week starts. At which point, I have to see what the rest of my classes will be like. I'm only taking 9 classes this semester. (As opposed to the 13 to 17 I usually take per semester? - It's like heaven!) I arranged it so I have 3 classes a day, on Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursdays. Minus my Fridays for work, I still have Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays as a weekend! In the beginning I thought that it would be great~ but now. ... It might actually be justified with the weight I'll need to pull.

That said, I need to return to my book. Later!