Sometime in Spring

Long time, no blog! My apologies. Yes, I have been busy these past few months, so I will do my best to catch you guys up! (^^;

This is life.

First of all, the newness of being in Japan has well worn off.  Everyday has melted into a routine, both good and bad.  I've established my regular shopping locations and gained a more clear understanding of the train lines and times.  I've also finally started to REALLY remember the names of the dozens of people that I have met in the past few months (granted, I knew the names of the regular faces in my life, and that has at least tripled).  When I say I want to go home, I mean to my little apartment on the 7th floor, not to America.  Not once have I really missed home and wanted to go back; the life I have created for myself here meets all my needs.  So, what exactly have I been doing?

January

This month was very scattered, schedule wise.  The first week was part of winter vacation, and then the following two weeks were the tail-end of the Fall Semester.  Then there was a week off to "prepare for exams", which I can promise you that there was no studying done during that week.  We had one exam a day the following week, otherwise we were free.  Free! I thought that we had too much free time then, but I wasn't complaining because it was the end of the semester and I was ready for Spring Break!

Little did I know how much free time I would have the next two months.

February-March: SPRING BREAK

At our Universities in America, our spring breaks are one week long, during which many people travel to a warmer climate (Mexico, Florida, etc.) and party hard.  In Japan, spring break is the transition between the old and new school year.  In all cases, the new year (for both companies and schools) begins with April.  Through high-school the spring break is a solid two weeks at the end of March.  However, at University, at least in the case of Aichi University, the break lasts two months. All of February, and all of March.  That's almost the length of our summer break in the states.

(*Note: Summer break in the US is generally May/June to August/September, usually about three months long.  Summer break (for schools) in Japan is about one month long, during the month of August.)

As this was a proper vacation, many people I knew took the opportunity to go traveling.  Many of my friends were graduating and went on a "graduation trip" during the break to Europe, Guam, Taiwan, and many other places. During these two months, continuing students can also go on one or two month long study abroad trips.  In other words, there was not many people around during our break, so we (the exchange students) spent a lot of time together.

Personally, I only went on one trip at the beginning of February.  Two girls from Hawaii and I traveled to Hokkaido to see the Snow Festival, eat ramen, and [for them] enjoy the mountains of snow.* (More on Hokkaido later~) In short, it was incredibly cold, as it is the northernmost prefecture in Japan.  I was very much looking forward to returning to Aichi, where the winter is a little more mild.

That was my big trip, but I still had a month and a half left of vacation.  As I mentioned above, I have become quite accustomed to an everyday routine -- daily life, if you will.  I had things to do like go to dance practice, work and save money, and sleep (<may have slept too much haha).  Club activities still go on even when school is on vacation, so I was making my way to school at least twice a week to practice dance.  Then, if I was free on the weekends, I would practice with other dance members at the nearby park.  Other than that, I was building up my teaching experience for a future job teaching in Japan.  I kept myself busy, and the time flew by, but I enjoyed every minute of it.

April: Spring Semester Begins

Finally, spring break has ended and the new semester has begun.  Many of the friends I made last semester have now graduated and are working.  I attended their graduation ceremony two weeks ago, March 24th, and I was a bit surprised to see that aside from the attire (men in suits, women in kimono and hakama) the ceremony procedures were all too similar to the graduation ceremony at a typical University in the States.  In a way, it was also my graduation ceremony, since I will not be able to attend mine in May. [But, I still have school until August, so the chain of events are all over the place.]

So as the Spring semester in Toledo is soon coming to an end, we are just getting started.  Today was the first day of classes, so going to class will once again become part of the routine.  A routine that I've adopted as my own as I prepare for the next stage in life, the stage after this study abroad where I become a working member of society.

Till next time~!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As always, if you have questions please post them in the comments! I will be more than glad to answer them :)