Hajimemashite

How do you do?

Things here are going great. Very, very, very hot and humid. It is making things slightly unbearable. By the time I commute to class, my shirt is soaked with sweat. I finally cool off and then have to do it all over again to get home.

Anyways, Sunday a few of us headed back to Shibuya. Some people got cell phones, but I'm holding off on that for a little bit. We ventured into the crazy arcades and pachinko parlors. Pachinko is insane. I'm still trying to figure out how it works, but the sheer volume in the place is almost deafening. I am becoming more familiar with Shibuya and how to navigate around. I am quickly catching on to the public transportation system.

Classes started on Monday. I have a social psychology class that has 7 students in it, including my friend and I. It should be pretty easy and interesting. I'm looking forward to it. My Japanese class is going to be insane. I have a lot of friends in that class. The teacher is out of her mind. I'm excited to finally learn how to read some Japanese. My Japanese culture class could be interesting, but it seems pretty boring/hard to stay awake. My last class is intro to world music. That is the only class that I don't have any friends in. I'm also one of the only Americans in that class so I'm interested to see how that turns out. Unfortunately, I ended up spending around $230 on books, but I guess you have to do what you have to do. I bought a commuter pass that I can use to get to school and back. It was around $150 for 3 months. I don't only have to use it going to school. I can luckily use it to get to the major station, and then pay the transfer fee to go elsewhere.

I signed up for some excursions today through school. I'm going to go to Hakone, which is right near Mount Fuji. We'll be spending one night in a traditional japanese-style ryokan. It cost about $200 but all of the meals and transportation is included. I also signed up to go to Kamakura, which used to be the capital of Japan. It is also where the Amida Buddha is located. I'm also going to go to Yokohama, which is Japan's largest Chinatown. Both Yokohama and Kamakura were free to sign up for, but I'm assuming we'll have to pay for expenses there.

So far Japan has been quite expensive, but I guess that was just getting all of the essentials out of the way. I had to budget money for the commuter pass, books and the excursions, so those are all taken care of. The only other big purchase that I plan on making is a cell phone of some sort. Feel free to send me money :o)

I am completely enjoying myself. I have made friends with a Japanese student at TUJ named Yurie. Last night she came back to the dorm and helped me fry dumplings. She seems like she'll be a great resource. I'm making good friends with people in the dorm, as well. I am learning new things everyday, which is so fun. I trying to learn as much Japanese as possible. I'm sure once classes get more in depth, I'll feel even more comfortable.

I haven't gone out too much. I'm trying to take things easy, realizing that I'll be here for 4 months and don't want to over exert myself too soon. I'm hoping to go out to karaoke tonight for my friend Brian's 21st birthday...even though the drinking age is only 20 here.

We will see...