Classes and Shopping

We are coming to the end of the second week of classes. My schedule is as follows:

9:15-10:45 Tu/F Chinese Civilization
11:00-12:30 M/Tu/Th/F Japanese III
1:30-3:00 M/Th Modern Japanese Literature
3:15-4:45 Tu/F Contemporary Japanese Societies

Quick breakdown of how they are going:

Chinese Civ: The professor did some research work at USC so he has a USC email address. Apparently he knows a lot of the EALC professors pretty well. Gets out early every day because he just breezes through a powerpoint. So far a lot about early Chinese writing, pottery, and the dynasties. Typical Chinese civilization material.

Japanese: We went from having 2 sections of jam packed classrooms to 3. I got moved to the new section which is nice because it's on the 1st floor (old section was on the 6th!) but we change between two classrooms every other day. The homework is waaay shorter and waaay easier than Japanese classes at USC.

Japanese Lit: So far we've read these seemingly wacked stories only to have the deeper meaning and significance unwrapped during class. It's like... "what the heck does this mean?" to "what the... why so deep?"

Japanese Societies: Another packed classroom - this time we keep migrating to a new room every day. The professor has labeled us as "homeless" so for now we never know which building or room to go to. The subject matter is really interesting though and it's neat to be able to see examples in everyday life here in Japan.

Now enough about classes. They are only a portion of the study abroad experience.

I went shopping at Harajuku yesterday to pick up some more shoes. I only packed 1 pair (plus a pair of rain boots) and they have quickly deteriorated due to everyday use (school and baseball practice). However, being in Harajuku and up until now not really buying anything except food and essentials, I had to splurge a little..

From left to right: plad backpack, shirt, 2 shoes (the teal ones were only 990 yen!! =$10ish), socks, Sophia sweats.

We are quickly approaching Golden Week here in Japan. Elizabeth, Anna, and I are planning on traveling down to Osaka for a couple of days. I'm looking forward to it!