So thought I'd do a post aimed at people back home at UEA (or wherever) studying and preparing to come to Japan on their big adventure!! To whoever wants to know what it's like living in Kyoto, Japan, and studying at Ritsumeikan - I should imagine (hope) this will be a good read for you! Of course, everyone else, feel free to have a read too ;) I'm going to write about some of my experiences so far and what to expect, both in study and outside of study!
Culture Shock
Soooooo, this phrase gets thrown about a lot, but to be honest before I came to Japan I was all "Eh, we'll be totally fine!". Ehhhhhhh.......Now, I'm not saying it's all doom and gloom (cus it's bloody awesome) but as you've heard probs loooads of times already, you will get some degree of culture shock - whether that's the fact that dorms here seem to be much stricter than at home, or even "What the fudge, Japan, where on earth is all the gravy?" :/
But worry not, my lovelies. You'll be just fine! You'll have down days and better days and fantabby-dosey days. It's all part and parcel.
Wow, it's October and I'm still going out in strap tops..
Yep, it's STILL warm here (well, to me). It does not take much to impress me in the warm weather department. In the past few weeks, all I've heard is ナタリー、寒くないの？寒くないの？ "Aren't you cold Natalie??" "Natalie, you not cold??"
Guys, I'm from the UK, just assume that unless it's snowing, I am not really cold! It has gotten A LOT cooler than what the weather was like when I first arrived. Now bearing in mind, it's still quite warm now, gives you an idea of just how hot it was back then. Well, this is all subjective but.....I'm not used to hot hot weather!
Having said all this, there has recently been a typhoon and there is now another one on the way....when the one last week was here, its was ridiculously windy (like I've never experienced before), so clearly that was cold..but aside from that..yes, warm. OH, speaking of, us here in Kyoto experienced a brief earthquake the other week - the first while we've been at Ritsumeikan University. I've only experienced one or two extremely small ones back home, so despite this being an event most Japanese were quite blasé about, for me it was quite scary..
Class at Ritsumeikan
Some people thinking of applying to Ritsumeiiiiiiiiiiiii? Love it here, I posted a picture on my previous post of the campus, which is so pretty. When you arrive, you have a placement test including reading/writing, speaking and listening (but they disguise the speaking test as an 'interview'....). You will probably be nervous before like we all were, but honestly nothing to worry about - the teachers are super nice and approachable. I'm in one of the intermediate classes, and we have four teachers, making up one writing class a week, two listening/speaking classes a week, and five comprehensive classes a week (each class lasting 90 mins). As I said, they are all lovely (I only know of female teachers btw, not seen any men yet) and easy to speak to!! You quickly become friends with people in your class and feel more and more comfortable speaking in Japanese in front of everyone with each class, as everything is in Japanese :D
Note: Ritsumeikan offers many outside-of-language-class classes :) BUT, I have to warn you about this as I have had a bit of an ordeal. I was, to my delight, chosen to take part in the traditional arts class of Tea Ceremony. However, due to my timetable of language classes, I had to drop out as it clashed. This then happened for Calligraphy class...and also clashes meant I couldn't take the Society or Culture classes I had my eye on (taught in English). I then applied for the one I could do and did not get picked (it's a lottery..), so as you can imagine I was quite deflated by the whole thing! I now only have my language classes, and am hoping to get the chance to do extra classes next semester. FINGERS CROSSED. (Please cross everything for me. Please?) So yeah, just be aware of this as I did not expect it..
Outside of class.....
I've been here just over a month, and I love love love Kyoto. I've already experienced so much with friends, and there's much more. I'm going to Osaka soon to meet up with a friend, and one of my house-mates has recently visited Kobe, as well - I love how easy and cheap it is to get to these kinds of places (although Tokyo is a bit of a trek I think).
Aside from sight-seeing and so on, there are also various places to hang out with friends. One of my favourites is the river, Kamogawa, where Japanese and international students both gather to hang out and chat. There is an Izakaya (Japanese-style drinking/eating...place haha!) very close, and going there for the first time was a brill experience! Japanese shops/konbini etc are open quite late (compared to home, aside from 24 hour Tesco..). BUSES, however, unlike at home, do not run very late. So be prepared for Taxis - make sure to go in a group or it may well be quite a big sum of dosh you have to fork out!
The next thing is...KARAOKE. SO. FUN. There are Karaoke places with comfy rooms to go in with friends and sing the night away (no joke until like 6am sometimes..) with all-you-can-drink of what they have on offer there. The name? JANKARA. There are also Karaoke bars, where the Karaoke is free. Make sure when in Japan, you get yourself to one ;)
SO
I hope this has been somewhat helpful and informative, and not a complete ramble of jibberish about Karaoke and Typhoons haha. Hopefully, you can read some of the other blogs and they can give you an idea about where you would like to go! If anyone has any questions about Kyoto/Ritsumeikan, let me know! Just been made some Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki (YUM) so gonna go grab some! (Thanks guys hehe, ありがとううう、めっちゃおいしかった！）
Have fun studying Japanese guys, 頑張ってね！
Here is a picture of all us SKP students at Ritsumeikan for you! またね！
