TRAIN MASTER

Hello I am a train master now.

By myself I can successfully get back and forth from my building to school. Sometimes when I exit the train car I'm further or closer from where I am used to going so occasionally I get a little confused but I always manage to find my way to my destination.

Today was eventful! I got to school and there were TONSSSS of students everywhere! Blocking the street! With cars honking at them! Today was my first day of classes, which run from 1:30 until 4:45. I already have homework. Oh well. My class has four Americans (including myself), one Thai student, and the rest are Koreans. The Koreans like to speak to each other in Korean a lot...

After classes I went out with a classmate for dinner and got yummy curry and naan! She had to go meet up with someone in Shibuya afterwards so I moseyed back to the school and met up with another classmate and we went adventuring to the main part of Shinjuku. I successfully located the building where I can exchange money/cash traveler's checks! It was closed but the important thing is that I will be able to find it again. We checked some shops and she bought a blow-dryer and then we took Purikura in this giant Game Center with CUTE THINGS EVERYWHERE ARGH. Afterwards we stopped by another store to pick up planners and notebooks and stuff. At the train station we parted ways and I headed home.

Nearby the Kasai station there's a Book Off so I went in there to pick up something to read. Other than homework and internet there is not much else for me to do in my room besides sleep. After I got back home I took a bath using this vanilla milk and honey bath powder I bought. It felt soooo nice after having a very long day. Now that I'm all relaxed I'm ready to tear into my first homework assignment and begin studying! I need to do loooottttsss of kanji practice so I plan on waking up early again to go over tomorrow's lesson and review what I learned yesterday.

In class we learned some new ways of saying some things. We also practiced dictation, did some self-introductions, and did some pronunciation exercises. It feels really different because instead of translating everything into English like classes in the US I'm just understanding everything and using it immediately so sometimes the English equivalent doesn't even occur to me.

I've already started making friends so I'm really happy to have people to go walk around/do errands with. I bought another carton of coffee and the clerk asked me if I wanted a straw in my bag for it :D AND THE STRAW IS LONG ENOUGH FOR THE CARTON.

This morning I talked with Ryosuke on Skype and got recommendations for places to eat and visit so that was pleasant.

Alright. Homework. Study. Bed. Soooo glad my classes are in the afternoon. And since I'm fairly active during the day, I sleep very well at night and then wake up with the sunrise (which is around 7:00 AM).

AHHHHH I love Shinjuku.