I'm sorry I haven't written much in a long time--not much has happened, especially because I don't have much time anymore. There are a few main reasons for this, which I'll explain now.
Firstly, I'm incredibly happy I managed to make it into the third year Japanese level, but this also means that there's a lot of homework and a lot of studying to do. If you get into the third year, whatever you do, do NOT slack off. Keep up with the homework (it is actually useful and pertinent to learning), and keep up with studying. Being a third year means using the Tobira textbook, which means getting into more difficult grammar points and learning a lot of kanji. The class is fun, but always make sure to keep up with studying and preparing for class; it makes life so much easier and less stressful in class. I tend to spend about an hour on homework (sometimes 2-3 hours on homework alone if it's one of the days sensei gives out the 3 page grammar sheet and other homework), and then I could easily spend another 1-3 hours just studying, depending on how much I still don't know or need to work on. Tonight, I only spent about an hour doing homework and studying for the test for tomorrow, but I already know most of it because I tried keeping up with preparing for class and because sensei teaches these things well in class.
However, aside from Japanese, I also have the elective. This semester it's the classic cinema class. It's an interesting class, all right, but don't take it because it's a film class and think it's going to be easy; I'd looked at the old syllabus beforehand and didn't go into it thinking this way. If you do end up in this class, whatever you do, keep up on the weekly response papers (class is only once a week), and remember that you can redo them for a better grade, which (unless you're a genius of some kind) you will no doubt be doing. The professor is maybe a little more strict concerning certain matters such as behavior and the format of these papers and how to email him, but he's otherwise a very intelligent person and also very interesting, and he does have a good sense of humor at times.
However, the only problem with my having taken this class is the added level of stress to my already stressing over the Japanese class. Don't take this as a bad thing, because I do tend to stress more than other people. And other third years still find time to go out and do things (though maybe not as much as the second years or first years). Still, this is why they call it "zannensei" instead of "sannensei". For those that don't know, "sannensei" is "third year" in Japanese and "zannen" is "too bad" or "that's tough", so combine the two to get "zannensei".
On a happier note, I was finally able to meet my Taiwanese friend the other weekend after not seeing each other for 4 long years. She was staying in Osaka with some friends in order to visit them, so we met sort of halfway in Kyoto and hung out for the day. That turned into mostly wandering and looking for a good (and not packed) place for lunch, but it was still fun and I'm so glad I was able to see her again while I was here. Now, if I could just find a Chinese language program in Taiwan instead of going to China in 2 years, that would be great.
Anyway, I think this is all I wanted to say for now. It's also getting late and we have our weekly test tomorrow (and this time it involves a one-on-one speaking portion), so I think I'll be off for now.Edit: for anyone going into the third year level--unless she says otherwise or things have changes by the time you're reading this, then if the weekly schedule says there will be a spoken test based on the dialogues in the textbook, then it is ONLY speaking, no written portion. I didn't know this beforehand--either I missed it when she said this or she just didn't say anything. I'm fairly certain I got a D at best this time around, but now I know what to expect, so next time will hopefully be better.
Something I forgot to say before, is that if you don't have a preference between being in the second or third year levels and you want lots of time to do other things and explore, then aim for the second year level, because you don't have as much homework or studying as you do in the third year. I'm not sure how first year is, but I think even if you may have lots of homework, you still have plenty of time to do other things. Of course, all of this depends on how mulch you usually study or need to, how long it generally takes you to do homework, and so on.
Well, it's the weekend and I'm certain I just failed a speaking test, so I'm going to make up some more of the cappuccino mix my parents sent from home and wallow in self pity for a bit. At least until someone comes along and asks if we want tot do anything today.
Firstly, I'm incredibly happy I managed to make it into the third year Japanese level, but this also means that there's a lot of homework and a lot of studying to do. If you get into the third year, whatever you do, do NOT slack off. Keep up with the homework (it is actually useful and pertinent to learning), and keep up with studying. Being a third year means using the Tobira textbook, which means getting into more difficult grammar points and learning a lot of kanji. The class is fun, but always make sure to keep up with studying and preparing for class; it makes life so much easier and less stressful in class. I tend to spend about an hour on homework (sometimes 2-3 hours on homework alone if it's one of the days sensei gives out the 3 page grammar sheet and other homework), and then I could easily spend another 1-3 hours just studying, depending on how much I still don't know or need to work on. Tonight, I only spent about an hour doing homework and studying for the test for tomorrow, but I already know most of it because I tried keeping up with preparing for class and because sensei teaches these things well in class.
However, aside from Japanese, I also have the elective. This semester it's the classic cinema class. It's an interesting class, all right, but don't take it because it's a film class and think it's going to be easy; I'd looked at the old syllabus beforehand and didn't go into it thinking this way. If you do end up in this class, whatever you do, keep up on the weekly response papers (class is only once a week), and remember that you can redo them for a better grade, which (unless you're a genius of some kind) you will no doubt be doing. The professor is maybe a little more strict concerning certain matters such as behavior and the format of these papers and how to email him, but he's otherwise a very intelligent person and also very interesting, and he does have a good sense of humor at times.
However, the only problem with my having taken this class is the added level of stress to my already stressing over the Japanese class. Don't take this as a bad thing, because I do tend to stress more than other people. And other third years still find time to go out and do things (though maybe not as much as the second years or first years). Still, this is why they call it "zannensei" instead of "sannensei". For those that don't know, "sannensei" is "third year" in Japanese and "zannen" is "too bad" or "that's tough", so combine the two to get "zannensei".
On a happier note, I was finally able to meet my Taiwanese friend the other weekend after not seeing each other for 4 long years. She was staying in Osaka with some friends in order to visit them, so we met sort of halfway in Kyoto and hung out for the day. That turned into mostly wandering and looking for a good (and not packed) place for lunch, but it was still fun and I'm so glad I was able to see her again while I was here. Now, if I could just find a Chinese language program in Taiwan instead of going to China in 2 years, that would be great.
Anyway, I think this is all I wanted to say for now. It's also getting late and we have our weekly test tomorrow (and this time it involves a one-on-one speaking portion), so I think I'll be off for now.Edit: for anyone going into the third year level--unless she says otherwise or things have changes by the time you're reading this, then if the weekly schedule says there will be a spoken test based on the dialogues in the textbook, then it is ONLY speaking, no written portion. I didn't know this beforehand--either I missed it when she said this or she just didn't say anything. I'm fairly certain I got a D at best this time around, but now I know what to expect, so next time will hopefully be better.
Something I forgot to say before, is that if you don't have a preference between being in the second or third year levels and you want lots of time to do other things and explore, then aim for the second year level, because you don't have as much homework or studying as you do in the third year. I'm not sure how first year is, but I think even if you may have lots of homework, you still have plenty of time to do other things. Of course, all of this depends on how mulch you usually study or need to, how long it generally takes you to do homework, and so on.
Well, it's the weekend and I'm certain I just failed a speaking test, so I'm going to make up some more of the cappuccino mix my parents sent from home and wallow in self pity for a bit. At least until someone comes along and asks if we want tot do anything today.