Day 262 - 19th of May

9:03pm　バス停　－　片鉾中央図書館

天気：雨天

I’m standing here with Carly at the bus stop, waiting for the 9:20 bus. We’re staying at her hotel tonight, so we can get an early start tomorrow; we’re going to the geisha dances in Kyoto, and then probably doing some shopping. It’s raining, and probably will be raining again tomorrow; great way to end the semester. I’m finished, I’M FINISHED!!! I’ve been saying that sporadically since this evening. I feel… empty. I’m happy, but at the same time, the realisation that really is the end is starting to kick in… Today, I spent from 8 till 3 working on my essay, with one break for lunch. Since Hugo was sleeping, I spent most of the morning in the computer room, and then moved back into my room when he finally got up. At 3:15, I decided I had to get going, and since I had finished everything but the conclusion, I figured I could work on that after getting everything else sorted out. It actually took a surprisingly short amount of time. Basically, I had to go to the library, then the L.L. and then the CIE office, before finally going to the SHOMU-BU office for my reimbursement; yay for cash in hand. Admittedly it was a bit of running around, but there were very efficient; my bike registration has now been cancelled, and my ID card has a hole punched through the barcode.

That done, I got onto my conclusion, and ended up having to use a computer in the L.L since the computer lab on the first floor was absolutely packed. After I finished, I had to go down there anyway to print it off. I was very lucky in the fact that a computer opened up just as I arrived; thank you Kirianna. I found Carly, and after hand in my essay to the professor (and a few words of thanks), we went to check out the sumi-e and ceramics’ exhibition; since I didn’t bring mine, Carly let me use her camera. I must admit, I found the works this semester to be of a much higher standard overall, and fell in love with many…

バス

Now we’re on the bus; that was the longest 20 minutes ever… I would have bought them if they had been on sale; I was thoroughly impressed. After that, we went and got taiyaki (custard-, and caramel-filled) and I felt so stuffed afterwards; so yummy. Then we made our way back to the seminar house, briefly browsing Avail; I bought my brother a shirt. Getting back, I talked with my family over skype until about 7, and then went up to make dinner; spaghetti bolognese. Carly came in too, and we got in trouble when Yuji came in; I felt bad about that. After updating my blog, we got going; we’ve just made it to the station now…

11:13pm　セミナーハウス

Well this evening took an interesting turn. When we got to Carly’s hotel, as soon as the lady at the reception desk saw we were going to the elevator, she stopped us and said I couldn’t go to the room; since it’s a single room, only one person’s allowed. Oh well, so much for that. I made my way home on the next bus, and was thankful for Carly’s umbrella walking back to the seminar house; it was pouring. When I was getting off the bus at Hirakatashi I realised I didn’t have my keys with me, so when I arrived back and the gate was locked, I got really worried. Luckily, not five minutes later Marine and Angela returned home and let me in; I was so, so grateful. I immediately went to the kitchen to retrieve my keys; of course I had left them in the cupboard. I sat with Julie, Liz, Chelsea and Rebecca for a little while, and was interviewed by Liz about my English/Japanese experience; she’s doing it for assessment at her home university. Soon after, I came back down here, and was visited by Katie; she had just got back from a fun-filled day with her friend who’s just come from Canada. She let me know the time and place of the geisha dances tomorrow, and we’ll probably be meeting her when we get there. With that in mind, I’d better get some sleep; I’m finished…

Day 261 - 18th of May

11:13pm　セミナーハウス

天気：晴れ

Well, I would have started writing this earlier, but my laptop decided to die from overheating; I almost thought I would too. Anyway, today turned out pretty well, and now I only have one more day left before I’m completely finished with uni; academically, at least… Like yesterday, after breakfast I did some last minute study, and then got to uni a bit early, and sat with Katie and Julie in the lounge. At 10, I had my exam and it actually turned out better that I expected; not that that’s saying much. But still, I feel pretty confident about it. Sensei was so nice, letting the last of us have a few more minutes; we had to move into another room. It was a long exam okay… After that was done, I went and had lunch with Jo, Nathan, Kim and two Japanese girls, one of whom had studied at their university last semester. I opted for Makkas, and was glad I got in early, because soon after the line was way out the door; the Japanese students all finish class at the same time. After lunch, I made my way home, doing a small shop on the way; just bread, milk, and an onion.

Getting back, I got the laundry in and started to get that put away. Carly soon arried, and then we got into some serious packing. Well, to tell the truth, Carly did all the packing while I worked on my essay; she’s a really good packer. It was a good thing she left me her space bags too; they worked a treat. After getting everything I wouldn’t be wearing packed, I weighed the suitcase, and it came to just under 15kgs, which is absolutely wonderful. I’ll fit 5 more kilos of stuff into that, and then buy another small suitcase if need be; I’m pretty sure there will be a need. I’m also going to buy a new carry-on bag since my other one broke; before I even got on the plane to get here! While I wasn’t working on my essay I helped out, getting things sorted, and starting to chuck things out; it’s all going well. As for my essay, I’ve still got a while to go, but I have tomorrow to finish it; I got all the research done this afternoon.

For dinner, I had gyudon (again), and made Carly her Mac and Cheese. Then spent about an hour more on my essay, before finding out that enrolment for USC started yesterday; thank you Alex!!! So I got straight onto that, and had almost completed it when Yuji came by, and went through the inspection procedures with Hugo and I; we went to the kitchen, and to his room. About half an hour later, we were finally done and I got straight back to enrolling. I now have three courses, and will be going to uni on Tuesdays and Thursdays; so much easier than here. It just means I can find a job, and have plenty of days to work; yay for money. Mind you, from this point onwards, all the courses I’ll be taking will be either business or politics; no more Japanese. Still, I think I’m going to sit in on the Japanese classes whenever I can; otherwise I’ll lose everything. I’m really glad I got that sorted out though; and not a minute too soon. If I had found out much later, I probably wouldn’t have had very much choice at all; first come, first serve system. Tomorrow, I’m going to get my essay finished, and then go into uni to get everything sorted out; I hope…

Day 258 - 15th of May

10:46pm　セミナーハウス

天気：晴れ

We ended up staying up until about 1, before finally retiring for the night; it was great. Somehow I still managed to get up at the decent time of 9:30; well, I think that’s decent. After breakfast, I spent the morning talking with a friend over skype, and then my family. I also sent my report off to the professor. At about 1, I went to get groceries and bumped into Katie and Carly on the way out, so decided to just walk with them; Sanko’s not that far. After getting back, I had lunch and sat in the kitchen for a while, before going downstairs to find Carly watching Twister. I had seen people watching it several times before, and had always managed to drag myself away; but not this time! After the movie, we came back to my room, and booked the night bus to Tokyo; not a moment too soon. We managed to get the last two seats on the cheapest bus, which I was so grateful for; extremely lucky. It doesn’t leave from Kyoto until about 11:30pm Saturday night, so I’m going to have plenty of time that afternoon for last minute things; hopefully not packing. After that, I got my JASSO report finished and then spent the rest of the afternoon studying; with breaks.

At 7, Katie came to our door asking Carly if they could make the Mac and Cheese now; bleh!!! I decided to go make dinner too, and was soon enjoying chicken parmigiana; haven’t made it in ages. I spent the next few hours talking with Ash and Rachel, and then at 9, cleaned the kitchen; on my own. Well, I didn’t end up doing that much, and Rachel helped me with the bins and wiping down the tables, which was really nice of her; especially since it’s not her week. I really should have come down here and kicked Hugo’s butt; oh well. It wasn’t too much of a hassle and as I said, I didn’t do that much; just cleaned the dishes in the sink and took the bins out. I finally came back down here, to find Carly asleep (again). She woke up a bit before 10, so decided it was time to go back to the hotel. With the night bus finally booked, I could schedule a time for my inspection and did this straight after Carly signed out. Not long to go now; in a week’s time, I’ll be almost getting on the bus to Tokyo. Tomorrow will be good; the morning at least. We’re going to Sensei’s koto concert in Nipponbashi; so excited. Then I’d better spend the rest of the day studying…

Day 255 - 12th of May

11:08pm　セミナーハウス

天気：晴れ

Well, once again I did not get my field report completed however, I did get my sakubun rewrite done, and got started on my oral for tomorrow; so that was something. Today’s weather was better than yesterday’s, although there was a bit of a chill in the air; go away winter… After getting ready this morning, I found Carly at the front entrance. She needed internet to get in contact with her parents, so asked if she could borrow my laptop for today. I didn’t see anything wrong with it, so handed it over and then went on my way to uni; I needed to quickly get something to eat for breakfast before class. Today was in fact our last Speaking class, and after receiving the last of the review sheets, and a last few words from everyone we were done. It really was a wonderful class, and I will miss Saigo Sensei; he was a great teacher. We’ll, I’ll still be able to see him a couple more times, that next being my oral exam tomorrow. I worked on that in the break, and got most of my thoughts down. I’m talking about how I think parents should raise their kids, and I have to speak for 3-4 minutes, while sensei interjecting with questions every now and then. I’m not too worried about it, as I have a pretty good understanding of the grammar, and it’s a topic that I enjoy talking about; in English at least. I’ll just have to write down a few vocab words (we get up to 10) and I’ll be sweet.

In Reading and Writing today, we got our sakubun back, and I got exactly the same as last time; lots of little mistakes again. The rest of the class was spent finishing reading the story and grammar patterns. I went straight from there upstairs, and crashed the Monsters class (for the last time). Today, Rose and Tori were drawing Pokémon all over the board, since they would be learning about it in class today; wish I brought my camera. Far from Pokémon, today in class we talked about third genders, transsexuals, and gender identity disorder that is, after Professor Hester finally got the computer to talk to the projector. This was my last Onna to Otoko class, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. Probably the most interesting thing I learnt was that, a transsexual in Japan can get their official sex changed if they are over 20, not married, have no minor children and, get this, have no reproductive organs and genitals that resemble those of the other sex. So basically, you have to go the whole way; there’s no middle ground. We ended the lesson with the course evaluation, and then I made my way back down to the lounge.

I told Carly she could meet me back at the dorms, and then went grocery shopping; I was sorely in need of supplies. Getting back, I had enough time to make lunch before Carly arrived; we sat in the lounge and talked for a while. Then I got onto my sakubun, getting it finished in about an hour. I spent the rest of the afternoon on the report, and end up altering quite a bit of it; it’s because I care too much. At 7, I went up to eat, and found out that leftover okonomiyaki doesn’t taste all that bad. We watched a quiz show on TV; the one where they have to jump rope while answering questions. I was soon back downstairs, only to go back to the kitchen once more to make Carly’s dinner; Mac and Cheese. It’s annoying that guests aren’t allowed in the kitchen but, can’t be helped. While I was working on my report, Carly was trying to get her phone to work; international roaming didn’t want to cooperate for some reason. She was on the phone with a techie for almost an hour, but she thinks it’s all good now; I hope so. Finally, 10 came around and it was time for Carly to leave. Silly girl hadn’t brought a jacket so I lent her my jumper; she did bring her slippers today though, so that’s an improvement. I’m going to get some sleep now, so I can spend plenty of time in the morning preparing for my oral. After that, I’ll have a little bit of time to study before the Religion quiz…

Day 251 - 8th of May

10:35pm　セミナーハウス

天気：晴れ

I’ve just been eating skittles and biscuits in the kitchen with everyone. Liz’s boyfriend sent them to her, so she shared them out to everyone at the table; I never thought skittles and chocolate chip biscuits would go together so well. Anyway, as for the rest of my day well, I got a bit done… I ended up leaving karaoke at 2; I just got really tired all of a sudden. The girls stayed until 5, and Rachel told me tonight that they’d completely filled the last 100 songs playlist; now that’s an accomplishment. Somehow, I managed to get up at 9:30, and after breakfast I got started on my field report. After about 3 hours, I managed to get about a quarter of it done, which I’m really happy about. I’m going to try really hard not procrastinate about it, and get the rest of it done by tomorrow. The professor only grades it as a pass or a failure, so as long as I do a reasonable amount on it, I should be fine. At about 1, I went to Sanko for groceries, and bumped into Rachael while I was there. Getting back, I made lunch and then watched TV for a while, before getting back into it.

Since the video from my camera was still uploading, I played KH for a little while, and then when the video was finished I let the laptop rest for a while. This meant that I got started on my sakubun, and the fact that I got over half of it completed made me very happy. I’ve just started writing about the plot for Reborn, and while it’s proving to be difficult, I’m getting through it; have to get that finished tomorrow as well. At around 6, Hugo had guests (three lovely Japanese girls) and they sat together and tried to keep a conversation flowing; I couldn’t help but get distracted. They left at about 7, and so I went up to make dinner; yakisoba. I ended up spending the next three hours in the kitchen, watching TV and talking with Rachel, Ash, Chelsea, Julie, Liz and Jazz; it was lots of fun. I also received and envelop from Natchan, containing 2000円 that I can use to pay for ingredients for my Milo biscuits. I really don’t need very much (I’ve got most of it), so I was thinking I’m going to go to Don kihote one more time to buy Tim Tams for everyone; they won’t want to eat more biscuits then! Tomorrow is Mother’s Day, so I’m definitely going to talk with family; wish I could be there. Then, at 6 I’m going to Toriki for dinner with the koto club; it’s our farewell party…