It has been an amazing April, although April hasn't even ended. My parents were both there for the university's entrance ceremony at the beginning of the month. Seeing them there, among the natives, I found it weird, and amazing at the same time when I realized that whenever my parents are asked about my whereabouts, they now can answer, "He's studying in Tokyo."
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| worked as a tour guide for two weeks |
Making friends have been tough. I'm not really certain whether it's just me who is very adept in repulsing people, or it's the people around me who aren't really acquainted with strangers. Plus, my Japanese is still far from sufficient to talk smoothly, without stumbling mid sentence due to lack of vocabulary. It isn't rare for me to open dictionary in the middle of the conversation just so I can nod at whatever the other person is talking about, with complete understanding.
These people I met in my department are mostly into what they want to study. So after the entrance ceremony, we had a series of orientations, and within each orientation, we'll have to introduce ourselves. One of the introduction's item is 'to which major do you want to continue?' It was easy to find people who said that they want to study mathematics - my department/faculty/whatever is the school of science - because, "Mathematics is beauuuutiful!" He obviously didn't say it in English, but that's how it probably would sound like if he had said it in English. In another case someone else would say he likes physics because physics and world and bla bla bla.
Lessons are brutal. I used to learn calculus for about six months, and they were meaningless against this new horde of calculus, plus linear algebra. So we have a tutor class every week, and whenever I see the list of problems, sometimes all I could do is laugh.
Clearly not because I knew how to do it.
Even though it has only been a month, a lot of changes are happening.
No longer leaving room five minutes before class without breakfast and a proper shower. Now it is either fifteen, twenty minutes walk or five, ten minutes of cycling to the school.
No longer talking loudly in class with fellow Indonesians. Now it is either speaking Japanese or shutting up.
