Already end of May. Time flies so fast, but it feels like one week takes ages.
University is far too busy here. I often have to go there on the weekends as well. I feel overwhelmed.
The weather is a bit annoying as well. I should really start getting ready for the rainy season and buy some rubber boots (and a better umbrella). I've already spent some days with totally wet feet.
Today was pretty nice tough. Quite warm and sunny. I have actually got a bit of a tan, although nothing too noticeable it seems. If I was in Latvia, I'd be pretty happy about it. But in Japan, white skin is considered more of a beauty standard, so you can see many girls and women walking round with parasols. Because of this, now that I finally don't look like a zombie, I'm afraid of getting too tanned. Ridiculous! Oh, the dilemma :)
In general, I think, I'm getting accustomed to university life. The biggest problem, of course, is the language barrier. There are only 2 people in my lab who speak English, some more people who can understand some amount of English, and the rest can't make out even a word.
One of the lectures has debates. Today we had the first one. It was pretty awful. I prepared for it a lot, but when it came to asking or answering questions, I couldn't help, because I couldn't understand when was the time to ask the question or what was the oppositions question to which I know the answer. Soooo frustrating.
But some of the students do sometimes express a desire to speak more English. And many help me by typing some of the stuff that's being said into a translator. I am infinitely grateful to them for that.
I keep forgetting about the blog. Plus, I rarely get a lot of free time. But maybe now I'll try tracking my study process more, so that'll give me more opportunity to write :)
University is far too busy here. I often have to go there on the weekends as well. I feel overwhelmed.
The weather is a bit annoying as well. I should really start getting ready for the rainy season and buy some rubber boots (and a better umbrella). I've already spent some days with totally wet feet.
Today was pretty nice tough. Quite warm and sunny. I have actually got a bit of a tan, although nothing too noticeable it seems. If I was in Latvia, I'd be pretty happy about it. But in Japan, white skin is considered more of a beauty standard, so you can see many girls and women walking round with parasols. Because of this, now that I finally don't look like a zombie, I'm afraid of getting too tanned. Ridiculous! Oh, the dilemma :)
In general, I think, I'm getting accustomed to university life. The biggest problem, of course, is the language barrier. There are only 2 people in my lab who speak English, some more people who can understand some amount of English, and the rest can't make out even a word.
One of the lectures has debates. Today we had the first one. It was pretty awful. I prepared for it a lot, but when it came to asking or answering questions, I couldn't help, because I couldn't understand when was the time to ask the question or what was the oppositions question to which I know the answer. Soooo frustrating.
But some of the students do sometimes express a desire to speak more English. And many help me by typing some of the stuff that's being said into a translator. I am infinitely grateful to them for that.
I keep forgetting about the blog. Plus, I rarely get a lot of free time. But maybe now I'll try tracking my study process more, so that'll give me more opportunity to write :)
