Zero Gs and I feel fine

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Ok, well I’m starting to actually feel like a student here. But only in these last two weeks of class have I been really forced to work. Of course, I could have had my head stuck in a book all semester long and have gotten good grades, but I wouldn’t have learned nearly as much as I have. I find it a little frustrating that I’m probably only going to get fair marks in the semester where I’ve learned more about my major than I have all through college. It’s that kinda shit that turns me off to teaching.

But although I’ve been studying a relatively fair amount recently, there has been no shortage of adventures. On Friday, everyone went out to our favorite restaurant for a “pre-sayonara party.” For about 25 bucks a person, it’s all you can eat AND all you can drink—with an automatic beer pouring machine. Needless to say, things got blasphemous fast. We all had a great time, though. It was sort of an unofficial cap to the study abroad semester for everyone. Most of the night involved reminiscence of how silly we were when we all first arrived, or stupid things we have done in public that we wouldn’t dream of doing now. It was just generally a great time. Everyone was in a good mood, and wanted to have fun. That alone made it one of the best nights I’ve had here in Tokyo.

Saturday was one of those days that seemed specially made for me. The day began at the crack of noon, at which time I ate about 5 bowls of frosted flakes (Big Frosto in Japan) and then met Ryoko in Ueno. It was a gorgeous day, minus the fact that it was over 90 degrees with nearly 80% humidity. So we spent our sunny day indoors drinking coffee, eating ramen, and looking in bookstores. After which, we met a group of my classmates near school. Since it had cooled off, we decided to buy a beer and light some fireworks. It wasn’t the deadly combination it would first appear—nobody was in the mood to drink after Friday. Even so, it was just the type of relaxing, yet goofy night that I love. Everyone was just really chill, wandering around in a park illuminated by the surrounding office towers, and firing roman candles at each other. Perfect.

So with a fun weekend behind me, I shouldn’t have any trouble getting to work, right? Wrong. It is impossible to sit in my room and focus on a paper talking about how Tokyo is a “liminal space” while I could be out exploring. I guess that’s the give and take of being an exchange student. And for the record, trying to write a paper when you can’t check books out of the school center in a house with NO internet is the hardest fucking thing in the world.

I’m not sure yet if I’m going to be sad or not leaving here. Of course I’ll miss the friends I’ve made here, but I’ll still be able to talk to them over Skype and email and such. I feel like if I’m at about a 50-50 ratio of wanting to go home/not wanting to leave, that’ll do. I’ll miss constantly learning, but I think I may need to take a break and actually digest what I’ve taken in and use it. Plus I really wanna watch The Simpsons. It’s killing me. I haven’t gone this long without seeing an episode since I was 8 years old.

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Photos

Great Buddha
just hangin out

My ePal and me!
a damn shame we didn't get to hang out more

Yamamoto-kun and me
He must have had a really good story for me

Dane got drunk
so I took pictures

Yuji and me
Yuji can slam a revolving door.

Comments

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