What about the school? For those unaware, I'm attending Sophia University, which is its name in English, although the locals know it as Jōchi daigaku. It is a Jesuit university located in central Tokyo and has many different government buildings and international embassies nearby. It has courses for many different subjects (economics, law, etc.) but I believe it specializes in the Humanities and International Studies. According to the Wikipedia page and the random opinion of a banker I had to do business with, it is one of the top private universities in Tokyo. Fancy stuff.
I guess I remembered to take a photo of one of the buildings. The writing is the name of the school.The classes are set up in a way that I'm not familiar with. There are six class periods a day and every single class is at least one and a half hours long with most classes meeting only two times a week, either Monday and Thursday or Tuesday and Friday. That means that everyone has breaks in between classes and the lunch period at the same time. It can get pretty crazy, especially since the campus is so small. It takes about three minutes to walk from one end to the other With about fifteen buildings packed into this small piece of land in the middle of the city.
As far as classes that I'm taking, I wanted classes that would fulfill major requirements but weren't too difficult since I'm only here for a short while and want to enjoy my time while I'm here. However, since every class has to fit into a small selection of class times available, I ran into a lot of scheduling issues. But then again, so did everyone else I met. In the end, the classes I am taking are: Japanese II, Japanese Religions, Basics of Macroeconomics, and Japan and the World: Business and Economics.
The Japanese class is a standard language course except it is an exeption in my course schedule since it meets five days a week instead of just two. This means that while the standard Sophia undergraduate would get Wednesday off since not many classes are scheduled during that time, I still have to show up.
The Macroeconomics course looks like a standard lesson about how money works. Simple enough. The Japanese Business course is just what it says. It teaches the history of business in Japan and what that means to the rest of the world. Since it is a low-level course, it is treated more like a history course and less like an economics course. However, by the end of the course we will be discussing the "Financial Crisis of 2008" along with any new corporate scandals in Japan that are likely to show up during this semester. Finally, the Japanese Religions class is about religion in Japan. Although there have been only three lectures so far, it has covered some interesting topics about how many different religions are represented and the society as a whole is accustomed to practicing all of them whenever a specific event occurs. Although I never really new about it until I got here, I guess it is common for a Japanese person to be born with Shinto customs, have a Christian wedding, and have a Buddhist burial. Consult me if you want to hear more about it.
School is not only about studies and learning, so I am involved in at least one club with several more potentials if I ever get around to going to the meetings. Although I have rarely been athletic in the previous 21 years of my life, I have somehow found myself on the Track and Field team after being persuaded by a friend with similar interests and an effective recruitment party. The club is pretty laidback since practices are only three days a week, but it is still pretty intense for me since I am a man of computers and reading rather than a man of physical activity. Though it is tough, I have met many Japanese students in this manner and I get plenty of practice speaking in Japanese while all of my classes are full of international students and native Japanese who are fluent in English. Hopefully I'll manage to return to the US in one piece, but we'll wait and see what happens. Stories of personal injury are more interesting than the story of a healthy person anyway.
But that's the story of the real reason I'm here. I have to go to school at some point. Hopefully I won't be bogged down by classes since I could have stayed in Kansas to do that. Also, good grades.
As far as classes that I'm taking, I wanted classes that would fulfill major requirements but weren't too difficult since I'm only here for a short while and want to enjoy my time while I'm here. However, since every class has to fit into a small selection of class times available, I ran into a lot of scheduling issues. But then again, so did everyone else I met. In the end, the classes I am taking are: Japanese II, Japanese Religions, Basics of Macroeconomics, and Japan and the World: Business and Economics.
The Japanese class is a standard language course except it is an exeption in my course schedule since it meets five days a week instead of just two. This means that while the standard Sophia undergraduate would get Wednesday off since not many classes are scheduled during that time, I still have to show up.
The Macroeconomics course looks like a standard lesson about how money works. Simple enough. The Japanese Business course is just what it says. It teaches the history of business in Japan and what that means to the rest of the world. Since it is a low-level course, it is treated more like a history course and less like an economics course. However, by the end of the course we will be discussing the "Financial Crisis of 2008" along with any new corporate scandals in Japan that are likely to show up during this semester. Finally, the Japanese Religions class is about religion in Japan. Although there have been only three lectures so far, it has covered some interesting topics about how many different religions are represented and the society as a whole is accustomed to practicing all of them whenever a specific event occurs. Although I never really new about it until I got here, I guess it is common for a Japanese person to be born with Shinto customs, have a Christian wedding, and have a Buddhist burial. Consult me if you want to hear more about it.
School is not only about studies and learning, so I am involved in at least one club with several more potentials if I ever get around to going to the meetings. Although I have rarely been athletic in the previous 21 years of my life, I have somehow found myself on the Track and Field team after being persuaded by a friend with similar interests and an effective recruitment party. The club is pretty laidback since practices are only three days a week, but it is still pretty intense for me since I am a man of computers and reading rather than a man of physical activity. Though it is tough, I have met many Japanese students in this manner and I get plenty of practice speaking in Japanese while all of my classes are full of international students and native Japanese who are fluent in English. Hopefully I'll manage to return to the US in one piece, but we'll wait and see what happens. Stories of personal injury are more interesting than the story of a healthy person anyway.
But that's the story of the real reason I'm here. I have to go to school at some point. Hopefully I won't be bogged down by classes since I could have stayed in Kansas to do that. Also, good grades.
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So, young man, what track and field event will you be participating in? I recommend the hammer throw.
ReplyDeleteGet fit. Get fit.
ReplyDeleteSo exactly what was this recruitment party?
ReplyDelete