Sunday, January 31, 2010

Dissapointment of the Dorm Experience

I've been assigned my rooming for the year I will be in Japan. Like virtually everyone who studies abroad I was hoping for a family home stay as opposed to a dormitory arrangement, but was not so fortunate. The reasons for disappointment are varied and range from the obvious to the atypical.

It is obvious that a dorm experience is less productive for my language skills. It is quite natural to use my native language in any situation where it is possible - a situation that is more easily averted when removed from fellow foreigners. Even after three years, I find it much more comfortable to write or read something in Japanese, kanji be damned, than to speak. Even in English, I have always had a greater affection for the written word than verbal expression. So I'm questioning how I will react when surrounded with a mix of Japanese and foreign students.

Speaking of students... the greatest apprehension I have to dorm life abroad is the ever present concern of fitting in with the average college student. At 27 years old, there's just a wee bit of a generation gap that concurrently amuses and befuddles me. I should be glad in a sense because something would be wrong with me if I was the same person now that I was at 18 or 20 - but it means that there is often more differences than similarities at school. Even amongst fellow nerds - particularly the overzealous ones - it can be awkward. So my story for the next year may be one of being a fish out of water for all the unexpected reasons.

My obnoxious green notebook will be armed and ready for these moments. Most of my fiction ideas have come while pretending to pay attention in political science classes over the past couple years so the change in setting is likely to be positive. Who knows, I may find I have a sense of humor that is not necessarily measured in shades of black after this. Not counting on it, but just a thought.

At least I won't be sharing a room. I can handle itty bitty spaces, but spare me the drunk roommate and everything that goes with it. At least I will have a place to hide when I suddenly feel much too old for my fellow companions.

I do question how much living arrangement will really matter given my goal of doing as much wandering as my budget and decrepit knee will allow. If I want to study contemporary Japanese society in grad school, I'd be a fool for not taking advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity. If I am going to go well into the hole of debt, I'd best make it worth it. Material for grad school would certainly go a long way in justifying the cost.

So while I am slightly disappointed with the room situation, it's done little to damper my excitement, nor has it affected my goals. I just better learn to block out my instinct to use English and get over my hesitation to speak and accept that just because I cannot express myself with the same eloquence in English that I CAN manage the basics in Japanese after all this time. I can't be any worse than the kanji.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Neverending Vacation Syndrome

Thanks to the arrangement of the Japanese school year (April is the traditional start of the year, July the end of the first semester and September starting the second half) I have a copious amount of free time and no obligation beyond my couch. Much like summer vacation, it is liberating for the first few weeks until you realize that there is only so much sleep you can catch up on, books you can plow through or crafty villains to save the world from with a twitch of my thumbs. For this reason, there will be rambling on topics interspersed with updates of my status as my departure date approaches.


Boring for everyone but me, but invaluable for staying the vacation mind rot. On the plus side... it only gets better from here.