Today was another great day, though my camera battery ran dry...so this blog entry will be picture-less until I'm able to get the photos from the other people.
So today was the first real day of classes (as in, not orientation =P) and we got into the mode of things. Anna Wagner, Stephanie Prestwich, and I are the 3 students in 301, and for the first 2 hours of class each day we look over a story written in Japanese on an online site that Miller-sensei is having us use. The stories are part of a flash program that we can use to link us directly to the meanings of the vocab words contained in the story, the grammar points that we need to learn, and the assigned Kanji (chinese character) for each story. We can also use it to give us an english translation if we really don't understand what is going on, haha...but we decided not to use that unless we are in dire straights and really can't figure out what is happening.
I'm so glad to be in 301 and to be done with the horrible series of textbooks that we had used from 101...This new series starts from somewhere in the middle of 102 and just presents the information we were already studying in a different manner. It's odd re-learning things I've already learned, but the information is presented in SUCH a new way that it feels like it's new. It's weird, lol.
After that class we all get together in the larger room for Japanese 345 (which is a Japanese culture class conducted in English. Thank goodness.). In the field edition of this course we are expected to go to 8 historical sights in Kyoto, 5 on the 1 week trip up the western coast, and 8 more when we arrive in Yokohama. Most days the professor will be organizing those excursions for us, but there are a few days where we have an open afternoon and can form groups to go out to different sites that we are interested in. As a group we decided on the sites we wanted to visit on the planned excursions, and which we wanted to leave up to the students to decide to go on in our free time. For that class we are also expected to read 1 novel in translation (originally written in Japanese, but then translated into English) and write a 2 page report on it. For a 3 credit class, not too shabby =P.
After class we had one of those 'free days', and I really wanted to go to Ginkakuji (silver pavillion), which was in walking distance of our church building. Being the social bee I am, naturally everyone wanted to come with me, so it turned into an excursion anyways =P. Also...when I say 'walking distance', that was based on a map I saw earlier that morning when my Okaasan was showing me the city so that I wouldn't get lost. Again. So our entire basis of 'its close to here' came from a guy who has gotten lost almost every time he's tried to make it back to his home-stay family so far. And off of a map he had been briefly shown earlier that morning. Major spoilers. It was not all that close =P. We spent about 1.5 hours walking to the damn villa which only gave us about 30 minutes before we had to poke our way back to our respective homes.
However, all travel concerns aside, the Ginkakuji was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen! The villa itself is only barely 2 stories, and pretty plain considering all the other Otera and Jinjya in Kyoto...but the real site to see and the biggest draw were the grounds around the villa! Talk about breathtaking! While the grounds weren't huge, they were large, and there was plenty to see. There were bamboo thickets that were gorgeous (this word will be over-used this entry. Get used to it =P), flower gardens (gorgeous, btw!), and sand gardens. There was a 'Moon Garden', which is a big mound of sand used to contemplate upon when the moon is out which, btw, was absolutely gorgeous. I know a big mound of sand doesn't sound particularly breath-taking, but when I nab a picture that Jessica Croy took, you'll see.
After the Ginkakuji Tyler, Palmer-sensei, and I all meandered back down to Kyoto proper looking for a bus or a train to take back to our respective houses. After only about 45 minutes of walking, we found a familiar area and went our own ways home. It was a great afternoon =).
That was pretty much it for that day...and there weren't any super embarrassing moments to write about...that I actively recall screwing up, lol. Anyways, until tomorrow!
Derek
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