我思う故に我あり: New Developments

Monday, May 17, 2010

New Developments

First: I graduated yesterday! It was actually pretty fantastic, as far as commencements go, and I'm happy to have my diploma in hand. Well, it's on my parents' dining room table now, along with my cap, but I definitely have it. So now, after four years, I have my Bachelor of Arts in English and am done with undergrad! I don't have any pictures, because I personally didn't take any, but my mum did and I'll get some from her to show off later.

Leaving Salem was a little bittersweet and I cried in the car because I'm leaving a lot of people I love. But it's all okay because I'm off to Japan in two months (plus a week), which brings me to development the second: my JET placement!

I did not get what I requested at all, which seems to be more or less the norm for JET, and I was a little thrown off at first because it's so far from my sphere of familiarity, but I will be living in Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture. That would be on Shikoku, the smallest of Japan's four islands. Matsuyama (I've learned since looking it up about an hour ago) is the capital of Ehime and the biggest city on the island, a ferry ride away from Hiroshima (and a longer ferry ride from Kobe, apparently). I'm pretty psyched I got a major city, rather than a tiny town way out in the inaka, but I'm a little disappointed that I'm so far from Saitama where I know people. I'll visit, though, and people should definitely come visit me. You know you want to check out Shikoku.

So it'll be cool. Based on pictures, it's prettier than Saitama (not that Saitama's all that picturesque, but still) and very green, and there's actually a decent amount of stuff in the city. Like a castle!

JET is seeming a lot more in my reach now that I know where I'm going. And I'll be switching to my new blog soon, so keep an eye out for that.

1 コメント:

Katherine said...: When I can manage it I will definately come down and visit you! You know you are always welcome to stay at my apartment whenever you have time to come back to Saitama. I hope I can see you in Tokyo when you have orientation! Let me know when you get the details about that!; May 17, 2010 at 9:24 PM

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Key Terms

Alex: One of my Willamette friends. We met when he started dating Annie and somewhere along the way became proper friends. He has the singular ability to annoy me with minimal effort and studied abroad with me in Japan.

Annie: One of my two best friends at Willamette, also my wife. We're both in choir and she's an awesome artist, as well as really good at Japanese. We studied abroad together, too, and are now roommates.

Ash: A fairly new friend, met through Ellie last year. He doesn't go to Willamette, but he's become a pretty key element of our varied and sundry weekend (and occasionally week day) adventures.

Atsushi: A 2009 TIUA student who got pretty tight with me and my group of friends. He's back in Japan now, but plans to come back to the States ASAP.

Building Bridges: A student-run program between WU and TIUA that's meant to help TIUA students make more friends. Annie and I are with three TIUAs - one guy and two girls.

Cat Cavern: The best of the three Willamette eating halls, and one of the two I go to. Unfortunately only open weekdays for breakfast and lunch, I never get tired of the quesadillas.

Christine: The director of Voce, the Willamette choir in which I sing alto. She's lovely, has a beautiful voice and is probably the best director I've ever worked with. Every once in awhile she gives these little, almost spiritual, speeches to encourage us to reach our full potential.

Dana: One of my two best friends from high school. She graduated from Eastern Washington University last year. We both love musicals and bonded over Harry Potter, back in the day.

Ellie: A Willamette friend I hung out with pretty much every weekend last semester and worked with in the Writing Center. She's in Ireland right now, studying abroad.

Goudy: The primary Willamette eating hall. Lunch is good, Saturday brunch is awesome, dinner... well, let's not focus on that. Also the location of and inspiration for my various food art projects. I'm sure the Goudy ladies love me.

Haseldorf: The older, smaller university apartment building. Annie and I have a two-bedroom apartment on the first floor. It's pretty sweet.

Josh: Nikki(1)'s fiance. He doesn't go to Willamette, but he and Nikki have an apartment in Salem, so we see each other a lot. He's Native and pretty involved in the community, through powwows and dance and the like.

JSP: The Japanese Studies Program at Tokyo International University (TIU). It was my study abroad program in fall of 2008.

川越市/Kawagoe: The city in Japan where TIU is located and I studied abroad. It's my Japanese town, basically, and I'm planning on going back one way or another in the next year.

Makoto: The guy in my Building Bridges group. He looks kind of Jrocker with his blonde hair.

Mariel: My little sister. She's 16, in high school and we have a lot more in common than we might seem to. When I'm home, we play video games together and shout at the screen a lot.

Miku: One of the girls in my Building Bridges group. She's really sweet and likes my English.

皆川たち/Minagawa-tachi: My former host family in Japan. I refer to them as Minagawa-tachi because 'tachi' is the suffix meaning more than one person. I was their last host student, they're really sweet, and I plan to visit them when I go back to Japan.

Molly: Another new friend met last semester through Ellie. She's a biology major and very fun - another person involved in the aforementioned varied and sundry adventures.

Montag: The rec area on campus, with a convenience store, ping-pong tables, pool tables, a TV and conference rooms my friends and I occasion to spontaneously co-opt for Very Important Meetings.

Morgan: One of the sweetest girls I know. We met through Japanese and have got to be pretty good friends. She's another friend studying abroad in the spring, but unlike Ellie, she's a JSP.

NAEA: Native American Enlightenment Association. It's the Willamette club of which I was the VP to Nikki(1)'s presidency. I am now officially retired from leadership.

Nikki (1): My other best friend at Willamette. She, unfortunately, couldn't study abroad with us. She's planning to go into environmental science and we spend as much time together as humanly possible when we're at school.

Nikki (2): My former Willamette roommate. We have virtually nothing in common except for food and general sense of humour, but we get along great. We lived together for two years and never had a fight.

Rina: One of my friends from the 2010 TIUA group. She's very genki and the second girl in my Building Bridges group.

Shiori: Another one of my friends from the 2010 TIUA group. She's slightly less genki than Rina, but no less awesome.

Sparks: The sports/gym facility at Willamette. My friends and I go sometimes either to play racquetball or to use the work-out equipment.

TIUA: Tokyo International University of America. WU and TIU are sister schools and there's a TIUA campus across the street from the Willamette campus. The 2009 group left in December and the 2010 group arrived in February.

Voce: The casual name for the women's choir at Willamette, of which Annie and I are part. We both sing alto and love it.

Monday, May 17, 2010

New Developments

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