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Day two of my dorm stay.
The. pillow. is. too. high. and. hard. Thanks to that, I ended up waking really early, 5+am. And it's amazing that the sun rises so early here, because by 6am the sky was light already. First night sleeping in the room was fine, just that, uh, being silly, I was a little scared of the dark. Left the desk lamp on for a while, but my conscience couldn't deal with the waste of electricity.
Despite having a rough map, I couldn't find my way to the building I was supposed to go. As soon as I stepped away from the dorm I took a wrong turn, but after I backtracked, I decided to follow the group of girls in front of me. Good move. ;p Academic orientation was rather boring at times, but I met all the other nus people! Alex seems like a nice guy, Lynnette and Seow Fun hit it off, and I got to know another neighbour, Yoon Jeong! Meeting new people is way cool. Yesterday I met a half-Japanese Austrian, today I met a Korean who used to reside in Germany. So she can speak four languages - English, Japanese, Korean and German! Hmm there was a Lithuanian guy at my table too, he's Linas.
Oh oh, and instead of using signatures for formal matters, the Japanese actually use a seal. Since I've to open a bank account, my parents brought me to make one today! That, too, is way cool. But I think using signature is better. After all, if you lose your seal and someone takes it, that person can actually use it and withdraw your money or something. Hmm I also realised that the area near my dorm actually has quite a number of cafes, convenience stores etc. Drinks vending machines are everywhere!
Dinner, unlike yesterday's, was not cup noodles eaten within the privacy of my own room. Instead, I popped out to the corridor after the dorm orientation because I heard voices. I saw Yoon Jeong, so I sidled up, said hi, and made friends with the other girls there. So I added more people to the residents-at-hoshien list I have -- Hanarita (it's pronounced like that, not sure about spelling) from Finland, Cookie from somewhere in China, Kelly from New York, Alice from China (I think), Yan Yan from China, Melissa from I don't know where. [ It all sounds wonderful, but quite a few people I met are actually Asians who emigrated to European countries or stuff like that. So you could say I haven't met many real caucasians.) I like Hanarita, she's really funny! But they all speak English with an angmoh accent. Yoon Jeong said I'm the first Singaporean she has met, and she hasn't gotten used to my "accent". (NO! Not Singlish!) Anyhow, we who stood around at the corridor decided to go for dinner together because we were hungry, and I cannot begin to describe how happy and excited I was that I was going out for a meal with new friends! I suppose at the back of my mind was the worry that I'll end up sticking to the NUS people, and have no friends in dorm, where I'll probably be most of the time. I guess not! :)
Oh oh, and I was very pleased to hear that Hoshien organises field trips for its residents and other international students at Waseda, and a 3d2n trip costs about 75 000 - 100 000 yen, inclusive of food, lodging and all that, so it's really cheap! Two out of the three trips interest me. Maybe I should clamour to sign up when applications open because there are only 20 vacancies. This SEP is looking to be more and more promising. I almost forget there I'm here to study, not to tour. Which reminds me, I've a whole stack of stuff to read up on with regards to the fall syllabus, various activities, some Waseda account... Grr.
Yeah! So my new friends and I will be meeting tomorrow morning to head to school together! This is my cue to go offline to study a little for the Japanese Placement Test tomorrow. Thing is... I didn't bring anything to study.
One more observation: The taps in the kitchen are turned on when you push it down, and off when you push it up. Isn't it usually the other way round in Singapore? Thanks to that, I got splashed with quite a bit of water trying to turn the tap off.
