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Big in Japan II: The legend continues
https://forum.specialattack.net/viewtopic.php?t=13698		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  [SpA]g.zeus [ 01 Jul 2012, 16:49 ]
Post subject:  Big in Japan II: The legend continues
So I just wanted to share with you something great! :18
Few months ago I applied for a scholarship to study in Japan again, this time at a university. It took some time, but long story short, I got it :5: :4

That means that in the period of October 2012 ~ August 2013, I will be studying at the University of Kanazawa. Not exactly the most famous place in Japan, but from various sources I've heard it's a pleasant town with a rather nice university campus (something we don't have in the Czech Republic). And since it wasn't bombarded during WWII, there are even some autenthic historical buildings remaining, thus earning the nickname "Little Kyoto".

I'm really looking forward to this - when I was entering the uni, my plan was to receive some kind of scholarship and go to Japan to really become fluent - and this is my second scholarship so far, not too shabby :ugly:

I hope this will be the big thing to get my life moving in a good direction! And I shall inform you of my exploits once I'm there :18

G.Zeus out!
Author:  [SpA]bubbajim3 [ 01 Jul 2012, 17:19 ]
Post subject:  Re: Big in Japan II: The legend continues
Lucky bastard! Have a great time. :4
Author:  [SpA]Dolf [ 01 Jul 2012, 17:21 ]
Post subject:  Re: Big in Japan II: The legend continues
Sounds great :ugly: Dem bitches don't know what is coming for them.
I hope you have a great time, Jezus.
Author:  [SpA]don_don_don [ 02 Jul 2012, 14:32 ]
Post subject:  Re: Big in Japan II: The legend continues
Yay, well done dude :D

Glad things are all working out for you.

Don't forget to take loads of pictures for us/me ^^
Author:  [SpA]g.zeus [ 03 Jul 2012, 15:13 ]
Post subject:  Re: Big in Japan II: The legend continues
Thanks! :4

Don't worry Don, I'll be posting any interesting pictures I'll take. :18
Author:  [SpA]SaintK [ 03 Jul 2012, 15:15 ]
Post subject:  Re: Big in Japan II: The legend continues
Sounds great, enjoy mate!
Author:  [SpA]Haladir [ 03 Jul 2012, 18:15 ]
Post subject:  Re: Big in Japan II: The legend continues
Sounds cool! Good luck dude!
Author:  [SpA]cardboard [ 07 Jul 2012, 19:49 ]
Post subject:  Re: Big in Japan II: The legend continues
The seafood is incredible, maybe the best in the world. So jealous its untrue.
Author:  Gamma_Metroid [ 07 Jul 2012, 20:16 ]
Post subject:  Re: Big in Japan II: The legend continues
Good luck in Japan! I've heard it's a really great place to live.
Author:  annarack [ 12 Jul 2012, 20:05 ]
Post subject:  Re: Big in Japan II: The legend continues
Yay to my Holy partner. That's awesome news. I agree with Don. We'll all look forward to your updates and pics to go with it. Long live The Holy Rack :5: :4 :4 :4
Author:  [SpA]Bucky [ 15 Jul 2012, 11:58 ]
Post subject:  Re: Big in Japan II: The legend continues
GL and HF in the country filled with the biggest nutters on this planet :D (Next to the russians. Although the russians get more crazy with booze, the japanese don't seem to need booze to get that far :D)

http://www.skoften.net/index/uploaded/japanse_hit
Author:  [SpA]g.zeus [ 02 Oct 2012, 16:44 ]
Post subject:  Re: Big in Japan II: The legend continues
UPDATE! :5:

So I arrived in Japan last week and after a few days staying at my friends' place, I moved to Kanazawa University campus :4

I live in this brand new share house type of thing, where mostly foreign students are staying at the moment.
The campus is quite huge, stretches in a hilly area on the outskirts of the city. I thought it would be surrounded by forests, but a more proper way to describe it is that it is in a middle of a jungle. It's green all around, bamboo growing among the buildings... And there are these giant spider webs and spiders on each street light pole. :-14
Apparently, there are also boars and bears in the area, but they don't come out that often :ugly:

I haven't really had any classes yet, only orientation meeting, so I'll write more later.
The only bad thing so far is that my Notebook's LAN adapter isn't working, so I had to go buy a wireless router to go around it... But I made it, and survived almost two days without internet! Almost lika a sailor stuck on the sea for months without rum and proper food! :ugly:

Oh and not to forget, some pictures!
Author:  annarack [ 04 Oct 2012, 22:42 ]
Post subject:  Re: Big in Japan II: The legend continues
Miss you g.zeus :hug: Have fun, looking forward to the update :5:
Author:  [SpA]JuncoPartner [ 04 Oct 2012, 23:45 ]
Post subject:  Re: Big in Japan II: The legend continues
Wow, that looks like a pretty nice place to spend uni at. The halls look wierdly pristine.
Author:  [SpA]bubbajim3 [ 05 Oct 2012, 00:40 ]
Post subject:  Re: Big in Japan II: The legend continues
Nice place! A lot better then most of the colleges around me :P
Author:  [SpA]g.zeus [ 14 Oct 2012, 14:25 ]
Post subject:  Re: Big in Japan II: The legend continues
So I had the first week of classes and it looks good so far. I'll probably have to study a lot more than at home, but if it helps me get somewhat better at Japanese, I'm all up for it!

The classrooms are a bit strange - very spacey and can hold many people, but the desks are more on the midget size, so that is rather inconvenient. Also when the bell rings (of course it's the Big Ben chime, as you see in animes and such), the cafeterias are suddenly overflowing with students.

Other than that, I can't really complain about the school. I haven't really got used to it yet, but when I do and when I take part in some of the after school activities, I'll surely enjoy it more.

Here are some pictures I took today, at the Kenrokuen, said to be one of the three most beautiful gardens in Japan. It was really beautiful. Also, as a student, I can enter for free, so I'm looking forward to going there in winter (for the snow) and spring (cherry blossoms).
Author:  [SpA]Dolf [ 14 Oct 2012, 15:06 ]
Post subject:  Re: Big in Japan II: The legend continues
I truly am jelly now :l I dare you to take pictures of the cherry blossom in the spring!
Author:  [SpA]Patogy [ 14 Oct 2012, 15:23 ]
Post subject:  Re: Big in Japan II: The legend continues
Truely amazing! Have fun studying and good luck :5:
Author:  [SpA]JuncoPartner [ 14 Oct 2012, 15:54 ]
Post subject:  Re: Big in Japan II: The legend continues
Again, wow :o
Author:  [SpA]Haladir [ 14 Oct 2012, 16:05 ]
Post subject:  Re: Big in Japan II: The legend continues
Wow, I'm so jealus!
Author:  annarack [ 15 Oct 2012, 15:21 ]
Post subject:  Re: Big in Japan II: The legend continues
What are you studying in your classes? Is Japanese hard to learn and are you learning to write it too?

Love the photos, it looks amazing there :D
Author:  [SpA]g.zeus [ 15 Oct 2012, 17:02 ]
Post subject:  Re: Big in Japan II: The legend continues
Don't be jelly people! If you study hard, it could be you next time :wink: (Seriously, like half of our class got scholarships and went to Japan this year)


Anna: I'm mostly just doing Japanese, really. I have three general classes and then kanji (chinese character) and reading class. I also signed up for Japanese Law and Society, Japanese Way of thinking classes, which are given in English though. And I'm also taking Pottery class, where some supposedly famous Japanese artist will teach us the style of pottery his family has done for 11 generations 8)

There are also some extracurricular activities, I'm taking calligraphy. :)

As for Japanese itself, the most difficult part is obviously the writing system. But when you get to a certain level (after about 2 years of studying), you get used to it I think... Writing it is not as difficult as remembering how to write it :ugly: There are 2000 commonly used Chinese characters in this language, and the Japanese study them starting from elementary school all the way up to high school - so foreigners have it more difficult, because they get less practice. (But truth to be told, even Japanese often forget how to write some characters - because everyone just types on a PC nowadays.)

I can read/understand the meaning of about 1000 characters, but if I were to write them without any aid, I could do maybe only about 500 or so.

The other difficult aspect is various levels of honorific speech. Talking with friends is easy, it omits a lot of verbs and auxiliary verbs, but when talking to someone socially above you, you should use specific verb forms (there are even special verbs), which are usually really long and hard to remember.

But at least the grammar is fairly easy! :lol:
Author:  annarack [ 15 Oct 2012, 17:19 ]
Post subject:  Re: Big in Japan II: The legend continues
That's so awesome. I look forward to reading about your next update :hug:
Author:  [SpA]g.zeus [ 21 Oct 2012, 12:41 ]
Post subject:  Re: Big in Japan II: The legend continues
Today I went for a walk into the old Teahouse district and took some pretty nice pictures

It is a really small part of the town, but the nice authentic 150 year old buildings make it a nice experience to see. I then went around to the city centre again and took some pictures at the park near the castlegrounds. The nature here is really splendid, especially when the leaves are changing color right now...
Author:  [SpA]Scatterbrain [ 21 Oct 2012, 12:58 ]
Post subject:  Re: Big in Japan II: The legend continues
there's something about those narrow streets that's just beautiful. great pictures man :5:
Author:  [SpA]g.zeus [ 21 Oct 2012, 13:17 ]
Post subject:  Re: Big in Japan II: The legend continues
Yeah, I really like the old Japanese style of architecture, exploring the narrow streets and hidden shrines... It's really amazing :5:

By the way, the first picture in there is the view from my window at the sharehouse. (All the descriptions are in Czech since I upload it mainly for my family, sorry for the incovenience)
Author:  [SpA]bubbajim3 [ 23 Oct 2012, 22:39 ]
Post subject:  Re: Big in Japan II: The legend continues
Amazing, I love the barricades for that truck.

Also, those narrow steps going to the fence, happens a lot in some of the bad parts of my state, but, they are made of crumbling cinder-blocks; the Japanese made it actually look good! :4
Author:  [SpA]g.zeus [ 08 Nov 2012, 11:43 ]
Post subject:  Re: Big in Japan II: The legend continues
Nothing much to talk about lately, the weather is getting worse. I heard Kanazawa is one of the rainiest places in Japan and that might be true. On our way from campus to the mall, me and my friend got caught in a torrential rain. It went from "no rain" to "water everywhere" in about five seconds. Our feeble umbrellas were no match to the force of this monster and by the time we reached convenience store to seek shelter in, my shoes and jeans (up to the pockets!) were completely drenched. :shock:
After about ten minutes inside, the rain was just gone. 8)

I always carry a folding umbrella in my backpack, because you can never tell when it will start or stop raining...


Some photos for those interested:
Pictures of the campus with nice autumn colours

School festival and Kenrokuen garden again

Today's trip to a replica of Edo period village (we went there instead of my regular reading class - and in two weeks, another reading class trip. I chose a good course :mrgreen: )
Author:  [SpA]SaintK [ 08 Nov 2012, 12:59 ]
Post subject:  Re: Big in Japan II: The legend continues
[SpA]g.zeus wrote:
Nothing much to talk about lately, the weather is getting worse. I heard Kanazawa is one of the rainiest places in Japan and that might be true. On our way from campus to the mall, me and my friend got caught in a torrential rain. It went from "no rain" to "water everywhere" in about five seconds. Our feeble umbrellas were no match to the force of this monster and by the time we reached convenience store to seek shelter in, my shoes and jeans (up to the pockets!) were completely drenched. :shock:
After about ten minutes inside, the rain was just gone. 8)

I always carry a folding umbrella in my backpack, because you can never tell when it will start or stop raining...


Some photos for those interested:
Pictures of the campus with nice autumn colours

School festival and Kenrokuen garden again

Today's trip to a replica of Edo period village (we went there instead of my regular reading class - and in two weeks, another reading class trip. I chose a good course :mrgreen: )
Sounds like the time you require to get the umbrella from your backback is already too short to prevent wet pants, if your umbrella were to hold up against all that rain :mrgreen:
Author:  [SpA]g.zeus [ 08 Nov 2012, 13:12 ]
Post subject:  Re: Big in Japan II: The legend continues
Haha Saint, you actually got a point - my friend told me to get my umbrella out of the backpack because it starts pouring down so fast... And just a few seconds after I got it in my hands, shit hit the fan :ugly:
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