Week 2: Culture Courses

Well the second week of classes has come to an end. It was a pretty long and exciting week!
We had 3 hours of Japanese classes every morning (including "singing" class on Tuesday during which we spent half the time listening to/ singing to the Sukiyaki song!). Every morning (except Tuesday) we start with a lesson quiz. So far we have studied lessons 14-17 and we have a big test on it on Monday so I will be studying hard this weekend seeing as I haven't studied lessons 1-13 very thoroughly before started the course.
We also started optional culture courses in the afternoons this week (taught in English, 1.5 hours each, once a week). I attended 2 on Monday, but the one (Japanese Business) was not too enjoyable as the instructor was really opinionated in a slightly offensive way. The other course (Japanese Culture through the Media) had too many students in it so I will have to try to take it next semester.
On Thursday I attended 2 more and they are the ones that I am going to stick with. The first is International Relations and Japanese Diplomacy (exploring world issues and Japan's role in global politics). The other is Japanese Culture and Art (studying the culture of traditional Japan and the influence it had on art). The instructors of these 2 courses are both really interesting Japanese men who have had several unique careers/ experiences before coming to NUFS.
I also attended the club fair on Wednesday and I'm going to join the hiking club!! I'm so excited! They're planning 2 day hikes this semester, one in May and one in June. All the members are really welcoming and even want to help us go shopping in Nagoya for hiking shoes!
On Thursday there was a meeting for people who want to "work" as language tutors in various language lounges during lunch hour. The pay is about $10 per hour to talk with Japanese students in the designated language and help them with questions about it. I may be able to work in the Spanish language lounge (once a week) and the French language lounge (3 times a week)! How cool would that be?
Anyways, I must hit the books now!
Have a good weekend!