Day 149, 150 and 151: EXAM OVERLOAD!

Friday 3rd of July
We had the day off from Uni! :D But the whole day went to do my Global Mindset-presentation... While everyone in Norway are enjoying their vacation, I'm doing my exams xD I'm writing about trends in tourism. We are 4 in the group; me and 3 japanese students. So I'm writing about tourism in Japan and they are writing about tourism in Norway. I'm finished with the powerpoint, but my "manuscript" is not done yet. As a group we're having a meeting on wednesday, and everyone is suppossed to be done by then. Let's see how it turns out~ Jimmy and I went to Shinjuku to get some information about working visa etc, but they couldn't really help us, haha. So we crashed in Shinjuku for lunch and a little bit of shopping!
Saturday 4 th of July
Lol, overslept soo bad xD Haha! Did some more exam-stuff, soooo boring! But it needs to be done, lol. Jimmy and I made taco! Yummm <3 Reminds me soooo much of Norway! 

Then I had my English tutoring from 18-20 before going back to Jimmy.
Sunday 5th of July
Jimmy had his JLPT-test in Meidaimae 12:30, so we took the train together because that's the train that goes to my home. So when I got home I made banana-cookies!

They are only made from bananas, peanutbutter and oats ^_^ So chewy and yummy! 
Then I went jogging for 1 hour~

It started to rain a little at the end, but it was ok ^_^ Then I made dinner, ate, took a shower, did some random stuff on the pc, cleaned my room, washed clothes and that's about it...Ah! I also made dinner for tomorrow ^^ Because I have many hours at Uni before work, I make dinner beforehand so I don't have to buy and eat unhealthy food. So I made chicken with carrots and pumpkin.

Day 66 and 67: BBQ, House Party and Residence Card

Hello!

Sunday 12th of April

So today I have been doing a lot! First I was invited to a BBQ-party by my Japanese friend Hiro. The BBQ was in Toneri Park which is 50 minutes from Jimmy's place. Jimmy had other plans so he didn't join but he was so kind to take the bus with me ^_^ So we took the bus to the Nippon station, and then I took the train to Tonerikoen. 

I was there 11:00 and Hiro and Yuki met me at the station. At first there were only Japanese people there, so I had to socialize through Japanese. It went great actually :) I was at the grill, making sure that the food turned out great, haha! Later two german guys showed up and before everyone left they wanted to be take pictures with them. When they suddenly started to lift people when they were having their picture taken, everyone wanted to be lifted! Haha, it must have been tiring for them :P 

Just getting the grill warm:

We grilled many types of meat, vegetables and seafood:

It was suuper good! When you stand around the grill you end up eating all the time xD

 Everyone:

It was so much fun! :D After the BBQ many were going to continue partying, but I had my own party at the house so I had to get home. After about 1.5 hours traintrip I was finally back at the house and people were busy making amazing food!

I ate too much at the BBQ so I only ate a little bit to taste. Such a shame, so much good food! I felt bad for not making anything, but there were enough food for everyone :) I bought some snacks, and others even bough dessert such as pudding, cookies and ice cream <3 

 Chicken!!

This is during the self introduction. We showed three pictures and talked a little about our self and where we're from etc. 

 So, here's everyone that attended the party:
Thank you for being awesome people!

Even if I was tired from the BBQ, I still had an awesome time at the party! Too bad it's school early tomorrow...  I hope we can have more parties at the house <3

Monday 13th of April

So today I had two classes: Japanese Langugage and Society and Japanese 4A. The first one is english class and it seems interesting, but it may be a little hard. In this class we're going to learn about many aspects of the Japanese language: origin, sentence structure, dialects etc. Not only is the subject difficult, but the english used in class is pretty complex itself. At least I think so, but that may be because english is my second language. I'll have to study hard :)

The next class was Japanese, and we had a vocabulary test. I though it was going to be serious test, but it was only for ourself. Either way, I got a 10/10, haha. Today I understand all we did in class, which was very nice, because it's easy to be discouraged. Now it's "only" to remember it :P I have another test on wednesday, both vocabulary and grammar. So I need to study~

After class I went to Shinagawa because I got my letter from the Tokyo Immigration Bureau. I know that Monday and Friday may be crowded, but since it was raining like hell, I though it would be ok. But I was wrong (...again), it took 3,5 hours... At least I got to do my homework! So now I finally have my residence card <3

 YAY!

Totally empty for energy I met Jimmy in Shinjuku and after a loooong hug everything was fine ^_^ It's weird how someone you love can give you so much energy? But you can't survuve on that so we went out to eat, haha! <3 And sometimes you just need hot chocolate!

Tomorrow I'm eating sushi with Anika, my new friend :)

じゃ、またね！

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Day 62 and 63: First Japanese Class and study group

Hello!

Wednesday 8th of April

So today I had my first proper day at TMU! Yay! Too bad it was soooo cold!!

But before I got that far I was late for school, haha! Since I take the same japanese class as 3 other at the Share Place we took the train together, but we somehow messed up. We took the wrong type of train, got off, but then we should have stayed on either way because the next train didn't go far enough... Yeah..

The fact that it was raining a lot and later snowing didn't help the situation... After finally getting to class we were 20 minutes late! Opss...

So first period is from 08:50 to 10:20 and today it's Japanese 4D. The teacher kind of scared me, because she was going so fast in class! That may be more of an issue for me, because I'm the one with the least amount of Japanese skills. We didn't have much time to think before anwering, and she decided who to answer next. A good thing is that we're not many in hte class, but it's no fun being called out to answer when you feel you need more time. It's a good thing to be pushed, because it forces you to pay attention and to try, but sometimes it can be a little uncomfortable. We went over many tasks and it seemed she didn't get to finish everything before the class ended (actually 10 min. over). So after the class, was a new Japabese class: 4E. I was thinking how this is going to go if every class is going to be this stressed. But for my relief the next class was a lot better! The teacher was calm, used her body language to explain (and a little english!) and we repeated the examples together and I really feel I had enough time to think. Luckely, we're having her 2 out of 3 classes :)

While having our lunch break for one hour we started on our homework :) I though I was going home, but  the others were going to a third class, that is not connected to the other two (D,E and A is connected). So I decided to join. This one was a talking lesson, because we got paired up 2 and 2, and then talked with a japanese person. But it was a little weird, because I didn't learn anything.. If you're going to learn through talking you need someone to correct you. But this didn't happen, and I KNOW I said a lot wrong... So I don't know if I'll join that class for credits...

After third period I went back to home and I was very tired! I did some more homework, and made some notes. Jimmy was so nice to keep me ompany while doing my homework ^_^

Urgh...So messy!

 Should probably write in hiragana to practice, but...oh well..

Some of my homeworks:

Since some of us don't have classes tomorrow we decided to have a study group tomorrow at 10:00 :) That I won't get too lazy~

Thursday 9th of April

Hello!
So today I was SOOOOO tired! Had some crazy nightmares.. But I still got up for our study group. Ate some breakfast and did some homework :)

This is the reading practise where you talk to a person on the other side of the room:

 This is actually a picture after studying for 2 hours, and I was about to take a nap. That's why my cute things are all neat and stuff. I got to do almost all my homework, I think I have 3 more tasks to do. I also need to study vocabulary for my test on monday!

Then I took a 2 hour nap, which was a very bad decicion... I was even more tired when I woke up. I tried to do some more Japanese tasks, but my brain didn't function properly... So after being braindead I decided to use my body instead and exercise :) I went for a jog which lasted about 50 minutes. I took some cute pictures along the way:

After jogging and taking a shower I met Jimmy at the station. We bought some dinner, cooked that and watched Supernatural in the teather room

Tomorrow I have 2 classes that are 4,5 hours apart...yay... 2nd period is Sustainable studies and 5th persiod is Social change in Japan. So between this classes I'm going to get a library card, which my mentor is going to help me with, and I'm having a health chech-up! Later we're going to have a party at the school, which actually collides with the 5th period....yeah....haha!

じゃ、またね！
*ビッキー* 

Day 56 and 57: Moving out and First day at TMU

Hello!

Thursday 2nd of April

So today I had everything packed and was ready for inspection from one of the staff members. It went fairly quickly because everything was in order. The only "problem" was all my luggage! All of the luggage in the picture is mine (except the boxes to the left). I actually had to borrow Jimmy's blue suitcase to fit all my stuff....Done a little too much shopping? I think so too... Jimmy had to come with me because he helped me with my luggage. He's way too nice. I actually had to let a few things stay with Steffi, haha. 

 Either way, with some pain on the way we managed to take 3 different trains to Seiseki Sakuraoka station and meet up with the others. They were students that are attending SATOMU: Semester Abroad at Tokyo Metropolitan University which is going to live in the same Share Place as me. We ate lunch on the way before coming to the house.

This is how it looks on the outside:

This is from the hills:

We got some papers to fill out, got to know the rules, got keycards, saw the building and where everything was etc. After that we could finally put our stuff into our rooms. This is how my room is:

 I really like it! It's awesome :D The neighborhood is very beautiful:

We later went to Daiso and the supermarket to buy some stuff we need. I bought some cloth hangers, boxes, slippers etc and breakfast for tomorrow:) We also bought Japanese curry and made that for everyone. It was very good!

After dinner we stayed in the kitchen and talked. Many new faces showed up and we got to know them as well :) Everyone speaks (at least a little) Japanese, so that's making it easier for everyone too.
I was one of the first to go to bed because I was so tired. I managed to clean a little while skyping with Jimmy before going to bed at 22:00.

Friday 3rd of April

So I woke up very early, around 7:00... I was tired but couldn't fall back to sleep. So I got up, took a shower, got dressed and headed to the kitchen to eat breakfast. 

While being in the kitchen I ended up chatting with some of the other residents there (that's not SATOMU). It's a good way of speaking Japanese, even though I have to ask or say something in english. After eating I continued to clean my room and studied some Japanese. Then I met up with some of the others to eat lunch near the station:

 Then we met up with some of the others that didn't join us, to go to the University. At the university we met up with other SATOMU students that live different places. IT WAS SO WINDY!!! 

 Here are all the SATOMU students

I talked to some of the other students, but as far as I know I'm the only one from Norway. Everyone seem to be nice so I think we'll work well together. I especially talked with a Japanese girl, she was way too cute! 

We then got inside and this was my "seat" with a student card and information. We were here around 14:30.

It was a lot of different information that took a while. We then got a break before taking our Japanese test at 17:00. I got my very one tutor! Everyone got one, so that's very nice. The tutor is a regular student that is going to help you. It can be practicing Japanese, or maybe you have questions about school or certain topics. When it was breaktime we went to Subway to eat lunch. We then went back and I got ready for the test. My tutor went home at this point, but e added each other on Line, so communication will go smoother. I have NEVER taken any type of Japanese test, so I though it was hard enough to understand what to do, haha!!! But I wanted to try the N4 lever which is the next lowest one. (N5 is the lowest). I though it was difficult, because I haven't really been studying properly... But I actually got 45% correct! Too bad I need 70% to actually take N4 level~ So either way: I'm taking the lowest level with around 6 others. 3 students didn't take the test because they can't any Japanese, but 2 others took the same test as me, but scored lower. So I'm a little motived by being the best of the worst, hahha!! No, I'm just kidding. But I really hope I'll be able to try to get on a higher level soon. Now it's really time to study!   After the test the others went back to the house while I took the train to meet Jimmy :) Tomorrow I'm meeting Steffi and we're going to have fun at the Omori House :)

じゃ、またね！
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