SCHOOL LIFE: Friday, October 1st

 Today was the first day of the semester at the University of Hyogo. A sudden spike in the temperature outside brought a brief reminder of the scorching days of summer, just a day after the sky was overcast with the face of autumn. The relatively hot weather made things feel even more the same as when school left out for the two month summer break in late July.

 I have not decided entirely on what classes to take, and so far the only class on Fridays that holds any interest is "European History: A General Outline", a class in Japanese intended for Japanese students. While I will, of course, refrain from describing what is learned in this class (unless it appears to be a uniquely Japanese take on studying the West), it does provide good Japanese language experience. Today was just an introduction to the course, and relatively few students showed up. The ones that did were mostly male students, and rather bookish ones at that. As the University of Hyogo hands out economic and business degrees, it comes as no surprise that fewer students are willing to put time into historical studies. The number of students stands to increase, however, which happens in many Japanese courses. One thing I found interesting about the class was that the professor explained that if you attend every class, you can theoretically fail every exam in the course and still receive credit. On the other hand, if you pass every exam you only need to attend 60 percent of classes throughout the semester. This adds to the notion that Japanese colleges often operate on a very lenient system.

 As I will not have all the classes I am taking finalized till around the end of next week. Classes do not need to be registered until October 13th, so students are generally free to go in and out of classes for the first week or two of the semester. If I end up taking any more classes on Fridays I will be sure to post about them.

 In other news, I am being interviewed for a part-time job tomorrow at a restaurant in the Akashi area (refer to older post about Akashi). The job looks like a hectic one, and with a language barrier and lack of related work experience it might be hard to pull. If I fail the interview I will be sure to keep looking for a job that will provide a challenge in speaking and learning Japanese, as well as giving an insight into the Japanese work experience. While I gave no mention of finding a part time job until now, I will treat it the same as any other cultural study I have done in the past, and is done with no intent of doing it to receive special credit outside of what has been designated in the learning contract.