First day of SANC

We had our orientation today. Met up in the Shinagawa Prince Hotel lobby at 9 AM, with faces both old and new. We then took a bus (and I'm ever-so-fucking-thankful that we didn't have to drag our suitcases through the subway system) to our apartment building. Technically, our building is in Shibuya, I believe, but it's at this intersection of three different areas, and the closest subway station is Nishi Shinjuku (meaning West Shinjuku).

I was astounded by how nice the apartments are. Full-sized beds, closets, desks, microwaves, stoves, fridges, freezers, bathrooms... all kinds of little comforts like tea kettles, pots, pans, dishes, utensils and even toothbrush cups. Basically, these rooms are fully livable. I took a bunch of pictures, only to realize that I left my camera USB cord at home. However, I'll link you now to another blog post that has some images of a more-or-less identical room. Those windows in the back, with the curtains, lead to a fucking balcony. Hot damn.

The teachers took us to the building where we take our classes, about a 5-10 minute walk from Shibuya station. We had a brief orientation, followed by a placement exam that all four of us advanced students agreed was rather difficult. However, the exam doesn't really determine our placement so much as it does the areas on which we need to work in our classes. We also met with our classes' teachers to talk a little bit about the curriculum and to get our first assignments. For Monday, we have to read two articles about the Akihabara Massacre.

Later that evening, the teachers took us out to dinner, where we met with some Japanese "buddies." Basically, we got to chat and laugh with a bunch of pretty cool 日本人 while ordering all the Italian food we could eat. Awesome. We now have lots of numbers and e-mail addresses of authentic Japanese people, in case we want to meet up with them later. Mostly, they were Tokyo University students, but there were a few in the workforce. My buddy (damn, that is a lame term) was a girl working at JP Morgan.

There's a strict Japanese-only language pledge, which is supposed to apply both in class and out. We try to observe it when we can, but, amongst ourselves, it proves to be rather difficult to maintain, especially given the varying levels of language proficiency.

I single-handedly managed to convince 7 of the 12 other students to go out clubbing tonight--I went door-to-door to see, individually, whether each person was interested, because we couldn't seem to come to any consensus as a group while we were walking back home. We ended up having a great time in Roppongi, but my desire to stay out all night was sadly overruled. Hopefully, we'll hit up the 'til-dawn party scene on Saturday.

Michael, my roommate from last summer's Tokyo adventures, sent me an e-mail. Apparently the Whiffenpoofs are already in town. Should be good times.

But tomorrow... tomorrow is the Night of Meat. May all the gods of Japan bless Dad's friend and colleague Mark, who has gone out of his way to ensure that I get my fill of perfectly grilled cow flesh, and not chopped up into itty-bitty Japanese-sized pieces. More on that, later.

P.S. Freddie: walking back home at 1 in the morning, we saw an adorable white poodle-like dog. I didn't get a good look, but it reminded me of you. Hope you're doing well and taking good care of the rest of the family!