Recap

I realize that I have a lot to say for myself. And I'll get there. I've got a 3-step plan worked out:

Step 1: This post will cover the last week of classes and such, up until Friday night.
Step 2: The next post will cover Saturday night, a night that will live on in infamy until the end of days, as well as today, Sunday, which was also pretty decent.
Step 3: I'll give myself a week to stew over my many experiences in Japan and to try and come up with some poignant closing remarks. Then I will post them.

I actually got all kinds of shit done this week, starting on Sunday, when I had a little Grace Church School reunion. I already mentioned that my Japanese friend from GCS, Sakura, came to see fireworks with us. Well, another friend, David, has been interning here all summer at Apple, and a final Japanese friend, Mimi, just flew in last week for vacation. I hadn't seen David or Mimi in roughly a year. We struggled to find a large locker for Mimi's suitcases in Shibuya (her flight was delayed, so she came to meet us directly) and grabbed dinner at some trendy organic-fusion-something place called the Bio Cafe. The air was thick with nostalgia. And then we did purikura.

Believe me, I understand that no one but Japanese girls should engage in that sort of activity. But there was no resisting it.

Tuesday, I believe, was the night of the Yale Club party. A bunch of us went to the Rolling Stones Cafe in Roppongi, where we met with Yale interns and alums alike and had our free eats and drinks. I also got to see the inestimable Engin Yenidunya, President of the Yale Club of Tokyo. Engin is, in short, the man. He's been working in Tokyo for the past four years, although he originally intended to stay for only one month. He's met 1700 people, by his count, in that time, and he even has a Japanese girlfriend. What's more, if you need to know anything about parties, clubs, concerts or fun in Tokyo, he's the guy to ask. He enthusiastically recommended that I go to Ageha at some point during my last weekend. In addition, he offered to join me in doing Geronimo's' 15-shot Hall of Fame challenge. He'd done it 12 times already, and it's pretty easy to find his plaques on the bar's walls. We made tentative plans to do it Friday, after my exam.

If I have my chronology right, Wednesday was when I met up with my friend Anya, whom I met last summer. She's a Polish artist who lived in New Haven and has been studying and painting in Tokyo for the last few years. She's supposed to send me a link to some pictures of her work, and I'll share it if she lets me.

Thursday was the day of very little studying for the final exam. I basically spent most of the day reading comics online. All in all, not the most efficient use of time, especially since Friday's test turned out to be an evil beast with twice the power and ferocity of its midterm cousin. Basically, the whole thing was far too long for the time we were allotted, and some of the stuff on which we were tested was just impossible to remember and/or do. Still, I'm not worried.

Unfortunately, Friday night was pretty tame.

Engin couldn't make it to do the 15-shot challenge, so we rainchecked it for Saturday. However, I ended up going to Geronimo's with some people anyway, and I actually drank quite a bit. I bought 2 gin and tonics and 2 shots, but that was hardly the end of it. Geronimo's has a policy whereby a (drunk) patron can hit a big Native American style drum hanging over the bar and thus become obliged to buy everyone in the bar a shot. I got 4 free shots that way that night. I also scored another gin and tonic by helping the manager of the bar get the door open when he was trying to carry in a case of water bottles. General point of advice: always help out a bartender in a pinch.

Then we went one last time to the bar where that one Yalie worked last year, getting a free shot of Jagermeister and a couple more paid drinks.

Seems like a solid foundation for an awesome night, no? But the two people I was with wanted to get home early, so we ended up taking a train back around midnight.

Also, I forgot to pop a hangover pill and awoke with a splitting headache the next morning. At which point I had to get ready to go give a presentation in Japanese.

But we'll get to that day later. I need to finish cleaning up my apartment and packing.