there's finally time for a blog post.... 

Alright, I made this blog like a week ago and this is my first post in it. My family has been asking and asking for the link to this blog, and my answer always is "well here is the link, but nothing is really there yet...."

Most likely, only a few people will read this blog but I will do my best to tell a good story of my time in Japan!

But let's start of with some Jikoshoukai, ne? (Self Introduction)

I'm currently in Osaka, Japan, from June 3rd to the the end of July. I'm a Japanese/Economics major coming from The Ohio State University, and I'm currently studying Japanese through the CET Academic Programs. I'm a temporary student as Osaka Gakuin Daigaku, and I'm in class about 4 hours a day 5 times a week studying Japanese.

And I can only speak in Japanese. 

Yeah... that's the tough part. The truth is, even this blog is probably pushing it, but I think writing is going to be okay. The real tough part of this program is that we all take a language pledge to only speak Japanese while we are here. It's really tough, sometimes frustrating, but we're all definitely getting better at our Japanese! Though sometimes I feel pretty mute. But, I put my hand on a dictionary and pledged that I would do it, so... がんばります！（I'll do my best!).

The program works like this: When we arrive in Osaka, we are settled into apartments with Japanese students who usually don't know much English at all. We take a placement test the second day of the program and then we pretty much get punched in the face with Japanese. 

Ahhh, that placement test. 

It was a written test and then also an oral exam. To give you an idea of my background, at Ohio State, we pretty much use Japanese: The Spoken Language and JWL: The Written Language.

If anyone is familiar with these books, I'm sure you can sense the upcoming problem.

These books are pretty good. JSL (Japanese the Written Language) is extremely strong in teaching students how to *speak* fluently and we study quite a bit of keigo.

However, with the emphasis on keigo, there are many simpler grammar points that many students learn way before JSL students would. Also, through the JSL program, we aren't really hit with much kanji. In fact, you could complete the entire JWL (writing) book and only learn about 400 kanji.

CET expects me to learn 800 kanji in two months. That's 100 kanji a week...Hah. Excuse me while I cry in the corner. 

That paper is my homework for the week. And the inside of the textbook CET uses (Tobira).

Look at these books... I think I'm still going to reference JSL for grammar points because they have so many "Drill" exercises...

Well the writing/reading part of that placement test. Haha. Well I am truly amazed I got into the 3rd year level with that. I think it must have been because of the Oral Test, which went very well.

Hopefully I'll be able to catch up soon!

In the mean time, outside of class, there's this whole living in a Japanese apartment thing.

Well. 

Here's some pictures.

This is our little toilet room.. .
With a Rilakkuma rug! 

This is our super itty bitty kitchen.
No stove or washing machine.
But, we can make food and coffee in here,
so it's alright!

This is my bed! My roommate has
matching sheets and things.
 The screen on the right separates the two beds...
That's kind of it for space.

This is our bathroom with a tub /shower and sink.
There's a switch to change the water
from the sink to the showerhead.

And our cute little fridge! It's filled with food. My roommate can actually cook so we've been eating pretty well!
Look at all those vegetables. 

I don't know if it's truly clear from these pictures, but my apartment is very small. I've been in the other students apartments, and I'm pretty sure my apartment is the absolute smallest. Well... I'm in Japan so I guess everything is smaller! 

Sorry this blog post is kind of scatterbrained. So much has happened in this week that I had so much to talk about! I look forward to making more blog posts that will hopefully be interesting!

I'm thinking about posting things like
* living with a Japanese university student
* trying to cook Japanese food in a kitchen the size of a closet
* Osaka Gakuin Daigaku campus and social life!
* CET classes
* adventures in Osaka!!!