bananaTALK

Oh wow! What a week. I arrived in Tsukuba-shi (city) last Friday. It was raining and cold. And heavy (due to the luggage). Very tired, very surprised (“This is the room???”), and depressed. But thankfully I got over it after a night’s sleep. And a huge help from my tutor who took me to shopping mall the next day. Blanket, futon, sheet, curtain, everything.

Day 3, I got plenty of time to spent around the Tsukuba University. Masya Allah, this university is huge! Well, actually it’s not really ‘around’. I got lost but I thought “Oh well, just keep walking.” So there I was, walking from 9 AM to 3 PM haha…

Then office days. All paper work and orientations (plural, yes). Bear it. You’re a foreign student. Do whatever it is necessary to keep your residency legal. During the days, I met new friends, got more chance to stroll around the university, got lost again many times (I have no built-in GPS or good spatial skill).

Next Monday, the Japanese language intensive course begins. It will be from morning 8.40 AM to afternoon 3 PM (pretty much like middle school students in Indonesia), from October 2015 to February 2016. At the end of this course, we were expected to master at least 100 kanji characters and able to present our country in Japanese language. Voila!

My first impression of the city is GREEN! Forest green, as if we have more trees than campus facilities. Well, if you check the map of Tsukuba Daigaku, the green area IS vast. Next, crickets! You know how sometimes it’s deafening when it’s too quiet? Pretty much like that. Feels more like a village in Indonesia rather than a science city. But of course the motion sensors and automatic doors and the many buttons at toilet seat give it away.

I’m making peace with my room, now. Trying to make it more comfortable. And I think it’s working because now I can say, “I wanna go back to my room…”. Sure, the warm blanket is a strong reason.

*I’m writing this while listening to boom-boom sound from afar, which I believe Tsuchiura, another city to the east of Tsukuba, where all-Japan firework competition is held every first Saturday of October annually. Yes, next city. Imagine that 😀 *