First Semester

Oh wow, 3 posts in a week. Maybe I like the internet too much. Anyways, since I am new to UVA and college in general, I have had to adjust to my new, independent life. For one thing, I had to figure out where to go since classes are scattered across many buildings unlike high school. I carried around a map for the first week just in case I got lost. Thankfully, I never had to pull it out and moving around Grounds has become pretty routine.

As for the classes themselves, the biggest hurdle has been getting used to the lecture classes. I for one can say I hate lectures. For some reason, I have the hardest time staying awake in them. To stay awake, I usually do my JAPN101 homework while I listen to the professors teach ASTR124 and CHEM 141L lecture. I figure that since I know most of the stuff already (I’m a big science nerd) that doing that should not adversely affect my grade. The sad thing though is that since I specialize in science, it would be safe to assume that I would like those 2 classes but that is just not the case. My favorite class is actually JAPN101 despite it being my most difficult class. Maybe its the small class size and interaction that makes it my favorite class. I mean, I actually KNOW people in there.

Speaking of JAPN101, the hardest thing about Lesson 2 is katakana. Reading it is fine and I can usually figure out what the English equivalent is. On the other hand, transcribing English words into katakana is a mixed bag. Words such as cake and heart are easy since I tend to hear those a lot in anime and music. Other words like reversible and elephant I don’t ever remember hearing so it can be tricky at times. On the bright side, learning katakana formation seems like a useful skill to know. On a side note, Kappa-san and I actually studied katakana last night while playing DDR. If anyone else wants to play, feel free to ask Kappa-san if you can come. I hope you come next time Basque-san.