flumpool!

I just came back from Budokan where I listened to a flumpool concert! My tension is high!!!

For a band that only had their major debut last year, filling the whole concert venue two evenings in a row is really something! (90% of the guests were girls, it seemed. xD)
Of course, they still need to improve a lot, like Ryuta's microphone interaction, but wow!
I ended up buying the jacket and a T-shirt and a wrist band and their pamphlet. Now I'm broke for this month. ^^;
But wow, really! It's actually the first time I was able to see a band I really like live, as I mostly only listen to Japanese music and most of the artists I like don't come to Europe. Speaking of that, I must, must, must get tickets for the Garnet Crow tour! The one for next month is already sold out (anyone wants to offer me a ticket?), but they'll have another one in February! 10th Anniversary! I MUST go, no matter what it takes.

Anyway, flumpool are awesome! The members interacted really well, Ryuta was cute as ever <3 and their songs become better and better (frame <3). Plus, they announced an album that will be released exactly two months from today. (Christmas present, anyone?) I wonder if I should go to their next tour as well - there's even a date on my birthday. Who knows when I'll have the chance to see them again?!

So, everyone, check them out at youtube! Buy their new, first full album, "What's flumpool?", on December 23!
Good night!

また今度！

I think when Japanese people say "Mata kondo!", it actually means the same "I'll call you!" means in English (or German) - especially between girls and guys, maybe.

Mata kondo また今度 means "some other time" and is used as a phrase when you want to express you'll see someone again some other time or do something some other time.
My textbook (the infamous Minna no Nihongo - このスプーン、素敵ですね！) came with a video where a guy calls a woman and asks for a date, but she's "busy", so she politely declines and says: "Mata kondo onegai shimasu" (Please ask me again some other time.)

Well, I think you can see why I'm writing this. ^^;

Shopping!

Today I went to Shibuya to get new shoes, because of the two pairs I brought here (3 if I could the jogging shoes my parents sent me last week), one broke (my favourite shoes! NOOOOOOOO! ;___;) and one started to smell funny.
I ended up buying a pair of black pumps for 6.000 Yen something in Shibuya 109. It's an okay price, and they were one of the few pairs "Made in Japan" and not in Cambodia or some other country where they make poor kids produce luxury goods for rich foreigners. (I'm not rich, but by their standards...)
Here's a pic:
I especially like that they're not that high-heeled, as I am tiny for a German girl, but average for Japanese standards, so I don't want to stick out that much. (And not be bigger than the guys. XD)

Then I got a perfume from Kenzo, "Sapphire Candy", a Japan-exclusive version. I'm really not into brands, but I needed a new perfume and I liked the smell. It was around 5.000 Yen which I thought was okay.

Now I will eat my baguette which I bought on the way back home (there are two French bakeries near the train station, but no German one! Well, I can't afford to eat much of that bread anyway. ^^;)

Taifun!

A Taifun will come to Tokyo tomorrow. I find that interesting for some reason. ^^; And maybe we'll have no classes!
I need time to learn, I have 5 tests next week!!!!!!! >____<

The funny thing is, on Tuesday we "learned" (or in my case refreshed) the kanji for Taifuu (台風) xD

On the brighter site, I talked a bit to my new classmates (in English/Japanese) and everyone seems nice. :)

First month, start of university

Sorry for not updating in ages!
I have been really busy with getting to know the area, making Japanese friends and since last week with the start of classes!

Since my last post, I have visited Odawara, a place in Kanagawa prefecture with a really nice castle, and Odaiba, an artificial island in the Tokyo bay that has lots of shopping opportunities and is known as a dating spot (I went with a huge group of Waseda people, though, but I made a new friend during the time there.)

Last Monday, classes have started, and that's when chaos came upon me. What happened, you may ask? Well, of course, the start of a new semester is almost always hectic, especially at a new university, but I would say my case is especially bad.
According to the placement test they made us some time ago, I got placed into level 6 out of 8. For someone who has only been studying Japanese for 2 years, that's really high, right?
... Turns out it was way too high. ^^; At the first day of classes, I had really huge problems with the test that was supposed to check if we were right in the assigned level. Turns out I wasn't, after all. I expected that, but still it was quite cruel to realize that. Especially since everyone asked me for my level and I had to say 6, so now when they ask me how level 6 is, I have to admit I went down.
Which is what I did. Went down in the level, I mean. At first, I thought of going to level 5, but even there I came across a lot of grammar and kanji I haven't learned so far. And after a lot of consultations with the nice Sensei's, it turned out that level 4 was more or less preparing students for the Japanese Language Profiency Test Level 2, which is what I wanted to take next year anyway.
So now I changed my core class to level 4, as well as all of the electives like writing, reading or Kanji, and will take listening and speaking in level 5, as I tend to be better there.
The problem with my core class was that the one for Bekka students (Bekka = programme for foreign students who study only Japanese for a year, as opposed to e.g. SILS, which means you take Japanese classes and English lectures) was full already, so they put me into a normal undergraduate class which has the same schedule, but... I am the only non-Asian in the whole class. The coordinator was worried if he should put me in there because "everyone there is really young, around 20, whereas Bekka students tend to be older". As I am twenty as well, I don't mind their ages, but in the breaks, everyone speaks Chinese or Korean. >____< I still hope I can make some friends, and if not - well, I must remember to bring a good book. :)

Unfortunately, due to this organisational problem, I missed many of the first classes, like for reading level 4. I have until next week to change my electives, but I am a bit worried I won't get the mandatory sign of the teacher because I didn't attend the first class (which I couldn't, as I sat in level 6.)

So, future Waseda exchange students: If you happen to be unsure about your level, try to go to the office as soon as possible, and ask them for the check test for the level.
If, like me, the only Japanese you have learned before coming here (apart from obscure drama vocabulary) is Minna no Nihongo volume 1 & 2, you might also be most comfortable with level 4.

And now excuse me, I need to unpack the stuff I bought at the 100 Yen shop and do some more homework. ^^;

Cell phones

Yesterday, I went out to get a cell phone, and after I talked about one hour to the sales guy, I was this close to buying one, but then couldn't because I don't have a credit card or a Japanese bank account. So I'm going to open one tomorrow, if I can. Actually, I was surprised how well I managed the whole cell phone thing, because, as opposed to Softbank, au doesn't have any English speaking sales person. But it still worked somehow, and I'll even get the very phone I wanted, namely this one:
http://www.au.kddi.com/english/product/lineup/k001/index.html
(I know it says it's for kids, but the good thing is, I can let them lock the internet so that I don't press any Japanese button I can't read by accident and pay like a zillion yen for internet. I can still send mails, though. <3)

You might ask yourself why I got to the trouble of an au phone when Softbank is so much easier?
Well... I must confess, I'm a total fan of Arashi, and they're in the au commercial. No, really, I just wanted to test my Japanese abilities. ... Okay, I confess, it's for Arashi, and for the cute phone. ^^;
And you know what? One of the two sales guys I had totally looked like Nino from Arashi!!! (Too bad not like MatsuJun. xD)
For those of you who don't know them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVadJs80lpU
(Nino is the "big" guy in the end.)

So, enough for today, I need to be fit tomorrow! Good night!

First impressions

I have finally gotten a fitting plug for my laptop, so here are you updates! (By the way, the shop assistant at the eletronics store was super helpful and went out of his way to make sure the plug would be okay. That's much more service than I am used to from Germany.)

Okay, first things first:
I got picked up at the airport with some other people who arrived at the same time, and we took the bus together to Shinjuku. There were more people waiting, and each of us new students was brought to our respective dorms by three (!) Japanese students. "Mine" were two really cute and nice girls and a guy who even carried my suitcase. (Why don't German guys don't do that???)

The first thing I saw when I got out of the bus was... a vending machine. I suspect there are more vending machines in Japan than people - but they're sooo handy! There's one right next to my dorm's entrance, and another few a bit farther away. I like the one that sells Dr. Pepper Cola. xD

My dorm is quite okay. The room I got is probably one of the biggest I could have gotten, and the only two toilets and showers per floor were totally okay until now. But not everyone has arrived yet, so maybe that might become a problem later. Especially since everyone's classes start at the same time. ^^;

My fellow exchange students are mostly nice, as far as I talked to them. I still try not to do that much with them, as I want t0 improve my Japanese and not my English! (Although most of them are not native English speakers either, so my English might even get worse. ^^;) Some of them can't even speak Japanese because they're here for some other programs. I like them, so I might do something with them once in a while, but it should not become a habit, I guess.
In my dorm, there are two really nice Korean girls with who I went to a nearby shrine festival last night. (Unfortunately, it rained cats and dogs. >___<) One speaks English fluently, and the other one is not bad either, but when it's the three of us, we usually speak Japanese, so that's much better.

Oh, I've had some cockroaches already! One is probably the same that keeps coming out at the lobby of building three (I'm in building 5), and we called it Gocchan (from gokiburi = cockroach xD) The other one fell out of my laundry after I took it out of the washing machine, so either it had been in there or in my laundry (ew!), but it probably didn't survive the washing (or my stepping onto it by accident ^^;)

Today, I have been to Shinjuku main statio and the shopping area around it again (I've been there on Friday for a while to get my alien card) and bought a nice shirt and the Best album of Kuraki Mai. (I was not sure whether to buy it because best albums are a bit... pointless in my eyes, but they had a huge poster of her at Tower Records and a stand where you could get stuff for free if you bought the CD, so I bought it and got stickers and a clearfile. <3 I can put my tons of material in there, but I guess it's too much. There's LOADS of information they want us to know, and still a lot more to come up.)

I still have to do some organizational stuff at university, like my Japanese placement test tomorrow, registration for classes and what not, and other stuff like opening a bank account and, most importantly, getting a cell phone. It's tough without a cell phone!!! I want to contact people, but I can't.

Well, I don't know what to write anymore, and I don't have many pics to upload yet, so I'll update again later. :)