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. ^^;