平成19年9月28日金曜日

I'm sleepy

Well, I just got back from the VA Tech and UVA soccer game, and I almost forgot about this blog thingy. The game ended in a 1-1 tie, but it was intense, and I don't even know all of the rules of soccer. I've realized though that although the Blue Route is correct to get back from Klockner to O-Hill, one bus goes all the way to Barracks, tracks back to the stadium, then progresses to O-Hill in a timely fashion of approximately 35 minutes, while the other Blue Route bus directly goes back to Grounds. Anyways, now I'm too tired to go partying, although the time is prime as the football game is not at noon this time. Anyways to the actual Japanese portion of this entry... Today, I completely bombed the vocab quiz, leaving blanks and making stuff up, but on my own fault. I neglected to study for it as much as I normally would do, opting to prepare more for Physics and Multivar Calculus after completely failing (not really, but I didn't do well) on the tests. I do like Physic's 25 point grading scale though (i.e.: 75 = A-, 50=B-, etc.). In the end, I figured that quizzes and tests were not commonplace in those classes, so sacrificing one Japanese quiz was justified. I will, however, try to study more Japanese over the weekend so as to not fall behind. I did go to the Chapter 3 review session, and I found it extremely useful. It really helped me with word order (and how to arrange a sentence in such a way to emphasize certain points) and particle usage. It also broke down the differences between "iku" and "kuru" really well. At this point, I feel more comfortable with Chapter 3, despite a stumbling start on the quiz. Perhaps the misfortune that was Chapter 2 will not repeat itself. Nevertheless, I am still enjoying Japanese class, and I am especially looking forward to this weekend. Well, it's still early... perhaps I will go out.

平成19年9月21日金曜日

Japanese....is so fun...

Seriously, I have full intention of typing a Japanese entry one day...that is to say once I feel as if I know enough material to do so. Anyways, Japanese class has been interesting to say the least. The amount of work and preparation required continues to pile up as its magnitude escalates. It also seems to be getting more intense, confusing, and just plain hard overall. I just seem to have a penchant for failing, or at least not succeeding well. It would seem as if it is almost a physical impossibility to excel without prior exposure to the language, which I lack yet about half or more of the class has. As the class has progressed, I seem to be spending more and more time on Japanese, and the work is simply completely disproportional to any other class (although Multivariable Calculus is somewhere up there as well, but still not as much). The effort that is put through, however, is not exactly translated to success. There just seems to always be something wrong. At this point, I can either just stop trying or try to the point of exhaustion. Neither are good, but the status quo isn't too hot as well. I guess that only time will tell.... (But the class is still nevertheless fun and enjoyable, albeit intense with a lot of other stuff)

平成19年9月13日木曜日

First Blog Post

I have never blogged before, and I never thought that I would have, but I guess that now is as good a time as any. Anyways, I'm currently a 1st Year student at the University of Virginia taking First Year Japanese. I must say that the magnitude of work in that class is extreme, although it is manageable. It certainly does exceed all of the work in all of my other classes (ENWR 110, PHYS 151, and MATH 231) combined, however. Nevertheless, it is definitely worthwhile (besides, it is too late to drop now jk), and hopefully, it will be rewarding. It is hard work, but I don't seriously mind although I do sometimes wish that there was less. Some days are better than others though, so I guess it evens out. Overall, though, I must say that Japanese is my most enriching class thus far, and it can be fun sometimes once one searches past all of the work, but the class just seems to move at a brisk lightning-fast pace. So today I went to the East Asian Major/Minor session thingy, and it was interesting, albeit short. I mean, it was good, although I did think that Wilson-san was a little soft-spoken. Even so, it was very informative. Umm, what else is there to say? Well.... can't think of anything. Oh well. I guess that means that I'm done then.