Last Week In Japan!

Sooooooo. Here we are already. My last week in Japan (again). Although this doesn’t mean forever (as I will most certainly always come back to Japan for some time and may it be for shopping and meeting friends.) I know it’s a cliché to say this, but wow, that did not feel like 5 months AT ALL. The time in Tsukuba was just crazy, but then again, half a year is over so fast especially when you are adapting to a new surrounding. (Although my half year in Bonn was terribly long but that was probably because it was winter -brr- and I didn’t need to adapt since it was a) in Germany and b) I was home every now and then.)

Especially the experience of being a graduate student in Japan was very new to me; last time I was enrolled in university here as only to take Japanese language courses, foreigners majoring in a Japanese university is still quite rare, at least here in Tsukuba. I have to say I really enjoyed Tsukuba although everyone is complaining how there is nothing here. They have no idea. My last university, Tokai, on top of a mountain in Kanagawa prefecture, THERE was nothing. Here is plenty. We have shopping centers (yes, plural!), a load of restaurant, supermarkets, drugstores, everything one needs in daily life and more so I did enjoy having all that in a very close distance to myself.

I did enjoy most of my classes and I even made some really good friends here. I am not sad to leave Tsukuba as not much is holding me here; but I am sad for that one really really good friend I made here. But since she will stay in Japan for quite some time this also might not be the last time we’ll see each other, so far I have met a lot of people again that I’ve met two years ago in Japan. 🙂

Finally received my visa for Korea!! I got a 2-year-student visa as I am enrolled as a graduate student in Korea University too, although I will not graduate from there (there is a limitation to everything, two degrees are already enough work..) I am so excited for Seoul!! This is the first time abroad that I will actually live in a big city. Although I have always been in travel-distance to Tokyo I never lived there (and thank god for that, my worst nightmare..). I did study in Berlin of course but the last years I did mainly study in „rural“ areas like Tokai University (on top of a hill, cannot stress that enough, ON TOP. No bus.), Bonn or Tsukuba so I am so excited to be in Seoul!! I’m also afraid because my Korean is almost non-existent but well… it will work somehow. Has to, right?

So now that I have my visa I can finally relax; I was SO stressed because it wasn’t clear if I could get the visa in time or not as the forms from Korea University where sent extremely late to us. I was afraid to give away my passport to the embassy as my boyfriend is coming to meet me in Seoul I could have not postponed my travel plans… BUT! Everything turned out just fine and I am very happy that there will be no problems for me entering South Korea 🙂

Since it is the last week and all the Japanese in our program are moving to Germany soon we did have a lot of „goodbye parties“ to spend some last time with each other. Although I did not have many close friends herre it is always a bit hard to completely leave a place for something new.

女子会 (Joushikai) Girl’s night with all the girls from my graduate program! From left clockwise around the table: Haruka, Boseol, Sabrina, my humble self, Yurim, Yuka, Nicola and Chihiro posing in front like a pro. As you can probably tell from the picture it was INCREDIBLE HOT inside Yuka’s room. She does not own an aircon and therefore we had 40°C at least in that room, especially with all these people it was unbearable. After 1 hour we moved to Sabrina’s room because all of us were dying out of a heat stroke (but Yuka has the biggest room since she lives alone in a twin room… but well.) This was actually some hours before I got incredibly sick; we did eat a lot of different stuff and with the heat I am not surprised now that my body was collapsing.

We also had a little party with our teachers after the last seminar with some food and some last talks before we all will leave for Germany and Korea! I am really sad to loose such great teachers, especially Aizawa sensei which you see here on the left has been a great supporter throughout the whole stay in Japan I will definitely miss him!

Special take-out for all my readers. Not the whole party but most of them 🙂 Don’t mind me, this seminar has also been Wednesday from 6 – 9 PM so I’m never wearing any make-up and look… like this ^^

Alsooo on Sunday my friends and I were having a little water war! We brought a pool and water pistols, ice cream and other fun stuff to the nearby park and we’re just chillin‘ to escape the extreme heat and I have to say it worked out pretty good!