University Life in Tokyo

Well, quite frankly I don't have much of one. I spend Tuesday-Thursday on campus, and pretty much attend classes, then head home. I did go to the gym for the first time today. It was a fairly small facility with an annoying lack of weights. What's the point of having four benches if you only have enough weights for two of them?

I kept unknowingly stealing weights from the Barbell Club. Those guys were the only ones in the gym who were really ripped (except one white kid), and for some reason, they were also all really tanned. I was a little surprised that I didn't see any Koreans in there. Japanese and Koreans both really care how they look, but most Japanese guys go for the skinny fashionable look. This makes it very difficult to figure out who's gay.

I mean there are the gay guys who are just super homosexual, but all the borderline gay people just kind of blend together. Korean guys tone down the gayness a bit but also care more about how they look naked. Difficulty in differentiating gay guys: Japan > Korea > Taiwan (super easy to figure it out in Taiwan). Overall fitness: Taiwan > Korea > Japan (I feel like there are a few more fat people in Korea too though). Muscle mass: Korea > Taiwan > Japan. I'm short and a surprising amount of Japanese guys are pretty tall, but I fear nothing here because I could veritably break any opponent.

I digress...was surprised not to see more Koreans in the gym. Had myself a decent workout, but I'm not sure how much I really need it. I feel like I'm wasting away here in Japan; I haven't been trying to lose weight at all, but the combination of biking to school and eating here has dropped me to 62.8 kg or 138 lbs. I don't eat anything that can really help me gain muscle mass. I've only been here for a month and remember a solid week of that was eating and drinking as much as I could...ugh.

The majority of my classes are in these oddly shaped rooms. The professor sits in the middle with the AV equipment and everyone else just sits in a circle around him. Whatever works.

I've almost finished deciding all my classes, but I have this strange predicament where I need to balance the course content with the professor's English speaking ability. Well regardless, I plan to thoroughly enjoy never having any work to do. Some of my classmates spend a decent amount of time in the library, but I have absolutely no idea what the hell they do there. I'm gonna go back to Chicago and suffer greatly when I have to return to multiple case studies a week per class.

There are some things about school that make you appreciate how uniquely Japanese things are. There's actually a shrine on campus, and I headed up there today led by a bunch of lit lanterns.

In my head, I was thinking, "Matsuri!" Alas, it was only a used books sale. Still it was my first time in the shrine and with the nice weather the atmosphere was quite calming.

Dinner was ramen in Takadanobaba with classmates Wei and Micah. Went to Ippudo for the first time and ate the spicy ramen (although V tells me that the white ramen is what's famous there). Wei and I both went for the second highest spiciness. It didn't disappoint. My tongue could handle the heat, but my nose wouldn't stop running. Nothing I can't handle, but in retrospect, it was probably a bad idea since the ramen is crushing my insides as we speak. I can't wait til it exits in all its flaming fury. That's right. I said it.

D is back in town and we have plans for karaoke on Thursday! Time to find out if I can sing in Japanese...I can't.

Gotta find me some matsuri somewhere, now. Feelin festive.