Lessons at Rikkyo

I'm taking 10 classes at Rikkyo (1:30 per class). 5 Japanese classes every morning and Modern Japanese History, Japanese culture, Japan in Asia, Int'l Biz and Skills required for Global Marketing. The total time taken is the same as 5 SMU courses so imagine how busy I am. And I tried few other classes in first week so there was no break in the first week.

I thought I'd be free afer deciding the courses in second week. But, I was so kaypoh and requested my Japanese teacher to put me in J3 although my placement test result is J2. Actually I haven't done 85% of J2 in Singapore through an intensive course. Plus, one month holiday in March, now my foundation is quite weak for J3 where we are learning the difference among similar usages (though I can't even remember what they mean in general). So I ended up being the worst student in my Japanese class (btw there are only 4 including me haha). I'm really ashamed since I've been the best student in all my Japanese classes that I've taken in SMU and Aoba where I even jumped one level like what I did now. Last Friday, we learned about Wedding Custom in Japan and sensei asked about our culture. But, the class didn't understand what I said :( so I had to explain in English. What a shame!!! The class is really challanging. 2 US guys have studied Japanese for 2 to 3 years (1 of them has lived here for so long with his Japanese gf). The other Taiwanese girl, Peggy, has studied for half a year and she's also a bit struggling in class like me. Sigh! I don't understand 40% of the vocab and grammar pattern which we are supposed to know before J3.

でも　オレは　頑張るよ！

My other classes are conducted in English. Moderen Japanese History has lots of reading but it's interesting cos I can understand Japan more. Japanese culture is really fun, I hope! cos we have to watch a Japanese movie for 4 weeks (in English subtitle), read a Japanese novel for 4 weeks(I hope it's an English translation) and finally LEARN J-POP LYRICS for 3 weeks! Japan in Asia is really craps. The prof is from Bangladesh and everyone doesn't understand his Indian accents. Luckily I'm used to it in Singapore. I've dropped 2 courses which I wanted to take - Japanese society and Politics & Economies of Japan. Unlike what the name says, Japanese society is not about people but the Environments & Ecotorism. Second one is also about Energy, climates and environment which are related to the politics and economies of Japan. The course titles are really misleading. And the profs are also .... hmm.... I feel like a high school student cos the class-rooms are not like seminar rooms in SMU. Almost all classes in Rikkyo are lecture-based with few in seminar styles (including those I'm taking now) but the classroom setting is like highschool with small tables. And we can hear the bell ring after every period. Some (or most?) treat students like immature highschool students. I was shocked to see the Bangladesh prof scolding two Japanese girls not to talk in class. My friend who is a full time student was also scolded cos he didn't take notes during the lecture(or seminar?) Come on we are university students! Pay a little bit of respect to students! Oh, these cocky profs are not Japanese who don't know how to behave in a different culture. Japan is a little bit more authoritative than the western countries where these profs are from. But, they seem like forget about student rights in their countries and become super authoritative (more than Japanese profs who still respect students). They are bullying Japanese students who are supposed to obey their teachers. Oh well, maybe I'm very so used to the complaining culture of Singapore that feel very angry on behalf of Japanese students.

Int'l Biz and Marketing courses are purely seminar courses with less than 20 students whose English are the best in Rikkyo. Some of them can even speak in more accurate accents and grammar than Singaporeans. But, their presentation skills and class participation are not comparable to SMU students. Perhaps they are only year 2 students. Last week Int'l Biz class was overwhelmed by the american guy's and my participation. Anyway, their efforts are really appreciable cos they never speak English outside the class. In Japan, seminar classes are very important for them cos they can have a chance to practise partipation and presentation skills. I think they hardly have group projects in other courses. Last Friday I had my first group project meeting but they are a bit blurred. Or again, I'm used to SMU culture again where we spilt the parts and do our own research. I forgot I'm in the collectivisitc country now haha... But, it's fun! I tried not to speak too much in class to give them a chance but the american guy was complaining me for making him to speak more lol...

There are so many libraries on campus and it's so quiet unlike SMU library. We can't photocopy anything except books from the library (even lecture notes). But there is no limit for the number of pages that we can photocopy from a book if I'm not wrong. I'm quite surprised not to see copyrights law on campus. Even the prof is suggesting us to photocopy the textbook.