Starting Classes

I started classes this week and they are definitely intense. I've been learning so much everyday even though it is just review. We have two 95 minute classes every morning starting at 8:45 and then on Mondays and Thursdays we have another 95 Japanese class after lunch. I also signed up for a Politics and Economics in Asia Pacific class that is taught in English and is for two 95 minute periods on Tuesday after lunch. The first day of that class for the Politics class was long and boring. The teacher has a very monotone voice and repeatedly asks everyone to stop talking yet no one listens. I can tell it is going to be a pretty easy class which is good.
We have a different Japanese teacher almost every day of class which I like a lot. The only problem is that we have a really old Japanese lady who teaches the three classes on Thursday and the other two on Friday mornings- and she is extremely boring. I am not looking forward to the end of the weeks anymore.

Learning Japanese has been hard so far but I feel like I definitely have to study a lot more than I am used to since I seem to be in the middle of the pack on who knows and doesn't know Japanese. I am in the second highest class which is good and bad. We get the most homework and have to study the most but at the same time I feel like it is the best place for me to be. Some of the people in my program have never spoke or learned Japanese at all before coming here so I feel a lot better about my situation.

Me in the cafeteria looking over Beppu city.The great vending machines in Japan. This one has coffee and slurpees!

Everyday we all get up early, go to class, go to the cafeteria for the lunch break, then have time to spare before our third class (if we have one that day) where I normally sleep or study and then we are done. Since the town is so far away we normally just hang out in the common room before or after studying and then go to bed. There really isn't much time to go into town on a weekday anyways with all of the work we get. Hopefully it slows down but I doubt it will. I still need to go into town to go shopping but I have time to do that soon. Speaking of the cafeteria- the food is so good there! They have different stands that you can go to for different kinds of foods: western, Korean, Japanese, vegetarian, and so many others. I've tried about half of the things they have there and it's all so good and cheap! The yen here is about 100 yen equals $1 which makes things easier to exchange in my head. But anyways, they give you pretty large portions of food for a really low price which is awesome. If they don't have something in the cafeteria, I can just go outside and get it from the vending machines. It's awesomely delicious.