Orientation begins

The first thing that I feel like I should mention is that Sinlaku did pretty much nothing here. The tracking maps show that it passed as close as the forecast had said it would, and it actually strengthened back to a category 1 typhoon from a tropical storm while it was about even with the Kansai area. We got a negligible amount of rain, cloud cover that wasn't thick enough to make it look gloomy, and a breeze that was just strong enough to feel good. I was kind of looking forward to things getting hectic, but it just didn't happen.

Anyway, yesterday's activities kicked off with the placement tests, listening first and written second. I have no idea how I did on the listening portion; for a good deal of that, I felt I was on the edge of understanding, and I think I got the meaning right, but there was a good chance I misunderstood a lot. The written section was much more clear-cut and less stressful. It was in several successive sections that got harder and harder, presumably each one representative of what you should know at the end of a semester of language study here. So, the test was easy, easy, easy, easy, easy, and then suddenly I didn't know a single thing. Past the first question that I had to guess on, I think I knew one question without guessing. So, as far as placement tests go, I think it was quite well-designed.

While we won't know our placement until Thursday, I'm happy with how I did. There wasn't anything on the test that I felt I should know but forgot--after generally neglecting to study or review over the summer, I was worried about that. Ironically, if I hadn't done my massive study session Thursday, I would have done exactly the same on those tests. Oh well though. I should get placed right where I need to be.

After the test we got a free lunch at the cafeteria. The food was spectacular. I had pork, fried rice, a bunch of things I don't know names for or what they were made of, and some orange slices and pineapple. I met a lot of people and promptly forgot most of their names. There are somewhere around 80 or 100 students in this program, so it'll take me a while.

After food, we went back to boring things--handing out information and whatnot. I've got a bunch of paperwork that I need to do, and right now I don't even remember what most of it is for. Following that and a campus tour, we all headed back to our dorms, and then post-test festivities kicked in. The people here are really fun. There was lots of laughter, and everyone is getting along quite well. This should be a good year.

I put up a few pictures from yesterday in my Picasa gallery, in the Orientation album. I'll continue adding photos to that one as the orientations continue. I've now got a permanent link to the gallery up, just below my profile on this page.