The First Week of School and Gion

Hello everyone!

So, I lied when I said I would be writing about the first day of school. Instead, I am going to write about the first week of school! Sorry for the delay.

Yes, I have finally started classes. I am enrolled in 5 classes: Japanese Economy, Japanese Comprehension, Japanese Listening and Speaking, Japanese Research, and Calligraphy. Not a whole lot but enough to fulfill my requirements at Pitt.

Japanese Economy is taught in English. It is as the title says. I think this will be a great way to add to my business education.

Japanese Comprehension, Listening and Speaking, and Research all kind of go hand in hand. They are all taught in Japanese and while a lot of the material now is quite simple and I have had exposure to, there are still a few things here and there that I have not learned. In Japanese Research, we learn about history, culture, and well, a little bit of everything. Next week I have to do a 発表 or a presentation in Japanese about a famous person. I was thinking about doing Mineko Iwasaki, the Geisha that Saiyuri was based off of for Aurthur Golden's book "Memoirs of a Geisha."

Based off of my placement tests, I was put into the C2 language class, which is about the mid range (Ritsumeikan has class levels of E to A, with A being the highest.) According to a friend of mine who went to Rits, she said that after completing Japanese at Pitt, C is a pretty typical level to be placed in.

Aside from all of this, I am also taking a Calligraphy class. I enjoy it and find it really relaxing but I found out that my professor is really strict. That makes me a bit nervous but I will still try to enjoy it anyway. I thought that by taking Calligraphy I could some how apply use it and its techniques in my art. While we were learning how to make the ink, (there are two different ways to 'create' ink. One is to pour it from the bottle, and the other is to take this thin, tiny, slab and rub it in water), our teacher told us that while using the small slate our hearts must be 'quite' or 'at peace.' I found this to be a very interesting way of thinking.

On a different note from school, I was able to go to Gion this weekend with few friends. Gion is the place in Kyoto where there are many of okiya or Geisha houses. I was lucky enough to see two Maiko (apprentice Geisha!)


They were running to their appointments!

It is really cool because my one friend who I was with knows a great deal about traditional Japanese culture. She does traditional dances, plays Japanese instruments, and is even friends with a real Geisha! It was really great to get her perspective on Japan's traditional culture and we even discussed how interest in Japan's tradition arts is fading among the youth.

That is pretty much it for now. I am not sure what the next blog post will be about but I am sure something will happen that is interesting, soon!

オリビア
10/6/2010