Ok so i’m takin a two second break from studying Kanji to write a little blog that could show you what I do whilst I study for these crazy little pictures the Japanese call a “writing system”.  Let’s face it, they aren’t letters, they’re pictures.  Crappy ones at that.

Ok, I’m currently studying the Kanji from Chapter 14 in my Genki 2 Textbook.  16 of them total, not so bad.  However this is just part of my study for the final exam I have this friday.  Total Kanji I need to memorize: 177.

Yep, 177 pictures that all look the same but carry very different meanings.  Ok, so let’s get started…

Ok so mid-terms are finally over.  They were kinda spaced out, all due to one class.

I’m studying 4 subjects:

1. Spoken Japanese
2. Reading and Writing Japanese (R&W)
3. Pacific Rivalry
4. Dynamics of Modern Japan

Ok so for both Speaking and R&W Japanese classes I had to undertake 2 tests each – one spoken and one written. For each.  Oh and I’m in level 2 Japanese (7 being the highest – WOO GO ME!).  Oh and Dynamics and Pacific Rivalry are both taught by the same professor, Prof. Paul Scott.

Ahh… wow today was probably one of the best days I’ve had in a loooong while.

Today marked the day I finish Uni this semester – heck the last day I finish Uni in Austraia for 2009!!! No more uni till Kansai Gaidai! And, oh, was it a wonderful day.

So I woke up this morning after a pretty good sleep – which doesn’t happy very often due to a sleeping condition I have – and I dived straight into study for my final exam for the semester: Japanese.  And what a way to go out!

Ok so today I had my first Japanese listening test, and to be honest – I was freaking out.

Mentioned a million times before: I test well.  I’m good at exams, comfortable, never nervous, and it’s what I do best at.  However this was different.  I was freaking out!!! I felt severely underprepared.  The thing that was letting me down was definitely my vocab – which is terrible! I have SOOO much trouble remembering/recalling different vocab.  Obviously this would be a problem. Even if i know what they said – i wouldn’t know what they meant.  It’s the thing i have the most trouble with!

Yeah so… i rocked up to lecture today… walked in just as the “not-lecturer” said “Ok i’ll see you next week!”

An Actual photo of me at the time

After consulting my buddies they told me that the ACTUAL lecturer was sick and therefore lecture was cancelled.  I could’ve slept in! Oh well, more time to work on assignments I guess.

So, turns out if i’ve failed my Database exam it doesn’t mean i’ve failed the subject! That is if i still get over 50% overall for the semester.

Straight to the point: Woot went rock climbing the other day!  My arms have been killing me because i havent engaged in physical activity in a while lol   But yeah, it was fun.   It looks like im gonna do this twice a week from now on.  Basically its an activity thing held by a group of people from Uni, the result being very cheap!  $60 for a semester of rock climbing.  Like all the rock climbing I can handle for a semester.

After the programming exam last night, me and my mates all went back to Jim’s house (Jim being one of my mates) for a bit of celebration. One of the highlights of the night was going to be Jim and I attempting to do 10 shots of “Chartreuse” in 10 minutes, 1 shot every minute. Kinda like a more intense hour of power (1 shot of beer/drink of choice every minute for an hour). But there was an added rule that if Jim or I made it to the end we weren’t allowed to throw up within the 10 minutes following our session.