a history of me

I just realized that I haven't told anyone about my new roommate but there's a good reason for that. I hardly ever see him! His name is Jeremy and he's from Seattle. He moved in almost immediately after Gustav moved out so I never really had the room "to myself." However, of the three nights we've shared the room thus far, he's only slept here once! I'm not sure where else he could be going but he's out more often than in. We haven't had a chance yet to discuss my snoring (as I expected, he was never "informed" by the school) but when I told him about it he seemed unfazed. He offered to sleep "with headphones on" so he seems pretty cool about the whole thing. Certainly, in our conversations he has been a hundred times more friendly than that other guy. Obviously this is a black eye for the entire population of Sweden. USA! USA!

The weather was much nicer today with less humidity and clearer skies, so I took a few more shots around campus.






This is some kind of solar energy collector but I do not know where (or how) the energy is used.


See? Here's the display panel underneath the glass. Pretty sunny but not too sunny, just how I like it!

By this point I've attended all of my classes. I had hoped to run into Megan, the cute girl with tattoo who I actually introduced myself to the other day. Sadly, we do not have any classes in common so it looks like it's up to me to talk to her again. In any case, there are a lot of other people to meet out there so I shouldn't get hung up on one tattoo...er, person.

This morning was my first Written Japanese class and it seemed to start in familiar territory. I recognized every single kanji on the review sheet. Indeed, I actually know many more characters than the ones listed but I don't think I need to skip ahead a level. There's always next semester if I want to be daring. We had to write an impromptu "self introduction" which I think I managed to do nicely. My handwriting is rusty because most of my Japanese use this summer has been electronic. For those who don't know, typing something like 「地震雷火事親父」* is a hell of a lot easier than writing it!

After the written class I had to eat lunch because my next three periods were all full; this only happens on Wednesdays. While checking out the food samples of the day (remind me to photograph these things so you can understand what I'm talking about) I ran into a girl from my Japanese classes. The make-up of the writing and speaking classes is virtually identical, so much so that I again question the need for two separate classes...but I digress. We ended up having lunch together in the cafeteria (she asked if she could join me). Sadly, I've forgotten her name and once you pass a certain point in the conversation it seems very rude to ask, so I still don't know what it is. I'll just have to pay close attention to tomorrow's roll call!

Eating with another person is always better than eating alone; furthermore, eating with a member of the opposite sex always makes me feel cooler than eating with a guy (save for a really close friend). She had a lot of stories about training her pets and life back home in Oregon which wasn't always amusing but I'd like to think I maintained enough eye contact to feign interest. That must sound like a horrible thing to say, especially from a loser like me who should be grateful to eat lunch with anyone but I only have room for the truth here on the blog! Maybe next time I'll do all the talking and she can feign interest listening to me prattle on about my hometown.

The only other new class (the last "new" one in fact) was The Struggle For Justice. The professor was the same man who delivered, IMHO, the only speech worth listening to at last week's opening ceremonies. So get this: he starts off his class by delivering closing arguments from a real-life murder trial he once prosecuted! No introduction mind you, he just starts talking to us like we're the jury. This guy is one amazing public speaker! After he delivered both sides he asked us to vote on whether or not the criminal in question should be executed. I was among the miniscule minority who said Yes. This was followed by a discussion of why we voted Yes or No. Long story short: his class seems really cool. You'll laugh when you hear about our first homework assignment!

I found a note in my mailbox asking me to come to the Int'l Ed. Office. It seems that I have to open a bank account because my school is going to be sending me some kind of stipend? This is news to me but that's pretty good news! It makes sense given that I'm paying for some Japanese student to live in the dorm at UAlbany and eat three square (albeit completely disgusting) meals a day, so I should be receiving some kind of meal allowance on this end. Especially considering I wasn't placed with a family who would have been feeding me twice a day!

Speaking of the dorms, shortly after returning home this evening we had our first monthly meeting here. Guess what we talked about? The goddamn rules and regulations! AGAIN! I am so fucking tired of hearing about this crap. I hate dorm life, I just hate it. You waste so much time in meetings where you're told how to behave. I think it's extra-frustrating for me because I'm a full-fledged adult here. I can only imagine what the Australian guy thinks...he's a reporter on leave or something and he's definitely older than me. He probably has a family back home. Can you imagine telling an Australian man he can't drink in his room? I sure as hell can't.

*sigh* Fear not, I'm not cracking. I'm just adjusting. Eventually all this will become normal, I'll get drunk in public instead of in private and I should fare pretty well in all my classes. And on that note, I'm hungry!

*this proverb translates to "earthquakes, thunder, fires, fathers." It compares fathers with other things which are generally feared. A few years ago I wrote this on some posterboard, framed it, and gave it my Dad. Best. Present. EVER!