Catch up... Part 1

So, after a good long while of having done no blogging, I should probably get a new one out there... As we're currently about halfway through the semester at Hosei, things are getting nice and busy, not least because I'm taking 11 subjects, rather than the minimum of 9 I took last time.
I have also been dealing with a bout of major laziness, which I'm happy to say is cured!

So first off is the Leeds Exam - the bane of all of our lives. Doubtless, had I followed Leeds' recommended revision plan, I'd have been a deal less stressed by the time the exam came around. However, opting for the slightly easier method of not bothering proved to be much more entertaining in the months leading up to the exam. This, naturally, led to a break-down of sorts. People that know me will know that I tend not to sweat exams as much as I did this one.
Perhaps it was the stress of knowing that this exam is basically the thing that decides whether or not we pass the year abroad... Or maybe it was knowing that I'd really not worked hard enough, and that others had been doing the preparation since September (Yes, Kobe-Gakuin, I'm looking at you).
However, the world did not end, and after a relaxing Skype session with the family the night before the exam, I pulled through and even went so far as to feel pretty awesome by the end of it! In the intervening weeks, I celebrated the finishedness by getting rather tipsy at a Hobgoblin watering-hole in Akasaka: cigars and all!
As it turns out, I got 63%, which (somehow) works out as a merit! So provided I manage to get a merit or better on my essay on Japanese culture, I'll have done rather well :D
Nevertheless, I intend to keep learning the kanji from KIC, so by the time I get back to Leeds in September, I'll be majorly on top of them!

What next... FUGU! I ate fugu and lived :D For those of you that don't know (ie. haven't seen the Simpsons) fugu is Japanese blowfish (the name literally means "river pig" haha!) and when incorrectly prepared can be lethal! It's quite the delicacy in Japan, though having eaten it, I can say that it's not the most flavoursome of dishes, and why someone would want to risk death over such things is beyond me... Nevertheless, the setup of the meal was fantastic! Lots of food, vegetables (urgh!), rice and noodles. All around a very cool bowl of boiling water (pun? or just really bad English?) in the middle of the table led to a rather splendid meal, thank you very much :) And the rest of the evening wasn't too bad either - arcade silliness in one's finest suit is always good! Time-crisis 4 was especially fun, though I don't think it'll ever beat the grand fun of the taiko game :D


Perhaps the laziness is not quite defeated... I'll be going now and continuing to catch you up shortly!