テスト を した

I don't know why, but the school scheduled placement exams for the day after we arrived. This is particularly intriguing because the school doesn't have us doing much for the next week and a half. Aside from a day or two of orientations we're free to do as we please. At first, I thought that this schedule was adopted because the school needed time to get assessment results back before students registered, but on after a more careful reading of the schedule I found that we get our test results and register for classes on Tuesday, nearly a week before classes start. Whatever the reasoning behind the planning, I took the test.

Josh and I got up around eight showered, ate a bit of breakfast (I had a couple granola bars out of my suitcase) and headed out to meet the folks from OIS (Office of International Students) who had come to show us the way to school. I expected them to lead us to the train and show us how to use that mode of travel but they didn't. Instead they showed us to the bus station.

The bus was rather interesting. It didn't have that much seating so for most of the half hour ride we stood. All of the seats are prioritized for old people, the disabled, injured etc.. I was surprised that the bus warned of upcoming stops in English. I had been informed by several guides that the bus system used Japanese exclusively and I was happy to be proven wrong. We got off at a stop about five minutes (on foot) away from the school.

The school itself occupies the bottom 6 floors of an office building, the rest of the floors are occupied by other businesses. I looked around a bit on my lunch break but I didn't want to be too nosy so I didn't see much.

The tests were just like those given by universities back in the States, very similar to a shortened SAT with tougher math. I think I did okay but I'll have to wait until Tuesday to receive my results and confirm my expectations.

After school the OIS people guided us back to the dorm via the bus and then showed us around our neighborhood a bit. They pointed out some of the best grocery stores and the currency exchange but I don't have a good enough memory or sense of direction to find my way back to places after a single visit. I'll be doing alot of exploring in the days to come.

I also made my first excursion out on my own today. I walked to the only restraunt that I knew how to find, ordered dinner, and paid for it, all without having a functional knowledge of Japanese. I paid a little more than I would have if I could have found a non-sit-down establishment but the food tasted pretty good. Did I mention that the place I ate was a Denny's? Yeah, I travelled half way around the world to eat at Denny's. Of course, Denny's here is really different but still...