ICU Registration

On Monday we had to register for our courses at ICU. We had been told what Japanese classes we'd be in, Level 5 for me, 4 for Katy, and Advanced 1 for Rob. (Woop woop for Rob by the way!)

We had to do it from computers on campus, so we cycled in and used some in the library. Because I'm extremely intelligent, I forgot the sheet with my log in details on, so I had to go to the administration building to get a new password.

Once that was sorted, I registered for Japanese 5 and two courses taught in English (I'll save the bilingual and solely Japanese ones for later in the year!) That gave me a total of 12 credits, which I thought was the minimum Leeds University required us to take.

It turned out that there isn't a minimum Leeds require us to take, but we need at least 6 credits per term to keep the student visa. I think I'll drop one of the English classes, as it actually turned out to be for people who don't speak any Japanese, but they hadn't changed the course description online. That will leave me with 9 credits over two subjects, which should be fine.

After registration, we went to our meetings with our individual advisors. Rob and Katy finished really quickly, but I waited for over an hour for a five minute chat. Not impressed!

Actually, the administration system at ICU does seem a little difficult to navigate. It's very difficult to know who to ask what questions, and it's hard to find their details too. Leeds' system was much more fluid.

We did a few other admin-type things, like filling in a couple more forms and handing them into a variety of offices spread across the campus, and gave in our passports for them to copy the details and visas.

In the afternoon, we had a Meet and Greet session, where we were randomly placed with students who had started in April (when the Japanese academic year starts) for integration. I was put in Section BJ (randomly selected letters) and I was with Chihoko, the lovely girl who came to Narita Airport to pick us up on our first day. It was great to have a chat and meet some new people. I've realised that the majority of foreign students are from California, as ICU has an agreement with the University of California.

Once we were finished, we went to the music department with a guy called Bob (that's his nickname) who Rob had met at the Meet and Greet, and they showed us their amazing piano skills. Afterwards, we all went for dinner at a nearby ramen (Chinese noodles) restaurant and then cycled back to the guesthouse. What a long day! The next morning was our first day of lessons, so I was a bit apprehensive, but I slept well.