Sunday, May 3, 2009

Dormitory life

It's hard to believe I've been in Tokyo for almost two months. Classes are moving at a brisk pace, and what with with prep, writing and trying to keep up with my Japanese, I haven't had much time to get out and see the city.

I moved into my more permanent temporary apartment at the end of April. It's tiny and although it has a bathroom and a small kitchenette, it's basically a dorm room. I don't even have enough space to unpack all my stuff, and my clothes are in stacks all over the place. But I just don't have the time, or the inclination, to move somewhere else at the moment.


I've got a fairly good routine down for now. Since I only have to teach classes three days a week, I am able to get in about two full days of work a week. This means that I've been able to get more done than I thought I would.


The library - shown above - is fairly good but still a far cry from great for the stuff I need. On the other hand, I can get whatever I want through interlibrary loan pretty quickly because there are a fair number of large libraries in Tokyo.


Waseda itself feels very much like a large private university. There is far more in the way of school spirit type stuff than what you get at most Canadian universities and it has all the quirks of a private school - such as ideosyncratic systems that are only marginally functional and which are justified by vague appeals to the "Waseda way of doing things."

2 comments:

MovingBoxGuy said...

Although I'm glad you're adjusting well to your new surroundings in Tokyo, its sad that your residence is so small you can't even unpack all of your moving boxes. I read that you can get stacking cases that you can drill into the walls. That way you can at least put some of your things on them so you can use them if you desire.

Moving Boxes said...

Are you studying abroad, or did you move to Tokyo? If you moved, you should definitely do something with those boxes you have stacked, if you knock into them one day, they may fall on you.