Orientation part 4

So we had orientation again today: student life, information about the world plaza at Nanzan, and traffic safety rules.  Because I didn't want to wake up early, I skipped them haha. According to my dorm-mates, I didn't miss much :P  I finally started the process of opening a bank account though; I can't open one until I get my personal inkan (seal), so all I did was fill out the necessary paperwork.
After that I had lunch at the cafeteria for the second time. Here's us after our meal:




After lunch we all gathered to get ready for our field trip to the Nagoya Castle.  But of course, it was at this time that I started feeling unwell.  I tried to ignore it, and took some medicine.  We all walked all the way to the station, but by then it became a full blown out asthma attack, and so I had no choice but to turn back.  So unfortunately, I missed the field trip.  A lot of my friends said that it was boring, and that I didn't miss much (again) haha. But unfortunately because I wasn't able to go, there are pretty much no pictures to upload :(

Two strange things happened during my slow march to the dorm (I had to climb so many steep hills >_<): One, I saw a Japanese man smoking while walking. This is considered rude in Japan, so I was surprised.  The second thing was that as I was walking, a Japanese guy my age was passing me on campus, and ACTUALLY SMILED AT ME FIRST. I smiled back immediately of course out of habit, but it took me off guard.  Ever since I arrived here, I have smiled at people walking by me in the opposite direction whether I know them or not, and unless they're a foreign exchange student like me, they NEVER smile back (like they probably would have in America). It's because Japanese people have the concept of an 'in' group and 'out' group; people in the 'in' group consist of family and close friends, and mostly everyone else is part of the 'out' group. So basically they feel no obligation towards a stranger, let alone a foreigner stranger. Anyways I eventually gave up and now just avoid looking anyone in the eyes anymore; so the fact that this guy not only looked me in the eyes (usually they avoid that since they know it's rude to stare ), but initiated a smile..............O_O

After I made it home and felt better, I took out my books and proceeded to study. I studied for about 2 hours, and then helped my Japanese dorm-mates make some dinner. It was a potato party! One of them got a ton of potatoes from the place she works at, so we made mashed potatoes and gratin. To be honest, it actually wasn't that good......there wasn't much taste to it, but everyone pretended that it was delicious haha.





Afterwards, I went to the supermarket again because I was running out of water. I bought apple juice and a can of peaches as well for breakfast. After returning, we played Kemps again, and then it was time for my second lesson in super smash brothers..........basically I was a source of entertainment for everyone because I suck and kept getting my ass kicked over and over again.
But a good end to the day :)