Welcome Party – Sept 27th

Finally, a chance to meet the other International students... Honestly, I couldn’t really care less, since I’ll be meeting a good portion of them in my classes anyways, but the CSU group has been sequestered into our own little world here; being the only group that didn’t participate in the previous massive nomikai kind of made it clear the disconnect between us and the other students. I had a massive breakfast and Okaasan even served me macha (Green tea) and a kind of Yuzu candy (a citrus fruit similar to a tangerine) in a semi-traditional manner. The last time I tasted real green tea it was a bit bitter to my liking, but the yuzu somehow complimented the tea extremely well.

I met up with Derek about an hour before the welcome party was scheduled to start (at 5:30). This time we played some pool for real. Unfortunately, what we thought was a table fee was actually per person, but it still wasn’t unaffordable. I won the second of three games with a flurry of unbelievably lucky shots; I’m going to have to practice so I can win some of these games legitimately.

We went to the Welcome Party, which was kind of like a watered-down mixer. Of course there were students from all over the world, and of course, having spent the better part of the past two weeks acquainting ourselves with people from our own institutions, we all just kind of gravitated towards each other. After commenting on the lack of actual mixing going on, and the lack of social lubricants, a few more clubs came out to urge us to join or go to their events. First was the male cheerleading squad, which was quite impressive, except for the all-male part. Afterwards were a few other groups promoting their upcoming festivals, and that concluded the end of the “party.” We were summarily dismissed from the lunch hall, and waded into the crowd outside.

Granite Bob had finally worked up the courage to talk to Francessca, a student from Italy. At the orientation he told me that his wife was sitting in the front row, she just didn’t know it yet (obviously joking). He had invited her and some friends to get a drink or a bite to eat or something. We went to Saizeriya, but as it turned out, we’d need to get food. Most of us had already stuffed ourselves at the catered party, so we were more interested in libation. We all walked to the rotary, and the group kind of fell into pieces. Apparently we were supposed to meet up with some other people, but I seem to be the only person who knows just what the “rotary” is. We went up to the izakaya we thought they were at. They weren’t there, so we said “fuck it” and sat down anyways.

We got to know a Japanese-Australian girl named Aiko, and a nice Korean-Canadian girl whose name escapes me (there are so many names, it’s a shock I can remember anyone anymore). Granite Bob sat next to her (not wanting to seem too anxious to sit next to Francessca), and we had some good conversation. Eli sat next to Francessca, and they talked for most of the evening. Unfortunately, it seems that her personality doesn’t quite match her appearance. I think Bob wasn’t quite as entranced with her as he was the day before. She’s nice, but there’s something about her that tells me that she’d be trouble for him; of course I told him that he was in for trouble on the bus from the airport, so it’s likely that he’s already found it.