Return of the Fiona

[hadisia]

Ugh.
Fiona lives.
But just barely, really, because she pulled an all-nighter finishing an essay because her AP English teacher her senior year shattered all confidence Fiona had in writing essays.

Anyways.

I'm at Earlham College (school started...oh, three weeks ago? At least), which is alllllll the way in Richmond, Indiana (which in turn is about five miles from the border of Ohio. Seriously, five miles). As Fiona is from Lake Oswego, Oregon, this is quite a ways from home.
Quick note: the school is Quaker, so I'll refer to all my teachers by their first names.
I haven't really become homesick much. Although I miss holding my cat very much. And my girlfriend, but, uh...that's a bit different from a cat. Unless she falls asleep watching a movie, then she's a lot like my cat.
Damn, I need sleep.

Anyway...I have four classes, although one's really just a one-credit requirement called Living and Learning in Community about - you guessed it - Living and Learning in Community. Kinda fun, wish they didn't assign homework.
After taking a Japanese language placement test, I was borderline 202 and 201 (which is Advanced Writing). After Akiko (my counselor) and I looked over the 200 year book and I decided that I knew most of it (which I did), I decided to take Japanese 301, which challenges my brain at waaaay too early in the morning (11.00 is always early, damnit). Akiko (also the teacher for Japanese 301) makes us speak Japanese in class (unless we need to answer in English to answer a question or we simply don't know how to say it/get the message across in Japanese). Since I'm not used to speaking Japanese in class in high school, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep up, but I have adapted surprisingly well. Again, go me.
I also decided to take French 101, which is harder than Japanese in so many ways, although the similarities between French and English make up for most of it. Although I'm much more used to a language that doesn't make you think too hard about pronunciation (for example, "ka" will always be pronounced as it is written, "ka.") French was not my first choice, it was my third; my first was Korean (although I knew that was highly unlikely), my second was Chinese (a bit surprised it wasn't taught here), and my third was French (spoken in Canada, and many sounds are similar to Japanese, believe it or not. The foreign exchange student thought I had taken French before because I could pronounce most of the sounds correctly). Also: Julie, the teacher, is apparently from Portland (which if you'll remember is the town a) that Matt Groening grew up in, and b) is about a half hour drive from my hometown). Weird coincidence, nu?
My other class is an Earlham Seminar, a required course we signed up for earlier during spring. Mine is called "Are You My Mother?" and we explore and discuss identity. I love this class, even if Kevin gives us the occasional essay (hey, it's not Kevin's fault Crazy Frank gave my essay to Mary Margaret, his resident English language dominatrix wife). It is a hell of a fun class, because we do a lot of discussion.

I've joined plenty of clubs, too. The rugby club (coed and sorely lacking in numbers), SPECTRUM (the LGBTQQIA...screw it, the queer club. Queer is a good umbrella word and I like it very much), the anime club (in which three straight boys discovered that a) girls like anime a lot, and b) not necessary in the same way they did (it's a bunch of slashers. My only fear is seeing a bazillion different animes and only three distinguishable female characters. I need strong female characters, people, not just androgynously girly boys), and finally, FDTF, or Feelings you Dare to Tell your Friends (it's a women/women-identified peoples group. Fun, but not nearly as fun as the genderqueer group, GenderScope, to which I am a...uh...gender binary ally, I guess).

My roommate, Tory, and I really don't communicate, and to be honest I'm not quite sure why we were paired up together. But as long as we continue to respect the others' space, privacy, and things, then I guess I'm okay. I have other friends, so...I'm good.
I make my own meals a lot since I eat on a weird schedule and probably some sort of control thing. Works for me. Co-op right across the street and a Lo-Bill (a super market) two blocks down).

I have a Who poster and a Lisa poster, along with some other Japan- and anime/manga-related posters from home.

I need to sleep so bad. This was a rambley post. I keep misspelling "Japanese." My eyes are actually stabbing themselves.

Goodnight.

[Zzzz]


-Fiona

Oh, and also: you won't really get this if you don't read/watch Saiyuki, but...Severus Snape and Kougaiji share the same birthday, January 6. HAHAHAHA. (And I really want to make a HBP joke now, but I won't for fear of spoilerizing people)

[c_nordlander]

Welcome back, Fiona! I was starting to wonder where you were. Your courses sound like a lot of fun, and I think you'll enjoy them a lot.

Et je voudrais dire que français est beaucoup plus facile que japonnais. (D'accord, à écrire.) Watakushi wa baka desu.

[hadisia]

...no idea what you just said in French. I reiterate: One. Oh. One.
Watashi no Furansu-go wa "teh suck" no yo.

...actually, it'd suck less if a) the class weren't at 9 in the morning, and b) if I could just remember that the pronunciation is...not so much on the logical side.
Also, the masculine/feminine aspect kind of bugs me. ("What do you mean, "professeur" is always masculine?!")

Aha...I need more sleep. [Osaka face]

[Andreas]

...no idea what you just said in French.

Chris said: "And I want to tell you that French is much easier than Japanese (ok, in written form)."

(I agree - I had French in school for four years, but barely can speak it anymore, but at least I'm still able to read it.)

[Marco]

Welcome back, Hadi...Fio...Fore... ah, screw it. Welcome Back!

[aoifestorm]

Nice to see you, Fiona!  Can you do us a favor and not die from school, please? 
  Yay for you getting such advanced placement for Nihongo! I can't believe they let you talk in English in class at high school, but you'll be fine.  It gets so much easier, and you end up talking in half Japanese the rest of the day.
  What other languages do they offer at this place, yo?  No Korean or Chinese??? whaaat?  If they offer Irish, or Swahili, I think you should pink slip into that.  Irish is harder than French and Hebrew combined, but that's ok.  You must be walking around in a Japanese French daze all day.  My sympathies on the French part.
  "LGBTQQIA"- Ahahahahahaa.  Girlina, please tell us what the hell this stands for.   I am lost after the first Q.  Spectrum sounds better, anyway, so glad that's the official name.

  Definitely get some sleep, and get used to everything enough where you can actually have super-uni fun aside from the groups, etc.

[Tony_Baritone]

it'd suck less if a) the class weren't at 9 in the morning

Just wait until you get your first 7 a.m. math class.   Hope you manage well this year.  And destroy Anderson.

[hadisia]

Chris said: "And I want to tell you that French is much easier than Japanese (ok, in written form)."
Grammar-wise (well, so far, which is about three weeks into 101, so...) it's probably easier, if for nothing else than the fact that French and English are much more similar than, say, Japanese and English. And the idea of a verb changing depending on the subject (we, you, I, they, etc) doesn't daunt me, despite the fact that Japanese does not do this. Japanese still seems easier to me; in fact, I love kanji, and you never have to worry about spelling in Japanese (although so far French doesn't seem to be too hard spellingwise; that is, it appears to have less exceptions than English spelling does)

Nice to see you, Fiona!  Can you do us a favor and not die from school, please?
I PROMISE NOTHING. [dead Osaka face; college has made me identify with Osaka a lot...]

Yay for you getting such advanced placement for Nihongo! I can't believe they let you talk in English in class at high school, but you'll be fine.
Well, Sensei was born and raised in America (he's not Japanese at all, he's actually very white), which might have had something to do with it. But he did live in Japan for a few years when he did his mission thingy, and he also taught there for a while. Actually, his wife is from Hiroshima, so they speak Japanese at home with their two young children, who embody the word "kawaii," by the way).
But I think it had more to do with Sensei wanting to make the kids feel more comfortable learning Japanese; we did a lot of speaking practice, and he showed us a lot of videos from the Japanese channel (TV shows and sumo matches, mostly); also, he knew that most of the kids who were serious about studying Japanese past the high school level watched anime and/or listened to Japanese music on a daily basis.
So...yes. I adore my high school Japanese teacher. You can not possibly fathom the levels of awesome that he reached.

No Korean or Chinese??? whaaat?  If they offer Irish, or Swahili, I think you should pink slip into that.  Irish is harder than French and Hebrew combined, but that's ok.  You must be walking around in a Japanese French daze all day.  My sympathies on the French part.
Well, we're a very small college. There are some Chinese studies courses or East Asian studies courses you can take, but not for the language. The reason Earlham has Japanese is that they've had a connection with Japan since the late 19th century, which is why Japanese is such a strong program here.
There's an Arabic class that started this year, which I wanted to take as well, but it's full. So I chose French instead, which isn't all that bad since I think I read that knowing French gives you a bit of an advantage if you want to become a Canadian citizen.

"LGBTQQIA"- Ahahahahahaa.  Girlina, please tell us what the hell this stands for. I am lost after the first Q. Spectrum sounds better, anyway, so glad that's the official name.
Spectrum does indeed sound better, and you don't have to worry about excluding anyone.
...I'll tell what that all stands for, but no one make fun of it. It may sound funny to you, but the fact that people obviously went to such lengths to include everyone just shows me that this is such a friendly, inclusive community - both the school and the queer community. So if you feel the need to mock people taking consideration of other people, don't.
LGBTQQIA: Lesbian Gay Bi Transgender/sexual Questioning Queer Intersex Ally.

Just wait until you get your first 7 a.m. math class.
ahahaha NEVER HAPPENING.

And destroy Anderson.
...wha?

[Stretch_Dude]

Egads, the Fiona lives!

[Meteorite]

Fiona!  You're back!  I was wondering what happened to you!

[hadisia]

Fiona!  You're back!  I was wondering what happened to you!

I DIED. :| But then I was brought back by the power of the dragonballs the ginzuishou sinful, sinful human transmutation lurve a plot device.

[Meteorite]

I DIED. :| But then I was brought back by the power of the dragonballs the ginzuishou sinful, sinful human transmutation lurve a plot device.

Ouch, know that feeling.  FullLife is usually good enough for me though.

*sees another meteor coming towards him*

Oh cr-

[aoifestorm]

Spectrum does indeed sound better, and you don't have to worry about excluding anyone.
...I'll tell what that all stands for, but no one make fun of it. It may sound funny to you, but the fact that people obviously went to such lengths to include everyone just shows me that this is such a friendly, inclusive community - both the school and the queer community. So if you feel the need to mock people taking consideration of other people, don't.
LGBTQQIA: Lesbian Gay Bi Transgender/sexual Questioning Queer Intersex Ally.

Fiona,  look who you're talking to!  Why would I make fun of that?    It looks like I got the first Q confused with the second.  It certainly sounds like a great group, though.  It's just harder to say, "Be Back later, I'm going to LGBTQQIA".

[Tigersrock144]

welcome back
sorry this is late
never got round to this thread

[archonix]

Um. Sorry, I hit the wrong button before. Just spent 5 minutes reconstructing your post. Anywa...

Chris said: "And I want to tell you that French is much easier than Japanese (ok, in written form)."
Grammar-wise (well, so far, which is about three weeks into 101, so...) it's probably easier, if for nothing else than the fact that French and English are much more similar than, say, Japanese and English.

And that's pretty hitting the nail on the head. Chris toold me the other day that she tends to see most European languages as dialects of Latin rather than languages in their own right. Having seen some of the latin stuf she's working on, I can see where she's coming from. It makes it so much easier to learn if you know the history...

And the idea of a verb changing depending on the subject (we, you, I, they, etc) doesn't daunt me, despite the fact that Japanese does not do this. Japanese still seems easier to me; in fact, I love kanji, and you never have to worry about spelling in Japanese (although so far French doesn't seem to be too hard spellingwise; that is, it appears to have less exceptions than English spelling does)

Oddly enough, it's the French that are responsible for most "odd" english spellings. Back in the days when the first printing presses were being used, the various european printers decided that all these english manuscripts they were getting needed to be latinised, or at least turned in to what they thought was latinised spelling. English spelling was quite simplistic at the time. It was also a bit of a free-for-all in some ways, as the Oxford English Dictionary was still a few years off. After a while it became a matter of pride and now the rest is, of course, history.