Current mood:	tired
Current music:	Joy Julks - Messiah

Oh Noes, it's a Ranting Entry!



Hello there, it's been a long time!

No, I haven't forgotten that I have a blog. But when I tried to write a new entry (several times!), somehow everything ended up in a mere whining rant, until I finally gave up and closed the window, completely frustrated.

Well, let's start with a good point, because yes, really, they do exist. Like as of yesterday, I have new glasses!
Because yes, I did need new ones. As soon as possible. Because I broke my old ones. And spent therefor about ten days either blind as a mole, or with contacts. Which sucks when you turn your heater on and the air is totally dry and...
AHEM! Why, yes, my glasses are all shiny and new and not quite sparkly but anyway really shiny. And they coincidentally happen to look a lot like my old ones, rimless around the lenses and with an otherwise gold frame, I couldn't help myself. And I've written about far more thrilling topics before, I know. *coughs*
An interesting part of that anecdote might be how astonishingly easy peasy it was to buy new glasses here in the end. When the guys over at expatsjapan told me that I simply have to go to the optician's, choose the glasses I want, make a quick (and most often free) eye test and then, two hours later, can go home with the shiny new glasses, I didn't want to believe it at first. I was so used to have to go to the eye specialist to get a prescription done, then to have to enter unnerving negotiations about the price, including thousand and one formulas, until finally, about one week later, I can wear the expensive new glasses.
Nope, nothing of that sort here. Okay, I did take several days in order to find good and interesting opticians in Shinjuku (those are right about everywhere - unless when you are actively searching for them, of course), but then, no negotiations about the price (There is a fixed price for that category of glasses plus lenses? And there are seven different quality choices for the lenses? And the upper quality doesn't cost one single Yen more than the lowest category? Uuuh, well, I guess I'll take the best quality category then if you don't mind...), and indeed, one and a half hour later, I left the store with my new glasses on my nose. I didn't even have to do the eye test as I told them that my current glasses were just fine. And it was far less expensive than what I usually paid in Europe, and I didn't take the cheapest ones either. Seriously, have I ever mentioned how much I love Japan?


On the other hand... I don't have that much love for my universities at this time. At this point, a warning might be appropriate. Please sit comfortably, have your seat-belt fastened and take a last deep breath, it's RANTING TIMEZ!
Scared? You should be. I'm so fed up with this mess myself, I could puke at times!
First, my japanese uni. Which is definitely the teensy-weensy smaller one of two evils, because basically, we're just bored to death. It seems like the usual procedure in Japan though, stupid gaijin couldn't possibly ever learn the sophisticated twistedness that is the Japanese language anyway, so why even bother and try to teach us anything remotely interesting? Okay, there is one amongst us five exchange students who has been recruited out of a language school and who isn't an all-around-the-clock student of Japanese like us other four are, she is the one who has most probably a hard time with the stuff we have to learn. But. For the rest of us, some of the classes are almost insulting our intelligence. While discussing news articles is in my humble opinion possibly even interesting and all, spending about two hours in a week listening to vocabulary explanations that we could easily (and rountinely) look up ourselves in less than two seconds definitely isn't. Some exercises bring new vocabulary and can therefor be quite interesting... while others aren't even first-year basis but awfully remind elementary school games.
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like anything will change when we complain. First because it wouldn't be fair towards Bakumyna, the one from the language school (from Benin), she has a hard time like it is already, second because we were once asked after our first month how we liked the classes. I don't know for the others, but I did answer truthfully that I thought some classes to be interesting, others on the other hand way too easy. You have three guesses whether anything changed, "yes", "maybe" and "no". You may place your bets now, go!

Well, that is one thing. I could complain a little about how universal bad food at uni refectories seem to be (tasteless food, I could understand, but cold rice that is supposed to be hot??), about how clean the uni toilets are on the other hand, especially when compared to the uni toilets I know in both Germany and France including those of my own uni of course, or also about how 90% of the students here look like japanese Barbie Dolls. And how they are applying their make-up in classes. Or, according to Claire, even pluck their eyebrows in the lobby. Not kidding, but oh how I wish I were!

ANYWAY. This is nothing, I repeat: Nothing, compared to the frustration I have with my french university at this moment!
Remember all the funny anecdotes about how I took the night train from Frankfurt to Paris just to be in front of the doors at seven in the morning of the next day, just so that I could adapt to the enrollment rules that had been changed three days before (and two days before I knew of those changes) and therefor have a chance to become a student there?
Or the day when I waited for eight hours in a line in order to choose my classes?
Or the three days I kept running from one end of Paris to the other (under the rain and with the main RER line closed for works to make things even worse) because nobody was ever able to tell me when that [censored] secretariat might remove that omnipresent "closed" sign on their door, not even the colleagues next door, and finally missed to enroll for those particular studies (International Relationships) because summer vacations came a rollin' and the secretary went on holiday?
Or a few months ago, where I traveled from Germany to France - again - just because I had to apply in person to get one little paper in the secretary's office for the master's course that gave me permission to apply for enrollment? Because people might get unemployed when you don't give them an almighty stamp for a job any stupid first-year student could do as well, namely see whether we have your bachelor or not? And it took me three days past deadline to have all that stuff done instead of an hour like it should have been?
Yeah, every single time, I still had the possibility to go there in person, see them right in the eye (unless the secretary's office was closed once again) and get things done on the spot. As much as it sucked to have to travel from Germany to France just for that.
And now? I refuse to even consider the possibility of taking a plane to Paris to appear in person, blame me, and thus we can only rely on email contact. Which sucks even more, when both Claire and I get different answers for the same thing, I have all the necessary documentary shipped to Germany instead of Japan... or don't get any answers at all when I ask how the hell I'm supposed to get my prof in France to sign a paper while I'm in Japan, just a friendly reminder that I should get things done as soon as possible, before christmas holidays. BUT I'm very happy to receive an invitation every week from that same secretary, for the Russian week, for two movies of the cinematic festival of Vesoul that are being played, or this week, for the Slavic Spiritual lecture.
I'm very positive that those lectures and movies and culture weeks are of highest interest and importance, certainly. But do I look like I cared about some Russian gramps that hold a lecture in a department that is not of any interest to my studies almost 10,000km away? Seriously, I must resist the urge to put that woman on my spam list. Or to remind her - kindly, of course - that if she has that much time to spam so many students in her working hours, she certainly has the time as well to answer a few questions of desperate students on the other side of the globus. But no, apparently not. I can be so naive at times...

Then, my prof in France won't answer my email yet, what exactly I'm supposed to be doing here, research related and all. And I'm sitting here, more or less clueless and without much motivation left, but with a huge amount of books to read that makes my head spin just thinking about it. And on the other side with a japanese prof that is uber-kind and uber-motivated (frighteningly so, if I dare to say), but that I barely understand at all due to some language barrier and the fact that he talks way too fast at times.

Yeah, I have it bad, I know. And yes, I do feel comfortable at times to act like a whiny brat who doesn't get all the lollies it wants, why do you ask? It's not so much like I'm desperately drowning in work, oh no, but I'm so tired of last minute information of highest importance, last second changings to said last minute information, and - of course - the specialty de la maison, total lack of information. Preferably with the matching hint that every needed information is on Teh Site (also known as Chaos Gate), except that it isn't. Or when it is, with the disturbing little info that said information has been last updated one year ago. Or two. Or three. And thus not reliable at all, especially when it comes to deadlines, as they are changing every year.

Oh well, please excuse me while I'll just calmly put away said homework for unknown deadline (in three days? Or that's what it was last year...), push important papers to be signed and handed in on the other side of the globus far away from my mind, and just pull my warm and cozy blanket over my head, on my futon, where it is comfy and snugly. In case you're searching for me, I'll be there until all those nasty deadlines go swooooosh and are far away, but don't tell anyone!

(But don't worry, just in case you're wondering, I don't feel homesick at all, on the contrary! I'm feeling great, except for some minor woes and booboos maybe, like breaking my glasses for example *facepalm* Just that those little woes and booboos take up far too much place on my internal hard-drive, thus my system being looooow and juddering at times and results in frustration and lack of motivation for anything and... yeah, you get the picture. *sigh*
And that much as I am tempted right now to shut the window once again and spare the world this pathetic excuse of a blog update, I guess I'll just go through with this and rant away, or you might keep wondering in the end in front of which train I threw myself in order to jam the whole Tôkyô city traffic.


[Not re-read, sorry, but it's bed-timez nao and my eyes too tired to register even the most obvious mistakes at this point. *yaaaaawn*
Good night/afternoon/morning, wherever you are.^_^