Pros and Cons - Soon heading home

My momma's porch on December 27th
(Picture taken by the lovely lady herself)

Warning: Rant alert

Gah, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, people.

This semester living in godforsaken Togane and attending good-for-nothing Josai International University has been a true test of patience and stamina. A few weeks left, and I'm outta here!

I'm going to miss

- my humble apartment
- having a microwave oven
- the 100 Yen shop across the street

Yep, that's it.

I'm not going to miss

- being treated like an imbecil by the university, despite being an adult who's paying a lot of money in tuition - and for what?

When a bunch of my lazy, oh-so beloved, fellow students continuously fail to show up in class - we're being incouraged to end class earlier "so the other students won't miss out on too much".

When the class scored terribly low on a big test, due to the fact that most of my fellow students don't bother to study, for the next test we were told the day before in detail what would be on the test. I tell you, the test was so easy, I felt stupid for studying. Nevertheless, there's no way to compare your own progress, since the level on the test we're given are all different from each other - and not in a good way.

And then when our teacher returned our test, like it was a big announcment she over-excitedly made a big deal about how "well we did compared to the previous test". My ass. I wanted to throw something in her face.

I would rather study hard for a test and get a low - and deserved - score that'll sting, then having them insult us by giving us tests proving that they think of us as idiots.

This whole deal have just been.. fishy. When I'm at the top of my class - you know there's something wrong. As said before, I want to be around people who motivate and inspire me. Now, frankly, I'm just getting depressed.

I'm afraid this semester haven't helped me improve my language skills any more than if I'd stayed home in Norway and attended classes at the university there would have done.

Such a waste of good suffering. It's unfair.

Academically I'm doing great, though - How can I not? The bar here is ridiculously low, as it's more important for the university to maintain their "reputation", than to give their students an education of quality. So what if I'm getting straight A's? They won't count for jack once I get back in the real world.

I can't wait!

I'm looking forward to be going home to

- my family & friends
- Oslo
- my university
- the study hall
- my new home
- my work and colleagues
- the challenging new courses I'm taking next semester
- the gym on campus

I'm starting to get all gitty!

In the same way as when I lived in Thailand for 12 months, I didn't allow myself to be homesick until the very end. Today it's three weeks until I'm going home, and I'm excited!

BUT

I don't what to go home to this:

(Photo: Momma)

(Photo: Momma)

(Photo: Momma)

The temperature these past few weeks back home in Norway has been insane - today it reached as low as minus 21 degrees celcius - IIiiik! I can't go home to that!!

Anyway.

I still truly enjoy studying Japanese and I'm looking forward to be returning to Japan in the fall next year.

Hopefully to a more serious university far away from other Norwegians.