On Thursday, September 18^th, I participated in the entrance ceremony for the Nihongo Bekka students (only for those not part of an exchange program that is.) The ceremony was slightly strange. We had a band playing in the back, most likely the affiliated high school's band or the university's. They played a mixture of Doraemon theme songs, Aladdin, other songs I could recognize as well as some I couldn't. The band was playing as we entered the room; I was first to enter, lucky me. We sat down in regular class chairs, where we waited for about 20 minutes for the officials to enter the room.

Soon, the "master of ceremony" stepped up to the mike, and to no surprise, began to speak in Japanese, lucky me. haha The whole presentation was in Japanese, therefore I barely understood anything. Soon, the music, which had stopped to let the man talk, began again, and the curtains of the stage in front of us began to rise. Another microphone as well as 8 other officials were revealed, including Yasuhiro Yamashita, the most famous person in judo after Jigoro Kano, of course. One of them stepped up to the mike and began to speak.

Something I didn't mention was that this ceremony was taking place at 2:00 PM. If any of you know me, you know that for me, that time of the day is a terrible time to ask me to sit down and listen or study. As usual, I began to doze off. Not being able to understand didn't help either. I felt my head drop down a few times, and even almost fell asleep for a split second. But to my great surprise, so were the other officials. Many were closing their eyes, bowing their heads, and so I didn't feel too bad. A second official stepped up to the mike, taking as much time as the last one, and was just as interesting to listen to... haha. We were then asked to rise from our seats, for the 5^th time during that ceremony, and the band started playing. But this time, the officials and everyone around us began to sing. Apparently this was the Tokai Anthem? Afterwards, another man came to the mike, yet he spoke in much simpler language than the previous speakers. He told us that he noticed we didn't sing along with them and asked us to memorize this song so that we could sing it at the ceremony of our departure. Easier said than done, but I guess I'll give it a shot.

Walking back to my dorm I had a few thoughts. I was now part of the University. I was now officially a student at Tokai University, and that is no small feat. I was part of the 26, 000 students here, living the life of an international student, in a Japanese lifestyle, a Japanese regime, on my own. Pride and fear were what I felt at that moment.

"Ganbatte." they said. And so I will.