What I Love in A2

Snow

2007-12-02T16:59:00.000+09:00

I think we've got our first snow of this year in Nov.

When I noticed the light fall of snow, I felt somewhat happy and couldn't help playing outside (alone...).

Today, I didn't notice that we got much snow until Kaori Momoi, a Japanese famous actress, said "White Christmas!!!" because I had kept in Angel Hall from noon to the evening to do my research, and then to attend to a screening of Faces of a Fig Tree (Ichijiku no kao), which was the first movie directed by Kaori Momoi. She actually came to Angel Hall yesterday and today, and answered some questions of the audience.

(A small tree in front of Angel Hall ↑)

She had a lot of positive energy! She is in her 50s, but for her, now is the midpoint of her life because she will live to be around 120 years old :)

Anyway, she seemed to enjoy the snow in A2 as well as me (and other ppl in A2, right?); that's great!

↑Diag was also covered with snow! ↑(Can you see the M!?)

Oh, by the way, although snow is beautiful, it is sometimes dangerous. A little while ago (2am), I was going home by the free-ride and our cab was almost hit by another car!
Fortunately, both cars was running very slowly because the road was icy; but if they had run faster, we would have got injured... I came near to missing tomorrow's lunch with my friends!! (← very important).

(↑Weather gadget in this morning - provided by Google )

Anyway, be careful when you drive, run, play outside, or whatever.

Working on an Assignment...

2007-11-15T14:17:00.000+09:00

I have an observation study assignment in which I look into a psychological difference between each gender through unobtrusive observation of more than 100 males and females enacting a certain behavior. I am looking for a possible behavior which I can unobtrusively observe, but every idea coming up to my mind doesn't seem to work well.

The first one I thought was "bathroom study," in which I observe if females are more likely to go to bathroom with their friends than males (something called "ture-shon" in Japanese: Ture = together, shon = pee). But I don't want to observe more than 100 people going for a pee in front of a bathroom for a long time (and it won't be unobtrusive but just strange).

The second idea was seeing if females tend to wear more clothes than males - but I cannot exactly know which person wears more than others because some people wear fat instead of clothes (and I have no idea what psychological difference this behavior represents).

The third one was lunch choice. On the basement of Michigan Union, Subway and Wendy's stand next to each other, so I observe which one males and females tend to choose and how long they need to make their decision. But... what's the difference between Subway and Wendy's!? Both of them are fast food and I can't see which menu each person chooses.

Finally, I found out...

I am thinking about the topic for 3 hours (OMG!)

I hate fire alarms!!

2007-11-09T11:14:00.000+09:00

I was just “evacuated” from UGL knowing that it was unnecessary. You know, I was evacuated at least 3 times in this week: from East Hall, Angel Hall, and then UGL. All because of fire alarms! I understand fire prevention is very important, but as long as I know, none of these buildings have suffered from a fire. I even wonder someone is playing a trick repeatedly.

When I was in Angel Hall, I was finishing up my paper. Today, I was on the 4th floor of UGL and had to use stairways to go down. What do I wanna say? That Sucks!!

Shapiro Library

2007-11-03T16:21:00.000+09:00

I’m in the computer lab on the 2nd floor of Shapiro Library right now, Saturday at 4am in the morning. This library has been almost my home: I stay here any time day or night.

This lab was practically full when I came here from the Fish Bowl (The Angell Hall computing site) around 12. But people began to leave around 1, and some of the people who were left started to fall asleep Now, 3 people, including me, are here although the other 2 are in a deep sleep... No matter how many pages I print out, the sound of printer does not wake them up!

While they are sleeping, I will write up this entry about Shapiro Library.

Shapiro Library is not really a stately building compared to Hatcher Graduate Library, which is located next to it, but Shapiro is more like a functional place for me. It's easy to access (in the center of the central campus), and open until 5am during the fall and winter semesters (cf. Library Hours page). The basement, the 1st floor, and the 2nd floor are "Shapiro Undergraduate Library," also called UGL, and the 3rd and the 4th floor are "Shapiro Science Library."

There are many study spaces in Shapiro; for me, the best place to study is the 4th floor since it is fairly quiet and tends to have some empty seats. Other floors are likely to be crowded and noisy, especially the 1st and the 2nd floor... Few days ago, I was in the back of the 1st floor and suffered from a man's snoring Conversely, when I study with my friends, we go to the 2nd floor because we feel freer to talk (in a low voice though).
For group meetings, there are some group study rooms on the 2nd floor, which are probably soundproof. These rooms are on a first-come first-serve basis and I often see people staying in one of the rooms alone. So... (I won't say anything further ).

When you don't bring your laptop and need to work on a computer, the computer lab on the 2nd floor has more than 50 PCs and Macs as well as some scanners and printers. But sometimes, this lab is full or occupied for a meeting. If this is the case, I look for a computer in this order:
3rd floor -> 1st floor -> basement. From my experience, this is the best order considering how many computers there are on each floor, how fast the computers work, and... how far they are from the stairs (this is important! I don't wanna walk!!)

Shapiro library offers a number of lovely services. One of them is what I have mentioned in the last post: free ride home service. From 2am-7am, you can use shared-ride taxi service for free. That's really easy! Just go to the circulation desk at the entrance and you will find a phone and the instructions. Once you call the number on the instructions using the phone provided, a Yellow Cab operator asks you to tell him a phone number (This is not your number! The instruction tells you which number you should tell him.) and the address you are going to.
Then, wait for a yellow car outside (broom-broom~~ )

In the last blog post, I said I used this service; actually, that was the first time for me to use it! I had lived so close by before that I didn't want the driver to bother to drive such a short distance... After using the service, however, I kind of regretted that I had not used it until then!

If you forget to bring your textbook when you need it, go to the circulation desk; they lend many textbooks for a limited period of time (4 hours or so). You can check the availability of the books on Mirlyn (library catalogue).

Finally, let me tell you about Askwith Media Library, which is located on the 2nd floor, to the left of the elevator. You can borrow media such as DVDs there for free! They have a great number of various films; before you go to Blockbuster and Hollywood Video, drop by or use Mirlyn to check if Askwith has what you want!

Link:
- Shapiro Undergraduate Library (UGL)
- Shapiro Science Library
- Shapiro Library floor maps with VISUALs -> Basement-2nd floor / 3rd-4th floor
- Hatcher-Shapiro Library Navigator page (call numbers, study space, etc...)
- Mirlyn (Library catalogue)

Car in A2 !?

2007-10-27T14:14:00.000+09:00

So much to write, so little time! Well, I probably did have some time, but I have been out of condition for a week or so…

So, for that reason, I will go back to the beginning of this week to tell you how inconvenient it is to have a car in A2!!!

On Monday night, I watched a DVD with my classmates (eating pizza), and because it took until late, my professor gave me (+ another classmate) a ride. It was a great help for me since it was raining, but I was surprised when I heard that she paid about $500 (I forgot exact price... It may be $600) to the Univ. for parking per year... In spite of her payment, the prof. sometimes has trouble finding a parking spot. I should have prepared for my next day's parking when I heard this...

On Tuesday morning, I went to school by my roommate’s car because I had been asked to pick her up at the airport after school (She had been in her country for some days). I parked the car in the center of the central campus, in front of Sushi.come, 10 minutes before my class started. I got out of the car and fed the parking meter. It said "15 minutes for a quarter," so I should get 90 minutes for $1.5 (6 quarters), right? Was I wrong? ...Yes, I was wrong! The meter seemed to be satisfied with only 2 quarters and stopped adding the minutes at 00:30 (30 minutes) even though I fed 4 or 5 quarters! After a while, I noticed that there was another sentence under "15 minutes for a quarter" saying "No more than 30 minutes" (What the heck ).

I however knew it was the only spot I could find around there. The class I was about to attend was very small and there would be a guest speaker on the day; it meant I would not be able to run back and forth between the classroom and the car to feed the meter every 30 minutes. I got the car started and left there to find a new spot: After all, I couldn't find it.

The big reason why I could not find a spot might be that I didn't usually drive, so I cannot insist that having a car in A2 (around our campus, to be exact) is a very bad idea. Since big grocery stores such as Kroger and Meijer are not so close to campus (20-30 minutes by bus from central campus), your grocery shopping must become easier with a car. HOWEVER, keep in mind that parking charges are not cheap around campus, including residential areas, and looking for a parking spot is so stressful!!

Then, what should we do? One of my friends comes to school by bus even though he has a car; it may be a smart choice. Or you don't even need a car (I don't ). The prof. said the Univ. didn't pay for faculties' parking because they recommended university members, including students and faculties, to use buses saying that we could ride both the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority (AATA) buses (city bus) and the U-M buses, aka the Blue Bus (operated by the Univ.), for free. I actually know some faculties (and many students) who do not own a car. Although taking the bus is not super convenient and comfortable, I think these bus services are good enough to be used in everyday life; JFYI, the Blue Bus operates every 5-20 minutes from about 7am to 3am (completely depends on the route: See the link for more details). In addition to the buses, the Univ. and the AATA offer free or inexpensive($5) shared-ride taxi services during nighttime hours (See this link). I used the free ride home service last night! I will write about these bus & taxi services in the near future

BTW, I got a call from my roommate just after I started to the airport saying that her friend would be able to pick her up

Link: ･ University of Michigan Parking & Transportation Services
･ Ann Arbor Transportation Authority (AATA)

Squirrels

2007-10-13T22:43:00.000+09:00

Average temperature in Ann Arbor:

Oct. 8th - 74°F
　　↓
Oct. 10th - 48°F　　　[Data from AccuWeather.com]

W-What's this gap!? 8O

It was 34 degrees last night... It's getting so cold these days... :mrgreen:

Anyway, today's entry is about squirrels.

I rarely saw wild squirrels in Japan, but I find them everywhere in A2. They take on a yellow tinge compared to the squirrels I often saw in California.

Squirrels are scampering around, chasing each other, climbing a tree, looking for food, eating acorns, and digging a hole to store food. They are so lovely! When I read a book outside, I hear a scrunch sound: I wrench my head back and find a squirrel eating an acorn. Sometimes, I can't figure out where the sound comes from because the squirrel hides behind a tree ;)

The other day, I was walking on campus and heard a guy saying "oops!!" What I saw was the guy and a squirrel looking at each other :oops: It seemed the guy suddenly halted in astonishment because a squirrel jumped in front of him 8O (Sorry, I couldn't help laughing...)

I see squirrels all year long, even in winter. In winter, whenever squirrels walk on an icy branch of a tree, it creaks and groans...
↑ (A picture taken in winter)

Squirrels' small footprints are pretty, especially compared to mine →

BONUS PIC!!

The M in Ann Arbor

2007-09-22T21:43:00.000+09:00

I just came back from school and noticed I had dressed "nicely" today: I had been wearing half pants and odd socks all day long!! (It's too late...)

After I moved, I had been very busy with this and that: Detroit, Canada, training for the new employee (in Japan), new semester, and Chicago... Well, I think I got a lot of interesting stories to tell during the few weeks of storm (I did not have any time to write a new blog entry though... :roll: ) I will talk about these stories after I organize the information ◎

OK, I write on an easy topic today - Ｍ.

We see many Ms inside and around the Umich campus. What do I mean by "M"? In Ann Arbor, the letter M is... how do I say... the symbol of the University of Michigan. The Block M, painted maize (One of our two school colors!! Another one is blue.), is the most often-used Umich logo and "one of the most widely recognized marks in the country" (quoted from U-M Trademark Guidelines by the University of Michigan Identity Guidelines ). You can see some versions of the Umich logo, including the Block M, by clicking on the first link above (or this one → U-M Trademark Guidelines) and scrolling down to the middle.

The Block M is utilized widely: For example, on the top of the Umich Web site, as a design of university items, and in the flags around the campus. It is also used by University programs, Institutes, Departments, and Units for identification. When I first came to A2, I saw these Ms and felt a sense of affinity with Umich because my last name begins with M (silly...)

I was impressed by M the other day: I was using a computer in Engineering Library and saw The College of Engineering logo (on the top of the linked page). It's seemingly the normal Block M, which is just shaded. The shadow, however, forms the letter "E," which represents Michigan Engineering!!! 8O Wow, who came up with this idea!? Wonderful... I could not get the info. about who made it, but I found the following quotation from CoE (College of Engineering) Web site.

This three dimensional form symbolizes the science of engineering, implying shape, form, light, and transformation - the transformation of scientific knowledge into practical use, of student into engineer, and the possibilities into reality.

― quoted from CoE Logo Downloads by College of Engineering, University of Michigan　―

Hmmm, this small logo implies so many meanings... lovely :oops:

By the way, the seal is different from these logos. (see The Seals of the University of Michigan in Bentley Historical Library Web page).

Moooooving...

2007-08-25T17:54:00.000+09:00

I had been really really struggling to find a new place to live, and FINALLY found it 2 days before the expiration of the term of the contract with my current landlords!! I somehow ended up living on north campus taking the classes on central campus...
Every house owner hated making 4-month contracts, so there was no place for me to go... Needless to say, no property satisfied both of two conditions important for me: the price and the distance from the school. So, I decided to choose the cheapness and give up the distance :( Well, maybe this is a good chance to know the north campus area, I think...

Oh yea, I will go school by bus every morning at 8:30!!!! I will be trained as a morning person :P Good, ha?

I get an Indian roommate, who works at the university hospital. She is my, at least, 12th roommate, and would be my last roommate in the U.S. She is kind enough to hold my stuffs by the time I can move into there: So I rented a car and moved all my stuffs today. This was the first time for me to rent a car. I was charged extra fee because
I was 21 years old (under 25) :(

(↑the car I rented)

My room is now empty... I reminded the time I first moved into here. I was too tired to unpack and slept being buried in my stuffs. Today, I leave the keys on the desk and probably never come back to this room... omg, how time flies!?

Thank you!

... Good bye :)

My APT

2007-08-13T00:56:00.000+09:00

I mentioned on the "how to read" page that I lived in one of the many historic districts in Ann Arbor. This is the picture of my apartment. Looks nice, ha? I love this apartment although there is no access to kitchen and we have to share 2 bathrooms with 9 people...

Why do I love this APT? Because the building is quaint, the room is not too big (I love small spaces), the landlords (they are brothers) are very nice, and the rent is cheap! (Whenever I answer my friends' question "How much is your rent?" their eyes pop out with astonishment ;) )

Well... when I was trying to find a place to live, I was only focusing on the price and the distance from the place to the school: I am spending my parents' money, so I need to save money as much as I can. I, in a fashion, wondered if I could live without kitchen, but decided to go for it because this APT was perfect in terms of the price and the distance. Now, I think my decision was right. Indeed it is hard to cook and do the dish with the tiny small sink in the bathroom, but I can still cook with my slow cooker and microwave. Most importantly, I have enjoyed the life in this historic district! Unlike a condo in a big city, this old building let me feel like time crawls along. I could have a quiet neighborhood, lovely nature around the building, and the hearty landlords, who are easy to approach (and do maintenance well). What else do I want?

Sadly, I need to move out from here soon because I am graduating in this Dec. and they only accept 1-year contract beginning from Sep... I am, however, glad that I have lived this APT :)

Hatcher Graduate Library

2007-08-03T19:21:00.000+09:00

I know I am an undergrad and it may be kinda weird to write about the graduate library, but I do because I love it!　

Umich has a lot of libraries (see the link if you want to count - I gave up to do so), but Hatcher Graduate Library would be the most prominent library among them. It is located in the center of the umich central campus.

（Hatcher Graduate Library →）

One of the reasons why I love this library is that there are a lot of private closed study carrels on the 3rd-6th floors of the South Building.
(← A private study carrel）

That’s a great place to study! There are a big desk, a chair, and electric outlets in each carrel, so you can use your laptop. If you get tired, you may want to enjoy the view from the window; this picture is from the 6th floor. Although each carrel is like a compartment, it is not a completely closed chamber: Don’t mumble to yourself or sing loudly, or serious graduate students will get mad...

(The view from the carrel ↑)

Another lovely thing in the carrel is graffiti on the heater. The heater in every carrel, especially the ones on the 3rd floor, is covered with graffiti done by students: Someone left a wonderful adage, someone was morning about her stats exam, and someone made me laugh with his lambent humor (I should definitely post some of them on this blog!! :P ).

One weakness of the graduate library would be their short hours of operation. While the undergraduate library(UGL) is open until 5am, the graduate library close at 2am on weekdays (6pm on weekends!). That’s not really convenient for a night person like me :(

Also, since I am an undergraduate student, most of the books I need are held by the undergraduate library. That’s why I spend most of time at the undergraduate library, not at the graduate library.

Note: Generally, the reason why people love Hatcher Graduate Library would be because they have millions of items from various fields written in more than 300 languages (cf. University of Michigan Library, from Wikipedia). Yes, I love and honor their collections, too! But I felt like referring to their study carrels here ;)

↑　（Peeking through the tiny window of the carrel...　The floor is overflowing with the books.）

Link: Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library (Official)
University of Michigan Library (Wikipedia)

How to Read?

2007-07-09T03:57:00.000+09:00

This blog deals with a pretty easy topic. I however would like to explain this blog further so that you can have a better understanding of it :D

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*Index *

1. What is A2 ?

2. RSS

3. Links and Shops/School Facilities Introduced in This Blog

4. Compatibility between English ver. and Japanese ver. + My English

5. Description of Categories

6. Contact Form

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. What is A2?

I like this abbreviation! Yes, A2 is an abbreviation of the city name of "Ann Arbor" (there are two As, ha!). Ann Arbor is a lovely city in Michigan; it's about 45 minutes by a car from Detroit. We can make it to the border with Canada within 1 hour.

←mitten-shaped Lower Peninsula of Michigan

Ann Arbor is well known as the location of University of Michigan (umich), which is my school; we can see many university buildings in the downtown area. Oh, wait... I can't even define where the border between downtown and the university is 8O

While there are some new tall buildings, many historic buildings are also found around the campus. Some of them are church, some of the others are university buildings, and some students' housings are also historical structures: I'm one of the students who live in a historic district. Cheap rent ♪ (←maybe not because it is old, but because we have no access to kitchen... :cry: )

Also, A2 is richly endowed with nature: it holds a lot of luxuriant green trees, which always make me relaxed. Every day, I see many animals on and off campus. Squirrels are the most common, and sometimes I find raccoons and rabbits in the middle of the night.

I have a lot more to say, especially about umich - it is really a wonderful school. But I will keep it for blog entries ;)

Link:
・The City of Ann Arbor (Official)
・The University of Michigan (Official)

2. RSS

If you want to receive the latest updates, subscribing to my RSS feed would be a great way! You are notified (e.g. on your desktop, browser, etc...) whenever I update this blog. (That's what I heard, but I don't actually know very well about RSS...)

3. Links in This Blog

Most of the links in this blog are from Wikipedia.

The reasons why I use it are its broadness, conciseness, and familiarity. In other words, it covers a lot of terms and languages (including English and Japanese), provides general information quickly, and is well known to every one:idea: ~~I'm not using the links to spare myself the trouble of explaining every word by myself.~~

I think, however, that Wikipedia is not completely a reliable source of information because anyone can edit the articles on that. I will try to read the articles in my links, including websites other than Wikipedia, before I link them; but they may be edited after I read, so I cannot be responsible for the information in the website linked by this blog. Sorry.

Also, the links and shops/school facilities introduced in the body texts are there because of my pure but arbitrary hope for helping readers' better understanding of A2. Entries will be written from the author's subjective point of view, but that's why there is no interference from outside concerning commercial interests or something like that. I will be meticulously careful about the information I publish, but if you have any concerns, please contact me through the contact form located at the bottom of this entry.

4. Compatibility between English ver. and Japanese ver. + my English

Mostly, I write English ver. first and translate it to Japanese. I try to retain compatibility between English ver. and Japanese ver. considering the readers who are studying Japanese. But the compatibility is not perfectly retained when literal translation is apparently unnatural and the parts are not so significant such as wretched jokes, etc... I also add/prune information according to need.

As you know, English is not my native language; so my writing may be hard to read. I apologize for that and try as much as I can to write better. Yea, my ability to acquire a language is REMARKABLY low... When I was 15, I was interested in Japanese literature and told my father that I wanted to study literature/humanities: he, a mathematics teacher, gave me a comment that my brain was for math/science :roll: (yea, it was certainly true that mathematics was easier for me than Japanese, English, and history...) Until I entered college, I did not really like English and thought "People can learn English and study abroad IF THEY WANT TO (but I will never do so♪)." I however felt like studying communication, which was best to be studied in the U.S., and finally came all the way to this country. I tend to be attracted by what I am weak in... :oops:

I know I'm getting off the point... Anyway, tell me when you find any parts which are apparently wrong.

5. Description of Categories

umich - Facilities at The University of Michigan, such as library and computing sites.

nature - Plants, animals, etc...

shops - Coffee shops, fast food chains, restaurants, grocery stores, etc...

people - People I've seen in A2 area (not about specific people close to me).

comparison between Japan and the U.S. - From my own personal viewpoint...

personal matters - Any posts that do not describe something lovely in A2, including my explanation of this blog, my thoughts, and what happened around me.

6. Contact Form

Finally, here is the contact form if you need to talk to me PERSONALLY (If you are not sending a personal/secret message, please use the "Say your words" section bellow).

I hope you enjoy this blog!! :)

First Note

2007-07-08T03:09:00.000+09:00

Every day, I find a lot of lovely things in Ann Arbor (A2) . It is sad that I am finishing up my study at umich soon because I love this school and this area! After my graduation, I will go back to my country, Japan. I really thank all the people who have shared wonderful time in this country with me, and also the people in Japan who have supported my study in the U.S.

So, I think it is great if I could express part of my gratitude toward them by sharing what I found lovely in A2 through this blog. Of course, including other people who live in A2, who used to live in A2, who are interested in A2, who are interested in me (???), EVERYONE IS WELCOME!!

Another purpose of this blog is to ease myself into publishing information. I hope I can develop habits of writing paragraphs which are easy to read, being careful and responsible about my writing, and using a camera - oh yeah, I am not a shutterbug while my father and older sister are. I have, rather, looked at people who are crazy about taking picture somewhat coldly... Moreover, I am a chicken and afraid of putting people off by taking picture of something around them (Some people say "Don't take MY picture!!!" even if I have never tried to take THEIR picture).

But pictures help fast and easy understanding of information; so I'd love to learn photography skills, including the way to take a picture without making someone mad.

Oh, it may be too long for the first note! Let's get the blog started now!!