Graduation & Going back to Japan

More than 1 week ago, I graduated from my beloved university, the University of Michigan.

The university, Ann Arbor town and nature, my fellows and professors, ppl in Ann Arbor... Everything in my college life was more than I deserved. I cannot thank people who have supported me and spent time with me enough... (with such a comical look on my face)

It has been three years since I came to the U.S.A.

The happiest change for me is about my parents - At first, they disagreed with my studying in the U.S. and worried too much even after I came to this country, but finally, they believe me and totally support me.

Thinking of my EXTRA-Worrier parents, who cannot even ride an airplane, it might be absurd that I thought of studying abroad even though I was on the way which my parents were satisfied with when I graduated from my high school. But, since I was a child, I had suffered from a deep sense of dissatisfaction and distrust toward my parents because I had felt I was always tied down by their excessive worry; I seriously did not want to keep having such negative feelings toward them, because my parents were only them in the world, and I was eager to understand each other - that's why I chose to study communication.

Although they had been absolutely opposed to and worried over my staying in the U.S., when I started my job search after two years, the best supporters for me were my parents. The job I was looking for, mass communication, did not appear in career forums for international students, so I had to go back to Japan again and again for job interviews while taking classes in the U.S.. I, myself, wondered "Is job hunting worth sacrificing my school life?" "Mass communication is enticing, but am I qualify for it?" and became discouraged...

I think it's impossible to be both a student and a job hunter at the same time... I was always writing my paper in airport lobbies. Once, I was so tired and fell asleep, and missed my connecting flight. I was no longer a student nor a job hunter... Another time, I came back from Japan to Detroit Airport, and received a phone call saying "Come back for the next interview two days later. " Of course, I myself chose to study abroad, so I could do nothing about it.

BOT, when I inclined to job offers other than mass communication, my parents let me recognize my dream again. I just strove to graduate and work as soon as possible in order to save my tuition, but they said "It's ok to stay in the U.S. one more year. You don't have to concern about money. Do what you wanna do until you are satisfied."

Probably, both my dream and my path were totally different from my parents had originally expected. They were already Extra-Worrier, but I made them even more anxious. In spite of that, they have come to believe me and back up my dream - by itself, it's enough to say that I have achieved my main goal of studying abroad.

I also got to think of my parents' feelings from the different view, through the study of communication and psychology, and life in another culture. I notice and regret that I have just "known" what they have thought and not tried to  "understand" them enough.

I enrolled in the University of Michigan in order to major in communication (and psychology, if possible). However, one required class for communication major was held only in spring semester when many of my job interviews were scheduled in Japan... I considered for several weeks, and finally decided not to take the required class. Some of my professors and graduate students were negative about my changing major. Some of the others cared about me saying "You must be sad...you really wanted to study communication..."
Either way, I'm glad I was surrounded by people who strongly wanted their students to pursue their aim.

Now, I think psychology and music, my minor, are the best match. In the first place, I was interested in emotional relationships. Its base is psychology, and communication is the tools for it.  Music relates to both psychology and communication, and plays an important role in society. Honestly, because I quickly finished my study in 3years, I'm not confident that I could get the practical knowledge, which could be used in social life, perfectly (just an apology?). But I, at least, learned the perspectives of these areas, and became able to consider things based on them.

Since I was a child, I had not wanted to go back home. So before I started job hunting, I thought I definitely had to avoid a job near my home. However, since I noticed my parents wanted me to pursue dream of myself, I no more keep away from my home. I was made an offer from a company in my home prefecture. Although I had gotten off from my home, I really love my hometown! It is nice to do the job I want for the area I grew up surrounded by people use the same dialect and have similar characteristics. I will live alone and maybe not go back to my parents’ home so often, but I will support my parents by the best way, including my grand mother’s nursing care. (I may be still supported more than I support...) Until now, all I could do was just graduating fast and saving money and the time to worry... I have to return my school expenses from now. (I don’t know how long it will take...)

During this 3 years in the U.S., I just drove me forward desperately even without the feeling of alive, to borrow my friend’s words, “making a broken wheel rotate.” Everything I saw, listened, touched was like wrapped by an oblate. It might be the reason why I could go through the hard schedule, or if I was not so, I could allow myself to breathe and might be able to enjoy much more things even in the same period. Anyway, I will keep trying in Japan with the love many many people have given me for this three years, or the 22 years I have lived.

By the way, I will keep writing about Ann Arbor on this blog for a while. I haven’t yet described the appeal of the town enough. After that, I may blog about the wonderful thing in my hometown : )

Oh, boarding for the flight to Japan seems to be begun now...

See ya!

P.S. To my friends who got together before my graduation and return, and who came on the day of graduation ceremony when final exam was coming up, thank you very very much!

 I graduated, but I cannot stop getting in touch with outer space! →

** Read more! **

Snow

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.

** Read more! **

Working on an Assignment...

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!)

** Read more! **

I hate fire alarms!!

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!!

** Read more! **

Shapiro Library

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)

** Read more! **