Half a week of ughh

This week hasn't been fun, since it's midterm time, and I've just been generally unhappy the past few days. I had my first midterm on Tuesday, and I'm pretty sure I didn't do well on it. I was talking with Katsuya today about how I kept mixing up the eras for the art, and he thinks we weren't given enough time for each of the questions. Also, I think I'm on the verge of getting sick or something...my stomach is really bothering me, and today I felt like I had a fever all day when I was in school. I skipped my last class after talking to my art instructor and finding out what I would be missing. I feel bad because we started the nude model drawings on Monday, and so every class is important from now on. But I just didn't think I could handle two and a half hours of being in one classroom (which would be really, really warm for the model's sake) when I'm feeling like this. I left my bike at school and took the bus home, since it was cold and very windy. The only reason I was able to bike to school this morning is because although it was windy and I felt my bike getting pushed sideways, it was much warmer, and therefore bearable.

When I was waiting for the bus this evening, though, across the street there's an elementary school, and a group of maybe eight or so boys were all beating up each other. I still don't know if it was real fighting, since first there were only a few boys playing in the bushes and running around, but then more showed up, and a few teamed up on one boy, and more showed up and soon everyone was beating each other up. I couldn't tell if there were sides or if it was every boy for himself. It was all very shocking to watch, and no one came and broke them up. Everyone at the bus stop was watching the fight (the boys were pretty noisy, so we could hear them over the traffic), and I think the young couple next to me was talking about it, from the snatches of conversation I understood; the guy was saying something about how it was for fun, though the girl didn't sound so sure. I'm not so sure, either, since several of the boys were on the ground half the time, and they kept doing these weird jumping attacks (like you would see in some kind of Japanese teenage gang drama) and doing headlocks and such. I got in a really bad mood watching...I don't think I've actually seen people beating each other up before in real life.

Oh, since I haven't posted since Saturday (I think?), I'll tell you that on Sunday, even though I said I was going to do homework...I went to Ueno Park and Asakusa instead. Yeah. Bad student. I did do my homework afterward, haha. But I just spent the entire day out. It was REALLY cold and windy, though, so it was kind of painful to be out. Asakusa seems like the perfect place to get omiyage (souvenirs/gifts), so I'm definitely going back to get a bunch of stuff for people another time. I didn't buy anything except some noodles at a vendor and then a bottle of Shiroi Natchan and a pack of Haichuu (anndd I don't know if I'm spelling it right, since I'm so used to seeing it in Japanese).

These are prayers hanging at a shrine in Ueno.


I'd thought I was going to go to Hakone with the others sometime soon, but apparently Cecelia planned the whole thing again without me, and since she already has the hotel reservation, I guess I'm not going with them. They were talking about it at lunch, and I thought that I had been included in the plans, but then when James asked who all was going, she said four of the guys from Green House and four girls (her, Emily, Lindsay and Tamaria). I talked to Steve about it later, and he said he was planning on going to Hakone on a day trip (instead of an overnight thing like the others are doing), which is what I'm more interested in doing, so I said I may just go with him. He said he would go when it's warmer, which would be best for pictures if there's more greenery, lol. I just hope that works out. We're still trying to figure out when to go to the Ghibli museum.

Speaking of museums, I have another field trip tomorrow during class. We're going to walk from school to some museum in Roppongi. Then on Friday I have the second half of my Japanese midterm (today's oral half was SO easy), and we're watching a film about Tiananmen Square in my Asian culture class.