Three is the magic number…

My academic adviser was in his office on Friday when I visited, which is a miracle of miracles since I have been trying to get hold of him for the last two weeks. He’s apologises for rushing about, while asking me how I am. I haven’t seen him for nearly two months, though I’m not sure whether this is a good or bad thing. Some people see their academic adviser every week, and they’d go mushroom picking and things together at the weekend. I really don’t know what the etiquette is regarding meetings with my adviser, and since I haven’t had any problems I haven’t felt the need to trouble him. Anyway, he tells me, ‘oh, I am so busy… busy like a bee’. He was really pleased with that simile.

December always proves to be a busy month. At home, everybody is preparing for Christmas and the end of term at uni, which always brings dreaded essay deadlines. Here, our semester doesn’t end until early February but leaving all the assignments to then would be insane, so I’ve been chipping away and clearing some work to give myself time for Japanese finals and the Peace-building final essay.

But it hasn’t been all work and no play, thank God. The lazy weekend in Takayama was blissful, and a refreshing change from Nagoya city life. Tokyo was manic, we tried to squeeze too much into three days but it was great seeing Ruth and Lily again. Seeing DJ Marky with Ruth and Derry was absolutely fantastic, he was so good! Our legs took a good two days to recover from that particular dance fest. The highlight of the month was Emma’s birthday, I hadn’t laughed so much for ages and its always nice when all of us get together for a big dinner.

The great thing is, no more homesickness! I was really worried about Christmas away from everybody but I was worrying about nothing. It wasn’t like Christmas at home, but hey, I am in Japan so that’s to be expected. I don’t know what prompted the change, but I started seeing Japan as home, albeit a temporary one, rather than always thinking back to England through a rosy haze. Its taken ages, but New Year plans are coming together and we’ve managed to book a short break away to Hong Kong. Its been a brilliant month!