third post: waiting

March seems to be taking forever!  I don't have a lot to report, which is why I've not posted for a while but I figured I should update anyway.

I finally got my certificate of eligibility the other day and took it into the consultate to get my visa.  This is actually a very simple process except for one thing - you need a passport photo.  If I was a smart, on-the-ball kind of person I would've gone to the post office at uni when I picked up my certificate of eligibility but the line was really long and I was grumpy and hadn't showered or anything so I didn't.  Plus, I figured there would surely be somewhere to get the photo taken near the consulate.  I did all my make-up and everything so I looked pretty and headed into the city.  While on the train it started to rain profusely, so I ducked into DFO Spencer St to buy an umbrella so that my make-up didn't get rained on.  Of course by the time I found somewhere with reasonably priced umbrellas, the rain had stopped.  There was a chemist who took passport photos a few shops down from the consulate but the one girl who knew how to take them was out for lunch and wouldn't be back for half an hour.  The consulate is only open for visas from 2-4 in the afternoon, and this was about 3pm, so I didn't want to cut it too fine and decided to go somewhere else.  The day was quite muggy and by the time I found somewhere (on Elizabeth St) I was all sweaty and disgusting.  I got two sets of photos because I need them for heaps of stuff when I get to Japan, which was like $30, and the lady who was quite lovely but slightly inept at taking photos clearly put them in the envelope too early and now they are all weird and unusable.  Plus, I was all sweaty and shiny and my make-up had melted off in them, so they are not good photos.  Also, I look like Julia Gillard in them, according to my sister.  Then when I got to the consulate I had to fill out a form and give it to the man, who told my I can pick my visa up on Tuesday.

This means that the paperwork is nearly at an end, yay!  I'm sure there will be heaps more once I get to Japan but at least the end is in sight!

With the certificate of eligibility I also got sent a bunch of other stuff from my school - including timetables, yay!!  I did seven different colour-coded timetables for myself depending on which level of Japanese I get put into.  This made me start worrying about the Japanese placement test that I have to do when I get to Rikkyo, so I googled it for handy tips and found some blogs of other exchange students there.  Everyone had been put into lower levels than they expected, though once they started classes they said that it was definitely the level appropriate for them. People who seemed about my level (ie they had finished Genki 2 in class) were either in level J2 or J3, and it seemed mostly dependent on their vocab as to which one.  The timetable for level J2 and J3 is the same - 9am classes every day - so it doesn't bother me if I'm in the lower level, I was more worried that I'd be in J4 which would mean I couldn't do the history subject that I really want to do.  With the levels J1-J3 there is a seperate stream which is J1/2/3S, which means that you only have to do 3 classes a week, though it's the same content.  While this seems good and more efficient it would mean I'd have to take up two other classes (I have alternate timetables planned for this too), which I kind of don't want, as I'd rather focus on Japanese.  The people whose blogs I read also said there was a lot more homework than expected, though they were doing business subjects so I'm not sure I can compare.  Anyway, for now I've decided to focus on vocab instead of kanji as I was doing previously.

One of the blogs also said about a really good cafe on the edge of campus - which I'm totes going to need if I have 9am classes every day.  OMG, that's going to be horrible!!

It's only 16 days until I leave now, which means I only have 14 days left with my dog.  She seems to be aware of this and is a bit more clingy than usual.  I am trying not to think about leaving her so that I'm not too sad all the time.

I resigned from work on Friday.  This had been stressing me more than I realised, because after I did it, I felt very relieved.  My boss was very good about it and he said to call when I got back to see if they had any jobs.  He was very sad but I am sure he will learn to cope.  Work hasn't been busy at all lately so I don't feel guilty about leaving as they clearly don't need so many people anymore.  This means I only have 5 more days of work!  This doesn't seem like enough money!  I need more money!!!

Now that it's getting so close and things are all working out, I've been stressing about EVERYTHING!  What if there's an earthquake and it gets cancelled? What if I run out of money?  What if my housemates all decide to move out while I'm in Japan?  What if this, what if that.  I've been stressing so much I can't sleep at night, it's stupid.  It's like the less I have to worry about, the more stressed I get.  I just keep thinking up new and fun things to stress about.  I think I need something to focus on so I don't drive myself crazy.  I just wish the next few weeks would hurry up so I could go.

Okay, so I guess I had more to report than I expected!  I should probably go and make productive use of my Sunday now!!