Recap#4: Spring in IUJ (2018)

The end of the winter break was the last week of March but it coincided with our theses' final draft deadline. I think I wrote the bulk of my thesis during the month of March haha. It was kinda depressing working on our thesis during the break while the first years and some of the second years who had already finished their thesis went travelling. Some of us didn't emerge from our rooms for days. I thought I wanted to go sakura viewing in Kyoto during the first week of April and booked a hotel. The only condition for me to go was that I was satisfied with my thesis progress. In the end I wasn't, so I didn't go to Kyoto and forgot to cancel the hotel booking before the deadline :(

It wasn't all bad though. I did manage to go night skiing with my friends. We went at the end of March at a further ski resort where there were still enough snow for skiing and snowboarding. Most people went sakura viewing at the time but we went skiing/snowboarding instead. Since I did well enough with skiing during the IUJ Ski Day in 2017, I thought I would try snowboarding. We borrowed ski/snowboard outfits from our Japanese friend and my outfit was bright orange. I looked like a firewoman. Many firefighter jokes were thrown about that night. Anyways, it turned out I couldn't snowboard, I couldn't even stand on the snowboard! Being good at skiing has no correlation at all with snowboarding, at least in my case. In the end, I used the snowboard as a sled and sled my way down the slope. Embarrassing yes but shoganaiyo. Nonetheless, the good thing about going night skiing/snowboarding (apart from the cheaper fees) is the fireworks display! We saw it when we were at the upper part of the slope. It was beautiful. There was also a full moon.

Not satisfied with staying in during the end of semester break, we decided to go for a short Tokyo getaway during the weekend of the first week of April. Since I had an international driving license and one of our friends had a car, we decided to drive to Tokyo with the two of us taking turns to drive. It was much cheaper than going by bus or local train as we split the fuel and toll fees between four people. In Tokyo, we stayed at one of our friend's family house. We went to Yokohama and Odaiba.It was a short but good getaway. I even managed to meet up with one of my longtime Japanese friend in Odaiba.

Thesis was not over by the time we got back from our trip. One of our friends had thesis defense the same week we returned to IUJ. While the rest of us had submitted our first draft, we now had to work on the feedback and comments we received from our supervisors. I had quite a few I had to work on. Thesis aside, it was the start of the spring term, which meant that we had to sort the subjects we were taking and check that we had enough credit hours to graduate. I was supposed to take two subjects but decided to take three subjects initially to be on the safe side. I wanted to drop one of the subjects later on but wasn't able to because the withdrawal date had passed. I didn't want another "W" in my transcript after having withdrawn from Intermediate Japanese II during winter term, so I decided to continue taking that subject. My original plan was to take only one subject during my final term to focus on my thesis but I ended up taking three!

Like winter term, there were events you couldn't avoid in spring. The main one is sakura viewing and we ended up going to Senbuchi Park in Muikamachi. I was still working on my thesis but decided to go since it would be my last time in probably a long time to go sakura viewing. And I didn't regret it because although the park was small, it was beautiful. The weather was perfect too: the sky was blue, the sun was shining and it wasn't too hot. We went to Shiozawa afterwards and a historical house belonging to the head of the village. Before going back to campus, we had tea at our Japanese friend's house.

A few weeks later, we went to Echigo Hillside Park for the tulip festival. Once again the weather was nice, so we had a good time there. We went shopping around Nagaoka and dinner at a Korean BBQ restaurant afterwards. The food was really good.Thesis submission was around the end of April and once it was done, we had to work on our thesis defense/oral presentation. I was frustrated that my thesis defense date was much later than my friends (they had theirs earlier than me AND all on the same day!) Nevertheless, we helped each other prepare for our thesis presentation by doing mock presentations and asking questions.

In between all of this was Open Day. I didn't participate in any performance this time around so I was looking forward to visiting all the food booths. I did do something different this time though. One of my friends from Bangladesh suggested that I wear her saree to Open Day and I did. What an experience. The saree was beautiful and I felt pretty wearing it. Many people were surprised to see me wear it. I didn't get to eat much though because I got my period that day.

I got changed in the evening because we went out for dinner. One of my dearest friends who graduated last year came to Open Day and we went out for dinner together with other IUJ friends that graduated last year. There was a little bit of drama after the dinner though. We ate at the okonomiyaki restaurant but there were many of us and space was limited. My two friends and I were not so comfortable, so after we were done eating, we decided to head back first. When we asked for our share of the bill, however, the amount was extraordinarily high. We quickly got out of the restaurant and ranted about it. We didn't order that much food and didn't drink alcohol so we felt that our bill shouldn't be that high. We walked back to campus and ranted most of the way back haha. In the end, one of our friends who stayed back told the guy that told us the price that we shouldn't pay so much since we didn't order much, so it was sorted. Yokatta.

Ramadan arrived not long after Open Day. My thesis defense was on the third day of Ramadan. I must've been nervous because I couldn't sleep the night before; I think I only got three hours of sleep. It was also my first day of fasting. It was raining softly that morning so the weather was cool. I expected my thesis defense to take around 30 to 45 minutes but it only took around 15 to 20 minutes. By the time I came out, none of my friends were there yet. So I took a wefie with my supervisor and examiner. On my way back to the dorm, I met one of my friends and he said we should go back to the classroom to take photos. So we did and took photos after another one of our friends arrived. Yay, I got my photo op! After that we went to CNP (the lounge above the cafeteria) and I treated the two of them to some vending machine hot chocolate.

We hung out for a bit but then had to go as I was going to Tokyo with my friend to see the shibazakura at Mount Fuji. With thesis defense and everything else going on, it was a busy time but that was the only time to see the shibazakura with good weather. We arrived in Tokyo in the evening and stayed with the same friend I stayed with in Tokyo during the summer. Another two friends were staying there too. We cooked and had nabe for dinner. After dinner, my friend and I were surprised that our other friends had prepared some yummy fruity sponge cake to celebrate the completion of our thesis.

The next day, our two friends went to the airport to return home and three of us met up with another friend at the car rental place. Our friend who organised the trip decided that driving would be the best way to travel around Mount Fuji. The three of us had attempted to spot the full Mount Fuji last year with no success but were determined to achieve our goal this year. It was a three to four drive to Shizuoka, the area with Mount Fuji. As predicted by our friend who planned the trip, the weather was good and we had a fantastic time. Best of all, we got the many different full views of Mount Fuji! We managed to take many beautiful shots that day. My friend and I returned to IUJ the next day.

The next few weeks felt like a blur because we had our final papers to work on, had to start packing our stuff for shipping, sell our usable stuff to the first years and basically do the necessary stuff to prepare to go home. I also had to plan for my first Raya abroad but I had a lot of help from my friend who is a first year. We had a memorable Raya trip: malam Raya was spent at a fancy steak restaurant inside a hotel (we didn't know it was inside a hotel when we searched for it online), went to the Niigata mosque on the first day of Raya and then had awesome pancake at a nice, cozy cafe near Niigata station. One the second day of Raya, I went to Nagaoka University of Technology to celebrate Raya with my fellow Malaysian university mate and her friends. They even took me on an enjoyable tour around their campus after the Raya open house.

Once the Raya festivities subsided, it was back to work. In addition to the papers, I also had a job interview which required me to update my resume and a write cover letter and so on. After the interview, I was required to write a 2,000 word article. I thought of just giving up on it but the potential employer was kind enough to extend the deadline since I told them I was busy with thesis and end of term papers.

The last few weeks was basically a list of must-do things that came one after another. After finishing the article and my term papers, the dreaded packing began. It was a nightmare because it was neverending. Up to the last day, I was still throwing and packing things.

Graduation day was perfect. I was happy to have my family there as well as my father's friends there. Of course, I was happy to be with my friends whom I shared many experiences these past two years. During the ceremony, contrary to what I thought, they announced the recipients of the Dean's Award Certificate. We had to stand up when our names were called. I was happy but embarrassed at the same time. There was a slight blunder after I accepted my certificate from the university president; I didn't know where to go and overshot the exit. But it was all right in the end. I took more photos after the reception. Once we were back on campus, I gave my dad's friends a quick tour of the campus since I had the awarding ceremony of the dean's certificate in the afternoon.

Later in the afternoon was the tree ceremony which consisted of the programme representative putting a plaque on a designated tree in the semi-forested area not far from the tennis courts. My class was the International Relations Program Class of 2018. Afterwards I had what I thought was my last meal in the shokudo with my friends. One of the professors that taught me was there too. I told him that I regretted I didn't get to take my photo with him during the graduation ceremony in the morning. He told me we could take photo after we ate and we did. I then walked to 7-11 with two of my friends. The weather was overcast but it was a nice walk. One of my friends treated us to ice cream since we just graduated :)

I was supposed to pack my stuff for the student flea market but after passing my fridge to the flea market committee, decided to do the packing early next morning because I was really tired and sleepy. Needless to say, the next day was chaotic but I managed to pack and get everything done. There was a slight hiccup though. After arriving at the station, I realised I left my folder at the dorm office when I did the checking out procedure! I had to get the folder back since it had my flight ticket and transcripts. So I took a cab to and fro to get my folder and our journey to Tokyo was delayed to the next train.

A week before graduation day, our Japanese friend took us out for dinner at our favourite sushi restaurant, followed by firefly watching session by the river. There weren't many fireflies yet but the handful that we did see were beautiful to look at. It was bittersweet for me because it reminded me of the scene in Rurouni Kenshin where Kenshin went to say farewell to Kaoru at the riverside where there were many fireflies. At the time, it hit me that I would soon be saying farewell to these wonderful people that had become my friends.

Thus ended my IUJ journey and I would like to finish with the quote from the Lord of the Rings:

"And the Fellowship of the Ring, though eternally bound by friendship and love, was ended."