Orientation

Today was the new student orientation for Sophia University International Exchange Students.

It was such a rainy day today, which meant train delays and cold weather! ><

I was reluctant to walk around because of the heavy rain, but from what I could see, the campus wasn't that big. There are twelve buildings, which are all numbered, a church, a library, a gym, a campus store.. and they're all pretty close together.

Upon arrival at the orientation room, we were given a bag full of booklets and pamphlets, including:

1. a planner
2. a bulletin of information for the faculty of liberal arts
3. Sophia University Central Library user's guide
4. Handbook for Enrollment of Personal Accident Insurance for Students Pursuing Education and Research
5. Counseling Center
6. the Handbook for International Students
7. the Catholic Center of Sophia University handbook
8. announcements from the center for student affairs
9. announcements for new exchange students
10. list of clubs and circles
11. earthquake response manual
12. course registration procedure
13. FLA course schedule Spring 2013
14. spring event calendar
15. Japanese Language Program
16. approval for use of the computer system
17. commuter's pass
18. student ID card

It was a bit overwhelming because of the huge . The entire two hours of orientation were just announcements, announcements, and more announcements. We went through the entire packet of information with the corresponding representative of each department, which didn't help much, since there was sort of a language barrier. For people who haven't been exposed to Japanese English, I think it might be quite hard to understand what they were saying, so I'll just go through everything here as I read them.
Computer System
The first thing you have to do is log in to the system and create an email address, as well as change the password. So to do that, you have to log in to the website: http://ccweb.cc.sophia.ac.jp

You can choose the English language on the top right corner. Then, click on the second link on the left, labeled 「パスワード-メールアドレス変更」.

When you do that, this screen will pop up. Enter the login ID and preset password assigned to you and login.

You will be brought to this page. Click on "Profile" (the second tab at the top). 

and set your new password.

To set up your email, just click on "change email address" and choose a username.

Loyola

Loyola is basically the system that Sophia uses, kind of like UIS that St John's uses. Your schedule, your grades, notices, information, registration, etc. is all done here.

Immediately after logging in, you are prompted to choose a new password. Note that the password requires at least six characters, including uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.

Commuter Pass

Students are able to purchase commuter passes at a discount rate. To do so, you have to fill out a sticker they give you and stick it onto the back of your student ID card and buy it at the station.

From DK House Warabi, there are three routes that you could use:

Route A: JR Line from Nishi-kawaguchi to Yotsuya (via Shinjuku), ￥6,990 per month , ￥19,940/3months, ￥37,770/6months

Route B: JR Line from Nishi-kawaguchi to Yotsuya (via Akihabara), ￥7,260 per month , ￥20,680/3months, ￥39,190/6months
Route C: JR Line from Nishi-Kawaguchi to Oji, Metro Nanboku-Line from Oji to Yotsuya, ￥8,080 per month, ￥23,050/3months, ￥43,660/6months

They all take about the same time (roughly an hour, including the ten-minute walk from the dorm to the station). So far, I've only taken the Akihabara route and I must say the trains are a bit crowded during the rush hours. But a friend of mine who did the exchange before suggested I take this route because it would give me the most bang for my buck, since all the stops in between this route would be "free."

Also, there are no parking facilities on campus, so neither driving nor biking are options. =\

Bank Accounts

In order to open a bank account, you need your residence card (issued upon arrival at the airport) and your passport. Each bank has their own regulations for opening accounts, like the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubish UFJ requires you to have stayed in Japan for at least six months in order to open an account. So I decided to open an account at the Japan Post Bank (post office). Just note that before you can open account, you need to get a seal from the municipal government office of the district that you reside in. For me, it's the Warabi Municipal Office. But even if you don't plan on opening a bank account, you still need to get the seal within two weeks of moving in. 

Also, you cannot store foreign currencies in your account, so everything must be exchanged. There are many places to exchange currency, but I did mine at the bank. I read somewhere that the post office gives the best rate, though I haven't inquired myself, since the place where I opened my account did not offer this service. You would have to go to a bigger branch for that.

Clubs/Circles

Clubs are an essential part of university life in Japan. At Sophia, there are a ton of clubs and circles, ranging from sports to art to drama, music, media, studies, etc. I briefly looked through the list and saw a couple that were really funny, such as Wild at Sophia; the desciption reads, "We worship Arashi." Donkihote: "To make friends with children." Pokemon Lover's Circle: "Develop friendships through Pokemon." Ramen Bon Vivant: "We eat various types of ramen in Tokyo and give feedback on our original webpage."

While they sound funny, I don't have any negative feelings for them. Who knows, I might end up joining one of them.

I am thinking of joining one of the dance clubs, though, and maybe some other interest circles. I was disappointed that there wasn't a yoga club listed in the booklet, but I'm hoping that maybe the list is incomplete (since it was compiled in September 2012). Nonetheless, I will see next week during welcome week.

After orientation, we were broken up into groups of ten and assigned monitor students. My group had four monitors, who were obviously students at Sophia. They took us to the cafeteria, where we ate lunch and did a small self-introduction. I wasn't able to talk to them for long, since I needed take the Japanese placement exam, but those who didn't need to stayed with them and were able to get a tour of the campus and some paperwork done (such as buying the commuter pass).

The exam wasn't extremely difficult (the level of difficulty increased with each question), but it was really long! Everything was multiple choice, except for the composition. The first part of the exam was kanji. There were forty questions that needed to be completed within a twenty-minute time frame. After that was grammar, which consisted of about a hundred questions, and then a reading comprehension. By that time, I was already exhausted. The two long passages thrown at me just gave me a headache, so I skipped most of the questions and went on to the composition. -.-

After the exam, I attended the welcome reception for new international students. Sophia University is actually celebrating its 100th Anniversary of Foundation. This semester, there are about 107 international students studying at Sophia. I talked to a lot of them, but there were too many names to remember. There were people from all over the world and it was just fascinating thinking about how we all crossed paths by simply making the decision to come here.

SPH48