We were scheduled to have oral exams starting from Friday, April 27, 2018 till Wednesday, May 2, 2018. Everyone was assigned an 8-minute oral exam individually on the assigned day. We didn’t pick the schedule ourselves like we did for the mid-term oral exam. The teachers made sure that we had different schedule from that this time so that the student who had midterm oral exam on the first day would not have the final on the first day too.
I got mine on Monday, April 30, 2018; it was the second day. It was fun. I switched my schedule with a classmate actually. I was originally scheduled to have the exam on 9.32 but on that day I had a friend having his dissertation defense at 9 on that day so I thought I wanted to come to his presentation first and allowed me some time to walk from his presentation to my exam. I didn’t want to be late. Besides, the oral exam wanted us to request something related to Japanese to the teacher who examined us, something like, “Could you please read this Kanji?”. Well, I was a snob, after all, so I wanted to show off. I know I was just auditing that class; but you know whatever I do, I just have to give it my all. And at that time, I was so into these soundstracts of a Japanese movie that I loved. So I planned to ask the teacher something like, “Could you please listen to this song? Then could you please write the lyrics in Kanji and English?” There. We hadn’t learned the vocabulary for lyrics and song actually. But, well, it’s okay to give an extra, right? Not sure if I actually wanted to impress my teachers. Haha Actually I did want to. I mean, you know how much I love Japan and Japanese, so, well, I wanted to show them that love. Besides, it’s a good chance to show off and practice 😀 I even practiced singing the song, thinking that maybe I should just sing a part of the lyrics instead of playing the audio from my phone. Man, I guess I was really annoying as a student. It’s really great that they tolerated me. 😁
But, well, that’s also another reason why I switched with my classmate whose schedule was after me, at 9.40. I thought that that way I wouldn’t take the next student’s time since I would be the last to be tested. And after that, there was also a 10-minute break before the next class, so I wouldn’t disrupt the schedule. (It surely disrupted the break for the teachers, though. Sigh. Why am I so selfish?!) Anyway, I didn’t end up singing the song.🙈😅 I just played them from my phone. I guess I didn’t have the confidence after all. LoL But my teachers seemed so happy, it made me really happy 😊 And, oh, before I forgot, during the oral exam, we were supposed to bring a traveling picture so we could tell our experiences using the targeted learnt forms, something like, “It’s fun, interesting, but…. I did this, that, etc. I went to … to …”. Guess which pic I showed? Well, I showed off the beauty of Indonesia, of course. Komodo Island. I showed a pic of me with the Komodo dragon on my Instagram 😀 But then, the question was kinda unanticipated because Sensei-B asked me a question that I haven’t learned before so I’m not sure how to answer them. LoL I guess that’s the price for being a snob 😀 But, well, I got 98 regardless 😀
Then, the final written exam. Wow. It’s scheduled on May 8, 2018 at 6-8pm at ILC. Wow. Two hours! I thought it was going to be very many and difficult questions! The place was spacious, too. It’s a hall. It’s my first time having an exam like that. Well, graduate sudents do not really have exams, we mostly have final papers. I wish I could just have an exam, though. Papers were driving me crazy! And, ugh, so, yes, I guess that’s because it’s an undergraduate course and we had many students. It’s basically all students for all the 4 Japanese 101 classes in one room taking the final exam. So, yeah, that’s a lot. The test itself was not that difficult if you studied. It’s just grammar and reading. Well, I got 50 out of 53 points (94.34%). Not bad. Even as soon as I finished the test (it took me only 45ish minutes instead of 2hours :p ), I knew that I made some mistakes. LoL But, well, I did well. It’s just an audited class for me so at the end I only received grade “O”. But if it hadn’t been an audited class, I would’ve got an A because my final grade was 98.24 out of 100. I was pretty proud of myself. I guess it’s okay to feel proud of oneself, right? I worked hard for it. I should feel happy 😁✌
Well, I guess that’s it. I plan to continue auditing Japanese 102 next semester. The reasons are 1) I want to continue learning Japanese and 2) I want to know how foreign language teaching is in the upper level. And the other day I met B-sensei at my friend’s graduation. I watched her first but I was too shy to say hello and I didn’t want it to be awkward so I kinda avoided the encounter. But she was so nice I really loved her. Apparently, she saw me and decided to say hi. I was flying into heaven. Well, we chatted a bit and I found out that it’s possible that she was going to teach Japanese 102 next semester. Yay! Well, she’s really beautiful, kind, and nice I am a fan. I think she really fits being an actress. Haha I mean, she’s really like those actresses I saw in J-movies and dramas. Having an encounter with her is like a dream to me. I really want to tell her that I love her but I’m worried that she’ll misunderstand and find me creepy. It’s creepy, I know ☹ But how do I express this ridiculous happiness and excitement of mine? ☹
PS: I also get extra credit (1.5/1.5 points) for submitting my writing. Hhe
PPS: When I say I love B-sensei, I don’t mean it in a romantic way. It’s more like adoration or fangirling…
