Time is short

Well I just finished my last post, but I felt like I should follow up with another...

In a week, it will be my one year anniversary since my arrival to Japan. In retrospect, a lot (and a little) has happened since I came here. It's already been a year, where did all this time go? Back in Canada, I would probably never have noticed that a year has passed like this. I lived in Richmond for so long and I took my time there for granted in the sense that my time was never limited there.

After comming to Japan, that perspective has changed significantly; now that I realize that I have 1.5 years left over here (1 term into my masters). After watching the graduating masters students get ready to leave the lab, I have mapped out the life of a masters student in Japan.

The first 6 months they sort of bust ass surviving classes and learn how to do experiments (with no real success), the next 6 months they take classes, try and find a job (job hunting season starts 1 year before all students graduate, it's really crazy... I'll talk about it some other time) and do experiments with more success. 1 Year later, they have no classes to take but realize that they need to write up their masters thesis by the end of the year. They start working like mad to get data and experiments down for the next 6 months. The remaining 6 months, they start writing their thesis over a period of 4 months while doing experiments to fill gaps of information from other experiments. After all that is done, they graduate and they're gone (unless they stick around and do a Ph.D).

It's a go-go-go kind of life and seems pretty busy to me. On top of that, I want to learn more Japanese, make friends and hang out with friends... in addition to trying to be productive at the lab. Time is short and it's going to be all done too fast. I'm just starting to have a good time and meeting all sorts of interesting people (with what little time I do have :P)

I still remember taking my time in Japan for the first 6 months for granted. I just had really easy Japanese courses, loads of free time (in the sense that I was sleeping in all the time) and not a real care in the world. I did want to learn more Japanese on my own during that time, I wanted to learn more about my research during that time but I took it pretty easy (well I taught english 6 hours a week at the YMCA during my free time) and I sort of regret it. There is lots of travelling learning that I want to do. Can I do it in the remaining time I have left in Japan?

Only time can tell.

Well, back to work on my presentation.