Main | eating rojak, speaking rojak »
May 01, 2006
labor day weekend
so i've been here a few days now, and i guess maybe i'm starting to get my footing here. its labor day weekend so i haven't been able to meet with anyone yet or start any serious work on my project, but i think spending the last few days just learning how to get around was useful anyway.
the first thing that struck me when i got here was how difficult doing almost anything seemed. little things like ordering lunch, taking the bus or buying a cell phone felt like huge projects. i'm not sure why i didn't quite expect this, since i've been to foreign countries and big cities before, but i think traveling alone makes a bigger difference than i thought it would. i also think, though, that traveling alone has forced me to get comfortable with things here a lot faster than i might have otherwise, and even after just a few days i already feel a lot more confident.
the same thing goes with language. i feel like i've been sort of cripplingly shy since i've gotten here, which again i'm not sure why i didn't expect, since i can be awfully shy even in ann arbor. but while i still feel like i have a long way to go before i'll be confident enough to do the things i'll need to for my research, talking to people has also gotten easier a lot faster than i thought it would.
anyway, hopefully i'll have something more interesting to write about in a few days.
Posted by diparker at May 1, 2006 02:29 AM