Day 80 - Japanese Language Exchange Programme

Previously, we were arranged a coffee morning with the Japanese transfer students, which I could not attend due to midterms. Luckily, some of the Japanese students wanted another meeting with us, so our kind Head of Applied Languages arranged a night-out for us.

Since we're gonna have a speaking exam next week, I thought it'd be good practice for me if I attended.

First off, we headed to the Ukiyo Bar for dinner. Although nobody else knew, I was the one who suggested the place. And I wasn't even really sure where the place was. Ah well, I managed to find it anyway, after running around for 15 minutes even though it was only a 5-minute walk from the bus stop.

Well, I met a lot of people. Six Japanese 3 and two Japanese 4 students attended, as well as 9 Japanese students. Let's see if I remember their names. Yuka, Chihiro, Hajime, Yumi, Aki, Sakiko, uh... Darn, I forgot the rest.

Dinner was excellent although the food wasn't all that great. And these people really don't know spicy, except the 2 other Malaysians that attended. Hajime and Chihiro were going mad trying to finish their meal. They ordered Korean food. We used English to converse during dinner.

After the meal, I suggested karaoke. Everybody agreed, but apparently, our darn Head of Applied Languages did not book a room for us. And they were fully booked till late at night. So, we settled for going to a pub instead.

Mark led us to one of Dublin's 5 best pubs, O'neill's. Well, it was called one of the 5 best pubs in a tourist guide, but I wouldn't know. The place wasn't all that great. Maybe their food is great, but their alcohol selection looks the same as the others.

I tried a Galway Hooker, a type of pale ale. It was either their best drink or under promotion since all their coasters had the name on them. It sucked. Guinness and Heineken tasted a lot better, although they were bleh too.

Y'all are probably wondering why I'm drinking even though I hate beer. Well, this is Ireland and the only Irish food are potatoes and alcohol. At least, that's what all the Irish I've asked told me. Adrianna was saying that she could never answer that question when people asked.

No, the Irish breakfast is not traditional Irish food. It's just toast, eggs, bacon and Irish sausages, which are called so only because they're made from Irish cattle or pigs.

Anyway, conversation during the pub session was mostly in Japanese. Well, we try. At least I did. I am so much better at listening than speaking. I keep getting tongue-tied when they ask me a question, but I understand everything they say. This is why the Japanese classes should be conducted in Japanese and not English, at least for level 3 and above. Hmm... I'll suggest that in the module survey.

Sigh... Finals draw near and I'm a wee bit depressed at the moment.