The Tower of Learning

So I know I've been seriously out of touch the last few weeks, but I promise EXTRA posts before the end of 冬休み to make up for all the ones I missed. I wish I could say I've been doing some serious partying, but mostly it's just that I've been way too busy with homework and IUC stuff to write any posts. Even lunchtime isn't sacred... while it's certainly a time to relax and commiserate with my fellow Yalies, it usually ends up being a last ditch effort to finish all the afternoon homework and of course, communal napping.

Anyways, I thought I'd give a much needed introduction/tour of IUC. ご紹介いたします！！
First off, let's take a spin around the school's location which is awesome by any standards. The school's in the heart of Yokohama's modern area called Minato Mirai. Since I live closeby, I walk to school which affords me the opportunity to stroll through Queen's Square and Landmark Tower. When I first saw Landmark Tower, I thought it wasn't much more than an over-sized chess piece, but it has a legit claim to fame in that it is the tallest building in Japan at 970 feet.

(Haha, seriously? I know I'm prejudiced because my hometown boasts the Sears Tower, but 970 feet... that's it? Granted, building height has to be limited in Japan as a precaution against serious damage from earthquakes.)
Both buildings are trendy (read: expensive) shopping centers/office spaces, which are nice to stroll around after class~ there's quite possibly every store you would want to visit with everything from Build-A-Bear to a store that sells souvenirs from Osaka. (Remember, buying souvenirs (お土産）after going on a trip is key in Japanese culture... Why you would want to buy souvenirs from Osaka when visiting Yokohama? That kind of question is beyond the scope of this blog.)

The "school building" itself is actually a huge convention center and luxury hotel that happens to have office space. I'm no architecture major, but the spaceship-esque shape of Pacifico Yokohama is pretty interesting I think... It does make for longer walks between the elevators and classrooms due to the layout of the building, but it's nothing major.

As for the curriculum and the structure of classes, the first quarter everyone is split into morning and afternoon classes. The morning classes, which run from 10-12, cover advanced grammar and phrases. The material seems pretty redundant at first, but when it came time to have to call amazon about redelivering a package I had ordered, whoa- those phone conversations on how to call offices turned out to be really useful.

The afternoon classes focus on important themes in Japanese society like education, the manufacturing industry, working women, pop culture, etc. Second semester the textbooks and themes change, but the overall structure is the same. Ever quarter, there are exams. While students are not graded in the strictest sense, doing well on the exams helps the teachers gauge what classes to put you in (ie. with the kids who speak well or the ones that .... well, don't.) Any more questions on what IUC is all about, feel free to send me an email... after all, I worked so hard to figure out how to add the cool little button at the top that would link to my email.