Classes in Osaka

Unlike most university students, I did not start school until last week on the 24th of September. Even then, it wasn’t actually mandatory to attend the classes. My school actually allows their students (well, at least the int’l students) a week to try out the classes that interest them before registering for them. So far, it wasn’t that bad. It’s going to take me a while to get used to the scheduling, but I think it will be fine. 

At the start of orientation, when I received a packet for classes, the whole process confused me. Unlike HPU, Momoyama lets the international students try out classes as stated in the previous paragraph. Also, there is a difference between courses and classes at Momoyama. A ‘course’ is just the subject (ie Comparing Cultures, English V), while a ‘class’ corresponds to how many times you have a specific course within a week. Confusing? Well, let’s take the course Comparing Cultures and say that every week you meet twice, back-to-back during two periods. So, in total, you would have four classes just for the one course. 

Now, as for the periods, there are 5 periods each day of the week. Each has a different time slot, corresponding to the course subject. First period is from 9:20-10:50, second is from 11:00-12:30, third is from 13:20-14:50, fourth is from 15:00-16:30, and fifth is from 16:40-18:10. The good part about this is that everyone has the same breaks in between classes and friends can have lunch at the same time. The bad part would probably have to be that some classes are held in two periods, making it very tiring and hard to concentrate. 

All in all, I find this to be a very interesting experience. Instead of having to battle with other students trying to get my most desired courses, I can freely take whatever course I think suits my interests. No more waiting until midnight to register for classes at the time I want. Now I can just take my time and just have fun with it.