Japan - Days 42-44

Thursday was a pretty good day. In Japanese class I found out I scored 96% in the grammar test and around 87% in the listening test, which I was pretty pleased with. In the lesson we just went over the test and prepped for the oral tests. However, after this, I had to go to the mouse house, alone, to cut off the tips of the tails of 6 mice - two in one cage and four in another. This would have been bad enough at the best of times, given how much I want to avoid being bitten and scratched, but it was made worse by the fact that I walked in just as the assistant professor in my lab was breaking the necks of a couple of mice, and wrapping still-wriggling baby mice in tissue paper. This was really horrifying to see, so I really hope I don't have to do it. I managed to cut the tails of two mice, which involved clipping the ear of one (I still can't get the hang of grabbing them, so I just did it while they were on the cage top, holding onto their tails and trying to manoeuvre so they couldn't bite me). I then went back to the lab, hands shaking, until I calmed down a bit, started another experiment, then went back and did the other four, having to clip the ears of 3 mice this time. Still, it's done now. In the evening, one of my friends texted us with a message to the effect of 'You are all dying, and Korean food is the cure, so come have dinner tonight'. As it transpired, only 3 of us turned up, plus the guy who invited us, but as I've seen most of the other people who he invited since then, I'm guessing it wasn't fatal after all XD I had the ishiyaki bibinba again, which was tasty, and we got the sides refilled about 3 times, taking advantage of them being refillable XD So it was a nice meal, if a little pricey. We then sat outside Cocos for an hour or so, then I went home and hung out with another friend for a while as the others were going to a bar - I figured it wouldn't be a good idea for me as I was going into the lab the next day
On Friday, I started up a Western blot experiment in the lab. I also had to make some Tris-HCl buffer mix which involved me pipetting hydrochloric acid into buffer solution to lower the pH to 8.8, which was slow work as had I gone past 8.8, I'd've had to start from scratch. In Japanese class we had to recite a short piece to our teacher from the textbook, which went pretty well - I scored 9 out of 10, dropping a mark mainly because I emphasise my K sounds too much. [Edit: I forgot to add this the other day, but after Japanese class, because they were preparing for the festival, I'd had my bike moved from outside the International Students Centre, so I had to search around for that, eventually working out from the map where they'd put it. That scared the crap out of me for a few minutes]. In the evening, we were meant to have a nomikai, but the Japanese guy who was going to organise it didn't message anyone, so we just all agreed to meet in front of Cocos. After a couple of drinks, we headed back to Oikoshi and sat for a while. Then one guy went to the combini to buy more drinks, so stupidly, as I'd already had my standard 2 drinks, I asked for another. I managed a few sips of it before I felt really rough, and ended up throwing up in my sink. Luckily it was pretty much all liquid as I'd not eaten much that day, but still, I was annoyed at missing most of the evening, though apparently they didn't go anywhere else besides Oikoshi
Today, I woke up at about 8.30, even before my alarm went off, which makes it the most sleep I've had all week I think. I sat on my computer for about an hour, feeling slightly rough from the night before, before going up to the lab to finish off my Western blot. Well, I thought I was just going in for an hour or so, to get it up to the point where it said 'Leave overnight'. However, the guy who was in today, and helping me with it, uses a different protocol to my tutor, who showed me it the first time, so I ended up doing the whole experiment, which took roughly 5 hours overall. During this time, me and the guy helping me were talking, and he ended up inviting himself to the outing that me and my friends were planning on in the evening - going to Shinjuku. He also seems to have become very familiar with me all of a sudden, which slightly scared me ^^' Anyway, after the experiment was FINALLY over, I met up with Jen and we went into Tsukuba Centre, stopping on the way to meet another friend who was gonna come along with us. We had a late lunch in Starbucks (I had a cinammon roll and orange juice), then went down to Seibu for Jen's groceries. I bought an onigiri as I was STILL hungry ^^' We then headed back to the bus station in the pouring rain, and I caught the bus to Ichinoya, where I'd left my bike. My friend's bike is still parked in the same place it was last weekend, with the note I left her still in the basket o.O Anyway, I went and grabbed some dinner (more rice balls, I was having cravings) and headed back. I wasn't really feeling in the mood to go out anymore after getting soaked (I washed my clothes then dried them twice to make sure they were definitely dry), but I was still waiting for the invitation. It never came. One of my friends took my 'I may or may not come' as a sign I wasn't going at all, so she assumed I wasn't going and so never told me. No idea why none of my other friends let me know, so this is gonna bug me for a while -_- So when one of my other friends saw I was still online late at night, he asked me if I wanted to go to the combini with him for a bite to eat. I went down there equipped with my raincoat, and I got an anpan. We then walked down to the 7-Eleven because I told him that you could get pumpkin Pocky there and he fancied some. Then we headed back, and so here I am now. I'm shattered, so I think I'll call it a night now. Nighty night