I really should've kept my mouth shut about stupid gaijin stories yesterday, because that seemed to set the precedent for today. The tour of Shiga University went well enough. Students from the English Speaking Society showed us around campus in small groups. If nothing else, this really drove home something that I've been peripherally aware of for some time: the Japanese really seem to prefer functionality over appearance. The entire campus was well planned, and the buildings all had an almost inherent air of practicality. Just by looking at a couple I got the feeling of 'yep, that's an efficient way of storing people.' Maybe I'm just a bit spoiled by MSU - after all, campus there has a lot of character, stately buildings and all that- but inside, the buildings were all startlingly utilitarian. White or cream paint were the colors of the day, occasionally broken up by stretches of bare concrete. Very spartan, and especially on exteriors it tended to show the age of the buildings.

Anyway, onto Letterman-san's stupid gaijin tricks. I managed to stretch my remaining funds far enough to get me a bowl of plain noodles from the Shiga University cafeteria, but cleverly I had brought my travelers checks with me, so that I could run by the bank afterwards and get them converted. However, in reverse order, I screwed it up in these ways: I forgot my passport, forgot the address of JCMU (to put on the currency exchange form), and finally, because it was almost three, and there was a line, I grabbed a pen and signed my name on the traveler's checks while I was waiting. I left the bank in total defeat, but on the way home I remembered the fifty dollars I had hanging around in my wallet, that I had put there for just such emergencies. Of course at that point it was after three, and so I was SOL.

Saa…

So, besides not only not having any of the appropriate documents for changing money, I might have just screwed up half my remaining traveler's checks, so I'm going to have to get American Express to exchange them for new ones, since I didn't sign them in front of the teller. I suppose that at the least it's a good thing I was cautious, and only took in part of my remaining checks. So tomorrow I shall go back, and this time I shall be prepared, but above all, this time I _WILL_NOT_BE_DUMB_! By this I swear in the name of Bobo!