Day 007: Dr. H.—Roommate 2 from Japan
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Vienna 1971—A Student Journal
A year of music, study, travel, sightseeing &
friends.
Day 7 — Dr. H.—Roommate 2 from Japan
09-August-1971
(Mon.)
TRANSCRIPT
Second roommate came. He is a middle-aged Japanese
man. Dr. Shigenbu H. Also friendly. Our communication
was surprisingly good.
Vienna is an extremely international city. Beginning
to meet students from all over—Greece, Spain, France.
All are very friendly and it seems like it should be
a good time.
REFLECTIONS
Whoa! What happened here? Why so short today?
It’s probably that I’m busy with getting ready for
the language course and perhaps doing “life” stuff.
There may have been school registration and entrance
test-taking.
If I remember correctly, I’m probably writing these
journal entries late at night just before I go to
sleep. So, it won’t be a blow-by-blow description of
everything we do—thank goodness. So, we’ll take the
short days in stride. There will be some days when no
journal entry is posted.
Several things are certain: (1) I didn’t speak Japanese; (2) Dr. H. didn’t speak English; and (3) both Dr. H and myself were learning beginning German; and (4) the only way we could communicate was by trying to speak German. Talk about “total immersion.” In those days, the term “total immersion” wasn’t even invented. We were immersed before there was immersion.
Whew!
John
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