Officially, I joined a photography circle at Doshisha for my CIP. I went in not knowing what to expect, and I\u2019m coming out of it not really knowing what happened. I did not really do anything special to become a member, other than express interest in photography and in joining their circle. I noticed many things \u2013 namely, that not all circles are as serious as they are made out to be, and the theme of a non-sports-circle may have little or nothing to do with its members\u2019 interests.<\/p>\n
These were actually my two preconceived notions on circles \u2013 first that, as a circle, there would be a hierarchical order to the club members and that the club bonded them as friends; second, that, as a group branded with \u201cPhoto Club\u201d, the members would be interested in photography.<\/p>\n
Well, in my case, neither ended up being true.<\/p>\n
This particular circle is pretty nebulous, a problem that prevented me from feeling like a full-fledged member of the club. The club only set out to have regular meetings because I had come into the club asking about meetings. So, they decided to meet every week on Fridays.<\/p>\n
I thought this was exciting at first \u2013 I\u2019m in a circle and we get together every week, great! They were excited, too! However, our \u201cschedule\u201d quickly devolved into members ignoring other members to get out of having to meet. While I never neglected to contact the members, after a while, I started hoping they would just ignore my contact \u2013 it was tiresome to go through excuses instead of just having it put directly: we don\u2019t want to meet with you.<\/p>\n
The times we did meet for dinner, our language barrier was a huge issue. It was hard to socialize in such a stiff setting. We were friends under very contrived circumstances. Even my one go-to topic, photography, was not successful in soliciting get-to-know-you small talk.<\/p>\n
I did make one friend, though, and she seemed to be the only one who legitimately enjoyed photography! With her, language was almost a non-issue, because she had spent time studying English in America. I am happy to be a year-long student so we can hang out more next semester.<\/p>\n
Actually, after having made this friend, my weekly CIP event became inviting her out on Friday nights for dinner, along with KCJS friends + other Japanese friends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Officially, I joined a photography circle at Doshisha for my CIP. I went in not knowing what to expect, and I\u2019 … \u7d9a\u304d\u3092\u8aad\u3080