For those of you that don’t have the password for Part 1 of this saga, this post is for you. Everything had been going great with Kayoko, my Japanese roommate who has been here all of about three weeks, until I suddenly heard from a classmate Thursday morning that she wanted to switch rooms. I was shocked since things had been going so well (or so I thought), and I couldn’t understand why she’d want to change rooms. So after class was over I waited in my room for her to come back, figuring that there must be some sort of misunderstanding and that we would work it out together. Well, to my great disappointment and shock, she came in and told me some incredibly hurtful things which left me very upset and confused. She had no interest in compromising on anything and was adamant about moving out. I talked to Karen the next morning about it all, and she set up a mediation session for us, with her and two people from the office, and I went, even though I really didn’t want to, hoping that we could work some things out and she could explain to me why her attitude had changed so suddenly. However despite many hours of talking she refused to try to work anything out and wasn’t concerned with how what she had said to me had made me feel. In the end she was told to move out of my room before midnight on Friday night, to which she complied and switched with another Japanese student here, Mariko.

I’m really shocked that it has turned out this way. I thought I was getting along with Kayoko so well, I had a lot of fun talking to her in English and Japanese, and it was nice having someone who could teach me how to make some Japanese food. But now what she said to me has really hurt me I feel like I’m now judging other Japanese people (especially females) based on what she did and said. When I went to Kyoto the following day I was seeing her face everywhere, mostly because I now dread ever coming into contact with her again and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to speak to her again.

Life with roommate #4 (yes…..after 5 months I’ve now had 4 roommates), however, is going GREAT. Friday night she came in and dropped off her stuff (while I hid in my room as #3 moved out), and since that time (its now 1am on Monday morning) I’ve seen her once. She hasn’t even been sleeping here. She informed me at that one time we met that because she is so busy (she works at Caines) and has a boyfriend here, that it would “be like you don’t have a roommate”. Well, I assured her that that would be totally fine. I’m looking forward to getting back to U of M where I will *never again* have a roommate.

And I also want to say thanks to Karen, who really helped me out a lot, especially during the mediation session and that morning where she gave me a shoulder to cry on for a bit. So if you’re reading this, thank you!!