Golden Week: Trip to Nagoya and LOUD Lab

(Above: Missing my room in Texas a little. It just had a nice feel to it. The dorm I'm in doesn't have such a comforting feeling.)

So, I went to visit friends in Nagoya durning Golden Week. It was pretty fun. Just hanging out with friends makes me feel a little better here. Momoko and Paul gave me a birthday party with a interesting sandwich. They also go me an interesting tea set. I'm going to set it up at my desk when I get back to Texas, in my lab. It looks similar to a chemistry set. I will probably add a few other components to it just for the look. Anyways, it was fun.
We got stopped by the police at Nagoya station. They just wanted to see our alien registration cards and write down all of our information. Luckily, inside my passport it says that I am a professor (not graduate researcher). So I think this impressed the officer a little. He turned to me and say, 'Ah, Sensei?' So, I basically said yes. He asked me what I taught. I said physics. Not exactly a lie. I do teach physics...just not in Japan. Anytime I see a police officer I just want to take off running to see what they do. Then when they ask me why I started running, I will tell them I just felt like running. In Japan I could claim that I don't understand what the officer is telling me when he yells stop.
Anyways, now it is back to the lab. Tomorrow I will take my third exam for E&M II. After that I will spin coat some samples on glass and send them to UNT for analysis. If I get the results soon enough I will apply for a conference.
Something I don't understand is why everyone is so loud in the lab. I can hear them through the music that I play on my earphones while reading research articles. They are basically yelling to each other when they are right next to each other. I also don't understand why they need to laugh when they are just talking. I listen to what they are saying sometimes. Even if it's not suppose to be funny, they laugh while they say it. Listening to the loud talking while I'm trying to do work is bad enough, but when it is in Japan my mind finds it difficult to just ignore and instead starts to translate it. It gives me a headache. I'm trying to think and read in English but the loud perpetual Japanese conversation (about nothing), combined with the pointless laughter starts to make my head hurt and drains my energy pretty fast (because of the intense concentration I must give to do what I'm doing and process all of these things). I think it makes me a little dizzy as well. Too much I think.
I kind of wonder if they know I can understand what they are saying usually if I listen. There are certain words about foreigners that I hear that just catch my ears.
Well, I don't have much to say right now. I guess I will talk to you later.
Adios for now.