The first part of training is called ""shikomi"". In the past, when girls first arrived at the okiya, they were put to work as maids, or do everything they were told. The work was difficult, to "make" and "break" the new girls. The most junior shikomi of the house had to wait late into the night for the senior geisha to return from work, sometimes as late as two or three in the morning. During this stage of training, the shikomi went to classes at the hanamachi's geisha school. In modern times, this stage still exists, but it is not as hard as it was in the past. Now, shikomi become used to the traditions and dress of the ""karyūkai"" (""flower and willow world"").