Wow, this is it. My last night in Japan. I can not even believe it. It is basically the hardest thing I've ever had to go through. I guess I will back track and update on the last week and a half or so...at least what I can remember. God, many tears will continue to shed...
Wednesday the 28th started the "study days" which basically means sleeping in and going out at night. Wednesday, my friend Daz invited me to go to have Shabu-Shabu, which is raw meat that you then dip into boiling water...kind of like fondue? Anyways, it was Daz, Lucas, AP, Ivan, Jia, and two Japanese girls. For less than $30 it was all you could eat and all you could drink. Needless to say, it was a lot of fun and I drank a decent amount of wine.
Thursday I went to DISNEY LAND with my friend Rian. Oh man, what a spectacular day we had. The weather was chilly, but perfect. The park was completely decorated for Christmas and it was the epitome of magical. The lines weren't very long at all. I, again, was a 7 year old kid. However, I was more excited than the majority of the 7 year olds. I fell in love with Peter Pan as well as our Jungle Cruise Captain. So many adorable Japanese kids. It was so hard not to kidnap them. Anyways, the day was absolutely spectacular.
Friday I had my Japanese oral final. It went decently. I messed up a bit, but I am hoping to still pull of an A for the class. After school Nadra, Sara and I made our way to McDonalds for the arrival of the muchly anticipated Strawberry Shortcake McFlurry. McDonalds had been tempting us for a month and on the 3oth it finally came out. It did not disappointed and was completely delicious. After that, Kyle, Keith and I went to Kichijoji, a really awesome town near where Keith moved to. There were great shops and a fabulous park. The leaves literally looked on fire. The lake was beautiful. It was quite relaxing. I then went to visit Keith's new apartment and it was great fun.
Saturday I went to lunch with Jon to an Indian restaurant. The food was delicious, however, I seemed to have come down with a case of food poisoning or something along those lines. I was horribly sick and miserable all of Saturday night. Sunday afternoon I was luckily feeling just well enough to go visit Rian's new apartment in Koenji, where So lives. The three of us went to dinner at an okinomiyaki place. It was good, but I was hesitant on eating a lot. After dinner, I went to Jon and Lucas's new apartment in Higashi Nakano for their housewarming party. It was quite nice. It was a relaxing, intimate time with good friends...and outside of the dorm, which made it even better. I slept over there and then Monday was spent with me pretending to start packing.
Tuesday was a very stressful and chaotic afternoon, but then I went out to dinner with my friend Takahiro, who I met in my one class. We met up in Shibuya with some of his friends and went to this amazing restaurant called Elephant which had Thai/Malaysian/Indian-ish food. Not only was the food great and the atmosphere amazing, but they had a coupon so the entire meal was 50% off...but then his friends all paid for me since I was leaving. So nice...I had never even met these people before. After dinner we went to karaoke for 2 hours. We were in the biggest karaoke room I had ever seen...and there were only 5 people. I swore the room could have fit at least 20. This was the first time I had been to karaoke in which I was the only person really singing in English. It was awkward, but definitely a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I had to come home and study for my final on Wednesday.
Wednesday was another great day...well, once the final was over. Luckily it wasn't too bad. After the final, my friend from music class, Katsuya took me to this adorable cafe called Cafe Life and we got some cake. I'm really happy that I was able to actually hang out with my friends from school outside of school. Granted, it took until the very last possible week, but nonetheless, it was still a lot of fun. After I said goodbye to him, I rushed home and then went out again. I went out to dinner to the Elephant restaurant again, this time with Nadra, Jon and Lucas. It was a great way to end the semester. We were all relaxed finally and I got to spend it with my 3 best friends that I made. Unfortunately at the end of the night I had to say goodbye to Jon and Lucas. Lucas I will hopefully be seeing in a few weeks in Disney World, but I don't know when I will see Jon again.
Today...the last day. This morning I went to cancel my health insurance and then to visit Nadra's apartment in Kawasaki. Visiting all of my friends' new apartments is quite depressing because they are all so fun and adorable and I really, really wish I was able to actually live here in a proper apartment and be completely on my own. Oh well. After that I met up in Shibuya with So to cancel my cellphone. However, it turns out I am able to cancel it at the airport which is awesome because now I can use it up until the last minute if needed. So and I then went to a cafe where we had some really good conversations. I gave him a stuffed panda, his favorite animal, to thank him for all he has done for me. I then had the extremely difficult task of saying goodbye to him. He was basically the only person who I have been good friends with since the very very beginning. He has done so much to not only help me, but he helped all of my friends as well. I really really really hope that he will be able to come visit me.
Since then, I have had the burden of breaking down into tears virtually every 10 minutes. There are only around 10 people left in the dorm. Luckily Nadra is still here to keep me going. I am almost finished packing at this point. I leave tomorrow around 10:15. I am debating staying up all night and just sleeping on the plane. My walls are now all empty, which is very discomforting. I have been getting calls and messages from my friends with the final goodbyes. I haven't been able to officially say bye to a lot of people, but I can only do so much. It's hard to see and talk to everyone considering most people aren't living in the dorms anymore and have left all throughout the week.
Sigh. This has singlehandedly been the best thing that has happened to me in my 22 years of life. I have made some of the best friends and have made some of the most incredible memories a person could ask for. Yes, things went wrong. Yes, I wasn't 100% happy the entire time. But god, it really was all I could ask for and more. I can't see how I'm supposed to be ripped away from here. It's going to be a long, long flight home.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Monday, November 26, 2007
Against All Odds
Again, there is much to update on since my life has been non-stop. However, I must try and remember all that has gone on...
I forgot to mention in the last entry about how I went to So's brothers' show. He has twin 16 year old brothers who are in a punk band and so they played a show in Koenji. Turns out I got to meet his whole family. His brothers barely spoke any English, but they were so cute. Their band was pretty good, too. His sister is 21 and is going to school to be a teacher. She spoke pretty decent English. And then there was his mom.... Most of my questions have no been answered as to why So is the way he is... He gets it all from his mom. She was so awesome. Drinking, smoking, and dancing the entire time. Her English was good, which was great. After the show, despite her being completely drunk, she took So and I to dinner at a Thai place. It was so much fun. She was life-long friends with the owners and the store was completely filled with records. So cool!
Anyways, what else has gone on... One Saturday I went to Ueno Park to the Tokyo National Museum. It was free for international students that day so I ventured over that way. The museums themselves were pretty boring, but it was definitely worth the trip. Hm... Sunday I went back to Koenji with my friend Rian. So helped her find an apartment. I am so jealous that they will both be living in the same town. It would be so much fun to live with them. After we spent the afternoon in Koenji, Rian and I went on a pilgrimage to Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in Shinjuku. We had to wait in line for around 30 minutes..but they gave us a free donut while waiting. It was magically delicious.
I then had a 3 day week of school in which not much of anything happened. Wendesday was my good friend Nadra's birthday so we went to the grocery store and drank on the bench out front. Thursday we had off and it was my birthday! I relaxed all day and then got ready for Nadra and my birthday dinner. We went to Alcatraz ER, a prison hospital themed restaurant in Shibuya. We had a private room reserved and about 25 people came. The place was awesome. The decorations were great. We sat on the floor on top of dead bodies. The food was fun - there was fried chicken served in a cage, fondue, the drink I got was a blood transfusion IV drip. I hope people enjoyed themselves. It wasn't many of my real friends that came, but it was still cool. Afterwards, a bunch of us went to a purikura (photobooth) and then wandered around Shibuya for a bit.
Friday was pretty uneventful...just drank some wine on the bench again with some friends. Saturday I slept all day in preparation for an all-nighter. My friend Yurie invited me to her friend's birthday party in Roppongi. I hate Roppongi since it is all foreigners, but I thought I'd go for it anyways. It was a combined birthday party with these two girls from Peru. I knew a few people there, but it was really awkward and weird, but it ended up being a lot of fun. The one birthday girl, Lorena, ended up having the same exact birthday as me, and turned 22 as well. She got so excited. She was really nice and ended up having me blow out the candles with her and her friend. It was sweet. After the party, we went to a Salsa club. It started out as a lot of fun, but then I ended up getting elbowed in the eye by accident. Who knew that Salsa dancing was a full contact sport. Anyways, luckily I didn't get a black eye, but it's still really sore and slightly swollen. I stayed out all night and didn't get home until 6:00. Just as I was about to go to bed, I saw Lucas and Jon outside of my window so we all went to breakfast at McDonalds.
I then slept for 4 hours before Rian and I ventured off to Akihabara which is where all of the electronics and creepy Anime people are. There were a lot of guys dressed up in girl costumes and yea...it was an experience, haha. Then we went to Yoyogi park which was completely great. There were so many crazy people out. There was a group of around 30 Japanese people dressed as greasers with huge pompadore hair and polka dot dresses with old muscle cars just dancing in the middle of the park. It was one of the best things I've ever seen. Not even 30 feet from that were lots of small bands set up on the sidewalk playing. Not even 15 feet from them was a huge reggae tent with a literal wall of speakers and everyone just dancing around. Down the street from that was a girl playing a violin with a guy on guitar. And across the fountain from them was a group of 10 people all playing drums. The weather was amazing and it was just the coolest thing ever walking through the park. We then wandered around Harajuku and ate a crepe, went to a purikura, and walked for hours looking at all of the fancy designer stores. I never wanted it to end. It was such a great day.
Today was the last day of classes. It's quite bittersweet. I didn't like my classes this semester, but it just means I'm that much closer to the end and that's no good. More and more people are moving out of the dorms. I won't see a lot of my friends that are strictly from school anymore. It's so devastating. However, I still have around 10 days to just hang out and have fun and explore and see people. Oh goodness....
I forgot to mention in the last entry about how I went to So's brothers' show. He has twin 16 year old brothers who are in a punk band and so they played a show in Koenji. Turns out I got to meet his whole family. His brothers barely spoke any English, but they were so cute. Their band was pretty good, too. His sister is 21 and is going to school to be a teacher. She spoke pretty decent English. And then there was his mom.... Most of my questions have no been answered as to why So is the way he is... He gets it all from his mom. She was so awesome. Drinking, smoking, and dancing the entire time. Her English was good, which was great. After the show, despite her being completely drunk, she took So and I to dinner at a Thai place. It was so much fun. She was life-long friends with the owners and the store was completely filled with records. So cool!
Anyways, what else has gone on... One Saturday I went to Ueno Park to the Tokyo National Museum. It was free for international students that day so I ventured over that way. The museums themselves were pretty boring, but it was definitely worth the trip. Hm... Sunday I went back to Koenji with my friend Rian. So helped her find an apartment. I am so jealous that they will both be living in the same town. It would be so much fun to live with them. After we spent the afternoon in Koenji, Rian and I went on a pilgrimage to Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in Shinjuku. We had to wait in line for around 30 minutes..but they gave us a free donut while waiting. It was magically delicious.
I then had a 3 day week of school in which not much of anything happened. Wendesday was my good friend Nadra's birthday so we went to the grocery store and drank on the bench out front. Thursday we had off and it was my birthday! I relaxed all day and then got ready for Nadra and my birthday dinner. We went to Alcatraz ER, a prison hospital themed restaurant in Shibuya. We had a private room reserved and about 25 people came. The place was awesome. The decorations were great. We sat on the floor on top of dead bodies. The food was fun - there was fried chicken served in a cage, fondue, the drink I got was a blood transfusion IV drip. I hope people enjoyed themselves. It wasn't many of my real friends that came, but it was still cool. Afterwards, a bunch of us went to a purikura (photobooth) and then wandered around Shibuya for a bit.
Friday was pretty uneventful...just drank some wine on the bench again with some friends. Saturday I slept all day in preparation for an all-nighter. My friend Yurie invited me to her friend's birthday party in Roppongi. I hate Roppongi since it is all foreigners, but I thought I'd go for it anyways. It was a combined birthday party with these two girls from Peru. I knew a few people there, but it was really awkward and weird, but it ended up being a lot of fun. The one birthday girl, Lorena, ended up having the same exact birthday as me, and turned 22 as well. She got so excited. She was really nice and ended up having me blow out the candles with her and her friend. It was sweet. After the party, we went to a Salsa club. It started out as a lot of fun, but then I ended up getting elbowed in the eye by accident. Who knew that Salsa dancing was a full contact sport. Anyways, luckily I didn't get a black eye, but it's still really sore and slightly swollen. I stayed out all night and didn't get home until 6:00. Just as I was about to go to bed, I saw Lucas and Jon outside of my window so we all went to breakfast at McDonalds.
I then slept for 4 hours before Rian and I ventured off to Akihabara which is where all of the electronics and creepy Anime people are. There were a lot of guys dressed up in girl costumes and yea...it was an experience, haha. Then we went to Yoyogi park which was completely great. There were so many crazy people out. There was a group of around 30 Japanese people dressed as greasers with huge pompadore hair and polka dot dresses with old muscle cars just dancing in the middle of the park. It was one of the best things I've ever seen. Not even 30 feet from that were lots of small bands set up on the sidewalk playing. Not even 15 feet from them was a huge reggae tent with a literal wall of speakers and everyone just dancing around. Down the street from that was a girl playing a violin with a guy on guitar. And across the fountain from them was a group of 10 people all playing drums. The weather was amazing and it was just the coolest thing ever walking through the park. We then wandered around Harajuku and ate a crepe, went to a purikura, and walked for hours looking at all of the fancy designer stores. I never wanted it to end. It was such a great day.
Today was the last day of classes. It's quite bittersweet. I didn't like my classes this semester, but it just means I'm that much closer to the end and that's no good. More and more people are moving out of the dorms. I won't see a lot of my friends that are strictly from school anymore. It's so devastating. However, I still have around 10 days to just hang out and have fun and explore and see people. Oh goodness....
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
And I'm telling you I'm not going
Sorry for the delay in updates. These past few weeks have been quite busy. Picking up after the last post, I got my hair chopped off. I went to Sakura hair cut place a few minutes from the dorm. It was the best experience ever. The people were so nice, they washed my hair twice and so thoroughly, they gave me a cappuccino, and there was the cutest dog ever. They also gave me a head and neck massage. It was around $50 but totally worth every penny. It was great and my hair came out cute. That Friday I went out to dinner with a few people to a Korean BBQ. It was a lot of fun.
That weekend I traveled to Gunma, a prefecture about 6 hours north of Tokyo in the mountains. I worked with a high school English camp for 3 days. There were about 40 student assistants and around 350 Japanese high school freshman. We took buses up with the kids. The hotel we stayed at was way up in the mountains completely isolated. I was the first one to walk into the hotel and immediately was reminded of "The Shining." The hotel was so reminiscent of that hotel. We were the only ones staying in the hotel so it was really cool. I roomed with my friends Amanda and Sara. Our room was really big and pretty nice. All of our accommodations were paid for, in addition to the 20,000 Yen we were paid (around $200) for the weekend. The meals were absolutely delicious, as well.
The goal of the camp was to help the high school students become more comfortable speaking English. Their ability ranged from not knowing much English at all to speaking it very well. We did different activities with them and workshops in which each team would get points. The very first group I worked with was a lot of fun so I decided to hang out and give them extra help all weekend. The students also had to work on tv commercial presentations on a "product of the future" that they would compete to have the best one. I spent a lot of time helping my group with their presentation, which they did on Pixie Dust, giving you the ability to fly. We spent hours perfecting their presentation. The presentations were to be judged by the assistants, and then the top 8 would make it to the finals, which would be performed in front of the whole camp and judged by their teachers.
Well as I had hoped, my group made it to the finals. All weekend when we had been practicing, they ended their presentation by saying "This commercial is presented to you by Kaho and Taro." Well, during the finals, much to my complete surprise, they changed the line to say "This commercial is presented to you by Kaho and Taro and supported by Melanie." Needless to say, I started crying. They were the only group to do anything like that. Not only that, but out of 78 groups, they ended up winning!! It was one of my proudest moments ever. My group was so awesome. I felt like such a proud mom. I ran up to the front and gave them all hugs. And they didn't just win the presentations...but they also ended up getting the most points out of all of the workshops so they basically won everything there was the entire weekend. The other assistants dubbed me "teacher of the millennium," which I was proud to accept.
It was actually really hard to say goodbye to all of the kids. I got tons of pictures of everyone. As we were saying bye, my group gave me a little cellphone charm and said "Don't forget about us". It was so great. I got their email addresses to try and keep in touch with them. It was one of the most rewarding weekends ever.
What else has happened...this past weekend Friday was pretty laid back. Jon and I just went to an izakaya the next town over. Saturday So and I went to Asakusa and visited the Temple as well as going to Japan's first amusement park. It was so great and decrepit and
old and amazing. The rides were so corny but they were so fun. The weather was all rainy, but I didn't let that ruin my time. We then went to dinner, which was delicious. The night ended fairly early so when I came home, Jon and I decided to go to karaoke from 11pm - 3am. It was so fun.
Sunday Jon and I went to Yokohama. I went on the world's second largest ferris wheel which had a wonderful view. We also went to Chinatown. It was definitely awesome.
This past week I ended up going to karaoke 3 times. Only once was late at night...the rest have been after school. I love karaoke. It makes me so happy. I have been going out to lunch with some friends during the weeks as well. Today I went to visit Tokyo Tower which is a huge tower right by my school. It is actually larger than the Eiffel Tower. I want to go back again at night sometime before I leave. I have been working hard and diligently to cross activities off of my list of things to do before I leave. This weekend, hopefully more will be crossed off.
School this past week was very crazy and stressful, but it's all been paying off. Except for psychology, which I'm doing decent in, I have like a 98% in all of my other classes. Quite exciting if you ask me.
One more week until my birthday. My best friend here, Nadra, her birthday is the day before mine so we are planning a big get together with all of our friends.
Three weeks until I have to leave. This place has honestly become more home than my actual home ever has been. I love everyone here. It's sad because everyone is finding their apartments and slowly starting to move out of the dorm, which is not OK in my book. They all need to stay here and hang out with me. They can't leave until I leave. At least when I come back to visit, I will have tons of places to stay.
Ok, that's enough for now. I hope I covered everything.
That weekend I traveled to Gunma, a prefecture about 6 hours north of Tokyo in the mountains. I worked with a high school English camp for 3 days. There were about 40 student assistants and around 350 Japanese high school freshman. We took buses up with the kids. The hotel we stayed at was way up in the mountains completely isolated. I was the first one to walk into the hotel and immediately was reminded of "The Shining." The hotel was so reminiscent of that hotel. We were the only ones staying in the hotel so it was really cool. I roomed with my friends Amanda and Sara. Our room was really big and pretty nice. All of our accommodations were paid for, in addition to the 20,000 Yen we were paid (around $200) for the weekend. The meals were absolutely delicious, as well.
The goal of the camp was to help the high school students become more comfortable speaking English. Their ability ranged from not knowing much English at all to speaking it very well. We did different activities with them and workshops in which each team would get points. The very first group I worked with was a lot of fun so I decided to hang out and give them extra help all weekend. The students also had to work on tv commercial presentations on a "product of the future" that they would compete to have the best one. I spent a lot of time helping my group with their presentation, which they did on Pixie Dust, giving you the ability to fly. We spent hours perfecting their presentation. The presentations were to be judged by the assistants, and then the top 8 would make it to the finals, which would be performed in front of the whole camp and judged by their teachers.
Well as I had hoped, my group made it to the finals. All weekend when we had been practicing, they ended their presentation by saying "This commercial is presented to you by Kaho and Taro." Well, during the finals, much to my complete surprise, they changed the line to say "This commercial is presented to you by Kaho and Taro and supported by Melanie." Needless to say, I started crying. They were the only group to do anything like that. Not only that, but out of 78 groups, they ended up winning!! It was one of my proudest moments ever. My group was so awesome. I felt like such a proud mom. I ran up to the front and gave them all hugs. And they didn't just win the presentations...but they also ended up getting the most points out of all of the workshops so they basically won everything there was the entire weekend. The other assistants dubbed me "teacher of the millennium," which I was proud to accept.
It was actually really hard to say goodbye to all of the kids. I got tons of pictures of everyone. As we were saying bye, my group gave me a little cellphone charm and said "Don't forget about us". It was so great. I got their email addresses to try and keep in touch with them. It was one of the most rewarding weekends ever.
What else has happened...this past weekend Friday was pretty laid back. Jon and I just went to an izakaya the next town over. Saturday So and I went to Asakusa and visited the Temple as well as going to Japan's first amusement park. It was so great and decrepit and
old and amazing. The rides were so corny but they were so fun. The weather was all rainy, but I didn't let that ruin my time. We then went to dinner, which was delicious. The night ended fairly early so when I came home, Jon and I decided to go to karaoke from 11pm - 3am. It was so fun.
Sunday Jon and I went to Yokohama. I went on the world's second largest ferris wheel which had a wonderful view. We also went to Chinatown. It was definitely awesome.
This past week I ended up going to karaoke 3 times. Only once was late at night...the rest have been after school. I love karaoke. It makes me so happy. I have been going out to lunch with some friends during the weeks as well. Today I went to visit Tokyo Tower which is a huge tower right by my school. It is actually larger than the Eiffel Tower. I want to go back again at night sometime before I leave. I have been working hard and diligently to cross activities off of my list of things to do before I leave. This weekend, hopefully more will be crossed off.
School this past week was very crazy and stressful, but it's all been paying off. Except for psychology, which I'm doing decent in, I have like a 98% in all of my other classes. Quite exciting if you ask me.
One more week until my birthday. My best friend here, Nadra, her birthday is the day before mine so we are planning a big get together with all of our friends.
Three weeks until I have to leave. This place has honestly become more home than my actual home ever has been. I love everyone here. It's sad because everyone is finding their apartments and slowly starting to move out of the dorm, which is not OK in my book. They all need to stay here and hang out with me. They can't leave until I leave. At least when I come back to visit, I will have tons of places to stay.
Ok, that's enough for now. I hope I covered everything.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
November Rain
Well Halloween has now come and gone. I was slightly let down...but then again, my expectations may have been too high. Friday was a party thrown by Temple. Before the party, I got all dressed up as a Grecian Goddess, complete with toga and flowers. I went out to an izakaya for my friend's Ivan's birthday. There were about 20 of us or so. It was a fun time...despite the fact that it ended up costing me a lot more than it should have. After that, we went to Roppongi for the party. It was at some club that wasn't big enough. They expected around 300 people to come but the actual turn out was closer to 700. I guess everyone loves a free party. It was fun seeing everyone all dressed up and there was a pole dancer, but it was just too crowded and too unorganized to fully enjoy. A bunch of us left around 11:00 and headed over to another club, which was completely empty. I was really tired by this point and wasn't in the best mood so around 1:00 am, Jon, Lucas and I went to good ol' McDonalds, then took a cab home around 3:00.
I slept until like...4:00 pm on Saturday, which was also helped by the fact that there was a typhoon so it was extra dark out. I was supposed to go to a parade and a party, but the weather just wasn't conducive for going out. Instead, a bunch of us just lallygagged around the dorm all night. It was nice and relaxing.
Sunday Amanda and I went to Kawasaki to Japan's largest Halloween Parade. Well we ended up missing the actual parade by like 10 minutes, but we ended up staying for hours taking pictures of all of the crazy Japanese dressed up. It was so great. Some of the costumes were just...ridiculous. Some were adorable while others were absolutely creepy. After some time, Amanda headed home while I stayed to see Rocky Horror Picture Show. They showed the movie on the large screen while actors performed it in front of the screen. Oh.My.God. It was so great. It was so bizarre seeing a Japanese Frank-n-Furter. And all of the things yelled at the screen, half were in English, half were in Japanese. I was in hysterics the whole time.
On Halloween itself we had a dorm party complete with Rice Crispy Treats, candy, pizza, lots of movies, and a costume contest. It was a nice time. I really do love this dorm. There is always something happening.
So it is now officially November which means 36 days until I leave. This is no good. I still have so much to do and so many people to hang out with. I can't even think about having to leave everyone here. It's heart-breaking.
I slept until like...4:00 pm on Saturday, which was also helped by the fact that there was a typhoon so it was extra dark out. I was supposed to go to a parade and a party, but the weather just wasn't conducive for going out. Instead, a bunch of us just lallygagged around the dorm all night. It was nice and relaxing.
Sunday Amanda and I went to Kawasaki to Japan's largest Halloween Parade. Well we ended up missing the actual parade by like 10 minutes, but we ended up staying for hours taking pictures of all of the crazy Japanese dressed up. It was so great. Some of the costumes were just...ridiculous. Some were adorable while others were absolutely creepy. After some time, Amanda headed home while I stayed to see Rocky Horror Picture Show. They showed the movie on the large screen while actors performed it in front of the screen. Oh.My.God. It was so great. It was so bizarre seeing a Japanese Frank-n-Furter. And all of the things yelled at the screen, half were in English, half were in Japanese. I was in hysterics the whole time.
On Halloween itself we had a dorm party complete with Rice Crispy Treats, candy, pizza, lots of movies, and a costume contest. It was a nice time. I really do love this dorm. There is always something happening.
So it is now officially November which means 36 days until I leave. This is no good. I still have so much to do and so many people to hang out with. I can't even think about having to leave everyone here. It's heart-breaking.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Under the Sea
Things have been going quite well lately. Mid terms are over and I got all grades back except for one. I got a 100 on World Music, 98 on Japanese Culture and a 95 on Japanese. Not too bad if I do say so myself. Now I have a few weeks to chill before getting into the hard work again. I am all scheduled for classes for next semester so that is a relief. Next weekend I am going to be working at a High School English camp. We get paid $200 and all of our accommodations are paid for, including food and hotel. Not only that but all of my friends are going as well.
This past weekend was a surprisingly good time considering I didn't have any real plans in advance. Friday I went with Amanda, Kyle, Dave and Sean to Shinjuku. I hadn't hung out with them since the beginning of the semester so it was a good time. We went to a German bar and then we found another "The Lockup" restaurant. We were very very rushed for time before the last train at The Lockup and all of them were drunk so it made for quite an adventure. Luckily we made it back for the last trains. Saturday I went to Shibuya with Lucas to buy records for some friends. We also found a really good conveyor belt sushi place. That night a bunch of us from the dorm had some wine and relaxed and had a great time.
Sunday was one of the best days I've had since I've been in Japan. Lucas, Jon and I went to Disney Sea! We tried going to Disney Land, but it was sold out...even at 10:00 am. I was pretty bummed out but we made our way across the complex to Disney Sea which is kind of like Epcot in the sense that there are different countries as different ports around a big lake. It was magical, of course, as soon as we got there. From the second I got to the park I became a 10 year old again. It was fairly crowded, but I know how to work the system between the fast passes and single rider lines. We got to ride everything...including Tower of Terror, Indiana Jones, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and Journey to the Center of the Earth. I got my picture taken with Minnie, Daisy, Goofy, and the Genie. I was singing and dancing the whole time. When we first got to the park, we all held hands and skipped down the road. The weather was beautiful. It was just the greatest day ever. I love Lucas and Jon so much. They are the best people ever.
I'm trying to go to Disney Land sometime this week, hopefully Thursday, so I can see all of the Halloween decorations. Speaking of Halloween, I am so excited for it. I finally made my costume today. I'm going as a Grecian Goddess in a toga with flowers around my head. There are a bunch of parties and parades and I can't wait.
That's all for now. Woo.
This past weekend was a surprisingly good time considering I didn't have any real plans in advance. Friday I went with Amanda, Kyle, Dave and Sean to Shinjuku. I hadn't hung out with them since the beginning of the semester so it was a good time. We went to a German bar and then we found another "The Lockup" restaurant. We were very very rushed for time before the last train at The Lockup and all of them were drunk so it made for quite an adventure. Luckily we made it back for the last trains. Saturday I went to Shibuya with Lucas to buy records for some friends. We also found a really good conveyor belt sushi place. That night a bunch of us from the dorm had some wine and relaxed and had a great time.
Sunday was one of the best days I've had since I've been in Japan. Lucas, Jon and I went to Disney Sea! We tried going to Disney Land, but it was sold out...even at 10:00 am. I was pretty bummed out but we made our way across the complex to Disney Sea which is kind of like Epcot in the sense that there are different countries as different ports around a big lake. It was magical, of course, as soon as we got there. From the second I got to the park I became a 10 year old again. It was fairly crowded, but I know how to work the system between the fast passes and single rider lines. We got to ride everything...including Tower of Terror, Indiana Jones, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and Journey to the Center of the Earth. I got my picture taken with Minnie, Daisy, Goofy, and the Genie. I was singing and dancing the whole time. When we first got to the park, we all held hands and skipped down the road. The weather was beautiful. It was just the greatest day ever. I love Lucas and Jon so much. They are the best people ever.
I'm trying to go to Disney Land sometime this week, hopefully Thursday, so I can see all of the Halloween decorations. Speaking of Halloween, I am so excited for it. I finally made my costume today. I'm going as a Grecian Goddess in a toga with flowers around my head. There are a bunch of parties and parades and I can't wait.
That's all for now. Woo.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Deer dance
I apologize for the delay, however, I have been in the middle of midterms with no time to do much of anything. I will continue with where I left off on the best trip ever.
Saturday Lucas and I ventured to Nara, a city outside of Kyoto. There is a huge park that is literally full of deer. It was basically one of the coolest things ever. The deer have free range and are able to do whatever they please. I purchased some deer cracker things so I was able to feed them. Not only was I able to feed deer, but I also was able to pet them and hug them and lay with them. It was so incredible. They are such beautiful creatures....well, except for the one deer that bit me on my stomach as I was feeding it. We also went to visit one of the world's largest enclosed Buddhas, housed in the world's largest wooden building. Talk about breathtaking. It was spectacular. After wandering around the Buddha and the park, we grabbed some lunch at a cute piano themed cafe and headed back to Kyoto.
Unfortunately our Nara expedition took longer than expected so once we returned to Kyoto, the rest of the temples we were planning on visiting were closed. Instead we ate dinner at an awesome restaurant called "The Lock Up." It was another themed restaurant, this time, themed as a prison. We had to walk through a haunted hallway to get there, then our table was inside of a jail cell. The staff all wore costumes like prison stripes, police officers, and other things of that nature. The drinks were great - Lucas got a drink that he had to mix by using a syringe. I got a drink that I had to mix by using different test tubes. So creative and great.
After dinner we wandered around Gion on a mission to find Geisha. It took us a while and we ventured down many shady alleyways, but alas, we found 2 geisha. I told myself that I wouldn't believe that they actually existed until I saw one with my own eyes. Luckily I did. We spent the rest of the night fairly low key - sitting by the river and talking for hours. It was quite nice.
Sunday we checked out of the hostel and boarded the train for Osaka. Once we arrived we put our bags in a storage locker at the station and started to wander. We weren't really sure where we were in relation to everything else and, although we had quite a few hours, didn't want to stray too far. So we ended up aimlessly walking around Osaka and finding some of the shadier areas. We sat in a bookstore for a while. We went to a shopping mall called Hep 5 that had giant whales hanging from the ceiling. I still don't know what they were for. Finally around 7:30 we met up with Chisa.
Chisa led us to her uncle's car, where I then got in to a car for the first time since the taxi ride from the airport on my very first day. He drove us around to various "hot spots" in Osaka. We just made very brief stops to take a few pictures. By this point it was getting late so we went back to his apartment just outside of the main part of Osaka. It was absolutely gorgeous. He lived on the 15th floor and had an amazing view of the city. We quickly went down the to Onseen that was in the complex. It was so relaxing after walking around for miles and miles and miles and days and days. After the Onseen, Chisa, her uncle, his girlfriend, Lucas and I, all went to dinner at the really nice shopping complex across the street. I tried some bizarre foods, as usual. Chisa's uncle was absolutely hysterical. He didn't speak any English, which made communicating quite fun. I tried, of course, to practice my Japanese, but I realized I still don't know very much. Following dinner, Lucas, Chisa and I stayed up talking for quite a while.
Monday was another very long day. Chisa took us to breakfast, which was extremely nice. We then boarded a train to Himeji, about an hour outside of Osaka. It took us a while to find the bus we were supposed to get on once we arrived, but finally we found it. It drove us passed Himeji Castle, which was beautiful, but we didn't go there. We went to the Himeji Museum of Art to see a Surrealism exhibit that Lucas found out about. I am not a huge fan of surrealist art, but this exhibit was actually really good. They had Dali, Man Ray, and a lot of other artists whose names are slipping my mind at the moment. It was a lot of fun.
Following the museum, we headed back to Osaka and went to Dotonburry Street which is the most famous street in Osaka. We had briefly visited it the night before, but this time we were able to spend a little more time there. Our first, and most important stop, was to the photo booth places. This one was extremely awesome because we were able to dress up in costumes. Unfortunately they wouldn't let Lucas dress up since he is a guy, but Chisa wore a flight attendant costume and I wore a doctor's outfit. The pictures are amazing. After the pictures I tried takoyaki, meaning octopus balls. I knew I wouldn't like it, and I was right, however, I was still determined to try it. We went back to the apartment, said by to her uncle, and headed back to the area around Osaka station. We went back to Hep 5 because they have a gigantic ferris wheel that over looks the entire city. It was a spectacular way to end our trip. It was then the long 8 hour drive back to Tokyo. The bus was ridiculously uncomfortable, but by this point, Lucas and I were so exhausted that we passed out and slept for the majority of the time.
All in all, this was one of the best trips I've ever been on in my life. I planned the entire thing and everything was smooth sailing. We met some cool people, had some great adventures, saw some awesome things, and became even better friends. I took over 550 pictures that I'm sure everyone will see when I return.
Since the trip, things have calmed down a bit. As I said before, last week and this week have been midterms and papers and stress. I was able to go to all night karaoke, though, finally. I went with Lucas, Jon, Yurie, Kyle, and then a bunch of other random people. Nothing like singing karaoke until 5:00 in the morning. Nothing much else has been happening. We've celebrated some birthdays in the dorm and I went to a festival a few towns over.
I miss everyone back home though. Less than 2 months until my return. I really don't want to leave.
Saturday Lucas and I ventured to Nara, a city outside of Kyoto. There is a huge park that is literally full of deer. It was basically one of the coolest things ever. The deer have free range and are able to do whatever they please. I purchased some deer cracker things so I was able to feed them. Not only was I able to feed deer, but I also was able to pet them and hug them and lay with them. It was so incredible. They are such beautiful creatures....well, except for the one deer that bit me on my stomach as I was feeding it. We also went to visit one of the world's largest enclosed Buddhas, housed in the world's largest wooden building. Talk about breathtaking. It was spectacular. After wandering around the Buddha and the park, we grabbed some lunch at a cute piano themed cafe and headed back to Kyoto.
Unfortunately our Nara expedition took longer than expected so once we returned to Kyoto, the rest of the temples we were planning on visiting were closed. Instead we ate dinner at an awesome restaurant called "The Lock Up." It was another themed restaurant, this time, themed as a prison. We had to walk through a haunted hallway to get there, then our table was inside of a jail cell. The staff all wore costumes like prison stripes, police officers, and other things of that nature. The drinks were great - Lucas got a drink that he had to mix by using a syringe. I got a drink that I had to mix by using different test tubes. So creative and great.
After dinner we wandered around Gion on a mission to find Geisha. It took us a while and we ventured down many shady alleyways, but alas, we found 2 geisha. I told myself that I wouldn't believe that they actually existed until I saw one with my own eyes. Luckily I did. We spent the rest of the night fairly low key - sitting by the river and talking for hours. It was quite nice.
Sunday we checked out of the hostel and boarded the train for Osaka. Once we arrived we put our bags in a storage locker at the station and started to wander. We weren't really sure where we were in relation to everything else and, although we had quite a few hours, didn't want to stray too far. So we ended up aimlessly walking around Osaka and finding some of the shadier areas. We sat in a bookstore for a while. We went to a shopping mall called Hep 5 that had giant whales hanging from the ceiling. I still don't know what they were for. Finally around 7:30 we met up with Chisa.
Chisa led us to her uncle's car, where I then got in to a car for the first time since the taxi ride from the airport on my very first day. He drove us around to various "hot spots" in Osaka. We just made very brief stops to take a few pictures. By this point it was getting late so we went back to his apartment just outside of the main part of Osaka. It was absolutely gorgeous. He lived on the 15th floor and had an amazing view of the city. We quickly went down the to Onseen that was in the complex. It was so relaxing after walking around for miles and miles and miles and days and days. After the Onseen, Chisa, her uncle, his girlfriend, Lucas and I, all went to dinner at the really nice shopping complex across the street. I tried some bizarre foods, as usual. Chisa's uncle was absolutely hysterical. He didn't speak any English, which made communicating quite fun. I tried, of course, to practice my Japanese, but I realized I still don't know very much. Following dinner, Lucas, Chisa and I stayed up talking for quite a while.
Monday was another very long day. Chisa took us to breakfast, which was extremely nice. We then boarded a train to Himeji, about an hour outside of Osaka. It took us a while to find the bus we were supposed to get on once we arrived, but finally we found it. It drove us passed Himeji Castle, which was beautiful, but we didn't go there. We went to the Himeji Museum of Art to see a Surrealism exhibit that Lucas found out about. I am not a huge fan of surrealist art, but this exhibit was actually really good. They had Dali, Man Ray, and a lot of other artists whose names are slipping my mind at the moment. It was a lot of fun.
Following the museum, we headed back to Osaka and went to Dotonburry Street which is the most famous street in Osaka. We had briefly visited it the night before, but this time we were able to spend a little more time there. Our first, and most important stop, was to the photo booth places. This one was extremely awesome because we were able to dress up in costumes. Unfortunately they wouldn't let Lucas dress up since he is a guy, but Chisa wore a flight attendant costume and I wore a doctor's outfit. The pictures are amazing. After the pictures I tried takoyaki, meaning octopus balls. I knew I wouldn't like it, and I was right, however, I was still determined to try it. We went back to the apartment, said by to her uncle, and headed back to the area around Osaka station. We went back to Hep 5 because they have a gigantic ferris wheel that over looks the entire city. It was a spectacular way to end our trip. It was then the long 8 hour drive back to Tokyo. The bus was ridiculously uncomfortable, but by this point, Lucas and I were so exhausted that we passed out and slept for the majority of the time.
All in all, this was one of the best trips I've ever been on in my life. I planned the entire thing and everything was smooth sailing. We met some cool people, had some great adventures, saw some awesome things, and became even better friends. I took over 550 pictures that I'm sure everyone will see when I return.
Since the trip, things have calmed down a bit. As I said before, last week and this week have been midterms and papers and stress. I was able to go to all night karaoke, though, finally. I went with Lucas, Jon, Yurie, Kyle, and then a bunch of other random people. Nothing like singing karaoke until 5:00 in the morning. Nothing much else has been happening. We've celebrated some birthdays in the dorm and I went to a festival a few towns over.
I miss everyone back home though. Less than 2 months until my return. I really don't want to leave.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
We're on the top of the world, you and I
Well my little adventure easily because one of the best trips I've been on in my entire life. I guess I will go into slightly more detail.
Late Thursday night Lucas and I traveled to Tokyo station to catch our overnight bus to Kyoto. The bus was really nice and had curtains. However, just because it was nice did not mean that we would be able to sleep. After numerous attempts and bathroom breaks, I think we probably ended up sleeping about 2 hours give or take of the 6 hour ride. 6:00 am came and we arrived at Kyoto station. We went to McDonalds and I got a delicious mcgriddle.
With map in hand, we made our way to the bus station to get to Gion, the part of Kyoto that our hostel was in. Gion is known as the Geisha town, which I will get into further later. Everything was desolate. I guess Kyoto doesn't wake up very early. Our hostel was easily found and was located right on the river in the heart of all of the excitement. The office didn't open until 10:00, but I was given the combination to open the door, thankfully. We were able to semi hide our bags in the common lounge, change our clothes, brush our teeth and sit for like 5 minutes. We decided to explore Gion until the office opened. We wandered the empty streets with unknown stores. Everything was closed and mysterious. We walked along the river and saw the old fishermen. By the time we circled around the town, it was 10:00 so we went to "officially" drop our bags off at the hostel, however, we still couldn't check in.
After the brief stop at the hostel, we were on our way to the first temple: Sanjusangen-do Temple, meaning 1001 Buddhas. Well let me tell you...they weren't lying about that one. There really were 1001 Buddhas and it was spectacular. They were all in lines and rows surrounding one large Buddha. It was amazing. The grounds of the temple were beautiful. A group of Japanese school girls came up to us wanting to take a picture with us. We couldn't say no. After that we headed to Kiyomizudera Temple, the Water Temple. On our walk there, we passed a school bus full of elementary school aged Japanese kids. The were all plastered to the windows and waving profusely to us. I don't know if it's because we are foreign or if it's because Lucas looks like a model/rock star/famous, but we got quite a lot of attention over the weekend. It was wonderful.
Kiyomizudera was absolutely breathtaking. We had to hike up a mountain, but unlike in Hakone, this one definitely paid off. We had the most spectacular view of Kyoto. We could see for miles as we were standing up in the mountains, surrounded by mountains and city and gorgeousness. The temples themselves were fabulous. As we hiked down the mountain, there was a large place where you could drink the water (hence being called the water temple). It's holy water and you are supposed to make a wish as you drink it. On the rest of the walk down the mountain, children kept saying "hello" to us. They were trying to practice their English, so I responded in Japanese trying to practice mine. I also got some delicious Mango ice cream.
We went to an Okonomyoki place for lunch which was delicious and then headed to find the Path of Philosophy which would take us to our next destination. The Path of Philosophy was located along a small stream and lined with various cafes and random shops. Lucas ended up purchasing a Yukata, which is the less formal form of a kimono. We finally made it to Ginkakuji Temple. They had a sand garden with a big "sand castle" like dome. Again we walked through the moutains and bamboo. We saw a group of people looking up towards the sky and realized they were looking at the one single tree that started to change colors for fall. After Ginkakuji we headed to Kinkakuji Temple, however, by the time we got there it was closed, which meant the other temples we were planning on seeing would be closed, too. But it was alright...by this point, we had had no sleep and walked for what seemed like days. We decided to head back to the hostel.
We were finally able to check in and found our room was shared with 6 other people and had bunk beds. It was quite exciting to actually be staying in a hostel. We then went to dinner at a cute Asian place along the river. It was completely empty and delicious. It was so relaxing to be able to sit down for a while. It didn't last long though as we continued to explore Gion. We went to one of the photobooths which led to quite exciting pictures. We found playgrounds, hidden doors and alleys, and fun shops. After a while we decided to split up and have some personal time. I continued my walk through the streets of Gion when I found, or I should say they found me, a group of drunk Japanese guys that started talking to me. I was a little apprehensive at first, but hey...why not make some friends. They ended up being so much fun. We went down to the river, which is a huge hangout spot for kids. My new friends and I, including the two guys who then became my "boyfriends" for the night, sat by the river for a few hours and Lucas came and met up with us. They were all so drunk and hysterical, but really really nice. My one "boyfriend" gave me the Japanese name of Mikachan, meaning beautiful. Finally Lucas and I had to call it a night considering we had been up for 40+ hours straight.
I have many more days to account for, but my stomach is growling so I should make some dinner. I will write more later.
Late Thursday night Lucas and I traveled to Tokyo station to catch our overnight bus to Kyoto. The bus was really nice and had curtains. However, just because it was nice did not mean that we would be able to sleep. After numerous attempts and bathroom breaks, I think we probably ended up sleeping about 2 hours give or take of the 6 hour ride. 6:00 am came and we arrived at Kyoto station. We went to McDonalds and I got a delicious mcgriddle.
With map in hand, we made our way to the bus station to get to Gion, the part of Kyoto that our hostel was in. Gion is known as the Geisha town, which I will get into further later. Everything was desolate. I guess Kyoto doesn't wake up very early. Our hostel was easily found and was located right on the river in the heart of all of the excitement. The office didn't open until 10:00, but I was given the combination to open the door, thankfully. We were able to semi hide our bags in the common lounge, change our clothes, brush our teeth and sit for like 5 minutes. We decided to explore Gion until the office opened. We wandered the empty streets with unknown stores. Everything was closed and mysterious. We walked along the river and saw the old fishermen. By the time we circled around the town, it was 10:00 so we went to "officially" drop our bags off at the hostel, however, we still couldn't check in.
After the brief stop at the hostel, we were on our way to the first temple: Sanjusangen-do Temple, meaning 1001 Buddhas. Well let me tell you...they weren't lying about that one. There really were 1001 Buddhas and it was spectacular. They were all in lines and rows surrounding one large Buddha. It was amazing. The grounds of the temple were beautiful. A group of Japanese school girls came up to us wanting to take a picture with us. We couldn't say no. After that we headed to Kiyomizudera Temple, the Water Temple. On our walk there, we passed a school bus full of elementary school aged Japanese kids. The were all plastered to the windows and waving profusely to us. I don't know if it's because we are foreign or if it's because Lucas looks like a model/rock star/famous, but we got quite a lot of attention over the weekend. It was wonderful.
Kiyomizudera was absolutely breathtaking. We had to hike up a mountain, but unlike in Hakone, this one definitely paid off. We had the most spectacular view of Kyoto. We could see for miles as we were standing up in the mountains, surrounded by mountains and city and gorgeousness. The temples themselves were fabulous. As we hiked down the mountain, there was a large place where you could drink the water (hence being called the water temple). It's holy water and you are supposed to make a wish as you drink it. On the rest of the walk down the mountain, children kept saying "hello" to us. They were trying to practice their English, so I responded in Japanese trying to practice mine. I also got some delicious Mango ice cream.
We went to an Okonomyoki place for lunch which was delicious and then headed to find the Path of Philosophy which would take us to our next destination. The Path of Philosophy was located along a small stream and lined with various cafes and random shops. Lucas ended up purchasing a Yukata, which is the less formal form of a kimono. We finally made it to Ginkakuji Temple. They had a sand garden with a big "sand castle" like dome. Again we walked through the moutains and bamboo. We saw a group of people looking up towards the sky and realized they were looking at the one single tree that started to change colors for fall. After Ginkakuji we headed to Kinkakuji Temple, however, by the time we got there it was closed, which meant the other temples we were planning on seeing would be closed, too. But it was alright...by this point, we had had no sleep and walked for what seemed like days. We decided to head back to the hostel.
We were finally able to check in and found our room was shared with 6 other people and had bunk beds. It was quite exciting to actually be staying in a hostel. We then went to dinner at a cute Asian place along the river. It was completely empty and delicious. It was so relaxing to be able to sit down for a while. It didn't last long though as we continued to explore Gion. We went to one of the photobooths which led to quite exciting pictures. We found playgrounds, hidden doors and alleys, and fun shops. After a while we decided to split up and have some personal time. I continued my walk through the streets of Gion when I found, or I should say they found me, a group of drunk Japanese guys that started talking to me. I was a little apprehensive at first, but hey...why not make some friends. They ended up being so much fun. We went down to the river, which is a huge hangout spot for kids. My new friends and I, including the two guys who then became my "boyfriends" for the night, sat by the river for a few hours and Lucas came and met up with us. They were all so drunk and hysterical, but really really nice. My one "boyfriend" gave me the Japanese name of Mikachan, meaning beautiful. Finally Lucas and I had to call it a night considering we had been up for 40+ hours straight.
I have many more days to account for, but my stomach is growling so I should make some dinner. I will write more later.
Monday, October 1, 2007
So much to do, so much to say
I am finally getting around to updating. I am sorry for the delay. I have come down with a case of the sniffles or the cold or something along those lines. Once someone in the dorm is sick, we are all sick.
Friday after school So finally took me to the aquarium in Shinagawa like he had promised. It was so great. It was really small, but definitely worth it. There were penguins, fishes, sharks, starfish, crabs, and a Sea Lion show and a Dolphin Show. It was totally great. I love aquariums so much.
The weekend of September 22 and 23 was spent in hell...well basically. There was a school trip to Hakone, a mountain town about 3-4 hours outside of Tokyo. Basically everything that could have gone wrong, did. Although, I must say I did enjoy myself because I have a sense of humor and am able to laugh in all situations. Saturday morning, we were supposed to meet at a train station to load the bus at 8:15. There were 25 students on the trip, and surprisingly, everyone was pretty much on time. However, our bus was not. Supposedly there was an accident on the highway, or something along those lines. Over 2.5 hours later, the bus finally arrived. We were off to a late start, but we thought we would still have time to do everything on the itinerary. Yea...well the bus driver ended up getting lost, in traffic. So we drove around for a while (still in traffic), not knowing where we were going. There was also no bathroom on the bus. Whenever we would take a "5 minute pee stop" they ended up turning into 20 minute stops. Again, just like the last trip, anytime we were told a time to be back, basically add 3o minutes on to that. I do not appreciate lateness.
After we realized that we would not make it to Hakone in time to do what was scheduled that day, we decided to do Sunday's plans on Saturday, and vice versa. After sitting on the bus for what was around 6 hours, we finally made it to Hakone to a Buddhist temple. It was actually pretty cool...despite having to climb over 350 steps to get to the top. It was definitely hard work, but the beautiful mountains and scenery helped some. One would assume (or at least I did) that the top of the climb would be spectacular...well...that wasn't quite the word. Once we made it to the top, all that was up there was a little temple that we couldn't even go into . It was more of a shack. Oh well, it felt good to make it up there. Then we went to this castle...but of course, because we got there so late, the castle was closed. We still had a short amount of time to wander around. There was some festival going on on the grounds of the castle.
We finally made it to the hotel at 7:00 (which was when we were supposed to be at dinner). We checked in and I was in a room with Chloe, Danielle, Amanda and Mia. The room was awesome. It was the typical Japanese style Ryokan, which the short table and the mats on the floor. The view from our "balcony" was beautiful of mountains and trees. We didn't spend much time in the room. We quickly put on our cloth kimono type attire that the hotel provided in the rooms. We went to dinner in the big banquet room. We all had a tiny table and sat on the floor. The tables were set up in a U shape. It was traditional Japanese food...meaning, although I tried a lot of the food, I didn't eat most of the food given to me. I did the best that I could, I swear. Following dinner, everyone started drinking and singing Karaoke. This is when the night got really really fun. By this point, everyone was drunk and singing great songs. A bunch of random, drunk Japanese people came into our room and started singing and dancing with us. It was incredibly. I almost peed myself it was so funny. There was this one old man who would not get off the stage. His wife came up and was trying to drag him off, but he wouldn't leave. Finally they would get him off, but then as soon as the wife turned her back, he would drunkenly stumble back onto the stage. It was great. I got a lot of pictures and video.
After everyone had their share of singing, we made our way to the Onsen, the public bath/hot spring. I was really scared to do this, but luckily all 15 or so of the girls did and and everyone was drunk. I also realized that I wouldn't get this chance very often so I didn't want to regret not doing it. Everyone got naked and then had to take a small shower before getting into the water. The water was so hot and so pure. It was pretty amazing. I am so glad that I let my inhibitions down and did it. After the Onsen, we all drank more and then passed out. Our beds were just mats on the floor. It was actually quite comfortable.
Sunday there was a breakfast buffet. We checked out and made our way back to the castle. It was open this time, but the price of admission, which we thought was included, actually wasn't. We paid to get in, but it wasn't worth it. There were just some random old things from the Edo period of time. However, all of the signs were in Japanese so I couldn't read what they were even if I wanted to. Outside of the castle, they had an Elephant and a cage of monkeys. They were totally adorable, but their conditions were not very good. It made me really sad.
After the castle, we made our way to the Hakone Open Air Museum. It was an amazing art museum scattered throughout the grounds of this park. However, things of course could not be perfect. It started to rain just as we got there. I didn't let the rain bother me though. There were so many beautiful sculptures and there was also a Picasso exhibit. As we were leaving the museum, there was a children's area where they could do crafts...and of course I jumped on the opportunity, painting a picture and making a wire sculpture of myself. After the museum we went to this cable car thing that would take us up a mountain where we could then see Mount Fuji. Well of course, there was rain and fog and lots of clouds. We had to pay our own to take the car up to the top. We couldn't see out of the windows... And once we made it to the top, our "Mount Fuji" viewing didn't exactly happen. We couldn't see more than 3 feet in front of us. It was really disappointing. We then walked up this volcano that was very sulfuric, so it smelled horrendously bad. I'm glad I did it though. After the volcano, we got these Black Eggs. They are hardboiled eggs that had been put in the sulfur to turn them black. Rumor has it, that eating a black egg will add 7 years on to your life. The mountain was the last stop on the trip from hell, however, hell was not done with us yet. The bus drive home found us sitting in virtually non moving traffic for hours and hours. We were supposed to get back to Tokyo at 6:00...we didn't get back until 11:00pm. It was definitely a rough trip, but needless to say, one I won't be forgetting anytime soon.
Since then, I have gone to Ginza and Ikebukero again. I went to a delicious Malaysian restaurant and back to the Indian restaurant. I have watched lots of movies. I have done other random things, but I can't really remember anything too exciting. This past weekend was pretty low key. Friday Nadra and Sara organized a little dorm party thing. We all invited a guest, So being mine, and had pizza and food in the hallway. There were about 25 people total or so that came. It was nice, but stressful to organize and keep track of everything going on. After the "party," 8 of us went to an Isekya for some drinks. Sara's friends Tomoo and Justin slept over - Justin having to sleep in my room for lack of room in hers. It was a lot of fun. They are nice guys. Saturday and Sunday were mostly spent relaxing and trying to prevent this sickness. However, Sunday evening, Sara and I went to Harajuku for dinner and some slight shopping. I got a new school bag and some necklaces. We ran into Keith and Rian and went into the photobooths again. I love those things. Then I met up with Lucas and did some more shopping, followed by a wonderful walk through Yoyogi park in the rain. It was so peaceful and serene.
Today I skipped my classes because I wasn't feeling well at all. The extra sleep was definitely needed and worth it. Especially because starting Thursday night, my trip to Kyoto, Nara and Osaka begins!!! I planned out the entire trip and everything will be spectacular and inexpensive. Lucas and I are taking an overnight bus on Thursday and arriving in Kyoto early Friday morning (we are both skipping class on Friday, but it's totally ok). We are spending 2 nights in a Kyoto hostel, exploring Kyoto and Nara on Friday and Saturday. Sunday we make our way to Osaka, where we will be staying with my friend Keith's friend, Chisa's uncle. I met Chisa a little bit ago and she is awesome. She got us the hookup with her uncle and we are able to stay in his house for Sunday night. Between Chisa and her uncle, we will be shown around Osaka until Monday night when it's time to take another overnight train home to Tokyo. Since we don't have class Tuesday I will be able to get home early, sleep and do whatever homework. I am extremely excited, especially after the horrific last trips that I have gone on. No waiting for people this time. We make our own plan and time table. It's going to be awesome.
Anyways, that is all for now, I guess. Next update will be after the trip to Kyoto so get excited.
Friday after school So finally took me to the aquarium in Shinagawa like he had promised. It was so great. It was really small, but definitely worth it. There were penguins, fishes, sharks, starfish, crabs, and a Sea Lion show and a Dolphin Show. It was totally great. I love aquariums so much.
The weekend of September 22 and 23 was spent in hell...well basically. There was a school trip to Hakone, a mountain town about 3-4 hours outside of Tokyo. Basically everything that could have gone wrong, did. Although, I must say I did enjoy myself because I have a sense of humor and am able to laugh in all situations. Saturday morning, we were supposed to meet at a train station to load the bus at 8:15. There were 25 students on the trip, and surprisingly, everyone was pretty much on time. However, our bus was not. Supposedly there was an accident on the highway, or something along those lines. Over 2.5 hours later, the bus finally arrived. We were off to a late start, but we thought we would still have time to do everything on the itinerary. Yea...well the bus driver ended up getting lost, in traffic. So we drove around for a while (still in traffic), not knowing where we were going. There was also no bathroom on the bus. Whenever we would take a "5 minute pee stop" they ended up turning into 20 minute stops. Again, just like the last trip, anytime we were told a time to be back, basically add 3o minutes on to that. I do not appreciate lateness.
After we realized that we would not make it to Hakone in time to do what was scheduled that day, we decided to do Sunday's plans on Saturday, and vice versa. After sitting on the bus for what was around 6 hours, we finally made it to Hakone to a Buddhist temple. It was actually pretty cool...despite having to climb over 350 steps to get to the top. It was definitely hard work, but the beautiful mountains and scenery helped some. One would assume (or at least I did) that the top of the climb would be spectacular...well...that wasn't quite the word. Once we made it to the top, all that was up there was a little temple that we couldn't even go into . It was more of a shack. Oh well, it felt good to make it up there. Then we went to this castle...but of course, because we got there so late, the castle was closed. We still had a short amount of time to wander around. There was some festival going on on the grounds of the castle.
We finally made it to the hotel at 7:00 (which was when we were supposed to be at dinner). We checked in and I was in a room with Chloe, Danielle, Amanda and Mia. The room was awesome. It was the typical Japanese style Ryokan, which the short table and the mats on the floor. The view from our "balcony" was beautiful of mountains and trees. We didn't spend much time in the room. We quickly put on our cloth kimono type attire that the hotel provided in the rooms. We went to dinner in the big banquet room. We all had a tiny table and sat on the floor. The tables were set up in a U shape. It was traditional Japanese food...meaning, although I tried a lot of the food, I didn't eat most of the food given to me. I did the best that I could, I swear. Following dinner, everyone started drinking and singing Karaoke. This is when the night got really really fun. By this point, everyone was drunk and singing great songs. A bunch of random, drunk Japanese people came into our room and started singing and dancing with us. It was incredibly. I almost peed myself it was so funny. There was this one old man who would not get off the stage. His wife came up and was trying to drag him off, but he wouldn't leave. Finally they would get him off, but then as soon as the wife turned her back, he would drunkenly stumble back onto the stage. It was great. I got a lot of pictures and video.
After everyone had their share of singing, we made our way to the Onsen, the public bath/hot spring. I was really scared to do this, but luckily all 15 or so of the girls did and and everyone was drunk. I also realized that I wouldn't get this chance very often so I didn't want to regret not doing it. Everyone got naked and then had to take a small shower before getting into the water. The water was so hot and so pure. It was pretty amazing. I am so glad that I let my inhibitions down and did it. After the Onsen, we all drank more and then passed out. Our beds were just mats on the floor. It was actually quite comfortable.
Sunday there was a breakfast buffet. We checked out and made our way back to the castle. It was open this time, but the price of admission, which we thought was included, actually wasn't. We paid to get in, but it wasn't worth it. There were just some random old things from the Edo period of time. However, all of the signs were in Japanese so I couldn't read what they were even if I wanted to. Outside of the castle, they had an Elephant and a cage of monkeys. They were totally adorable, but their conditions were not very good. It made me really sad.
After the castle, we made our way to the Hakone Open Air Museum. It was an amazing art museum scattered throughout the grounds of this park. However, things of course could not be perfect. It started to rain just as we got there. I didn't let the rain bother me though. There were so many beautiful sculptures and there was also a Picasso exhibit. As we were leaving the museum, there was a children's area where they could do crafts...and of course I jumped on the opportunity, painting a picture and making a wire sculpture of myself. After the museum we went to this cable car thing that would take us up a mountain where we could then see Mount Fuji. Well of course, there was rain and fog and lots of clouds. We had to pay our own to take the car up to the top. We couldn't see out of the windows... And once we made it to the top, our "Mount Fuji" viewing didn't exactly happen. We couldn't see more than 3 feet in front of us. It was really disappointing. We then walked up this volcano that was very sulfuric, so it smelled horrendously bad. I'm glad I did it though. After the volcano, we got these Black Eggs. They are hardboiled eggs that had been put in the sulfur to turn them black. Rumor has it, that eating a black egg will add 7 years on to your life. The mountain was the last stop on the trip from hell, however, hell was not done with us yet. The bus drive home found us sitting in virtually non moving traffic for hours and hours. We were supposed to get back to Tokyo at 6:00...we didn't get back until 11:00pm. It was definitely a rough trip, but needless to say, one I won't be forgetting anytime soon.
Since then, I have gone to Ginza and Ikebukero again. I went to a delicious Malaysian restaurant and back to the Indian restaurant. I have watched lots of movies. I have done other random things, but I can't really remember anything too exciting. This past weekend was pretty low key. Friday Nadra and Sara organized a little dorm party thing. We all invited a guest, So being mine, and had pizza and food in the hallway. There were about 25 people total or so that came. It was nice, but stressful to organize and keep track of everything going on. After the "party," 8 of us went to an Isekya for some drinks. Sara's friends Tomoo and Justin slept over - Justin having to sleep in my room for lack of room in hers. It was a lot of fun. They are nice guys. Saturday and Sunday were mostly spent relaxing and trying to prevent this sickness. However, Sunday evening, Sara and I went to Harajuku for dinner and some slight shopping. I got a new school bag and some necklaces. We ran into Keith and Rian and went into the photobooths again. I love those things. Then I met up with Lucas and did some more shopping, followed by a wonderful walk through Yoyogi park in the rain. It was so peaceful and serene.
Today I skipped my classes because I wasn't feeling well at all. The extra sleep was definitely needed and worth it. Especially because starting Thursday night, my trip to Kyoto, Nara and Osaka begins!!! I planned out the entire trip and everything will be spectacular and inexpensive. Lucas and I are taking an overnight bus on Thursday and arriving in Kyoto early Friday morning (we are both skipping class on Friday, but it's totally ok). We are spending 2 nights in a Kyoto hostel, exploring Kyoto and Nara on Friday and Saturday. Sunday we make our way to Osaka, where we will be staying with my friend Keith's friend, Chisa's uncle. I met Chisa a little bit ago and she is awesome. She got us the hookup with her uncle and we are able to stay in his house for Sunday night. Between Chisa and her uncle, we will be shown around Osaka until Monday night when it's time to take another overnight train home to Tokyo. Since we don't have class Tuesday I will be able to get home early, sleep and do whatever homework. I am extremely excited, especially after the horrific last trips that I have gone on. No waiting for people this time. We make our own plan and time table. It's going to be awesome.
Anyways, that is all for now, I guess. Next update will be after the trip to Kyoto so get excited.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Sun in an empty room
It's been a while, I know. Much has been happening and I haven't had much time or motivation to update. Let me try to recall what all has been happening....
I left off on Wednesday. If I remember correctly, I don't think I did anything on Thursday, however, I could be wrong...maybe it will come to me. Friday night my friend Keith and I went to Shibuya and found an awesome Punk Rock Bar called Garage Land. They had lots of free posters which I of course took to decorate my room. We hung out there and talked for a while. We wandered around the city for a while and then saw a sign for some random place that had cheese fondue. This was around 11:00 as we were heading back to the train. Well needless to say, our interests had been peaked and our stomaches decided that we had to find out what the fondue was all about. We went up to like the 7th floor of some random Sega building and ended up at an Isakya (sp?) which is a place that serves drinks and food. The place was super fancy and awesome. We didn't have very much time at all if we wanted to catch the last train so I had to try and tell the waiter that we had to hurry....it took a little bit but he finally understood what I was talking about. Needless to say, we got the cheese fondue and it was spectacular. We also got this delicious meat dish that we split. I hadn't really had any cheese or meat since I had been here so it was a great treat. They also served us an appetizer that was around $5. I told them I didn't want it, but they said it was required of everyone. It was some caviar and fish gelatin dish. I tried it and almost threw up. It was gross...but oh well, the meal was definitely worth it. And we luckily made it back to the train in time.
Saturday I went with Jon to Ikebukero. It was a pretty awesome place. They had fun shops and I ended up getting a really cute purse for less than $10. For lunch we went to a place that had Okonomiyaki, which is like an omelette/pancake thing. They give you a bowl with all of the ingredients, you mash it all up and then cook it at the table. It was so delicious. The food in this country is just so great. That night Jon and I, along with Becca, Daz and Dave walked to the next town over and ended up finding a Moz Burger which has delicious hamburgers. It was a semi-chill night with some random drinking.
Sunday I went on a school trip to Kamakura, which is about an hour and twenty minutes from Tokyo. It's a pretty big tourist area with a beach. I dragged my friend Kyle along with me. Neither of us really had any money and none of the ATM machines would accept our card. We finally found a post office that was open which is very rare for a Sunday, but thankfully it worked and we had some money. We wandered around the town for a while and then headed to this big shrine where there was a festival with Samurais on horseback doing archery. Unfortunately, it was so incredibly crowded that we could barely see anything. Instead we went and sat by the gorgeous pond with tons of huge Coy Fish. Keith decided to come and meet us. The entire day was pretty stressful and confusing because so much time was wasted sitting around waiting for the rest of the groups. Kyle decided to head to the beach while Keith and I continued on with the tour. We took a bus to the Giant Daibutsu Buddha. Oh my god, it was incredible. It was humongous and spectacular and breathtaking. For the past year or two, in my wallet I have been carrying around a little coin with the Giant Buddha on it for good luck. It was amazing being able to see it in person. Truly amazing. We then went to another temple with even more huge Buddhas cast in gold and silver and beauty. The temple overlooked the water and it was beautiful. After the temples, we left the group and headed back to the main part of Kamakura to meet up with Kyle on the beach. Unfortunately I had just missed sunset, but oh well. The beach was filthy, but it was partly due to the Typhoon that had just happened. Luckily (sort of) it was dark so I didn't have to see what all I was stepping in. The beach was magical. I was there with two of my close friends in Japan, standing in the Pacific Ocean in Japan. I started crying because I am a loser. We laid in the sand for a while stargazing. It was a great moment for me. After we were too covered in sand, we decided we had enough and went to 7-11 to buy a bottle of wine to drink while we were finding a place for dinner. We ended up at a sushi conveyor belt place. Despite the frustration earlier in the day, it ended up being a nice trip.
Monday we had the day off from school, thankfully, due to National Respect for the Elders day...or something along those lines. I spent the day relaxing and then went out to dinner with Jon, Lucas, Becca, Paul, April and her friend. We went to the most incredible place called Alice in Ginza. It is an Alice In Wonderland themed restaurant. Oh my goodness, it was great. The waitresses were all dressed in the Alice costume with thigh-high tights. The food was all based off of characters and symbols from the book, such as a sushi roll shaped as a caterpillar, a french-toast like dessert shaped as a card house, a pizza that looked like a Heart Card, a dessert tart like a bunny, etc. Not only did everything look amazing, but it tasted spectacular, as well. The decor was all Alice, of course. The food wasn't too expensive either. There are a ton of theme restaurants around Tokyo and I want to go to all of them. I love those kind of places.
Tuesday was back to school and since then I have just been hanging around. I have had a lot of tests/quizzes and so far I am doing quite well, despite the fact that I have had no motivation or study habits. Japan is not conducive to my scholastics. I spend all of my time socializing and I have no regret for that.
I have another busy, exciting 3 day weekend coming up. I am also planning a trip to Kyoto, Nara and Osaka for the first weekend in October since we have a 4 day weekend. I have taken it on myself to plan the entire thing for as cheap as possible. I have planned out where to say, how to get there, where to go and how much everything costs. I typed up a whole itinerary and according to my calculations, the entire trip (except food) will be less than $175. That is an amazing price. I still have no idea who exactly is coming with me, but regardless, I will be going. Keith has a friend that lives in Osaka so she will hopefully be able to show us around that day. I will post the itinerary later on.
Anyways, my fingers are now tired and I have to load more hundreds of pictures. That is all.
I left off on Wednesday. If I remember correctly, I don't think I did anything on Thursday, however, I could be wrong...maybe it will come to me. Friday night my friend Keith and I went to Shibuya and found an awesome Punk Rock Bar called Garage Land. They had lots of free posters which I of course took to decorate my room. We hung out there and talked for a while. We wandered around the city for a while and then saw a sign for some random place that had cheese fondue. This was around 11:00 as we were heading back to the train. Well needless to say, our interests had been peaked and our stomaches decided that we had to find out what the fondue was all about. We went up to like the 7th floor of some random Sega building and ended up at an Isakya (sp?) which is a place that serves drinks and food. The place was super fancy and awesome. We didn't have very much time at all if we wanted to catch the last train so I had to try and tell the waiter that we had to hurry....it took a little bit but he finally understood what I was talking about. Needless to say, we got the cheese fondue and it was spectacular. We also got this delicious meat dish that we split. I hadn't really had any cheese or meat since I had been here so it was a great treat. They also served us an appetizer that was around $5. I told them I didn't want it, but they said it was required of everyone. It was some caviar and fish gelatin dish. I tried it and almost threw up. It was gross...but oh well, the meal was definitely worth it. And we luckily made it back to the train in time.
Saturday I went with Jon to Ikebukero. It was a pretty awesome place. They had fun shops and I ended up getting a really cute purse for less than $10. For lunch we went to a place that had Okonomiyaki, which is like an omelette/pancake thing. They give you a bowl with all of the ingredients, you mash it all up and then cook it at the table. It was so delicious. The food in this country is just so great. That night Jon and I, along with Becca, Daz and Dave walked to the next town over and ended up finding a Moz Burger which has delicious hamburgers. It was a semi-chill night with some random drinking.
Sunday I went on a school trip to Kamakura, which is about an hour and twenty minutes from Tokyo. It's a pretty big tourist area with a beach. I dragged my friend Kyle along with me. Neither of us really had any money and none of the ATM machines would accept our card. We finally found a post office that was open which is very rare for a Sunday, but thankfully it worked and we had some money. We wandered around the town for a while and then headed to this big shrine where there was a festival with Samurais on horseback doing archery. Unfortunately, it was so incredibly crowded that we could barely see anything. Instead we went and sat by the gorgeous pond with tons of huge Coy Fish. Keith decided to come and meet us. The entire day was pretty stressful and confusing because so much time was wasted sitting around waiting for the rest of the groups. Kyle decided to head to the beach while Keith and I continued on with the tour. We took a bus to the Giant Daibutsu Buddha. Oh my god, it was incredible. It was humongous and spectacular and breathtaking. For the past year or two, in my wallet I have been carrying around a little coin with the Giant Buddha on it for good luck. It was amazing being able to see it in person. Truly amazing. We then went to another temple with even more huge Buddhas cast in gold and silver and beauty. The temple overlooked the water and it was beautiful. After the temples, we left the group and headed back to the main part of Kamakura to meet up with Kyle on the beach. Unfortunately I had just missed sunset, but oh well. The beach was filthy, but it was partly due to the Typhoon that had just happened. Luckily (sort of) it was dark so I didn't have to see what all I was stepping in. The beach was magical. I was there with two of my close friends in Japan, standing in the Pacific Ocean in Japan. I started crying because I am a loser. We laid in the sand for a while stargazing. It was a great moment for me. After we were too covered in sand, we decided we had enough and went to 7-11 to buy a bottle of wine to drink while we were finding a place for dinner. We ended up at a sushi conveyor belt place. Despite the frustration earlier in the day, it ended up being a nice trip.
Monday we had the day off from school, thankfully, due to National Respect for the Elders day...or something along those lines. I spent the day relaxing and then went out to dinner with Jon, Lucas, Becca, Paul, April and her friend. We went to the most incredible place called Alice in Ginza. It is an Alice In Wonderland themed restaurant. Oh my goodness, it was great. The waitresses were all dressed in the Alice costume with thigh-high tights. The food was all based off of characters and symbols from the book, such as a sushi roll shaped as a caterpillar, a french-toast like dessert shaped as a card house, a pizza that looked like a Heart Card, a dessert tart like a bunny, etc. Not only did everything look amazing, but it tasted spectacular, as well. The decor was all Alice, of course. The food wasn't too expensive either. There are a ton of theme restaurants around Tokyo and I want to go to all of them. I love those kind of places.
Tuesday was back to school and since then I have just been hanging around. I have had a lot of tests/quizzes and so far I am doing quite well, despite the fact that I have had no motivation or study habits. Japan is not conducive to my scholastics. I spend all of my time socializing and I have no regret for that.
I have another busy, exciting 3 day weekend coming up. I am also planning a trip to Kyoto, Nara and Osaka for the first weekend in October since we have a 4 day weekend. I have taken it on myself to plan the entire thing for as cheap as possible. I have planned out where to say, how to get there, where to go and how much everything costs. I typed up a whole itinerary and according to my calculations, the entire trip (except food) will be less than $175. That is an amazing price. I still have no idea who exactly is coming with me, but regardless, I will be going. Keith has a friend that lives in Osaka so she will hopefully be able to show us around that day. I will post the itinerary later on.
Anyways, my fingers are now tired and I have to load more hundreds of pictures. That is all.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
What a wonderful world
Things have been crazy around here, hence the lack of updates. I haven't even had time to update lately...but that is a good thing.
The rest of last week was spent staying up late and socializing. I made mashed potatoes which were delicious. I'm slowly learning to cook more interesting things (although I wouldn't say mashed potatoes are interesting, we don't eat them here.) I am still getting eaten alive by mosquitoes which is making my life slightly miserable.
Thursday night excitement arose due to the looming Typhoon no. 9. We were hoping for a day off from school on Friday. The wind was definitely blowing and there was a fair amount of rain, but alas, the my first typhoon was a let down.
Friday after classes, I hung around campus for a few hours waiting for a pizza party/social/mixer. It was great fun just relaxing on the couches and making new friends. Most of my friends from the dorm were there, along with So and some of his friends. We decided to go out after the pizza. My friend Sara and I , as well as So, and his friends Tomo and Zach, went to Shibuya for dinner. We ate at an awesome place where we had to sit on the floor. It was a tight squeeze, but totally worth it. I broadened my horizons by trying raw octopus and fried tofu. I would never eat either of them again, but at least I tried it. After dinner, we went to Karaoke for an hour (we wanted to catch the last train). Oh man, it was everything I was hoping for and more. We had our own room with free sodas and tambourines. I sang a few songs, of course, and danced a lot on the couches. So and Tomo sang a few songs in Japanese which was really cool. We had a few nice group sing-a-longs to Andrew WK "Party hard" and Goldfinger "99 Red Balloons." The night ended by us singing "A Whole New World" from Aladin.
After Karaoke, I came back to the dorm and found myself spending hours and hours gossiping and spending time with the great people who live here. The dorm here is really great, for the most part. It's so crazy because it's not just freshman or things like that. The age range of students living in the same building is from something like 18-36. There is definitely an obvious age difference between some of the kids. It's also awesome because there are so many international people living here. One of my best friends, Nadra, is Indian, but lives in Singapore. This one kid is Chinese but lives in England so he has an extreme British accent. There are people from Taiwan, China, Russia, Korea, Spain, Nigeria, as well as all over the US. It's fun to learn all about them, as well as try their food that they cook.
Speaking of International things, Saturday I went to a Brazilan festival in Harajuku. I went with a few people, but it mainly ended up being me, my friend Sarah, this guy Colby, and my Japanese friend Yurie. The festival was awesome. I was given a yellow ribbon bracelet thing that was tied 3 times, for three wishes. I have to wait for the ribbon to fall off naturally...I'm not allowed to cut it off. The food was really good...or at least the free samples that I tried. There were Brazilian bands, as well as Brazilian dancers, who were basically naked. There were Sumo wrestlers and lots of cute little kids.
After the festival, we walked around Yoyogi Park and saw lots of interesting things, such as people performing a play, people creating large paintings, meditation, dancing, yoga, and people learning how to become bartenders. We also went back to Menji Shrine where there happened to be a few traditional Japanese weddings going on. The brides were absolutely gorgeous in their kimonos. We then went to dinner in Harajuku. It was delicious, as usual. Following dinner, we went into this big "picture booth" type stores. The entire store was just photobooths that you can then draw all over and make stickers. It was so much fun and they make great keepsakes. I finally got to try the Harajuku crepes that are all over. Banana, caramel and whipped cream. AMAZING. I am planning on definitely having more of them.
Sunday was spent doing homework and relaxing. Monday after school, So came back to Ontakesan. We went grocery shopping and bought all of the ingredients for a wonderful spaghetti dinner. He cooked the dinner and I just tried to help out how I could. We hung out for a while, listened to music, and then watched a crazy Japanese movie, "The Suicide Club" with some other people from the dorm. It was a lot of fun. I am hoping that he comes over again sometime soon.
Tuesday my friend Kyle and I went to Shibuya after class. We found a great sushi place where the sushi is on a conveyor belt. I tried the cucumber rolls, the shrimp sushi, and egg sushi. It was delicious. We were then caught in the rain so we decided to go shopping. I got a cute necklace. Once the rain stopped, we went to another one of those photobooth places, where we did it twice. It was so much fun. Our pictures were great. Today after class, Nadra, Sara and I went to an Indian restaurant. I was nervous because I don't really like spicy food, but it was delicious. I am still full.
Things are really going great. I am truly in love with this place and the people that I have been getting to know. That's enough for now. I need to go attempt to study.
The rest of last week was spent staying up late and socializing. I made mashed potatoes which were delicious. I'm slowly learning to cook more interesting things (although I wouldn't say mashed potatoes are interesting, we don't eat them here.) I am still getting eaten alive by mosquitoes which is making my life slightly miserable.
Thursday night excitement arose due to the looming Typhoon no. 9. We were hoping for a day off from school on Friday. The wind was definitely blowing and there was a fair amount of rain, but alas, the my first typhoon was a let down.
Friday after classes, I hung around campus for a few hours waiting for a pizza party/social/mixer. It was great fun just relaxing on the couches and making new friends. Most of my friends from the dorm were there, along with So and some of his friends. We decided to go out after the pizza. My friend Sara and I , as well as So, and his friends Tomo and Zach, went to Shibuya for dinner. We ate at an awesome place where we had to sit on the floor. It was a tight squeeze, but totally worth it. I broadened my horizons by trying raw octopus and fried tofu. I would never eat either of them again, but at least I tried it. After dinner, we went to Karaoke for an hour (we wanted to catch the last train). Oh man, it was everything I was hoping for and more. We had our own room with free sodas and tambourines. I sang a few songs, of course, and danced a lot on the couches. So and Tomo sang a few songs in Japanese which was really cool. We had a few nice group sing-a-longs to Andrew WK "Party hard" and Goldfinger "99 Red Balloons." The night ended by us singing "A Whole New World" from Aladin.
After Karaoke, I came back to the dorm and found myself spending hours and hours gossiping and spending time with the great people who live here. The dorm here is really great, for the most part. It's so crazy because it's not just freshman or things like that. The age range of students living in the same building is from something like 18-36. There is definitely an obvious age difference between some of the kids. It's also awesome because there are so many international people living here. One of my best friends, Nadra, is Indian, but lives in Singapore. This one kid is Chinese but lives in England so he has an extreme British accent. There are people from Taiwan, China, Russia, Korea, Spain, Nigeria, as well as all over the US. It's fun to learn all about them, as well as try their food that they cook.
Speaking of International things, Saturday I went to a Brazilan festival in Harajuku. I went with a few people, but it mainly ended up being me, my friend Sarah, this guy Colby, and my Japanese friend Yurie. The festival was awesome. I was given a yellow ribbon bracelet thing that was tied 3 times, for three wishes. I have to wait for the ribbon to fall off naturally...I'm not allowed to cut it off. The food was really good...or at least the free samples that I tried. There were Brazilian bands, as well as Brazilian dancers, who were basically naked. There were Sumo wrestlers and lots of cute little kids.
After the festival, we walked around Yoyogi Park and saw lots of interesting things, such as people performing a play, people creating large paintings, meditation, dancing, yoga, and people learning how to become bartenders. We also went back to Menji Shrine where there happened to be a few traditional Japanese weddings going on. The brides were absolutely gorgeous in their kimonos. We then went to dinner in Harajuku. It was delicious, as usual. Following dinner, we went into this big "picture booth" type stores. The entire store was just photobooths that you can then draw all over and make stickers. It was so much fun and they make great keepsakes. I finally got to try the Harajuku crepes that are all over. Banana, caramel and whipped cream. AMAZING. I am planning on definitely having more of them.
Sunday was spent doing homework and relaxing. Monday after school, So came back to Ontakesan. We went grocery shopping and bought all of the ingredients for a wonderful spaghetti dinner. He cooked the dinner and I just tried to help out how I could. We hung out for a while, listened to music, and then watched a crazy Japanese movie, "The Suicide Club" with some other people from the dorm. It was a lot of fun. I am hoping that he comes over again sometime soon.
Tuesday my friend Kyle and I went to Shibuya after class. We found a great sushi place where the sushi is on a conveyor belt. I tried the cucumber rolls, the shrimp sushi, and egg sushi. It was delicious. We were then caught in the rain so we decided to go shopping. I got a cute necklace. Once the rain stopped, we went to another one of those photobooth places, where we did it twice. It was so much fun. Our pictures were great. Today after class, Nadra, Sara and I went to an Indian restaurant. I was nervous because I don't really like spicy food, but it was delicious. I am still full.
Things are really going great. I am truly in love with this place and the people that I have been getting to know. That's enough for now. I need to go attempt to study.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Chopsticks
I can now use chopsticks proficiently. I feel like I'm officially part of Japan because of it. It has been quite the busy past few days. Although I'd have to say I'm definitely enjoying it. The first week of school was very long and tiring. It was had adjusting to commuting to school every day. It has been getting slightly easier, however.
Friday night, after lots of waiting around, a group of 10 of us went out to a club in Shibuya. It was decent. I was the only sober one, but that's how it always works out. I don't mind. If I have to be the person to know how to get home, so be it. The club was 3 floors : one hip-hop and R&B, one trance, and one funkadelic. It was extremely crowded and expensive. I had a good time but probably wouldn't do it again anytime soon. The trains in Tokyo stop running around midnight and then start again at 4:30. Therefore, the clubs stay open until 4:00...and we stayed the entire time. It was exhausting. We didn't get home until 6:00 after a McDonalds stop.
Saturday day was nice and relaxing; trying to recover from the night before. Then my friend Kyle and this other guy Kevin and myself went to Shinjuku. I had never been there before. It's another really large town in Tokyo. It reminds me of a more-spread out Shibuya, but just as bright and exciting, if not moreso. We wandered around for a while before deciding to eat dinner in an alley. This alley was extremely tiny and rundown but was completely filled with little restaurants. The restaurant only sat around 10 people at the counter with a grill on top. The food was all on skewers and barbecued. I ordered some Sake as well. The food was quite delicious, despite not exactly knowing what I was eating. We struck up a nice conversation with two Japanese men who at one point did a cross country road trip across America.
After dinner we decided to venture from Shinjuku to Shibuya by foot. We knew it would be a simple walk, considering there are only 3 trainstops between the two on the same line. We kept asking for directions to ensure we were heading in the right direction. Each time, the person would say something to the effect about how there was a train right there. Once we said that we knew that but wanted to walk, they would go "oh! that's far!" However, the walk only took around 45 minutes. It was refreshing. We walked through areas that we would have otherwise never found. I found a breathtaking Japanese Garden near Harajuku. Despite the enormously large spiders and their webs, which I tried my hardest to ignore, it was beautiful. The garden had at least 10 cats that were fed by cat food on top of a brick wall. There were ponds with huge fish. I can't wait to go back during the day sometime. We finally made it to Shibuya and wandered around for a little before making sure we caught the last train, as to not be stranded until 4:30 am.
Sunday was yet another adventure. I took the train back to Shinjuku where I met up with my friend So, the Japanese guy from school. We walked around Shinjuku a little and then took the train to his town, Koenji. I love his town. It is full of punk and vintage shops, as well as other really cute areas. There is a Sex Pistols themed hair cuttery where I must go at some point to get my Japanese haircut. He took me to dinner at a restaurant similar in style to where I ate the night before, just on a bigger scaled. We sat there for a while eating and talking. He is a great guy. I enjoy his company a lot. We then went and I bought a charm for my cell phone. Every single Japanese person has at least one charm thing that hangs from their phone. I don't understand it, but now I can feel like I belong in Japan. The charm I got is a pair of tiny white handcuffs. It is awesome.
We then to a train to a town a few stops away from Koenji (I can't remember the name of the town) to go to the Turning, a concert venue. So's friend's band, The King Busters were playing a show so we we went to check it out. The venue was really small and there were only 5 bands, yet the show cost 2000 yen, which is around $20. More then I would spend for a lot of shows in the US, but supposedly all shows cost more here.
Needless to say, the show was worth it. Each band was completely different; all different genres. The first band I didn't care for at all, the second was just a girl singing accompanied by an acoustic guitar. She was pretty good actually. The third band was called the Rusty Knackle Heads. They sang in English and covered the song "Proud Mary." However, since they are Japanese, the pronounced "rolling on the river," "lolling on tze liver." It was hysterical. I have video of it that I loaded onto youtube, (I'll give the link at the end). The crowd was very diverse, but my favorite was this older women, probably in her 40s, completely rocking out to all of the bands. She was dancing the entire time. It was amazing. I have some video of her dancing, as well.
The next band was The King Busters, the band we went to see. They sang in Japanese and sounded like the Ramones. They were so good. So went crazy dancing. It was a great time watching them. The last band was the Junglin Junks who sang partially in Japanese, partially in English. They were great, too. All of the bands had so much energy and kept the crowd, although small, on their feet. After the show, So took the train with me part of the way and I found my way home. It was quite a simple trip home. The night was great and I definitely want to hang out with him a lot more.
Monday was fairly uneventful. Tuesday, before class, I got an iced coffee. Between not drinking any caffeine for at least a month and the coffee being unusually strong, I was wired the entire day. Of course my two classes were boring lectures so I could not concentrate. I couldn't sit still and was sweating. In my World Music class, I ended up making friends with the Japanese guy sitting next to me since we were both bored so we passed notes all class. After school I came back and made some French Toast. Kyle and I ate our lunch then decided to watch "Clue", in the social lounge, while picking up a few other viewers. He the helped me study for my first Japanese quiz (which I think I aced). Kyle is awesome. Love that kid. We studied for a couple hours and then hung out in the social lunge with other random people until 1:00 am.
I'm definitely making more friends, both in the dorms and at school. It's making me feel like this is home. I don't know how I'm expected to leave completely in 3 months. I can't dwell on that now. I must enjoy the time I have here. Each day is such a learning experience.
With that said, I'm going to go in the social lounge and attempt to read for my anthropology class.
My youtube link to my videos is:
http://youtube.com/user/frenzyfromwithin
Friday night, after lots of waiting around, a group of 10 of us went out to a club in Shibuya. It was decent. I was the only sober one, but that's how it always works out. I don't mind. If I have to be the person to know how to get home, so be it. The club was 3 floors : one hip-hop and R&B, one trance, and one funkadelic. It was extremely crowded and expensive. I had a good time but probably wouldn't do it again anytime soon. The trains in Tokyo stop running around midnight and then start again at 4:30. Therefore, the clubs stay open until 4:00...and we stayed the entire time. It was exhausting. We didn't get home until 6:00 after a McDonalds stop.
Saturday day was nice and relaxing; trying to recover from the night before. Then my friend Kyle and this other guy Kevin and myself went to Shinjuku. I had never been there before. It's another really large town in Tokyo. It reminds me of a more-spread out Shibuya, but just as bright and exciting, if not moreso. We wandered around for a while before deciding to eat dinner in an alley. This alley was extremely tiny and rundown but was completely filled with little restaurants. The restaurant only sat around 10 people at the counter with a grill on top. The food was all on skewers and barbecued. I ordered some Sake as well. The food was quite delicious, despite not exactly knowing what I was eating. We struck up a nice conversation with two Japanese men who at one point did a cross country road trip across America.
After dinner we decided to venture from Shinjuku to Shibuya by foot. We knew it would be a simple walk, considering there are only 3 trainstops between the two on the same line. We kept asking for directions to ensure we were heading in the right direction. Each time, the person would say something to the effect about how there was a train right there. Once we said that we knew that but wanted to walk, they would go "oh! that's far!" However, the walk only took around 45 minutes. It was refreshing. We walked through areas that we would have otherwise never found. I found a breathtaking Japanese Garden near Harajuku. Despite the enormously large spiders and their webs, which I tried my hardest to ignore, it was beautiful. The garden had at least 10 cats that were fed by cat food on top of a brick wall. There were ponds with huge fish. I can't wait to go back during the day sometime. We finally made it to Shibuya and wandered around for a little before making sure we caught the last train, as to not be stranded until 4:30 am.
Sunday was yet another adventure. I took the train back to Shinjuku where I met up with my friend So, the Japanese guy from school. We walked around Shinjuku a little and then took the train to his town, Koenji. I love his town. It is full of punk and vintage shops, as well as other really cute areas. There is a Sex Pistols themed hair cuttery where I must go at some point to get my Japanese haircut. He took me to dinner at a restaurant similar in style to where I ate the night before, just on a bigger scaled. We sat there for a while eating and talking. He is a great guy. I enjoy his company a lot. We then went and I bought a charm for my cell phone. Every single Japanese person has at least one charm thing that hangs from their phone. I don't understand it, but now I can feel like I belong in Japan. The charm I got is a pair of tiny white handcuffs. It is awesome.
We then to a train to a town a few stops away from Koenji (I can't remember the name of the town) to go to the Turning, a concert venue. So's friend's band, The King Busters were playing a show so we we went to check it out. The venue was really small and there were only 5 bands, yet the show cost 2000 yen, which is around $20. More then I would spend for a lot of shows in the US, but supposedly all shows cost more here.
Needless to say, the show was worth it. Each band was completely different; all different genres. The first band I didn't care for at all, the second was just a girl singing accompanied by an acoustic guitar. She was pretty good actually. The third band was called the Rusty Knackle Heads. They sang in English and covered the song "Proud Mary." However, since they are Japanese, the pronounced "rolling on the river," "lolling on tze liver." It was hysterical. I have video of it that I loaded onto youtube, (I'll give the link at the end). The crowd was very diverse, but my favorite was this older women, probably in her 40s, completely rocking out to all of the bands. She was dancing the entire time. It was amazing. I have some video of her dancing, as well.
The next band was The King Busters, the band we went to see. They sang in Japanese and sounded like the Ramones. They were so good. So went crazy dancing. It was a great time watching them. The last band was the Junglin Junks who sang partially in Japanese, partially in English. They were great, too. All of the bands had so much energy and kept the crowd, although small, on their feet. After the show, So took the train with me part of the way and I found my way home. It was quite a simple trip home. The night was great and I definitely want to hang out with him a lot more.
Monday was fairly uneventful. Tuesday, before class, I got an iced coffee. Between not drinking any caffeine for at least a month and the coffee being unusually strong, I was wired the entire day. Of course my two classes were boring lectures so I could not concentrate. I couldn't sit still and was sweating. In my World Music class, I ended up making friends with the Japanese guy sitting next to me since we were both bored so we passed notes all class. After school I came back and made some French Toast. Kyle and I ate our lunch then decided to watch "Clue", in the social lounge, while picking up a few other viewers. He the helped me study for my first Japanese quiz (which I think I aced). Kyle is awesome. Love that kid. We studied for a couple hours and then hung out in the social lunge with other random people until 1:00 am.
I'm definitely making more friends, both in the dorms and at school. It's making me feel like this is home. I don't know how I'm expected to leave completely in 3 months. I can't dwell on that now. I must enjoy the time I have here. Each day is such a learning experience.
With that said, I'm going to go in the social lounge and attempt to read for my anthropology class.
My youtube link to my videos is:
http://youtube.com/user/frenzyfromwithin
Monday, September 3, 2007
Pictures galore
I put all of my pictures up in a photo album:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v319/MelanieB/Japan/
There are multiple pages, so make sure you look at them all.
Also, my address in case you feel like sending letters or packages (all are welcome) is:
Room 203
12-27 Higashiminemachi Ota-ku, Tokyo Japan 145-0074
I got a cell phone and my number is:
080-3517-6889
Expect a long entry within the next day or two.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v319/MelanieB/Japan/
There are multiple pages, so make sure you look at them all.
Also, my address in case you feel like sending letters or packages (all are welcome) is:
Room 203
12-27 Higashiminemachi Ota-ku, Tokyo Japan 145-0074
I got a cell phone and my number is:
080-3517-6889
Expect a long entry within the next day or two.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Sardines
I am completely in love with this country, I have decided. It's not just because of all of the things to do or places to go. It is the simple things that I have grown to notice. It is the tiny little dogs everywhere. It is the small children sitting in the basket on their dad's bike. It is how, when there are over 100 people shoved into a tiny subway car, it is completely silent. It is walking to class and being the only American in sight. It is the thousands of men in their black pants and white shirts going to work.
As horrible as people make rush hour on the trains out to be, it is becoming one of my favorite parts of the day, despite the fact that I have no room to move. It is incredible how many people can fit into a train car. It fascinates me how, even though people's faces are literally smashed against the car door, they are still going to do it everyday to get to where they need to go. I love to make up stories about each person's life...wondering where they are going and who they are going to see. The train cars are completely silent. With your eyes closed, there is no way that you could predict the sheer volume of people jammed around you. Everyone is on their cell phone, but no one talks. Because of the amount of people that would be wanting to use their cell phone, the car and the phones would become like a microwave. I like to smile and wave at the little children.
I ventured to Kamata by myself today to get my alien registration card and my national health insurance card. I am feeling as though I am official now.
Tuesday night, the boys and I went to a local bar for Brian's 21st birthday. I had some amazing sake. It was delicious. I attempted to play darts and failed miserably.
I made friends with a Japanese guy from TUJ, named So, who is going to take me to some local punk shows. I am so excited for that. I think Saturday Yurie is taking a few of us to the beach. I want to experience as much as I can.
I am ready for the weather to cool down now.
As horrible as people make rush hour on the trains out to be, it is becoming one of my favorite parts of the day, despite the fact that I have no room to move. It is incredible how many people can fit into a train car. It fascinates me how, even though people's faces are literally smashed against the car door, they are still going to do it everyday to get to where they need to go. I love to make up stories about each person's life...wondering where they are going and who they are going to see. The train cars are completely silent. With your eyes closed, there is no way that you could predict the sheer volume of people jammed around you. Everyone is on their cell phone, but no one talks. Because of the amount of people that would be wanting to use their cell phone, the car and the phones would become like a microwave. I like to smile and wave at the little children.
I ventured to Kamata by myself today to get my alien registration card and my national health insurance card. I am feeling as though I am official now.
Tuesday night, the boys and I went to a local bar for Brian's 21st birthday. I had some amazing sake. It was delicious. I attempted to play darts and failed miserably.
I made friends with a Japanese guy from TUJ, named So, who is going to take me to some local punk shows. I am so excited for that. I think Saturday Yurie is taking a few of us to the beach. I want to experience as much as I can.
I am ready for the weather to cool down now.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Hajimemashite
How do you do?
Things here are going great. Very, very, very hot and humid. It is making things slightly unbearable. By the time I commute to class, my shirt is soaked with sweat. I finally cool off and then have to do it all over again to get home.
Anyways, Sunday a few of us headed back to Shibuya. Some people got cell phones, but I'm holding off on that for a little bit. We ventured into the crazy arcades and pachinko parlors. Pachinko is insane. I'm still trying to figure out how it works, but the sheer volume in the place is almost deafening. I am becoming more familiar with Shibuya and how to navigate around. I am quickly catching on to the public transportation system.
Classes started on Monday. I have a social psychology class that has 7 students in it, including my friend and I. It should be pretty easy and interesting. I'm looking forward to it. My Japanese class is going to be insane. I have a lot of friends in that class. The teacher is out of her mind. I'm excited to finally learn how to read some Japanese. My Japanese culture class could be interesting, but it seems pretty boring/hard to stay awake. My last class is intro to world music. That is the only class that I don't have any friends in. I'm also one of the only Americans in that class so I'm interested to see how that turns out. Unfortunately, I ended up spending around $230 on books, but I guess you have to do what you have to do. I bought a commuter pass that I can use to get to school and back. It was around $150 for 3 months. I don't only have to use it going to school. I can luckily use it to get to the major station, and then pay the transfer fee to go elsewhere.
I signed up for some excursions today through school. I'm going to go to Hakone, which is right near Mount Fuji. We'll be spending one night in a traditional japanese-style ryokan. It cost about $200 but all of the meals and transportation is included. I also signed up to go to Kamakura, which used to be the capital of Japan. It is also where the Amida Buddha is located. I'm also going to go to Yokohama, which is Japan's largest Chinatown. Both Yokohama and Kamakura were free to sign up for, but I'm assuming we'll have to pay for expenses there.
So far Japan has been quite expensive, but I guess that was just getting all of the essentials out of the way. I had to budget money for the commuter pass, books and the excursions, so those are all taken care of. The only other big purchase that I plan on making is a cell phone of some sort. Feel free to send me money :o)
I am completely enjoying myself. I have made friends with a Japanese student at TUJ named Yurie. Last night she came back to the dorm and helped me fry dumplings. She seems like she'll be a great resource. I'm making good friends with people in the dorm, as well. I am learning new things everyday, which is so fun. I trying to learn as much Japanese as possible. I'm sure once classes get more in depth, I'll feel even more comfortable.
I haven't gone out too much. I'm trying to take things easy, realizing that I'll be here for 4 months and don't want to over exert myself too soon. I'm hoping to go out to karaoke tonight for my friend Brian's 21st birthday...even though the drinking age is only 20 here.
We will see...
Things here are going great. Very, very, very hot and humid. It is making things slightly unbearable. By the time I commute to class, my shirt is soaked with sweat. I finally cool off and then have to do it all over again to get home.
Anyways, Sunday a few of us headed back to Shibuya. Some people got cell phones, but I'm holding off on that for a little bit. We ventured into the crazy arcades and pachinko parlors. Pachinko is insane. I'm still trying to figure out how it works, but the sheer volume in the place is almost deafening. I am becoming more familiar with Shibuya and how to navigate around. I am quickly catching on to the public transportation system.
Classes started on Monday. I have a social psychology class that has 7 students in it, including my friend and I. It should be pretty easy and interesting. I'm looking forward to it. My Japanese class is going to be insane. I have a lot of friends in that class. The teacher is out of her mind. I'm excited to finally learn how to read some Japanese. My Japanese culture class could be interesting, but it seems pretty boring/hard to stay awake. My last class is intro to world music. That is the only class that I don't have any friends in. I'm also one of the only Americans in that class so I'm interested to see how that turns out. Unfortunately, I ended up spending around $230 on books, but I guess you have to do what you have to do. I bought a commuter pass that I can use to get to school and back. It was around $150 for 3 months. I don't only have to use it going to school. I can luckily use it to get to the major station, and then pay the transfer fee to go elsewhere.
I signed up for some excursions today through school. I'm going to go to Hakone, which is right near Mount Fuji. We'll be spending one night in a traditional japanese-style ryokan. It cost about $200 but all of the meals and transportation is included. I also signed up to go to Kamakura, which used to be the capital of Japan. It is also where the Amida Buddha is located. I'm also going to go to Yokohama, which is Japan's largest Chinatown. Both Yokohama and Kamakura were free to sign up for, but I'm assuming we'll have to pay for expenses there.
So far Japan has been quite expensive, but I guess that was just getting all of the essentials out of the way. I had to budget money for the commuter pass, books and the excursions, so those are all taken care of. The only other big purchase that I plan on making is a cell phone of some sort. Feel free to send me money :o)
I am completely enjoying myself. I have made friends with a Japanese student at TUJ named Yurie. Last night she came back to the dorm and helped me fry dumplings. She seems like she'll be a great resource. I'm making good friends with people in the dorm, as well. I am learning new things everyday, which is so fun. I trying to learn as much Japanese as possible. I'm sure once classes get more in depth, I'll feel even more comfortable.
I haven't gone out too much. I'm trying to take things easy, realizing that I'll be here for 4 months and don't want to over exert myself too soon. I'm hoping to go out to karaoke tonight for my friend Brian's 21st birthday...even though the drinking age is only 20 here.
We will see...
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Getting settled
So far, I'm quite exhausted...and covered in bug bites. The mosquitoes here are intense. I have some semi-debilitating bites on my arms from last night.
Friday we had to meet early and our RA-type person took all of the study abroad students to the Temple campus. It takes about 50 minutes to get there and costs 300 yen, about $3 one way. We take the train from Ontakesan to Gotunda, then transfer to the JR train to Tamachi. From there, it's a pretty substantial walk to campus. We had "orientation" where the people in charge of the program, the dean, as well as other speakers talked to us for hours. Basically I learned not to borrow an abandoned bike because you will end up in jail and possibly deported. I learned that Roppongi isn't very safe. I learned that Tokyo is destined to have a catastrophic earthquake any day now. All very comforting, of course.
After orientation, we were taken on a tour of the area around campus, and then up to Roppongi. We ended up finding ourselves in the middle of a huge street festival in Roppongi. Women dressed in the summer version of a kimono, people screaming to try and get your attention to buy their product, fish, literally whole fish, fried on sticks, octopus balls, water ice, tons of alcohol, arts and crafts. Walking through the street was the first time I really felt like I was in Japan. That is what I had come for. Unfortunately, we were in a large group and weren't able to really look at anything; we just had to walk on through.
We made our way to Roppongi Hills, a big shopping/nightlife/restaurant district. Roppongi is where most of the tourists go, hence leading to the highest crime in Tokyo. However, when I mean the highest crime, I mean still virtually non-existant.
Once we made it back to campus, I pretty much collapsed. They weren't lying when they told me that we would be walking a lot. It's really really hot and humid over here, leading to some uncomfortable and tiring conditions.
This guy Kyle and I ended up wandering around Ontakesan's main "street." The town we live in is very residential and cute. The main street is lined with hair dressers, restaurants, a few cheaper "essential" stores selling shampoo, etc., Lawsons, which is a 24 hour, slightly higher class version of 7-11 (they are all over Tokyo...Lawsons and 7-11 for that matter), and a Pachinko parlor. Down one road is a 100 yen store...basically a dollar store. There's a McDonalds right next to the train station. Jusco is a big department store/grocery store. They sell basically anything you'd need. Kyle and I got some random things to make our lives liveable, as well as some groceries. I bought some milk and cereal, crackers and jelly, and some "cup-o-noodles" type things. We attempted to play Pachinko, which took us a while to figure out how to get it to work.
We also discovered a Shinto shrine at the end of the street. It is quite amazing. There is a fountain where you wash your hands and then take a sip of water before praying. You then walk to the shrine and put a money offering into a box, pull a cord which rings a bell, and then pray. We observed a few people who came to pray. It was incredible. Unfortunately we couldn't really see everything since it was at night, but I can't wait to go back in the daytime. There were also random cats wandering around the shrine area. They were adorable, including one without a tail. It was nice to pet cats again, however, it made me miss mine even more.
Finally we went back to the dorm, where I met up with Amanda. I went to take her to the grocery store, where on the way, we ran into Sean, Pete and Brian. The five of us ended up sitting on a bench outside of Jusco's for about 2 hours. They sell alcohol in the grocery stores, so they got some beers, I got some Mango Fanta and popcorn. It was a great, relaxing time. We tried to communicate with some of the locals.
Around midnight we walked back to the dorm, where I proceeded to pass out.
This morning, we had our second part of orientation, which was a tour of Shibuya and Harajuku...my most anticipated cities. Shibuya was so large and exciting. It is basically a larger version of Time's Square, including the famous Shibuya Crossing. Paul, our RA-type, showed us some of the main stores, etc that are really popular. One store, Don Quixote was over 3 stories of pure clutter and not good for claustrophobic people. Everything imaginable is sold there. You think you've seen everything, and then you happen to find more aisles and rooms, with even more random things.
We split up for lunch, but the majority of us ate at this fast food type place. You go to a machine, put your money in, push the button for what you want to eat, and then give the ticket at the counter. Literally by the time I sat down, my food was ready. I got some sort of beef served with rice, a salad and some soup. The food was delicious and cost less than $7 dollars.
We walked around Shibuya some more, went to a few more stores, then headed to Harajuku. It was amazing. The Harajuku girls in their dresses, high shoes, makeup, crazy hair. There was a famous toy store, Kiddy Land, where they had Harajuku girls with a big mascot type animal out front. I got my picture taken with them. There was some famous person signing autographs in the store...I think she was some sort of anime person. The one street in Harajuku is lined completely with boutiques, cheap clothing stores, and lots of punk and goth clothing. Unfortunately, again, we were in a group and couldn't stop to look around.
On our way from Harajuku to a Shinto Shrine, we found ourselves in the middle of another festival, this time with lots of different dance troups. Everyone had elaborate costumes and makeup. There were old men and women to young kids in each troupe. We made our way to the shrine which was gorgeous. In the middle of the hustle and bustle of the city, there is a large park where the shrine is located. It was so great. I can't wait until I'm able to spend some time there.
After that we headed back to the dorm where I took a nice little nap and got out of my sweat covered clothes. I don't know what the plans are for tonight, but hopefully something fun will happen.
Friday we had to meet early and our RA-type person took all of the study abroad students to the Temple campus. It takes about 50 minutes to get there and costs 300 yen, about $3 one way. We take the train from Ontakesan to Gotunda, then transfer to the JR train to Tamachi. From there, it's a pretty substantial walk to campus. We had "orientation" where the people in charge of the program, the dean, as well as other speakers talked to us for hours. Basically I learned not to borrow an abandoned bike because you will end up in jail and possibly deported. I learned that Roppongi isn't very safe. I learned that Tokyo is destined to have a catastrophic earthquake any day now. All very comforting, of course.
After orientation, we were taken on a tour of the area around campus, and then up to Roppongi. We ended up finding ourselves in the middle of a huge street festival in Roppongi. Women dressed in the summer version of a kimono, people screaming to try and get your attention to buy their product, fish, literally whole fish, fried on sticks, octopus balls, water ice, tons of alcohol, arts and crafts. Walking through the street was the first time I really felt like I was in Japan. That is what I had come for. Unfortunately, we were in a large group and weren't able to really look at anything; we just had to walk on through.
We made our way to Roppongi Hills, a big shopping/nightlife/restaurant district. Roppongi is where most of the tourists go, hence leading to the highest crime in Tokyo. However, when I mean the highest crime, I mean still virtually non-existant.
Once we made it back to campus, I pretty much collapsed. They weren't lying when they told me that we would be walking a lot. It's really really hot and humid over here, leading to some uncomfortable and tiring conditions.
This guy Kyle and I ended up wandering around Ontakesan's main "street." The town we live in is very residential and cute. The main street is lined with hair dressers, restaurants, a few cheaper "essential" stores selling shampoo, etc., Lawsons, which is a 24 hour, slightly higher class version of 7-11 (they are all over Tokyo...Lawsons and 7-11 for that matter), and a Pachinko parlor. Down one road is a 100 yen store...basically a dollar store. There's a McDonalds right next to the train station. Jusco is a big department store/grocery store. They sell basically anything you'd need. Kyle and I got some random things to make our lives liveable, as well as some groceries. I bought some milk and cereal, crackers and jelly, and some "cup-o-noodles" type things. We attempted to play Pachinko, which took us a while to figure out how to get it to work.
We also discovered a Shinto shrine at the end of the street. It is quite amazing. There is a fountain where you wash your hands and then take a sip of water before praying. You then walk to the shrine and put a money offering into a box, pull a cord which rings a bell, and then pray. We observed a few people who came to pray. It was incredible. Unfortunately we couldn't really see everything since it was at night, but I can't wait to go back in the daytime. There were also random cats wandering around the shrine area. They were adorable, including one without a tail. It was nice to pet cats again, however, it made me miss mine even more.
Finally we went back to the dorm, where I met up with Amanda. I went to take her to the grocery store, where on the way, we ran into Sean, Pete and Brian. The five of us ended up sitting on a bench outside of Jusco's for about 2 hours. They sell alcohol in the grocery stores, so they got some beers, I got some Mango Fanta and popcorn. It was a great, relaxing time. We tried to communicate with some of the locals.
Around midnight we walked back to the dorm, where I proceeded to pass out.
This morning, we had our second part of orientation, which was a tour of Shibuya and Harajuku...my most anticipated cities. Shibuya was so large and exciting. It is basically a larger version of Time's Square, including the famous Shibuya Crossing. Paul, our RA-type, showed us some of the main stores, etc that are really popular. One store, Don Quixote was over 3 stories of pure clutter and not good for claustrophobic people. Everything imaginable is sold there. You think you've seen everything, and then you happen to find more aisles and rooms, with even more random things.
We split up for lunch, but the majority of us ate at this fast food type place. You go to a machine, put your money in, push the button for what you want to eat, and then give the ticket at the counter. Literally by the time I sat down, my food was ready. I got some sort of beef served with rice, a salad and some soup. The food was delicious and cost less than $7 dollars.
We walked around Shibuya some more, went to a few more stores, then headed to Harajuku. It was amazing. The Harajuku girls in their dresses, high shoes, makeup, crazy hair. There was a famous toy store, Kiddy Land, where they had Harajuku girls with a big mascot type animal out front. I got my picture taken with them. There was some famous person signing autographs in the store...I think she was some sort of anime person. The one street in Harajuku is lined completely with boutiques, cheap clothing stores, and lots of punk and goth clothing. Unfortunately, again, we were in a group and couldn't stop to look around.
On our way from Harajuku to a Shinto Shrine, we found ourselves in the middle of another festival, this time with lots of different dance troups. Everyone had elaborate costumes and makeup. There were old men and women to young kids in each troupe. We made our way to the shrine which was gorgeous. In the middle of the hustle and bustle of the city, there is a large park where the shrine is located. It was so great. I can't wait until I'm able to spend some time there.
After that we headed back to the dorm where I took a nice little nap and got out of my sweat covered clothes. I don't know what the plans are for tonight, but hopefully something fun will happen.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Google is in Japanese
All of the Google websites are in Japanese, yet no other websites are. It's interesting. Hopefully I can navigate around enough.
Anyways, back to Japan. I obviously arrived safely. My luggage arrived safely. It was a long, tedious journey, but alas I am here and thankful. After arriving at the airport, we waited for a bus to the Sheraton Miyaka Hotel where we met representatives from TUJ. Then, Chloe and I took a taxi to our dorm, Ontakesan. Between the two of us and our luggage, there was hardly any room in the taxi for us to sit. I got to use my first "real" Japanese, saying Samimasen, meaning excuse me, to the taxi driver. I was proud of myself, haha.
Our dorm is quite nice actually. We have to take our shoes off in the lobby and put them in the shoe room, where we each have our own locker. There is a massage chair in the lobby, which is free and wonderful. Our dorm manager is named Aki and he seems great. Most of the students in the dorm moved in on Monday because they aren't necessarily part of the same program as us. It was a little awkward since they all knew each other and we were the "new people."
All of the girls live on the 2nd floor, me living in room 203. The room is really nice. Bed, desks, chairs, tv, fridge with freezer, air conditioning, closet, drawers. There is a bathroom on the floor with toilets and sinks. Downstairs is where the boys live. Then also downstairs is a common area with large tables, a tv, computer, bored games, etc. The showers are downstairs, which is slightly inconvenient, but do able. There are laundry machines. The kitchen is a decent size and has everything we would need to cook. There is also an outside patio for people to smoke.
One thing that is very important in Japan is recycling. They separate things into two main categories: burnable and non-burnable. It takes some getting used to to figure out which bin things go into.
I will update more later, but I have a dorm meeting now.
Anyways, back to Japan. I obviously arrived safely. My luggage arrived safely. It was a long, tedious journey, but alas I am here and thankful. After arriving at the airport, we waited for a bus to the Sheraton Miyaka Hotel where we met representatives from TUJ. Then, Chloe and I took a taxi to our dorm, Ontakesan. Between the two of us and our luggage, there was hardly any room in the taxi for us to sit. I got to use my first "real" Japanese, saying Samimasen, meaning excuse me, to the taxi driver. I was proud of myself, haha.
Our dorm is quite nice actually. We have to take our shoes off in the lobby and put them in the shoe room, where we each have our own locker. There is a massage chair in the lobby, which is free and wonderful. Our dorm manager is named Aki and he seems great. Most of the students in the dorm moved in on Monday because they aren't necessarily part of the same program as us. It was a little awkward since they all knew each other and we were the "new people."
All of the girls live on the 2nd floor, me living in room 203. The room is really nice. Bed, desks, chairs, tv, fridge with freezer, air conditioning, closet, drawers. There is a bathroom on the floor with toilets and sinks. Downstairs is where the boys live. Then also downstairs is a common area with large tables, a tv, computer, bored games, etc. The showers are downstairs, which is slightly inconvenient, but do able. There are laundry machines. The kitchen is a decent size and has everything we would need to cook. There is also an outside patio for people to smoke.
One thing that is very important in Japan is recycling. They separate things into two main categories: burnable and non-burnable. It takes some getting used to to figure out which bin things go into.
I will update more later, but I have a dorm meeting now.
Aug 23 entry from the plane
August 23, 2007 10:25 am Japan time
I’m on the airplane, 6 hours and 37 minutes in. It is never ending. I keep thinking, “Man, lots of time has passed, we have to be close now,” but then when I look at the clock, we still have 3 hours and 13 minutes.
The ride isn’t too bad. They showed Shrek 3. It was quite amusing. Kept me entertained for at least part of the time. Lunch was delicious actually. We had some sort of beef with mashed potatoes and carrots, a salad with Asain sesame ginger dressing, a roll, and the most delicious dessert banana chocolate cake/bread type thing. I washed it all down with a screwdriver…hey; alcohol is free on international flights.
I’m sitting in the aisle seat and there is an empty seat in the middle, thankfully. The guy sitting in my row with me is pretty awesome. He’s 21 from Seattle going to visit a friend. He lived in Japan for a little when he was younger. We have been talking a lot. He’s really cute, too, which doesn’t hurt the long plane ride.
The plane ride from Philadelphia to San Francisco was long, but not too difficult. No delays, no problems. Well, except for security confiscating some of my toiletries. Nothing too major, just my nose cleaner, moisturizer, toothpaste, hand sanitizer, and shaving cream. I guess it was partially my fault, but they were extremely stringent – more so than I have seen on other flights. Oh well, nothing that I can’t buy once I’m over there.
I’ve slept a little, but not much at all. I slept maybe an hour out of the six on that flight. I’ve probably slept an hour on this flight so far. I should probably sleep more but I am getting anxious. I am ready to land and explore. I want to taste the foods, smell the smells, and see the sights.
I think that is it for now. I won’t be able to post this until I get internet access, but I didn’t want to forget things.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
The final countdown
So in just a few hours I will be sitting on the plane.
All of my bags are packed. They are heavy. I over pack...but that is expected. I always over pack. I have a suitcase and a duffel bag to check. I have a backpack and a carry on bag to take with me on the plane. When I weighed the bags, they were under the weight limit...I hope that's the case with the official scale or whatever they use. It will be interesting watching me transport these bags all around Japan. Let's hope I can do it. I tried to cut down, I really did.
I have said bye to my mom and sister. That was difficult to do. I also said bye to all of my closest friends. I have to keep telling myself that four months isn't that long... The hardest part will be saying bye to my cats, as silly as that sounds. Everyone else I can talk to, but the cats I can't. I'm weird.
I don't know when I'll have the chance to update again, but I will try as soon as possible.
I'm nervous. I'm anxious. I'm excited. I'm at a loss for words. I can't even comprehend what is about to happen to me...
All of my bags are packed. They are heavy. I over pack...but that is expected. I always over pack. I have a suitcase and a duffel bag to check. I have a backpack and a carry on bag to take with me on the plane. When I weighed the bags, they were under the weight limit...I hope that's the case with the official scale or whatever they use. It will be interesting watching me transport these bags all around Japan. Let's hope I can do it. I tried to cut down, I really did.
I have said bye to my mom and sister. That was difficult to do. I also said bye to all of my closest friends. I have to keep telling myself that four months isn't that long... The hardest part will be saying bye to my cats, as silly as that sounds. Everyone else I can talk to, but the cats I can't. I'm weird.
I don't know when I'll have the chance to update again, but I will try as soon as possible.
I'm nervous. I'm anxious. I'm excited. I'm at a loss for words. I can't even comprehend what is about to happen to me...
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
One week
My oh my how time is flying. One week from now I will be on an airplane on my way to Tokyo.
I am feeling more prepared these days. I have alerted my bank and credit cards. I have my lists of what to pack. I have gone shopping to buy the necessary items to bring. I have watched shows on the Travel Channel about Japan and Tokyo that have gotten me extremely anxious and excited.
So far, I know that I must visit Disney World Tokyo. I also must travel to Osaka and witness one of their Baseball games. The Osaka Tigers have crazy fans. I want to be a part of it.
I am nervous, but I am keeping myself busy enough...between all of the preparations and seeing my friends for the final times.
Soon enough, soon enough.
I am feeling more prepared these days. I have alerted my bank and credit cards. I have my lists of what to pack. I have gone shopping to buy the necessary items to bring. I have watched shows on the Travel Channel about Japan and Tokyo that have gotten me extremely anxious and excited.
So far, I know that I must visit Disney World Tokyo. I also must travel to Osaka and witness one of their Baseball games. The Osaka Tigers have crazy fans. I want to be a part of it.
I am nervous, but I am keeping myself busy enough...between all of the preparations and seeing my friends for the final times.
Soon enough, soon enough.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Less than 20 days
Time is really ticking down. Everything is slowly falling into place. I'll be living in Ontakesan Dorm. It's a single room with a communal bathroom, kitchen and living/social area. The room comes with the bed, desk, chair, refrigerator, tv, carpet, and air conditioning.
I dropped one of my classes so now I'll be taking 4 classes, for 13 credits. I'm taking Japanese, Japanese Culture, Intro to World Music, and Social Psychology. They all sound like they'll be decent.
We had our pre-departure meeting a few weeks ago. Met a few of the people going, had some questions answered, and got really excited. We will be having a few 4 day weekends throughout the semester which I am looking forward to taking advantage of and travel around the area. Temple has some already set up excursions that I will be getting a list of.
I bought some travel books on Tokyo and Japan, as well as a Japanese phrasebook. I downloaded some language lessons to try and learn from my computer. Man, it really is a difficult language. It also doesn't help that when I try to look up the words I learn in my lessons in my phrasebook, some of them are completely different. I don't know which is the correct word to use.
Now it is the time to start making lists, cleaning, and packing. These next couple of weeks are going to fly by.
I dropped one of my classes so now I'll be taking 4 classes, for 13 credits. I'm taking Japanese, Japanese Culture, Intro to World Music, and Social Psychology. They all sound like they'll be decent.
We had our pre-departure meeting a few weeks ago. Met a few of the people going, had some questions answered, and got really excited. We will be having a few 4 day weekends throughout the semester which I am looking forward to taking advantage of and travel around the area. Temple has some already set up excursions that I will be getting a list of.
I bought some travel books on Tokyo and Japan, as well as a Japanese phrasebook. I downloaded some language lessons to try and learn from my computer. Man, it really is a difficult language. It also doesn't help that when I try to look up the words I learn in my lessons in my phrasebook, some of them are completely different. I don't know which is the correct word to use.
Now it is the time to start making lists, cleaning, and packing. These next couple of weeks are going to fly by.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Slowly getting there
Almost a month until take off. It is getting close. I can feel it. Things are all coming together.
I got my visa, therefore, I cannot be turned away. I have my ticket. I have my classes. I have a list everyone going. I have a new laptop. I ordered a small video camera. Now all I need is to find out where I will be living, but I should hear that soon enough.
For those few who may read this, I'm having a going away party:
When : Saturday August 11th
6:00 pm - ??
Where : My House
300 Devonshire Cir
West Chester, PA 19380
Why : Because I'm leaving for JAPAN for 4 months!!!
Come say good bye, have a good time, bbq, chill in the hot tub
610-888-5313
It's still plenty of time in advance so clear your calendars!
I got my visa, therefore, I cannot be turned away. I have my ticket. I have my classes. I have a list everyone going. I have a new laptop. I ordered a small video camera. Now all I need is to find out where I will be living, but I should hear that soon enough.
For those few who may read this, I'm having a going away party:
When : Saturday August 11th
6:00 pm - ??
Where : My House
300 Devonshire Cir
West Chester, PA 19380
Why : Because I'm leaving for JAPAN for 4 months!!!
Come say good bye, have a good time, bbq, chill in the hot tub
610-888-5313
It's still plenty of time in advance so clear your calendars!
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Just flying in my airplane
I bought my ticket today. It's official now. No turning back. I'm so excited.
I will be flying from Phillly to San Fransisco, then to Tokyo.
The way home I will be flying into Chicago, then on to Philly.
The plane rides will be around 15 hours total or so, give or take.
This is crazy.
I will be flying from Phillly to San Fransisco, then to Tokyo.
The way home I will be flying into Chicago, then on to Philly.
The plane rides will be around 15 hours total or so, give or take.
This is crazy.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Soon Enough
I thought I'd give in and start one of these blog-things to document my time studying abroad in Tokyo. I'll be there from the end of August until the beginning of December.
I'll post pictures and stories, food I try (or don't try) and other things of the sort.
This is also a way to keep in touch with the people back home.
I'll post pictures and stories, food I try (or don't try) and other things of the sort.
This is also a way to keep in touch with the people back home.
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