California: Day 9-16

Wow…..a new record….it’s been more than a week since I updated……..haha, oops….

Anyway, I can’t believe that my time in California is almost at an end already……..these last two and a half weeks have really flown by……

Tuesday we got up and went to Korea Town, and it was amazing……it was pretty much everything I had hoped for.  We even found an entire music store for KPOP(which was a dream come true) and I finally got to try Boba milk tea, which I have decided is my new favorite drink.
After that, we went to Rodeo Drive and walked around looking at the Christmas decorations, and the super expensive  brand stores that we didn’t even try to go in….

On Wednesday, we were supposed to go to Seal Beach, but it ended up being a pretty lazy morning because everyone ended up sleeping in….
and then that night we celebrated New Years at their family friend’s house, and then came back and went to bed immediately, because we were leaving at 5:30am on Thursday to go see the floats at the Rose Parade.  It was actually pretty cold….but the floats were really pretty.  Our goal was to walk around and see the floats, and leave before the parade started, which is why we were up so early.

Today we went to downtown Disney, which was pretty fun.  It was really crowded, but it was fun to mill around with everyone walking through.  We went to Earl of Sandwich, and then walked around for a while before heading back home.

I can’t believe tomorrow is my last day here……it doesn’t feel real…..

well, hopefully I’ll have more time tomorrow to write a longer more detailed post….sorry, this last week has been super busy…..

じゃあ、まった～

California : Day 0-1

WOW…..in just the last 24 hours I’ve experienced so many things for the first time.
I flew across the country alone, saw the lights of Los Angeles as I flew in, ate In-N-Out, saw the Pacific Ocean, and had fish tacos.

So, as a recap, let’s start at the beginning

Firstly, the lights of LA at night are breathtaking….

this picture does NOT do it justice AT ALL….since it was kind of hard to take a picture while the plane was moving….so all my pictures were blurry…..but it looked like a sea of bright colors on a dark backdrop, with rivers of slowly moving lights(traffic) tracking through the city….
the entire time we were flying over LA, I couldn’t look away from the window….I was completely absorbed in drinking in the sight of the city at night, and it’s definitely a sight that I won’t soon forget.

After my roommate and her mom picked me up, it took forever to get back to her house since I arrived smack in the middle of rush hour, so basically it took us around an hour to get back to her house, when it had only taken them a half hour to get to the airport……and after that, I basically settled in, took a shower, and went to bed, because I was actually really tired….
Who knows, maybe I am actually wired for California time, because last night I actually went to bed at a decent time….

Anyway, this afternoon we went out to eat, and I had my first In-N-Out experience, which I must say, was every bit as delicious as people had said…

although….I must say, I still prefer McDonald’s fries…… but that’s just my opinion……

And then, tonight, we went out for fish tacos, which is something I never thought I would eat….
not only are fish and tacos two of my least favorite foods, but tacos and fish were, in my mind, two things that should have never been combined…..but surprisingly, they were actually really good, and I would definitely go back for more if given the chance.  They were deep fried fish fillets with chopped cabbage, tarter sauce, and salsa on a soft taco shell, served with rice and beans on the side.  So that was definitely a pleasantly surprising experience.

After dinner, my roommate and I took a walk down the docks by the restaurant to see the boats.  Even though it was dark, the docks were nicely lit, and some of the boats even had Christmas lights on them.

    

these pictures are not great, since I forgot to bring my camera with me, so I only had my phone…..but you get the idea….

Anyway, being in California is definitely different….not only are the houses super close together, but everything is super close to each other too….. I’m used to having to drive at least 15-20 minutes to get to somewhere with a lot of shops and restaurants, but here it’s about a 5-10 minute drive, or even within walking distance.  There are also way more people, but not so much so that I feel claustrophobic, but maybe that’s just me….

Also, of course, people are more talkative, and things are a bit more expensive…but overall, I really like it.
Except, the amount of roads and streets that criss cross are so confusing, I think it would take me forever to finally know my way around…..
But other than that, this has definitely been an exciting start, and I can’t wait to see what else I will get to do in the next 2ish weeks!

じゃ、まった～

Just the Beginning

WOW……epic FAIL on my part at trying to run this blog…..sorry I haven’t uploaded in forever…….these last weeks have been pretty hectic, and these last days, even more so…

Ok, where do I start?
Basically in this last week, I crammed all my final exams into 2 days, moved out of my dorm, unpacked from school, and repacked my life for 4 months into a suitcase and a backpack……..so yeah…I’ve been a little busy….

Well, tomorrow this journey finally starts.  I head off to California to spend 2 and a half weeks with my roommate and then off to Japan I go……which is CRAZY……  Never in all the years that I’ve been researching and planning could I have imagined that this could actually happen……

Although, the excitement is somewhat tempered by the mental breakdown I’m having about transportation, since I have NO IDEA what I’m doing……

NO IDEA….

I mean, I have a rough idea, but I haven’t flown since 8th grade, and even then, never alone……….and the list of things that could go wrong could fill a series of encyclopedias………..
Besides, the list of things that have already gone wrong are well onto their way to making at least a small book……..probably titled something like “What NOT to do When Planning for a Semester Abroad”…..
but hey, live and learn right?….

Anyway, I just wanted to say, sorry….I really meant to film my vlog intro yesterday, but as you can see by my dormant YouTube channel, that never really happened.
So…..for the time being, until I get settled in Japan, there may just be random clips uploaded here and there, and not much actual vlogging going on…..
Hope I’m not boring you all to death……. ^^

じゃ、まった～

Blog Update and Study Abroad Orientation

Sorry… I know, I started this blog and then just kind of left it hanging.  I really did want to give you all an update, but I was actually waiting to complete my study abroad orientation before I started writing more in depth about the problems I’ve run into so far.  And trust me, I’ve had a lot of problems…..

But I’ll leave those for a different post…

Anyway, so orientation was awesome….kind of………I was surprised to find out how little people research about the program that they are going to participate in.  I don’t know, maybe it’s just how I look at things, but I feel that if I am going abroad to a country I am not familiar with, and can’t speak the language of very well, I want to do everything I can to make sure that I am as prepared as possible for it.  And if this means spending the last few years doing intensive research about the country and it’s language, and the last couple months doing intensive research this program, and coordinating travel and transportation plans, then so be it.  But apparently, not everyone shares this belief, and so it just kind of disappointed me a little………..but to each their own I suppose……

I guess personally, I just like to be over prepared and know exactly what I should be expecting.

So even though I actually didn’t learn anything new about the program or Japan, I was able to confirm a lot of things that I already knew from previous research.  It was also really nice to talk to people who had first hand experience and listen to their advice about how to take as much as I can away from this opportunity.

Anyway, sorry this wasn’t really an interesting post.  I’ll be typing up more about some problems that I have run into recently in the next few blog posts, so hopefully those will be more interesting to read than this…

じゃ、まった～

First Things First

Firstly, before I start blogging, I think I should begin by explaining my blogger name.

niconblogger

Contrary to how most people would think, it is in fact pronounced knee-cone-blogger.

This is largely because the origin of this name was created from Japanese words, and not English.

Simply, I took my Japanese nickname,「ニコちゃん」Nico-chan(given to me by a Japanese friend), and combined it with the Japanese word for Japan, which is「日本」Nihon(pronounced knee-hone).  Thus the result was nicon, and then I just added the blogger part to the end since this is a blog.

Another thing, I’m completely new to this blogging business, so please don’t expect this to be New York Times quality writing.

That being said, I still hope you all find this interesting, and I look forward to being able to share my thoughts and experiences with other people.

よろしくお願いします。