Time Flies

Wow, I can’t believe it’s already almost the end of February, which means, I have less than 2 months left here……..
Time is flying WAY TOO FAST……….I can feel the end of the semester creeping up on my day by day, and I really hate that….
I can’t begin to describe how these last two months have gone, other than to say that they’ve been the best two months I’ve ever had….and I know that when I finish, I am going to want to do it all over again.

Anyway, our school does a program for Japanese students to come to our school and learn English for 2 weeks, and during that time, they stay in the dorms with us.  So two weeks ago, I had my first Japanese roommate, and she was here for 2 weeks, and then she moved out this past Friday.  However, there are 3 of these 2 week programs, so today, I got a new roommate who I will live with for 2 weeks once again.
I must say, that at the beginning I thought that switching roommates every 2 weeks for 6 weeks wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but after these past two weeks, I learned that you can actually get very attached to someone over only two weeks, and I definitely spent Friday in a weird semi depressed state after my first roommate left.  So needless to say, I was slightly apprehensive about getting a new roommate.  Part of me was really looking forward to it, and part of me just wanted my old roommate to move back in again.  But, I’m sure I’ll enjoy these next two weeks, just as I did the last two…

Anyway,  things are getting harder, if that’s possible, not only is the Japanese we learn getting more difficult, but the things we are expected to know and do are also increasing.  Not that I really mind, since I think it’s interesting.

It is definitely interesting to actually live with a native Japanese person, instead of simply seeing and talking to them every day.  Not only does this allow us to see how native Japanese people live from day to day, but it also teaches us to find a middle point between our cultures.  It also forces us to use whatever we can to try and meet each other halfway communication wise as well.
Usually we settle into some sort of half Japanese, half English mix…which must be interesting for other people to watch…..

Anyway, I will try to update again, but I don’t really know what to write about anymore……since I’m not really doing anything super interesting.  So by all means, if anyone has questions, please ask away, since it would give me something to talk about….^~^

Well, till then,
じゃあ、まった～

Finally….

This post is very much overdo…..but I’ve been so busy lately, that I’ve barely had time to do anything….so hopefully I can remember things well enough, even though it’s been a little bit….

Anyway, so after I moved in and got settled, we took a placement test to see where we placed in terms of Japanese proficiency.  There’s Level 1 – Levvel 4, with Level 1 being beginner Japanese, and Level 4 being you’re pretty much well on your way to becoming(aka, there’s only 2 people in that class).  Luckily I placed in Level 2, which begins at about where my college’s Japanese 201 ended, so it was perfect.

Japanese class in Monday-Friday from 8:50-11:40 with tests on Friday on what we’ve learned over the week.  It is a language intensive program, and as such, expects you to study a minimum of 3 hours a day, which I can definitely see being necessary.  I think I will try to study at least 3 hours a day, which is not hard for me, since I really like studying Japanese, and I really don’t have anything else to do…
And when we’re not in class, we’ve had the chance to kind of look around a little bit and start to get to know the city…although, we still haven’t seen much of it.

On Friday, we went to Karaoke, and then Nomihoudai(all you can eat and drink for a certain amount of time).
For those of you who don’t know, Japanese Karaoke is not like American Karaoke at all.  In America, Karaoke is usually in a bar, in front of the entire bar.  But in Japan, you rent a room just big enough to fit how ever many people you have.  The room is private, and soundproof(for the most part), and it is way less intimidating…….unless you have a huge group….like we did….
but usually it’s not like that…..
Anyway, after that, we walked to Nomihoudai, where mostly everyone proceeded to get very very drunk……except for a select few of us who either didn’t want to drink, or couldn’t drink….and thus we ended up kind of in charge of herding the rest of our group back on the long 40 minute walk back to the dorm…….

Saturday was somewhat uneventful, as all the people who were drunk from the previous night slept in pretty late….
Sunday, we all got up early to go to Kyoto to see a shrine, and then to Nijou to see Nijou-jo(an old castle).  It was perfect weather to be out in.  It was slightly chilly, but the sun was out, and it didn’t rain until we were heading back to the dorm.
I made a video compilation of the pictures and some videos that I took of our visit to the shrine, so if you want, you can check that out here.

*This post is about a week behind……I meant to upload it right away, but I wanted to wait until I finished my slideshow, and I kept falling asleep while working on it because of the music I was using…..so sorry!!~*

Well then, till next time~
じゃあ、まった～

Getting to Japan

so……after 16 hours of straight traveling, sitting down and writing a blog post is not exactly ideal……especially when I haven’t slept in 16 hours…….and I have to get up at 6 AM tomorrow and it’s already 1 AM……but if I don’t write this all down now, I’m going to forget it…..

So the flight over would have been fine, since it was only around 10-11 hours……but we hit some pretty good turbulence for a lot of the ride, so for about 90% of the flight, I was super motion sick, even though I took drammamine before we took off…
but at least I kept my dinner down…..unlike the girl next to me……good thing I was absorbed in watching a movie when that happened, or else I definitely would have followed suit….

Anyway, we ended up landing about an hour earlier than was scheduled, however, somehow my suitcase was lost, and so I had to fill out a whole bunch of baggage paperwork to get it sent to my college when it finally arrives….
Also, lucky for me, the guy sitting in the aisle seat was heading to Tokyo Station by the same train I was, so we traveled together until I parted ways with him at Shinagawa Station(because he ended up deciding to go to the stop after mine)
at Shinagawa station, I booked it to the Shinkansen(bullet train) ticket machines, bought a ticket with a departing time 5 minutes from then(which probably wasn’t a great idea) and sprinted onto the train just as the doors were closing.
The best thing about trains is that even though you have assigned seats, as long as you end up in those seats, you can board on any car.  So, since I almost didn’t make it, I dashed onto the nearest car(which happened to be 6) and then as the train started moving, I walked down to car number 15.

Since for some reason my phone decided not to work internationally(even though I was prepared to pay international roaming) I couldn’t contact the person I was staying with, so instead of her picking me up at Nagoya station, I then had to take the subway to a stop closer to her house.  Which would have been fine if I had gotten on the right subway the first time……but when they’re two subways with the same names going in opposite directions…..how am I supposed to know!?
I don’t even know how to take subways in English, let alone Japanese……and I still can’t figure out Japanese train/subway maps…….
Anyway, luckily the subway line for the wrong direction ended one stop later, so when everyone evacuated except me, it was pretty obvious that I had missed something……
So after the conductor directed me to the correct side of the subway tracks, I then boarded the correct subway and took that down to the stop that my friend had told me to get to.

Moral of the story, I over think and underestimate things a lot…… and I never want to sit down again…..
anyway, I should be getting to bed….since I have another long day tomorrow…..

じゃあ、まった～

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 2-4

Wow……I don’t know if it’s just the fact that since it’s Christmas break, we’re trying to do a lot more than usual, but so far, we’ve been going nonstop since I arrived.  It’s so amazing that there always seems to be something else to do, or places to go, so we’ve been doing all sorts of things these last 3 days…

Friday was mostly spent in the car.  We had to pick my roommate’s brother up from the airport, and her sister from her college, so we were basically in the car from 10:30 AM, till 5 PM
…………….ugg…………..I get really car sick, even after taking motion sickness medicine….so that wasn’t a terribly great experience, and I seemed to have blocked it out of my memory since I couldn’t remember what we did on Friday until just now…..

Anyway, Saturday was much better.  We helped out at a Christmas bazaar at my roommate’s church from 9-11 AM, and I helped with the gift wrapping station.  I really like wrapping gifts, so that was a lot of fun, and with the non stop stream of people coming through, I got my fill of gift wrapping for this year.
After that, my roommate’s brother’s friend came over and we all talked and played Scategories after dinner until it was time to start getting ready for bed.

Sunday morning started off with church, and getting introduced to all the people there.  After that we went Christmas shopping, and got IN-N-OUT for the second time!  Yay!…
Hehe, can you tell I’ve already gotten hooked?….
After a semi-successful Christmas shopping expedition, we came back home and Skyped some of our college friends back home until dinner.  Then, after dinner, we went to this amazing place that had all these tiny little shops inside it, which were mostly food shops, and we all regretted eating dinner beforehand…
We decided we would definitely have to come back to eat at all the different places.
Although, we did give in to temptation and get an amazingly delicious Mint Red Velvet Crepe, which(because it was so large) was split between me, my roommate, and her sister, and quickly devoured….

…hmm….unfortunately, I don’t seem to be very good at this whole documenting thing, so…..sorry this was so short….
I’ll try to take more pictures, and keep updating this as much as I can!

じゃ、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～