次のページ (Next Page)

Right now I've got this song by Diddy ft. Skylar Grey stuck in my head... "Coming Home" it's called. But I guess it's appropriate because in two days I will be.

(Yes, that's the cliff hanger for you to keep reading...)

It's Tuesday evening of Kansai Gaidai's haru yasumi (spring break), so I figured I'd write a blog of what I've been doing for the past 10 days of my life.

There's been a lot going on here, as I'm sure you've all heard by now. And I don't even know where to begin.

Though things have settled down a bit (crossing fingers) it's still surreal to be living and experiencing this situation. I never ever thought during my study abroad that a 9.0 earthquake would hit Japan, followed by a tsunami, and then followed by all sorts of radiation drama. And I never thought that it would send me home.

Last week, this situation was the only thing talked about. Ever. In classes, in the hallway, in the bathroom, outside, in the cafeteria, on the train, in the dorms, in public areas where you'd happen to run into someone you know.... just EVERYWHERE. I must've gotten at least 10 emails a day from the school telling us that things would be alright, that we'd be fine, and that we wouldn't be affected.

But then students started going home. At first it was things like being scared of earthquakes and radiation or changing majors to something completely new. Then it was the European and the Chinese governments that made their students come home. Then Obama said he highly suggested all American think about returning home. Now schools are canceling programs and forcing students to return home.

I was in Hiroshima this past weekend and returned to my dorm to see that my roommate was gone. Her school had forced her to leave. Joelle was the best roommate ever and I never even got to say goodbye. About two thirds of my dorm has gone home because of the above reasons. Most students now are going home because their schools are forcing them to. In the past week, I've seen more girls crying then I've ever seen in my life.

At first, I was surprised. This time last week, Oshkosh was really chill about the whole situation and was like 'oh yeah, you're totally fine in Japan. Don't even worry.' Friday during the day I manage to connect to WiFi in Hiroshima and I get an email saying 'yeah the whole UW System has cancelled their programs in Japan. All the UW students are coming home so you probably should too.' (In addition to Oshkosh, Whitewater, Eau Claire, and Platteville all have students studying at Kansai Gaidai. Other UW schools have students all over Japan though.)

I guess I just can't believe it. I have to come home 2 months early. I'm not even sure if I can complete my semester. Kansai Gaidai might let us finish classes online, but they're still trying to work things out. If so, it's not certain those classes will transfer back. I don't know if money will get reimbursed. I can't start classes up at any other school because it's too late in the semester.

I have no idea what I'm going to do with myself in Wisconsin. Sure, maybe write a song or two and find a job, but still. This wasn't supposed to happen; how is one supposed to plan something like this???

Yes, God has a plan and I know that. But at times like this, it's hard to see the plan. There's a reason that I was supposed to be in Japan for only this amount of time. I know I have to go home and I've come to terms with that. But that doesn't mean that I haven't cried about it with the rest of the girls in my dorm...

I guess it just shows that you can never make plans. Because God's always got a better one in mind. I mean, just look at this blog title. January to June in Japan. I had planned to stay in Japan until June and even based a blog title off that. But now I have to go home. Crazy, right? I've always been a believer in signs... and I just keep seeing little signs like that, things that are telling me that I have to go home, no matter how much it hurts.

So heres to the 次のページ, the next page. I doubt this one will entail earthquakes, tsunamis, and radiation that will force me to leave Wisconsin, but hey, you never know. Japan has been AMAZING and I wouldn't have traded this experience for the world. All of you fellow people my age, I really encourage you to study abroad. It's an amazing experience and you won't regret it. And all of you people not my age, go travel the world. You deserve it!

Thank you for the love, prayers, and all of your support through this whirlwind journey!! I had so much fun with this blog and I love that you all liked it! Maybe I'll start another blog someday if I ever have something entertaining to say...

I'm excited to find out where the next page of my life will take me. But I've got to say, I'm even more nervous. Days and weeks leading up to my arrival in Japan, people would ask me if I was nervous and would be so surprised to hear that I wasn't. And it's true, I wasn't one bit.

But I never thought I would be nervous to come home...

Thank you all for journeying with me to Japan. I can't say thank you enough for your love, support, and prayers. It means the world to me. Keep the people of Japan in your prayers, they need it more than you know.

I love you all and I'll see you when I get home.

CB

March 11, 2011: The Sendai Earthquake

Before I really start this post off, I need to say thank you.

Thank you to every single person that has sent me an email, Facebook message, asked how I was doing and most importantly, prayed. THANK YOU for the prayers, God does work miracles!

This whole experience has been something I'll remember for the rest of my life. I've only been in Japan for a little over a month, yet I'm already infatuated with it's fascinating culture and wonderful people. This country doesn't deserve to have such a horrible disaster upon it... no where in the world does.

There's something incredibly moving about being in a country that is not your own when a disaster strikes. I can't explain it and I wish you all could feel what I feel right at this moment. It's something that I'll remember forever. And when I see that #PrayForJapan is a trending topic on Twitter or the home page of MSNBC devoted to the disaster in Japan, it makes me proud to be living in Japan during this time of trouble. The whole world is thinking about us, supporting, and praying for us... and my one request is that you please keep doing so. It's going to take a long time for Japan to heal back to normal, but God really does work miracles.

I'm going to be straight up honest when I talk about where I was when this earthquake took place. No, I'm not making it up. 100% truth.

I was in the bathroom when an 8.9 magnitude earthquake hit northern Japan on Friday, March 11, 2011.

My last class on Fridays ends at 2:45 but thankfully my history professor let us out a couple minutes earlier this time. My friend Hanne was meeting me at 3 on campus, so I had a couple extra minutes before she arrived.

I ran down four flights of stairs to the restroom. I closed the stall door and sat down. Not even two seconds later, I suddenly felt incredibly dizzy. I hadn't eaten lunch yet because classes were from 11-2:45, so I figured it was because because my blood sugar was low. Was the earth moving? I was really dizzy now. And the feeling didn't go away. It felt like the earth was moving in slow motion in all directions and wouldn't stop. I held onto the toilet and the walls around me to try to get the shaking to stop. It was a slow shaking that made me think my mind was playing a trick on me. My head was pounding; I was so lightheaded and nauseous. I've never passed out before but in that moment it felt like I could've any second.

The thought that maybe? it was an earthquake had crossed my mind, yet I was skeptical and shrugged it off.

Later that night, I ate dinner with Hanne and Lindsay. The topic came up, and after I realized I was on the toilet during an actual earthquake, we laughed for quite a while. Lindsay had experienced a similar feeling of lightheaded and nauseous-ness during her pottery class, which she also thought was due to being hungry. She said many other people she talked to had felt the same kind of thing when the earthquake took place. Hanne had seen some dogs acting strange but didn't think much about it, because well, they are dogs.

Then the texts came pouring in. Hanne received several texts from Finland asking if she was okay. We thought it was interesting that the other side of world had already found out about this earthquake. We didn't think it was very big... but we thought it was so nice of them to care! Then we started talking about how interesting and crazy it would be if a huge earthquake actually took place. Little did we know...

After arriving back to my dorm at around 10:30 Friday night, I logged onto my email and Facebook. Several emails from my family asking if I was okay. Friends commenting on Facebook asking if I was okay. Yes.... I'm fine. But so confused???

I pull up Google and search 'Earthquake in Japan.'

Holy. Crap.

I had no idea it was such a big earthquake. No idea. At all.

As I sat there last night looking at pictures of the disasters from the earthquake and tsunami, tears were filling my eyes. I'm living this... not even 6 hours away. This is going on right now. In the country that I'm living in for the next 4 months.

These are things that are starting to become part of my everyday life; things that I'm starting to love about Japan. I just rode the JR Line, one of the many train lines that have suffered damage. I was supposed to ride Shinkansen (the bullet train) in a week, which have been suspended until further notice. I was supposed to go to Tokyo in a week, which reports are saying to stay away from Tokyo and northern areas of Japan...

It's so surreal.

It feels like the world around me has stopped because of this earthquake, yet I'm still living through it and doing fine. Thankfully, the Kansai area hasn't been physically affected, yet we still feel directly affected in a way that I can't describe. Spring break is in a week and though our Tokyo trip may be called off, I still want to find a way there. Not to do touristy things like we planned, but to help out. It's the only thing I want to do now... help out those that are hurting. Though that may not be possible quite yet, it's been added to my Things to Do In Japan Before I Leave list. And it's going to get accomplished.

But in the meantime, I want to thank you again for all your continuous love, support and prayers. It means so much to myself and the other international students, as well as the Japanese people. And if you have a couple extra dollars to spare, I urge you to donate to the Red Cross or other similar organizations. We've been given so much and the least we can do is to give back to those that really need it.

I'll keep you all posted with new information when I know it. I love you all.

Pray for Japan.

The Nara Experience

It's been a while since I've posted on this dear blog, so I figured I'd tell you all the tale of the great Nara adventure. Said adventure took place this past weekend and it was just wonderful!

Before I start anything though, you have to go to YouTube and look up "really annoying snoring." I hope these videos bring you lots of enjoyment and curiosity of what took place in Nara this past weekend...

Ok I need to back up.

12 hours earlier.

It was about 2 in the afternoon on Saturday when this journey begins. Myself, Lindsay, Hanne, and Sayumi (Lindsay's awesome Japanese friend) were on our way to the land where the deer roam free! (No, not Wisconsin...) It was about a 2 hour train journey away but alas, we had many wonderful conversations, saw beautiful scenery out the train windows, and got stared at by Nihonjin (Japanese people) because we are gaijin (foreigners, minus Sayumi).

Our hostel was right across the street from the train station which was super convenient. We checked in and and headed out to see the shika (deer!!!).

Upon arriving to Nara Park, this is one of the first signs we saw and I laughed so hard at it!! I'm sure you can see why. Japan is a very clearly labeled society and there really are hilarious signs everywhere.

(PS... you can click the pictures to enlarge them this time... I have no idea what happened with the last one, oops...)

We hung out with the deer the rest of the afternoon (and the next day).

(Fyi... over the course of this post there will probably be a lot of deer so if you're sick of seeing dead deer on the side of the road in Wisconsin you should probably stop reading right now. Or you should keep reading and you'll get a good feeling in your heart that tame deer really do still roam free in deer parks in Japan.)

I know... this is probably considered a creeper picture.

We were fortunate and got to see some other sights in Nara before sunset which was super gorgeous! This is the Five Story Pagoda!

Oh hey!

Below is another part of the Kofukuji Temple... I believe it was. This trip worked out perfectly because in my history class we were just talking about Nara being the old old capital of Japan and then I got to see the places we were talking about this weekend! It was pretty cool.

Then it got dark and we went to a fire festival at this super old castle! None of my pictures turned out but it was insane. There were mobs upon mobs of people and the crowd was absolutely SILENT the whole time. But then something sweet would happen like someone would throw a fireball to the opposite side of the castle and then everyone would "ooh" and "ahh" at the same time. It was so entertaining and I spent half the time observing the crowds reactions and noise (slash lack thereof) because it was so unusual!

We stumbled upon this display with pictures of the fire festival! So these were what my pictures were supposed to look like. :)

After the fire festival event took place, we headed out to a bar and Sayumi taught us about highballs! Highballs are Japanese drinks and they are wonderful. They consist of whiskey, soda, and flavoring. Us foreigners got plum wine and Sayumi got a regular (has no flavoring and is just whiskey and soda... it was like 17 times stronger). But they were awesome and apparently are unique to Japan!

And now, folks, here we are. Back to the starting point. The hostel.

Now, this was my first hostel experience (considering we don't have them in the States). For those of you that don't know what hostels are, it's pretty much a giant room with bunk beds and you and a random amount of strangers sleep in a said room and it's super cheap. For 1 person it was like the equivalent to $20 USD for one night.

Anyway. I told you to look up "really annoying snoring" on YouTube.... did you do it??? If you did than you know what I'm talking about. If you didn't then you're just going to have to use your imagination. But it was real bad.

I woke up at 3 am to this low rumbling coming from below me (I was on the top bunk). I kid you not... the random person below me was snoring so loud it was like a low bass beating out of some obnoxious teenager's car. Then on top of that snoring, there were 2 other loud people crazily snoring on the other side of the room. Throw that in with a little sleep talking and sleep humming from others.... it was a chorus of snoring that kept me up for a couple hours at least. I never leave home without my iPod (for music and my handy Japanese translation app) but of course the one time I do is a disaster. But I have learned my lesson! Never again will I travel without my iPod. If you plan on doing any hostel traveling in the near future, take note!!

Our hostel. View from my wonderful top bunk bed.

(There high percentage that the male and female in the right corner were the snorers...)

The following day (Sunday) we explored Nara some more, hung out with our dear deer (ha) friends, and finally got home around 4 pm ish. It was a wonderful trip and so much fun! I will leave you with some more pictures because everyone loves pictures.

This, my friends, is why you should never ever ever use Google translator for a foreign language.... a return mouth?? Really??

Lindsay was awesome at herding the deer! (She had deer food)

The babies were so precious!!

Just chillin...

Awesome tree branches.

They liked the scarf.

Stay tuned for more adventures from Japan!

Spring break is in 2 weeks and this will consist of heading the wonderful and magical Tokyo! And we are SO EXCITED. It will consist of many adventures and crazy happenings I'm sure. Marcy Ethel (yes, that is my cameras name) will sure to be documenting everything. Also hoping I'll get a chance to see the WELS Mission in Japan because it's in Tokyo!

But. I have to survive a week and one day of classes.... BUT this weekend a couple of us are heading to Kobe, which is well-know for it's Chinatown. Chinatown in Japan? I'm confused as well but I'm sure there's a good story behind that reasoning. And also heading to the famous Osaka Aquarium on Sunday to see some exotic sea creatures!

Oh I just want to say THANK YOU for reading this blog. It makes my day that people are actually interested in these adventures :)

The Earthquake!

The kid next to me was antsy.

He had been pounding coffee the whole class period... and I was slightly distracted by his fidgeting hands and tapping foot.

So I thought it was his feet that were tapping the legs of my desk when I turn to look at him.

He looks at me.

5 seconds later about 7 Japanese students all turn look at each other and start rapid fire talking Japanese. Antsy Kid turns around and all of a sudden starts speaking rapid fire Japanese as well.

He turns back to me. "Did you feel that?"

"Yeah..."

"It was an earthquake!"

"Whaaaaat!" (That/shock was pretty much my response.)

I've never really "felt" and earthquake before but of course I've woken up some mornings with news stations covering some super tiny earthquake that happened at like 2 am in Wisconsin.

But this was an actual earthquake that I felt and remembered! It was kind of cool.

I know nothing about earthquakes and I'm not going to pretend I do, so here are some pictures to (hopefully) explain it instead. (Click them to enlarge)

Edit... I have no idea why the pictures don't work when you click them! I'm so sorry and I'll try to fix it as soon as I can!!

This picture shows a map of Asia and the arrow is pointing to the Kansai area of Japan where the earthquake took place. The square is actually kind of large compared to others on the map, so I'm guessing this one was a small to medium sized earthquake? All is I know that no one was hurt and that no damage was done. So maybe not.

And here are some stats on it. Once again, I have no idea what this means but I included it anyway. Note that this earthquake was measured at a magnitude of 5.0!

Apparently the Kansai area is way overdue for a good earthquake though, so let's all cross our fingers that it doesn't happen while I'm here. The last one in this area was in like the 1500s or something. (Don't quote me on that, I just overheard some girl talking about earthquakes in the kitchen.)

Anyway, the earthquake was the talk of the town, as some people felt it and others didn't. I just found the whole thing quite awesome.

This past weekend, we went to Kyoto and did some exploring, sightseeing, and Japanese food eating. Here are some pictures!

Our marvelous hosts at the entrance of Yasaka Shrine! Whenever you enter a shrine you must wash your hands.

A wedding at Yasaka Shrine! The bride is all in white and she didn't turn around once so we couldn't see her... but her outfit was awesome.

Us foreigners at the entrance to Kiyomizu Temple! Hanne from Finland, myself, Lindsay from Colorado, and Emili from Finland.

The temple overlooking the city.

Supposedly if you write down all your problems onto a piece of paper and throw it into the bucket of water, if the paper dissolves your problems will go away.

Paper dissolving! I thought this was awesome.

This man was drawing the temple....

And he was nice enough to let me take some pictures of him! His drawing was amazing!

More soon!

Happy Valentine's Day?

What an..... interesting Valentine's Day it's been. Crazy insane, that's for sure! But the moral of the story is: accept rides from strangers. That's the cliffhanger for you to keep reading. It's long but there's a happy ending, I promise!

The day started out as usual, with me scrambling around and trying not to be late for class. Of course I happen to have two tests and a presentation today, so I don't want to look like a bum that just crawled out of bed. No time to check the weather, so I throw on a skirt, leggings, and some boots. The past few days have been pretty nice so I'm sure I'll be fine. I head to school. Sky is clear, good music in my ears, and I'm happy.

First two classes: speaking and writing Japanese. Tests went fine. Review stuff mostly, so it was easy peasy lemon squeezy. I meet Hanne in the student lounge. We decide to trek to Hirakata station to get our alien registration cards, which are required for us. I got basic directions from a friend and figured I would be able to successfully get us to city hall.

20 minutes later.

"Uh... Hanne? I don't know if this is the right way."

"Should we ask for directions?"

"Probably."

We see 2 women walking.

"Sumimasen. City hall wa doko desu ka?" (Why couldn't I have learned the Japanese word for city hall???)

"Ceety hallu?" Women 1 asks me.

"Uh... you know... like government building?"

"Ahh so desu ka."

She manages to give us directions which take us down some side streets. Every building and every sign is in Japanese. No one speaks English and my Japanese isn't good enough to get by. It's starting to SNOW and rain (at the same time... why?) and we're both freezing, starving, and stressing. We can't find the city hall.

I'm in major freak out mode.

So, I do the one thing I know how to do best. Talk. Loudly. In this case though, it was more like a shout.

"Eigo o hanashimasu ka?"

Of course no one speaks English here. Go figure. I got a couple looks though. Probably for my obvious American-ness. Or shouting.

But still. You don't realize how frightening a new environment is until you're completely surrounded by people who have no idea what you're saying. Somedays it's really rough.

We stumble upon a building that looks like it could be city hall. And it WAS. Hallelujah! We take care of our alien registration, I befriend an adorable Japanese girl, and we and head back to campus.

It was REALLY snowing by the time we started walking back plus we were already a bit damp from the walk to city hall. By really snowing I mean Wisconsin snowing. Aka BAD. And it was sticking, too. 45 minutes later and we're back at the dorms. Freezing, soaking wet, and not in good moods. I change clothes. Blow dry my hair because it looks like I just got out of the shower. Start walking back to campus for class.... when I realize it.

My laundry.

It's hanging on the roof.

Are. You. Serious.

I freak out a little bit but can't turn back because I'd be late for class. How wonderful.

Class went by slowly and my presentation was fine. Done for the day. I put in my headphones and begin the 20 minute drudge back to the dorms. My tennies are soaking wet and probably wrecked, I have no warm clothes because I thought it was spring, and my laundry was supposed to be hang drying on the roof but is now enjoying the snow just as much as I am.

I almost slip in the slushy mess on the sidewalk. Thankfully, no one's there to witness my clumsiness except a car that will just drive by and forget about it.

But suddenly.

"Which seminar house are you heading to?"

I turn to see the car. It's stopped. And who else but MY HISTORY PROFESSOR is sticking his head out the driver's side. Guess he did see my clumsy slip...

I'm baffled. "Huh?"

"Hop in!"

My day just got a whole lot better.

Hallelujah.

Turns out my history professor drives past the seminar houses every day on his way home, so today with all the snow he wanted to help out!

HE DROVE ME BACK TO MY DORM.

What a guy!!! I thanked him again and again for helping me out. I still can't believe someone would do that out of the kindess of their heart!!

....I knew there was a reason I picked up his class! :)

After I got back to the dorms I headed to the roof. When I got there, I have to say that I actually laughed out loud. This is what I saw.

(I think you can click the pictures if they're too tiny.)

Crazy, right?

Yes, that is my snow covered sweatshirt on the ground.

So I spent a good amount of time dusting snow off my clothes and now they're all hanging in my room drying.

But here are a couple more pictures of the snow. Even though I'm sure you're all sick of seeing it by now.

It's apparently odd for the Kansai area to have this much snow so people are kind of freaking out. Guess I'm not crazy for thinking it wouldn't snow here...

But in Japan, Valentine's Day is a little different. The girls are the only ones giving. Then a month later, on White Day - March 14, guys give things to girls. It's interesting. Thankfully V-Day isn't as advertised and over the top here.

So even though I'll probably end up being single for the rest of my life (we'll save that sob story for another time), at least I have awesome family, friends, and history teachers to make my day!!! I got back to my room and found a WONDERFUL package from my family! :)

I love you ALL for reading this whole post and I hope you have a great Valentine's Day. :)

Dogs and first classes

In recent news from across the giant pond, I have discovered the most adorable breed of dog that exists. The dog that I see EVERYWHERE and at least once a day. The dog that my Japanese teacher spent a good amount of time talking about today (she has one that is six months old and named after some J-POP band). Aka the Cooper's twin dog. Kind of. Let me just show you these pictures and I'll bet anything that you'll have the same reaction I did the first time I saw one. Indescribably cute in real life...

Yes, these are all real animals. Adorable? I think so!

These are toy poodles and they are everywhere in Japan! This morning while I was walking to class, I saw two. The same color and everything so I'm betting they were siblings. Seriously... I just sat there for like 2 seconds gawking while the woman who was walking them was probably just thinking "gaijin, gaijin." 'Gaijin' means 'foreigner' and can be used in a negative and positive way. At this moment it was probably negative but I'm sorry... we just don't have dogs that cute in the States.

False. Who am I kidding! This little dude is the best!

Ok. Back to the real reason why you're reading this blog. My apologies. Well, not really. You just had adorable dogs on your computer screen and I know you loved it. :) But anyway.

Classes started yesterday, Monday. (It's Tuesday around 10pm while I'm writing this.) And they are going great so far! I can tell I'm really going to like (most) of them. Japanese classes are in the morning and I have spoken Japanese 5 times a week and reading/writing 3 times a week. Let me just say that Japanese is a difficult language, my friends. Whew. But every day my Japanese classes start at a different time, which is kind of confusing, but they're always in the morning.

Other classes are in the afternoon. I started off Monday with Pacific Rivalry, a class I was originally very interested in. It turns out that it's more political science based than history based, which I had thought. Though I like political science, I don't think it'll transfer back and be considered either of my minors, Japanese and history. (Yes, I added a history minor... a story for another time.) So I'm dropping that class and picking up Introduction to Japanese History, which starts tomorrow. I'll keep yall posted on that one.

I also had International Business Consulting on Monday afternoon. Now this class is super legit and I'm very excited for it. The professor is awesome and the class content sounds great and I already love it.

And finally, I had Visual Anthropology of Japan today. This class is super cool. Pretty much you get to galavant around Japan and take pictures and make a photo blog. (Well that's what I got out of it so far...) We also study the culture of Japan/other countries through film, readings, and photographs/photographers. I'm super stoked and I can't believe this class exists... and that it counts for my Japanese minor! To learn more about Visual Anthropology of Japan, check out this link... my new blog will be featured on there soon!: http://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/

Other than that, not too much is taking place here in the Land of the Rising Sun. We visited Kyoto on Friday! SO cool. For those of you that don't know, Kyoto is the old capital of Japan (the current capital is Tokyo) and is also well-known for shrines, geisha, and other historic memorabilia. The book Memoirs of a Geisha is based in Gion, Kyoto, which is known for geisha. I'd highly recommend reading the book... the movie was good too, but the book was better, as they usually are. Anyway, it was super super cool and we saw lots of shrines and cool architecture (Japan has made me become more interested in architecture... hmm) and many geisha! I loved it and will hopefully get the chance to go back and see the rest soon! Kyoto has so much history all around it and it's really neat to be there, especially when you had awesome Japanese tour guides from school like we did! Hopefully I'll get a chance to get up another picture post like the other one.

We have a 3 day weekend this week because of some national holiday on Friday. I'm thinking of doing something exciting but I don't know what. Maybe Kyoto again? Or Osaka? Or maybe Nara? Or maybe just karaoke Friday night with my speaking partner Chika and a giant group of friends from all over the world! Still haven't been. And karaoke bars are giant and plentiful and apparently epic. Case in point with hearing the Backstreet Boys the other night. Maybe they'll have a little Christina that I can botch the lyrics too?

That was a bad joke, my friends... :)

But I have to admit that my first bout of homesickness came around after hearing about the big Packer win. The game was on here (very delayed) last night so I got to watch it, but I just wish I could've been home for it. Seeing the (lame) SNL skit didn't help either. But I am PROUD of the Packers and still love them from Japan. Especially Aaron Rodgers. Mmmm. Pretty sure that's all I have to say :)

A description of the photos I just added to Facebook.

Well I've always wanted to do one of these blog posts where there are little pictures and descriptions. So here are some pictures along with a brief captioning of the events that took place. They're all in random order too because I can't for the life of me figure out how to put them in order. Maybe I'll figure that out for future posts. Gotta love technology.

Fish! Japanese love fish. It's everywhere, all the time, and I somehow always smell it no matter where I am. This was just one part of the fish section of the grocery store. The fish and seafood sections are ALWAYS the largest and there are many options and things I've never seen before...

This is campus! I just discovered this awesome sign today and I like it.

Another shot of campus from far away. The large building to the left is the library and multimedia center. It's so gorgeous inside and all the steps are made of marble and there's glass everywhere. I'm hesitant to actually use it because I fear that my clumsiness will some how find a way (like it always does!) to wreck the perfection of the building! :) But I have no idea what the giant building in the middle is and I think the one to the right is some kind of memorial hall.

Sushi! This place was legit. Here's how it works. Pretty much any kind of sushi imaginable (and other foods) are displayed on the belt. The belt than moves past every table and if something strikes your fancy than you just pick it off the belt and eat it! It was so cool and we spent time thinking of some kind equivalent to this that we could have in the States. But we came up with nothing because everything is processed and gross and would just get more disgusting. Ha.

Cassie (from Australia), Hanne (from Finland), and myself at the sushi joint.

I went on a photography adventure and walked around the area by the seminar house. There are so many little food joints that make all sorts of Japanese food right in front of you and you can either eat inside (as shown) or take it to-go (I was standing at the to-go counter). She was making fried squid balls! I can't remember the Japanese name but she turns them in those heated pans with what looks like chopsticks until they get brown and fried. These guys were hilarious (and drunk) and found foreigners to be fascinating.

Everything in Japan can be found in a vending machine. Cold beverages (sodas, teas, juices), hot beverages (coffee and hot cocoa... there are also special hot vending machines that dispense hot cans of coffee and hot cocoa! To this day I am still fascinated), ice cream, food, and even beer! When I saw this milk one though, I almost burst out laughing. Probably the most random of all.

To the right you see the beautiful building of Sanko! This is where I had my first Japanese grocery store experience. Everyone spoke in Japanese, all the products were in Japanese, and there were no traces of English that I could find! It was the epitome of culture shock, but since then I have thankfully conquered Sanko and other grocery stores! It's super intimidating at first though, especially when you're a picky eater like me and don't know how you're supposed to survive for the next 5 months of life. But since then, I have tried many new and interesting foods. You all will be pleasantly surprised (Kelly, are you proud?!). :)

As run down and old as this picture looks, I find this view to be absolutely stunning. The mountains in the background are gorgeous and every time I walk this way I just love it! Today, Hanne and I went running (around the white fences there is a great path) and we had such a good time. There are little spots where it's blocked off for mini parks and Japanese gardens and we were in awe of how cute it was! It's surprising in Japan how many people walk, bike, and exercise all the time. Everyone is so healthy here with foods, exercising, and overall completely different lifestyles than in America. You see like 80 year old men and women (I kid you not) walking and riding bicycles all the time, so it makes sense that they live forever! America, take notice of this and plan your lives accordingly. Let's all get healthier. After seeing this for a couple of days now, it definitely makes me want to keep exercising!

And I will close my first ever picture blog attempt with a picture of this dog. This dog looks exactly like Cooper does when he just gets a haircut. And I've seen many other dogs that look like Cooper too which makes me happy because every time I see one it makes me feel like I'm close to home even though I may be 54982754 miles away.

:)