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.

:)