japanigans!

Hey people!

It’s been awhile since I’ve last written. I’ve been keeping myself pretty busy and really enjoying my life in Japan. This post probably won’t go into much detail, but I’ll give an overview of what I’ve been doing.

At school, classes are going well. IJ400 is progressing smoothly. I’m learning a lot and doing reasonably well for the amount of studying I’ve been putting into it (which could definitely be more). About two weeks ago, we had a project in class where we all went to interview the owner of a shop in 覚王山 (Kakuōzan), an area about three subway stop away from the school. My group had a fruit store, and the man in charge gave us all free 梨 (nashi - pear). They were really good but, the store is supposedly one of the most expensive fruit shops in all of Nagoya, so it really should be good. Aside from that, the class has been the same thing pretty much.
The rest of my classes are pretty dull, too. However, today in Tea Ceremony, we were supposed to go on a “field trip” to a tea house to look at it, but the teachers forgot that today is 勤労感謝の日, (kinrō kansha no hi - Labor Thanksgiving Day). So, most places are closed because it’s a national holiday. My university just doesn’t believe in giving us days off, so we were still in school.

Outside of school, I’ve just been going out with friends. Mostly we hang out around Nagoya. I won’t go into detail of going out to clubs, bars, and karaoke or the debauchery involved, but I’ve definitely been having a good time, and I’ve made some really good friends here.

This past weekend, I went on a trip with my friends Kate and Jeff to Kyoto. Kate had a friend from Nanzan who studied abroad at her university and invited us to go with her and her friends to see the 紅葉 (kōyō - lit. “red leaves” but means like the changing trees, or fall colors). We were originally planning on driving with the Japanese kids up, then saying goodbye to them and staying the night to go to Nara the next day, but because it was a 3 day weekend we were unable to find a hostel that wasn’t full, so we just went back the same night with them. But, it was definitely a fun day. The weather was really nice, and the leaves were changing. I think leaves change differently here, though. In America, when I drive home from school and see the mountains, they seem to all change at once and have a nice eruption of color, while here they seem to all change slower and at different paces. So, while it was still beautiful, it was a little lackluster in comparison to what I’m used to. However, I forgot my camera in my rush out of the house in the morning. So, I need to swipe pictures off Facebook from my friends camera’s.
My favorite spot in Kyoto was the 清水寺 (Kiyomizu-ji - Kiyomizu Temple). It’s a temple built into a mountain with support beams that help hold it up. It was really pretty and there were a lot of beautiful views of Kyoto. We were also there at sunset so it made the view even more gorgeous.

So, there’s a brief overview of the past three weeks. I will definitely try to update more. But, I have been trying to keep myself pretty busy and make the most out of my time abroad.

You know you love me.
xoxo

Hey People!

It’s been about two weeks since my last post, so I think it’s about time for an update! Life has been prety boring lately, but I’ll fill you in on the minutiae of my life this time.

My midterms in IJ400 went well. I could’ve done better in some parts, but on the whole I’m happy with my grade. Now, were back to normal class. We have a project where we go to 覚王山 (Kakuōzan), a shopping area around a pretty big temple. I haven’t been there, but my host mom says it’s a nice place. We have groups of three and each group has a store. My group has a fruit store called 弘法屋 (Kōbōya). Our teacher had told us that it’s really expensive and they sell really nice fruits. So, we need to be really polite when we talk to the people there. Tea Ceremony is still probably my favorite class. I never have homework or need to study anything, we get free candy and tea, and then talk about Japan and Japanese culture. It’s a sweet gig. We did ikebana this week, too. Which is basically flower arranging. It was kinda boring. I almost took the ikebana class here, but now I am glad I chose Tea Ceremony instead.
Tomorrow is the last day of classes before our Fall Break, then on Thursday I’m off to the Philippines! But, outside of school not too much is happening otherwise.

This weekend was pretty fun. It was my friend Jeff’s 21st birthday. So, we all went out for karaoke. We were going to go to a club, but going out with the people from the dorm is ridiculous. You can’t leave that place in a timely fashion. You go there to meet three people, but only two are ready, so then one of the two that are ready go to find the third, but then the third comes down and is ready and the one that went to find them is no where to be found, then a new person realizes you’re going out and they want to come too, so they go and change, then the one that went to look for the third comes back, and the new person isn’t ready yet, so one of the three go to find them, and so on and so forth. It’s a vicious cycle. So, it’s annoying for people who are doing home-stay who show up there all ready to go. My friend, Kate, and I call it the “black hole.” But, anyway, Jeff and Kate came back from dinner with Jeff’s mom who is visiting and we had to wait for everyone to change from their Halloween costumes (there was a Halloween party at the dorm, not remarkable) and an hour and a half later we finally left. We sang karaoke for a couple of hours, but after we were done the trains had stopped. We were close enough the people in the dorm could walk back, which means I could too since I live close enough to the school, but Kate lives about an hour away, so she couldn’t even take a taxi back. So, the dorm people went back to the dorm, and Kate and I went and got some food and sat around and talked til the trains started again around 5:00 AM. It was pretty nice out, not too cold. But, it’s weird walking around at night because it’s really quiet around here, but there’s still like old men out power walking at like 3:00 AM. Kinda weirded us out.
Well, that was the highlight of this past weekend. I hung out with some people on Saturday, and Karen and I went shopping on Sunday, but nothing too exciting happened.

I guess that’s all for now. You know you love me.
xoxo

Hey people!

It’s been far too long since I have last updated. Lots of things have happened since my last post, so I’ll try to be as brief as possible and just highlight the exciting parts.

School has been going well. I am enjoying my classes. I still feel like I am doing far too little work before I go to class, but when I am there I seem to be just about on par with the rest of the class. It’s kind of strange, but I’m not really complaining because, as most of you know, I am extremely lazy. IJ400 is going smoothly. I think it’s pretty easy so far. We have three midterms in the next three days though. On Thursday, I only have a seven-minute oral exam. And, because my student ID number is 001, I am one of the first to go. So, I need to wake up and go to school by 9:20 still. More time for my Thirsty Thursday Circle, I suppose. My other classes are good, too. I have to write a paper in Literature for next week. I am actually looking forward to it because I haven’t done anything at all challenging since I’ve been here. Foreign Policy is a breeze. And Tea Ceremony is awesome. We get sweets and tea every class.

Outside of classes, I need to think about all that I’ve done. I guess I’ll just put the more exciting things.

I’ve become friends with some of the other exchange students here. These two other girls and I formed a little club on Thursdays called the Thirsty Thursday Circle. Because none of us have class in the afternoon on Thursday, we spend our time walking around Nagoya and enjoying some refreshing beverages. It’s a really good time. I’m pumped for this weeks.

A couple weekends ago, my hostmom and I went to Gifu which is the capital of a prefecture north of Aichi (Nagoya’s prefecture). (The other prefecture is Gifu Prefecture, easy ne?) We started off in a ladies fashion festival thing, where lots of stores were having sales and stuff. It was kinda boring, but seeing all the Japanese ladies going nuts over dresses and stuff was kinda cool. Then, we went and walked around the Gifu Festival. Festivals here seem to be basically the same in regards to food and vendors, with little differences depending on the theme of the festival. This one was in honor of Oda Nobunaga who was the man that laid the groundwork for uniting Japan in 16th century. (It gets more complicated than that, but that’s a brief overview of it. I won’t give you a history lesson, even though I totally can and would love to if there’s any interested parties.)  After we walked around the festival for a little while, we went off to Mt. Kinka, the mountain in the middle of Gifu-shi. I took this cart thing (called a “rope-way”) up to the top. Then I walked to the Castle where Oda lived for awhile. Then I took a long walk down the mountain to see this pagoda. It was a really nice walk with lots of nice aerial views of Gifu.

We had a typhoon last Thursday, though. The wind was really strong and it was raining pretty hard on Wednesday night, so the school called and told us that we weren’t going to have morning classes. But, when I woke up on Thursday it was a beautiful and sunny day. So, I got a day off school for nothing. Although, my circle meeting was postponed because of it. We’ll just have to make up for it this week.

So, instead Karen and I met up and discussed our plans for the upcoming fall break we have at the end of the month. Karen was thinking of going to Okinawa for it, but we did some research and found out that going to the Philippines for a couple days was actually cheaper. So, we went and bought two tickets for Manila! We’re going to spend our break in the sunny Philippines. It was kind of spontaneous, but I am really looking forward to it. When else in my life will I be able to spend a long weekend in the Philippines?

This past weekend was pretty low key. I’ve been feeling a little sick. I think it’s just a cold. But, I did go out on Saturday night. A couple friends and I went out. We went to a Thai restaurant. One of my new friends had spent a year in Thailand during high school, and she wanted to go find a Thai place because she misses the food. The restaurant was kind of expensive, but the food was really good. I just got this chicken in cashew sauce thing. It was good.

Yesterday, Karen invited me to go to a barbecue that a Japanese student invited her to. This girl had gone to Dickinson on a summer program, and was really outgoing and friendly. So, Karen, another girl from the dorms, and I went with her to her house. This girl’s house was HUGE. She had this shrine thing for her grandparents in her living room on an elevated platform thing that was probably the size of my room here. And the actual shrine was all gold plated and extremely ornate. They said it was the biggest one in all of Nagoya. It was pretty impressive. The food was amazing too. Lots of beef, chicken, vegetables, and squid. The squid was probably the best squid I’ve eaten since I’ve been here. We all kept saying how full we were, but the mom would just bring out more food and we’d keep eating because it was so delicious.

Well, I know I’ve done more. But, that’s about the gist of my life in Japan so far. I’ll try to update more. Until then, you know you love me. xoxo

Hey people!

I thought it was time for another update on life in Nippon. Classes started in full swing last week. IJ400 is decent. It gets confusing at times since we switch rooms throughout the class and have different teachers, but on the whole it’s a good class, and I’m learning a lot. My other classes are Japanese Literature, Japanese Culture and Tea Ceremony, Japan Foreign Policy, and I’m auditing a class called “History of Cultural Exchange between France and Japan.” Japanese Literature seems like it will be an easy class. The teacher is ridiculous. He is never serious, about anything. He started the class by telling us about “his dear friend who died in July of a serious illness,” and concluded with “and since he’s dead, I’m teaching this class now, so I just use the syllabus he was going to use, there’s some mistakes on it because I teach differently! So, bear with me as I’m a little unorganized! ha” He called me a pretty boy for using a purple pen while wearing a purple shirt. He said it looked good on me though. I like him. Japanese Tea Ceremony seems like it will be a good class. The lady who teaches it wears a kimono and has no idea how to work a VCR, so class ended early when she couldn’t work the tape. The history class was entirely in Japanese, I really had no idea what was happening because it was a lot of names and places. But, since it’s an open course, and school for the Japanese students hasn’t started yet, it was only me and two other people in the class. It was kind of awkward since we had no idea what she was talking about, and she knew but kept talking anyway. She did speak French at one point though. I’ve never heard anything so weird. My Foreign Policy teacher wasn’t here this week. He was in Spain. I don’t know why. A lady from the CJS office came and gave us a syllabus and ended class early. On the whole, my classes seem pretty good. Should be a decent semester.

On Sunday, my host mom and I went to this market by Kosho Temple (興正寺) which was fun. Lots of vendors selling vegetables and other goods. The temple was really close to my house. I had seen it a few times before walking around in 八事 (Yagoto, the neighborhood I live in) but never actually went up to it. So, it was nice to be able to go see it. Afterward, my host mom took me to the subway, and I went to the せともの祭 (Setomono Festival) which was a festival for the people who make ceramics in Seto. It was nice, there were lots of bowls and cups that were really pretty, and so much delicious food. Also, my host mom recommended I go walk a short distance to the old part of Seto where there’s a temple and historical house with little ceramic figurines. Overall, it was a nice day.
There are a few pictures from that, and a few other random things here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicholaa
I’ll upload more when I feel like it. They aren’t that exciting, so those are about the best you’re going to get.

A few random thoughts about Japan:
It’s really confusing having traffic on the left. At first most people seemed to just walk on the left naturally, but no not really. They have no natural place where they walk. It’s awkward and lots of moments where you and someone else are each trying to move out of each others’ way but end up being more in their way than before.

Places are had to find here. I spent like an hour looking for The Pokemon Center in Sakae (basically downtown Nagoya). I knew exactly where it was, but I just can’t find it. I walked around in the area where it said it was on the website and I found it’s office. Which for some reason is in a different location from the actual store. So I asked a lady there who told me where to go. But, I must be missing something because I can’t find this place. I know it’s going to be really obvious when I actually do find it.

Sleeping on a futon sucks. I have to set it up every night and put it away every morning. I would seriously cut off a pinky toe for a bed right now. I think the first thing I do when I get home is just lay in my bed for a day.

Laundry in Japan is kinda fun. I have to hang my clothes out on the balcony for them to dry. Sometime I’m going to have to do that with my futon, too..

That’s all for now. You know you love me. xoxo

Hey people!

So far, Japan has been great. It’s just really, really hot here. I think it was about 31-32 degrees yesterday. The heat isn’t that bad, but the humidity is what really makes the weather intense. I’ve never experienced it being so humid, so consistently. But aside from sweating all the time, Japan is awesome.

Yesterday, we got the results of our placement test. I got into Intensive Japanese 400 which is what I was expecting and aiming for. So, now that I know that I am pretty relieved that I didn’t mess up on the placement test. After the results were passed out, we had a really boring orientation that was basically common sense about life in Japan and “what to do in emergencies” kind of things.

Following the orientation, there was a welcome party for the new exchange students and some current students at Nanzan. There were a lot of little foods that were just kind of a random assortment. They had like sandwiches, potato wedges, and fried chicken. They also had some sushi and dumplings. After the welcome party was over, we went on tours with current Nanzan Students. It was fun to walk around and see the campus and find out which building had what things, I don’t know how much I really remember from it though. But, I have a better idea that I did before.

After the tour, Karen and I went with some of her dorm-mates to the Ward Office to apply for our 外国人登録証明書 (Alien Registration Card) and the 国民健康保険 (National Health Insurance). We took the subway, which was a first since being in Japan. It was nice, not too crowded. I suppose in busier parts of town at more rush hour times they would be a little more packed.

I went home and took a nap after we did that, and later that night Karen asked if I wanted to go for a walk. So I went over to Nanzan and met up with her. We walked towards 名古屋大学 (Nagoya University) since neither of us had been there yet. It was a nice campus. On our way back, we stopped at a 7-11 (there’s lots of コンビニ [read: “conbini,” short for convience store, there’s a lot of them here] and a lot of them are 7-11’s or Circle K’s. There’s also this one “Lawson’s” everywhere. It’s weird.) and got some 氷結 (some drink that is lemon or grapefruit flavored and delicious). We then stopped in this park at Nagoya University. We sat there drinking our dranks, then this security guard walked by and like noticed but didn’t care. Karen was getting bit by mosquitos like crazy so we just started walking. Japan is awesome, you can walk down the street just drinking and no one gives it any thought. We walked by and went our separate ways. But it was a nice night.

So, to recap:

• Got into the level I wanted in Japanese.
• Took my first subway ride in Japan.
• Bought my first alcoholic beverage legally, ever.
• Loving Japan.

xoxo.