Better late than never ><…

New post is up, and rather late. Kyoto will be posted very soon. As well as the rest of my travel posts and then random stuff going on currently. Sorry about the delay, and the somewhat crazy layout. It had been so long since I last posted that I forgot how to upload and use pictures. I will post the rest of the entries in a neater way. Look for them soon. And I actually mean it this time…

Spring Break Recap -Tokyo-

May 27, 2009 – 4:00pm Oita, Japan

So as the first semester came to an end here In Oita and just over two months of free time was all that stood in front of me what was there to do? Hmm lets see I thought . I could stay in Oita…or hit the road and not look back! (I chose the latter.) Northern Japan here I come!

Step one for an insane Febuary to April travel plan: pay out 9000en for a night bus from Oita-Fukuoka-Tokyo!

Tuan and I on the night bus to Tokyo (he was going to meet family)

Step 2: try to pack light!

My bags (pink one, and white purse)

Step three: Arrive in Tokyo and let the fun begin!!!

(wandering around Shinjuku until we met up with Jon)

Wandering down one of many alleyways

First thing I ate! (from a small stand in the alley)

City street

Visiting a Shrine in the middle of Shinjuku

Harajuku Street sign

I thought this was pretty funny (Redlight district)

Soon after we met up with Jon and headed over to Shibuya! Here we saw the Scramble, Hachiko, the old green train car, and various shops.

Hachiko

Scramble (this was crazy regardless of what time I went)

While I stayed in Tokyo Eric let me bum out at his place. So while being there I went to Machida and Fuchinobe a pretty good amount of times. We also went out to Ikebukuro and Namjatown, to hang out with some of his friends.

Played with a bunch of different cats here

 

The whole place was decked out for cats

Namjatown entrance (gotta love the cat theme)

Tables we sat at to eat lunch

Carousel (was not one in use)

After Namjatown I went back to Shinjuku and met Jon, Nik, and Mike. Walked around a few dept. stores, then played pool with Jon and Mike.

Saw this in a department store

English version of same sign

Jon is really good at pool

On February 20th I went to the Ghibli Museum in Mikatta. This place was the most amazing museum of it’s kind I have been in to date. Most of the time I was here I was speechless from all of the art and just the building in general. An awesome place, you should all check i tout. They also let you watch a special short movie only shown here in the museum. Ours was “The Water Spider.” (Pictures were not allowed in the main part of the building)

Part of the building

Laputa robot

Cat bus play place for the kids

Stairs

Totoro Ticket master

A few days Later I headed to Meiji Jingu, and Yayogi park. Two very interesting places. An nice old Japanese man also let us look through his awesome camera with a massive lenses to see the owls which were in the trees. he also told us about how this day was part of an owl watching season, and other interesing things.  Yoyogi park was also full of a lot of performers and 50’s themed dancers, as well as lots of art. Very cool.

I love the woodwork that was all around Meiji Jingu

The Owl is in the center of the tree, Meiji Jingu

He sand and played Beatles songs with his dad

This kid was good too

One of the many dancing groups I watched that day

Check out the huge hair these guys had going on

I love wandering around and finding art in odd places

The ties which bind us

Next on the list is Yokohama. I didn’t do much here, I rode the Ferris wheel with eric and his parents, and wandered around a few shops and a mall.

Yokohama

Night view

My next stop was Hakone, when along with Eric and his parents we spent the day at Yunesun. Yunesun is a resort style family onsen them park of sorts (bathing suits required). Here I was able to relax in chocolate, ocha, sake, chillies, wine, coffee, coal, saltwater, and various other baths. My favorites were the wine, chocolate and coffee. I also had wine and coffee poured on me while in these baths (they put the real stuff into the baths every few hours). I had a blast here!

Kamakura  occured on the 25th and this was were I bought my Goshuin Book, and began visiting many different shrines and temples and filling the books pages with there stamps. i love watching the many different people write out the calligraphy and then going back and looking at all of the different styles of stamps and different ways of writing on each page. I hope I can fill at least one side of my book before I leave Japan. I have so many pictures from this day alone that it is hard to decide which to show so I will just load a couple, look on my photo blog to find the rest.

The triforce is everywhere... even on my Goshuin book

A differnt view

Everything I saw was beautiful In Kamakura

I loved it in Kamakura

I'd like this in my garden...

-random note- First/only squirrel I saw in Japan!

The Daibutsu

That same night we went to Enoshima. This place was really cool at night, and also full of hawks, and cats…

Watch your heads! And your lunch...

A fancy Hotel resort

Found this in a Shrine

One of the big things you must do at some point in Japan is see Fuji-san. So with that in mind our next stop is Lake Kawaguchiko, one of the Fuji 5 lakes. Sadly I didn’t get to see Fuji this day due to cloud cover, but here are some pictures of how I sent my time there.

Rustic, I love it

Fist we saw real ducks then we saw duck boats.. needless to say we rented one...

-note- a 3 person boat powered by 2 people seems like a good idea...until you are in the center of a lake and exhausted

-ontop of the viewing area- Where Fuji would have been...

Don't trip..

Ueno was another big stop for me while I was In Tokyo. I spent an afternoon here checking out temples, shrines and an art museum.

There is a lot to see in Ueno

Food stands line the streets

I love the way things look here

I spent my last night in Tokyo runnign around Akihabara. Here I ran aroudn this elctronic, otaku world and even stayed in a capsule hotel that night. Here are a few pictures from the night.

The capsule I slept in

Japanese vs. Western style toilet

プリクラ, Purikura fun -Last night in Tokyo-

And with that my trip to Tokyo was at an end and a whole new adventure across Japan was all that stood infront of me. I awoke the next morning, packed my bag, and was then off on local trains using a Seishun juhachi Kippu and only local trains to leave this magical place and head to my next destination: Kyoto!

久しぶり! It’s been a long time

May 8, 2009 – 4:30pm Oita, Japan

First off let me apologize for letting my blog become the type of fail blog I meant to keep it from. You know those blogs that get so far behind in posts then stop completely…yeaa, about that. But good news is here! I’ve gotten back in gear and I am planning on giving this baby some good old fashioned lovin’. So be on the lookout for a good handful of posts, some may just be pictures and small captions. I plan on posting about my Japan travels after first semester ended, starting school again, and my Golden Week activities as well as just plain old Oita living. Falling in rivers, a wallaby, and nifty art all come at no extra cost with this! As for now it’s time for me to upload all those photo’s. (check the link on my photo blog page in the list  under “Pages” in the upper left corner ).

Fun times and great food with Tuan and Diana in an うなぎ (eel) restaurant (Oita, Japan)

2008.10.31 Hita trip and Halloween

December 2, 2008 – 9:53 pm Oita, Japan

2008.10.31- Hita Trip

On the morning of October 31st all of the students from the Discover Oita class went on a field trip. Our first stop was Kizan Park where we ate lunch. It was a small park and to amuse ourselves we played on the kid things there, while it started to rain. I climbed into a “space dome” and then was attacked by Mike and all the others around it who shook it until I was so dizzy I could not crawl out of the thing. It was funny though. I also got a picture of Adam and Tuan on the kiddie see-saw. Fun times. Ten minutes before we had to board the bus i realized there was a path leading up a hill towards the back of the park. It took me two seconds to decide to check it out. I ran all the way up to the top and found a small shrine hidden behind the treas and amongst the greenery. it was really nice however I could not stay long. I took a few pictures and boosted back down the broken stone steps, trying not to be a klutz and somehow made it back to the bus in time to sit and then have it roll out.

The second stop was Sarayama- an ontayaki pottery town. It was very peaceful and set high in the mountains. Absolutely no keitai bars out here. It was pretty nice though. I took a lot of pictures here, epically of the pottery, and of the water powered arms which pounded the stone until it was powder so the pottery makers could then use it to make clay. I also was able to watch two men make pot after pot and cup after cup lightning fast using the clay spinning wheels. At one point I spotted a small set of stairs leading down the the stream that flowed through the town. I quickly darted down here, hoped across the rocks in the stream and got some awesome pictures. Others soon followed after. After about 30-45minutes it was time to load up onto the bus again.

Our third stop was Mameta-machi- another town though this one is famous for still looking or having a fifties feel, I believe that is what our sensei said as we walked around. Walking down to the main street lead to some shenanigans as I spotted a pomegranate tree and tried to reach the fruit which was leaning over into the road. I couldn’t reach it and as I was trying to Tuan and Nike came over. Then it turned into a “get the pomegranate off the tree while no one see’s mission.” It was really funny to watch and after a while I was walking with the fruit, and Tuans camera was full of video and pictures of the whole thing. Crazy times. We did not have long once we were actually in the town, maybe just an hour. The group split up, our sensei tucked into a restaurant for a snack and the rest of us went about checking out shops. There were some cute things in the various shops and I took a few pictures as I walked around. My favourite store was an antique one that had loads of beautiful furniture, tons of the Emperor and Empress doll sets, along with many other interesting things on display. Another high point of this town was one of the little food shops- they had the best cheesecake samples ever. After this we meet up with our teacher and headed to the bus for the fourth and final stop.

The Sapporo Brewery was our final stop. The strangest thing I think I had seen that day and funny as well was the maybe 100 or so small, like maybe elementary school age kids, who were all lined up outside the factory. They had just finished their tour. I was a little shocked but at the same time it was really neat to see. I don’t think school in the US would every do this. We wall wandered around the store front and the built in museum. The museum was pretty neat and had an old time diner build in the middle all decked out with fake food, clothes, drinks, and everything just as if it were actually being used. After walking around and waiting  we were lead into a back room. Here we were show a very boring video on beer and then lead off into a corridor and up a flight of stairs.Here things got to be a little like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. We were lead through a blue light hall and to a room with two huge screens and a round one built on top of a table in the middle. Here we were not allowed to take any pictures of film until we got to the taste room at the end. Weird music played and we were show the mitosis of the yeast that is in the beer. After a brief explanation from out guide a silver wall opened up as a massive door and led us into a larger hall. In this new hall there was a large class window covering most of one wall which overlooked part of the factory and on the other wall was a glass case with different ingredients that were in the beers made in the factory as well as different bottles. We were given another explanation of all these things and then lead around to another hall. We saw more of the factory through glass windows, won a few beer can piggy banks, saw how the factory is doing what it can to help the environment by recycling and then were sent to the testing room. This test room was one of two which we were shown and was completely glass and full of long tables and a bar from which we were served juice and tea or three different types of beer. We had a short while to hang out in here and then our trip was complete. Group photos were taken outside of the factory and then we all went back onto the bus, where most of us crashed until we arrived home. It was a long day.

2008.10.31- Halloween

The very same night as the Hita trip a portion of the Americans, as well as a few of our Japanese friends, dressed up in last minute made costumes and headed to PEI. I was a maid complete with a little headband thing and an apron, Keisey was a Kleenex box, Tuan a ninja, Derek a butler, and Molly a Barbie. The rest of our group just went as is or had on deer ears, or a cowboy hat. We all hung out here for a portion of the night after wandering about the streets of Oita. We ordered up some American food,and just hung out for the night laughing and making the best of Halloween as we could. Then we left and random Japanese guys tried to talk to us but they were really drunk, and it was late we all just headed home. It had been a very long day by the time I got home and I was asleep faster than ever as soon as I reached my room.

A few things from 2008.10.19-29 :)

November 18, 2008 – 6:12 pm Oita, Japan

2008.10.19- Intl fest ingredient hunt

On this day along with Geoff, Keisey, Derek, Tuan, and I all took off in search of A-price, a large supermarket focused mostly on selling large quantities of things to restaurants. After about an hour on our bikes we came upon it. We ran around in the store collecting prices and other data that we would later relay to the other Americans and then all decide upon the best places to go to get the best prices on all the ingredients we would need for the coming festival. After gathering the information we had sought out we left the store. Once outside we heard all sorts of drumming, and commotion coming from around a street corner, so like the curious Americans that we are, we went looking for the source of the music. Turns out we ran into an Autumn festival, with a play and all, located on the grounds of a small shrine. We watched the play for a while and then hung around the food booth when a Japanese family(only speaking Japanese) sitting there invited us to sit with them, so we did. They told us about the festival and how it was what they do every Autumn and how the play was a tradition too. I took some video of it which I will upload to my YouTube account later on. The family was very nice and shared their food and drinks with us. After a while we had to say goodbye because it was getting dark, and being an hour away from home we didn’t want to get lost out there.

2008.10.25- PEI bar/club

PEI is know to everyone as the foreigner bar, and is located in the red light district here in Oita. The red light district has a lot of Host and Hostess clubs; it was pretty interesting to see them there, there are also a lot of bars and other things there for the night crowd. This night we all went to PEI because Adam works there (DJ), and we all wanted to hang out with him. It was a crazy night and before to long the bar was full of a bunch of foreigners. We found out many of them were JET and they were teaching English here. The bar also has American food like onion rings, fries with Ranch dressing, burgers and the like, given the owner is an American too. We all had a pretty good time that night and ended up getting back to Kaikan at random times that night/morning. Now we seem to go there pretty regularly to hang out and talk to all the interesting people who find there way in. We are also going to go there again on Adams last day to work to see his great finale. It should be pretty awesome.

2008.10.29- Ride down the river to the violently cheap shop and the costume store

On the 29^th Diana, Katrina, Lizzy and I rode our bikes down to the violently cheap shop (we named it as much because of the kanji used in the stores name.) We looked around and bought a few things before heading back. Oh we also saw funny ads around the Downy that had Bush and his crew on them; check out the photo blog within a day or so to see them up there.

On the 30^th a group of us all rode down the river again and made our way to a costume shop. There was a lot of random stuff here but most of it was pretty nice such as all various music boxes on display to be sold. I bought a half apron here to wear with my dress that weekend at the school festival. I planed on dressing up as a maid and selling our funnel cakes and hot coco that way.  One of my next entries will be all about that weekend.

Shrines, paintings and Mikan oh my!

October 23, 2008 – 1:45 am Oita, Japan

Last Saturday October 18th was the one day excursion for all new international students and our tutors. Along with some of the staff from the school we all went to Usa Shrine. This shine was really beautiful, and even though we did not have enough time to see everything there I was very impressed with it’s beauty and history. I later found out in class that this shine is very important and was endorsed by the emperor and its kami was even invited to the Tadaiji Temple, a temple that had houses the great Buddha, making both of them very powerful. Arriving at the shine I met up with Eri. It was great getting to hang out with her this day and we had a lot of fun wandering around and talking. Eri also let me know it was Emi’s birthday so i sent her out an email from my phone. Here at the shrine I also bought two fortunes for the year, one regular and a love one-bought the love one mostly for the charm that it came with lol- and had fun translating them with Eri. Turns out I got a perfect fortune, the highest luck one, the love one was ok too but not the highest luck one you can get. It was fun getting these though because i had never been to a shine before and experienced that. After walked out of the shine gate we also tried a bunch of samples and tea in one of the stores outside. I also bought some Taro ice cream before we had to get back onto the buses and head over to a traditional restaurant for lunch.

I was really happy when it was time for us all to eat at this very nice traditional restaurant. i was so hungry by the time we arrived. Here the food was amazing and presented in a very beautiful manner. Surprisingly to me all of the students, tutors, and teachers were able to fit into one huge room and we sat at traditional tables kneeling on pillows. It was a very nice experience. Once lunch was over we were given a tour of the village streets we were in and saw painting hung all around it which were made hundreds of years ago. Derek was our second tour guide and he translated everything the guide said in Japanese into English through the mega phone, along with his own comments too. Surprisingly the paintings were all very eye catching and some were still as bright as ever even after a hundred years.We walked around for quite a while and even saw something pretty crazy. In the street on the side by some building was a trough like cut out in the ground where a small stream of water was rushing through, the crazy thing was there were huge fish in it, for reasons unknown since once side of the thing was grated off so the fish could not go out that way. It was pretty neat to see, but random.

After the tour we were put back on the buses and soon arrived at a mikan(orange/tangerine) orchard. Here we were given half an hour or so to pick as many as we wanted to but at 2$ for 1kilo(I got 6 for this price)and we were also told we could eat as many as we wanted for free while we were out there. I ended up eating more than I bought. It was really fun running through the trees and taking pictures and laughing with friends as we ate and picked the mikan. When time was up we all headed back to the entrance to pay for our bounty and then split back into the two buses and headed home. That Saturday was very long but in a good way and is one experience here I will never forget.

Kaikan Picnic

Sunday October 13, 2008

Today Katrina, Maria, Lizzy and I were just about to walk out of the Kaikon to do some shopping when we ran into Adam. After chatting we found out that in 15mins we were all going on an impromptu picnic at the Funai Castle ruins park. Adam had sent out an email and we hand seen it yet. Oops. So we hung around in the parking lot and waited for all our friends to get back from the store with food so we could all walk together to have our picnic. This was the first time for me to go to the castle park so I was excited. We walked for maybe 15mins and then found out place between a couple Sakura trees, sadly it isn’t time for them to bloom yet. There were ten of us who went and we had a lot of food. Apples, bananas, various chips, sushi, rice balls, and different types of buns and drinks were passed around our Kaikan group. We finished most of the food, fed some crackers to the crazy jumping fish in the moat and then Molly got a random Japanese guy who was playing guitar to come play for us. He was pretty good and played a song for us that he wrote. Turns out he plays music and his girlfriend sings to it at some place nearby. Some of the group is going to check it out this weekend. After he played for us and had left we packed up and headed into the Castle courtyard I guess you would call it and saw the closed up shops that were open a few hours earlier for the Sports Festival going on here right now. It was still pretty cool and everything was really nice there. Soon we left and checked out more closed and near closing tents across the street before hitting up a Mexican restaurant. This place was really good and cheap too.

Down by the River

October 6, 2008 – 11:20 pm Oita, Japan

Today was a pretty laid back day. I slept in a little and then woke up to get ready for the day and throw out the garbage I’d forgotten to do the night before. When I was walking back in from the dumpster I saw Geoff’s door propped open so I walked in. Mike and Geoff were just hanging out and so I joined too. After talking about how nice of a day it was we all decided to go for a walk. We left the Kaikan and set out towards the river, down a road none of us had walked down before.Just turning that corner we found a really cool bakery, right beside the Kaikan that we never knew about. We  walked down the road until we reached a grassy hill where we walked over that, crossed a very thin car road, went down two fights of steps and then were at the river. Once here at Oita River we walked along it until we found a deserted baseball field and huge concrete steps which were probably meant as stands. We rested here for a while and Geoff did handstands in the field. Also one thing I have noticed here are the huge crows. These things are massive and creepy, with this weird bird sound that they make unlike any other crow I have seen before. And there are a lot of them here, and there a good number of them around us as we walked along the river. After our break we decided to just keep walking to wards the mountains to see how far we could make it. Along the walk I found two crabs, we met/said hello to people walking by, and passed a lot of bridges. After an hour we were all starving and decided to walk back. Once back at the Kaikan we made spaghetti in Geoff’s room and Derek joined us. Then the four of us moved into the lounge to do some hw. Later on Adam came and a bunch of people left to get sushi, I stayed in to finish hw and chat on my computer some with my mom. I finished the hw that is due tomorrow, uploaded a ton of pictures onto my photo blog, cleaned all my dishes, and now I am even updating this. All in all the day has been pretty relaxing and fun. Tomorrow I have classes again and it is supposed to rain. It rains a lot here actually. I hope it doesn’t last to long tomorrow though.

*side note: a very long back entry is still being written look for it within a day or so. It covers my first 10 days here* Also check out my photo and video blogs, linked on the life through film page.

The first 10- September 25th through October 4th

October 5, 2008 – 8:00 pm Oita, Japan

September 25th- Arrival into Oita Japan!

I made it! After an hour on the airport bus it finally pulled into Oita Station. I walked off the bus and within a minute Eri had found me. We were bother really happy to see each other again and she introduced me to her friend Emi who was also there. The rest of the day was very full, but very fun. Our first stop was Tokiwa, a local department store where we put my book bag in a locker and then walked around. We went to the stationary floor and made my Name stamp Eri and Emi picked out Kanji for my last name and made it really cute. After placing the stamp order we went to the top floor where a mini market like place is. We tried a lot of free food and eventually bought three little tubs of ice cream from a very nice man(Taro, sunflower, and I don’t remember the third). After this we did a lot of wandering around to the city hall to sign up for my alien registration, checked out the cell phone shop and picked out my plan, which I actually got the following day. Just wanted to clear everything over with mom before I signed up. We walked around the huge mall downtown and bought a lot of supplies and things for my room that I would need. Remember that my luggage had not come in yet so I had nothing at all. After all this was done we ventured out to the International Dorm where I would be living, the Kaikan! At the Kaikan we dropped off my stuff and then wandered around to try and find Tuan since he was getting there that same day. Eri called the school’s INTL office and found out his room number and so we then waited for him to get in. Soon we meet up with Tuan and all hung out until Eri and Emi had to go. Later that same night while Tuan and I were talking we met Geoff, another intl student, whom was wandering the halls -it was around 11pm or midnight- because his tutor hadn’t given him a room key so he was trying to find the manager of Kaikan. The three of us then out in Tuan’s room and later that night Geoff got his room key. We all had a good time getting to know each other and exchanging crazy travel stories.

September 26th

The second day here Tuan, Geoff and I hung out a bunch and then both ended up going out with Eri and I to do errands around town, like cell phones, and more city hall stuff. We even went back to the stamp store to get theirs done. While at the cell phone place Eri had to leave to go to work so the three of us finished up what we were doing there and decided to wander around downtown. Geoff, Tuan and I walked all around the huge mall, got a little lost, but ended up finding an awesome tempura place and had lunch. This place was awesome, you walk in and see a machine with all the menu on it and under each picture is a price and a button. You choose what you want, put in money, push your button and then a ticket comes out. You then sit down and give the ticket to the cook who them makes an awesome meal for you. We had a very good time here. We wandered around more and later that night went back to the Kaikan, where we found Mike and all hung out until early in the morning.

September 27th

On this day a lot of stuff happened.First off Tuan, Mike and I meet up with Eri and Emi and went out to another mall, which involved a bus ride out to a place I don’t remember the name of. It was not a long ride and soon we were there. This place was huge and we really did not walk around it at all, we were here for two reasons, Omurice and a movie. We all ate at a restaurant called Dish and the food was amazing! After this we headed to our movie. Eri and Mike chose it the night before the name was DMC Detroit Metal City. It was pretty funny. Afterwords we found our way to the arcade and made pictures in the photo booths, which are amazing here. You take the pictures, choose the 6 you want and then decorate them with crazy stuff before printing them. It was really cool. After this we hit the 100en store and bought some more stuff for out rooms before heading back home. Once back Eri and Emi had to soon go and that left Tuan, Mike and I to wander around. We ended up meeting up with Geoff again and eventually found Diana and then later that night we all went out to an Izukaya, Mr. Kimura’s Izakya to be exact. this guy was really nice to us and even did magic tricks. I am still not sure how he did the bottle trick O.o. After some drinks and the 5 Americans and our new found friend Ryu from the Izukaya headed down to Mr. Kimura’s wife karaoke place. We walked here with Ryu guiding the way but by the time we reached there Mr. Kimura was already sitting down, in a different change of clothes waiting for us. i was pretty confused at how he did this. We all stayed here a very long time and left early in the morning. We got a little lost going home but eventually found our way. I slept really hard that night too, I was so tired from being out so late.

September 28th

On this day i went wandering around the street near Kaikan with Tuan. We ended up finding a really cute bread shop, a grocery store, bike shop, and random other assorted things as well as a yakitori stand and restaurant were we had a quick snack. We met another American in there whom we talked with for a while before we all ventured out. The shop owner was also very nice and we decided to tell the others about this place when we went back. Later on that night we went back there to have ramen with Geoff, Diana and Mike. It was a lot of fun and the food was pretty good. Afterwords we all wandered around some more and ended up in the arcade. This place was awesome and I played a bunch of UFO catchers. The cool thing about them is that you can actually win the toys and food inside and if you ask the workers will move them so they are easier to get. I ended up wining a like 1 1/2foot(ish) cat plush. We spent a lot of time here and then ventured out to explore Oita at night. We stayed just in the mall area and saw a street performer doing some cool tricks with a soccer ball.

September 29th

On the 29th I wandered around town with Geoff and Tuan. We wandered around in the mall area, none of us have yet to see everything in there, and found a really good and pretty cheap curry rice place. We ate here and it was awesome! Afterwords we just hung out at Kaikan and Geoff let me borrow his list of all the random kanji on the washer so i could do laundry.

October 1

October 1st was Geoff’s birthday. To celebrate it a ton of us all went out to a karaoke place we hadn’t been to before. It was pretty nice and our room was huge. We stayed in here for a few hours and had a blast. we even managed to get Happy Birthday played on the machine so we could all sing to Geoff. Afterwords we were all pretty hungry, well half of us were. The group split and the hungry half, i was a part of this one, headed to Cafe Gusto. Cafe Gusto is a 24hr restaurant which also has a drink special where you pay like 2 or 3.99 and you can drink all you want from the drink bar. This bar has everything, milk, juice, tea’s, soda, cappuccino’s, everything. We stayed here for about an hour and then the group split again and half of us went to Kaikan while the others went back to the station.

October 2

Orientation and testing occurred on October 2nd. It was a very long day. However I did get my school id card and later on picked up my rail pass. I ended up buying a 3month pass and when it runs out I will just bike to school, its only 30mins from Kaikan. After all the orientation stuff i went back to Kaikan and met up with Derek and Diana to walk to Don Quijote (Donki) to get takoyaki. Once there we ordered our food, which was delicious and then walked around for a little while. Dinki was pretty cool and has a ton of stuff. We left to head back and I ended up taking some random pictures around town.

October 3

This was the day of the international welcome party. here we ate a bunch of snacks and random food, hung out with the other new students and tutors. There was also a 15minute video about life in Oita and lost of time to mingle with everyone. After the party a group of us went off to karaoke. This was hilarious. We all sang a bunch of old songs, many of which we had not realized what the lyrics were until we had to sing them, sang songs to each other, did the YMCA, and had a blast. We didn’t leave until 3am, we had been there since about 9 or 10pm. We were all falling asleep at this point but had missed the train home and the next one would not start again until 6am. In the end we had to call to cabs to take all of us Kaikan people home, everyone else went back to the campus. All in al it was a crazy fun night.

October 4

This day had a lot crammed into it. Early in the day I went out with tuan and we wandered around and explored the streets behind Kaikan. While walking we found a ton of stores, restaurants and really cool stuff going on. Once of which was a street bazaar and a festival. The streets were filled with random stuff layed out to buy, covered tents housed food and other goodies to purchase and in the middle of the street there were people dancing, singing and playing instruments. It was really amazing. We wandered around here for a little while then went into one of the huge department stores to just look around. After that it was time to order up some takoyaki. I really love takoyaki, and at 5$ for 14 pieces I feel like i could eat it everyday. After eating i had to leave for the station to meet Eri at the Shikido station to go to another AU store. I met Eri and we went into the store to put all my phone charges onto my credit card, that way i would not have to worry about keeping up with the monthly bill and it would just take care of its self. This did ot take to long and after we were done we walked back to her apartment. There we met with Emi and started watching Howls Moving Castle. Halfway through the movie Tuan and Mike showed up and then all of us ate Curry rice Eri and Emi had made for us and watched another movie. I can not remember the whole title to the movie but I do know it had 21st century girl in it and the girls name, which has slipped my mind at the moment. This movie was pretty random but funny. When this had finished we looked though Eri’s pictures from UNCC and reminisced on old times. We talked until after 11pm and realized we had only one more train to catch so we all said our goodbyes and headed to the station. It was really nice getting to hang out with Eri and Emi and we will all have to do it again soon.

Delayed before takeoff -A rough start to a long Journey-

September 28, 2008 – 11:25 pm Oita, Japan

-unedited and may be full of errors, will recheck at some point and fix them all ><. Sorry for any crazy text you may find in there-

And so my trip to Japan started on the morning of September 23rd, and things seemed to be going well. The suitcases were loaded onto the conveyor that takes them away and so all I had left was my book bag and my purse. After this I had some fun with my mom while we waited in the airport lobby and took funny pictures. When it was time to go I said goodbye to my mom, went through security and was on my way, or so I though. I climbed into my first flight from Fayetteville to Charlotte, got situated in my seat and watched my watch until the departure time came up. As the plan started to move backwards faster and faster i began to get excited. This is when my world came crashing down. We were just about to go on the runway and the plane suddenly stops. The captain then came over and said that Charlotte was “busy” and that meant that we had to stay right where we were until it was alright to go. the flight was supposed to leave at 7:45 and we didn’t take off until 8:20. This made me very upset and had me freaking out because I would miss my flight to Canada and thus not get into Japan on time. After this short flight we arrived into Charlotte and everyone was crowding the aisles to try and get out when the Flight attendants had everyone sit back down and wait. I felt my heart sink at the though of being held up even longer. However just as I had thought this to myself the flight attendant call out my name as well as another woman. We has been red flagged as very near missing our important flights to Toronto, which wouldn’t repeat until much later. We were both then rushed out of the plane, told to get onto a little cart and then rode half way across the airport, and then ran the other half to get to the terminal where our plane was being held for us. When I first got into the cart the woman driving asked which one of us was Danielle. I told her that was me and she began going on about how they were doing all they could to get me to my Toronto flight terminal so that I would not miss it and then have my other 4 flights messed up as well.In her own words she said to me “yeah you are the girl going to Japan, we have to get you to this flight(Toronto) or else you may never get there with how many others you need to catch.” It was crazy, however once on the plane everything seemed to be OK and I could relax, and even sleep for a little bit off and on.

Canada

I didn’t sleep much on my flight to Canada. This allowed me to see it as soon as we passed over a rather large body of water which I have no idea what it was. I even took a couple pictures of this. In the Canadian airport I turned in a customs paper, got a Canadian stamp in my passport(Awesome, 1st stamp!) checked my bag through security again and went to wait in my next terminal. I found some really interesting stuff here as well. When you walk down the stairs it leads you right into the air piece that was massive(Check out the photo blog for a picture), I also found a cute money collection thing and two lion/tiger statues. I wondered around for a bit then called my mom and then Whitney and then my mom again to say goodbye again and let her know my whereabouts. I was surprised that I could still make calls at this point, but my phone said “Rogers” which I am guessing is AT&T there so it was all good. Soon after this I boarded the Air Canada 1 plane and was on my way to Tokyo!

Tokyo, Japan- Narita Airport

My Toronto to Tokyo flight was by far the longest flight I have ever been on, unless England was more ><. On this flight my book bag was stored in the compartment and I forgot to get out my camera, ds, and ipod before it was stuck under and behind three other peoples things. Aside from that, and the fact that I could not sleep at all because i was in the seats that seemed to be right behind the engine, the flight was an interesting experience. One thing that i absolutely loved was all the food they served to us. About 45minutes into the flight we were given drinks and then hot food which was amazing and looked really good too. After I  watched “The Forbidden Kingdom” on the personal TV screen that popped out from under my seat boxes full of sandwiches and fruit were handed out. Then as I was watching “Speed Racer” more drinks(given out ever hour or so) were given and huge cups of Cup-o-noodles. Then while watching “Maid of Honor” another hot meal was given. The food was so good and they just kept pushing it on us it seemed. I ate everything and felt so full but so good afterwords. Another thing i really liked on this flight was the TV screen that popped out from my seat. It was all touch screen and had xm radio, TV, games, and about 25-30 videos on it. This kept me very entertained while the sun was to bright to look outside. When we flew over Tokyo and began to land i was amazed at all the lights I saw on the ground below me. This is defiantly a busy place but it seemed alive even at night, I have to go there sometime and experience it. Once off the plane and into the airport I got anther few stamps, had my finger prints scanned and photo taken and was then off to catch my next flight or so i thought. Originally when I checked in at the Fayetteville Airport i was told I did not have to pick up my bags until Osaka so when I arrived into Tokyo I just tried to walk through customs, this is when things went bad. I walked up to the customs man and told him my bags were supposed to be sent to Osaka, this is where he told me that they all come into this airport and we have to clear then through customs before going on. So I went back to where the bags roll around to be collected and waited until the machine had turned off and my bags had not shown up. This was when I headed to the baggage support both and told them my situation. After calling around we found out that my bags has never made it to my Toronto flight and thus were about a day behind me travel wise, joy ><. I was then given lost baggage paperwork and told to call when I landed in Oita and inform them of the address to send my things to, i told them just to send it to Oita University until I told them otherwise, that way at least I could get them eventually. I was then walked through customs and then on my way to wait at the terminal that would take me to Osaka.

Osaka, Japan-Homeless?

The flight to Osaka was pretty short, just short of two hours and then there I was. Once in the airport i ventured off to find somewhere to exchange all my US money only to find that this “International Airport” did not have any such place to do so. I was told to find the atm on the opposite side of the airport and try my luck there. Once I found it I tried my debit card,a visa, and against all my hopes it was denied by the atm. Apparently it did not like Visa types. I then tried my credit card but even then I had an issue. This atm was asking for pins and things that did not exist for my card. So frustrating. After some time wandering around I found a wireless hotspot where I then got onto my laptop and called up my mom on skype. After a while of explaining what was going on we figured everything out and I was able to use the credit card to get out some Japanese money so I could eat and such while I waited. Being stuffed from my previous flight I did not buy anything this night. Having this wireless spot i thought things would be ok and i could easily pass the 14hours i had to wait here with ease, that is however before the airport security came around and informed the old man who was sitting across the room from me, as well as the other woman there and myself that we had to leave because the airport was closing. It was 10pm. At the front of the airport the other woman(Anne) and i began to talk and it turned out that we were both stuck there until the next day and neither of us had any where to stay. I asked the security again if we could stay and they said sorry but no and so Anne, the old man and I were sent outside. Once outside I asked the old man(Japanese) where a hotel was. After a converstaion where i found out that the nearest hotel was across the busy street and behind a fence i was about to head over there when he told me to wait and was explaining that you had to walk the long way around because of the cars. He also called the hotel and asked if they had any rooms left too. He was a really kind and helpful person. After all of this Anne and I decided to try our luck at walking around and getting to the hotel so that we wouldn’t be roaming the streets. We had to walk up stairs, through the station and then down stairs to reach the road where we could see the hotel from, only problem was it was behind a very tall fence. So we decided to walk down the street and try to find it from behind. Turns out this was a lot harder to do than we though be we did see a ton of other hotels. Love hotels to be exact, seven all right next to each other. It was interesting… After about an hour of walking and wondering we found the hotel we originally wanted, however by this time the hotel was full so we were sent back out to try and figure out what to do. WE decided to just go back to the station and hang out there. This plan was working just fine until about an hour or so later when we, along with some other guys there, were told to leave because the station was closing up for the night. Once again we were sent out again and let pretty much homeless on the streets. After this we just decided to walk all the way back around the the airport and just wait there until 6am when it would reopen. We found a set of stairs that led to the middle of the side entrance and just camped there for the night. We ate chips, talked, and waited for the next few ours until 6am finally rolled around. At 6am we walked to the front entrance, people watched the workers go abut there morning routines, and then we were let in. We said our goodbyes and then we both went to our respective airline terminals. I changed into my extra shirt in the bathroom and then headed to the wireless hot-spot to see if my mom left me any messages about the whole card issue. She had and after checking my messages i ran to the atm, withdrew some money, then headed to my terminal, passing through security once again and then finally sat down to wait on the plane. While waiting I bought a Calpis drink -first purchase in Japan- and then boarded my flight soon after. The ride was short and soon we were landing in Oita.

Oita-The end of a very long trip-

Once in the Oita airport I waited on the luggage belt thing to stop completely before leaving that area into the main part of the airport. I knew my bags probably had not been found yet and placed on the plane but I waited just to be sure. On the luggage belt there was a massive plate and fake food that kept going around and around on the belt. It must have been some sort of bumper thing airport placed there. Whatever the reason for it being there it was pretty funny to see. In the lobby I exchanged my US money for Japanese En, bought my bus ticket and then went outside to catch my ride. The bus ride which cost ¥ 1500-around 15$- was an hour but it did not feel that long. The scenery was beautiful. Lots of greenery and ocean. I took a few pictures but nothing great, mostly I just watched out of the window at everything going on outside. The end of the ride came sooner than I had expected and soon I was off the buss and walking around Oita Station. I had taken maybe seven steps when I heard my name being called out. I turned around to Find Eri and her friend Emi. I was so happy to see Eri again and glad I had made it to Oita after such a long journey.

Is it really time?

September 22, 2008 – 10:48 pm Linden, NC

I keep asking myself that question. Is it really time for me to leave for Japan, it all feels so surreal.

Today my mom and I had a nice time running around. First we went to the doctors where I was given a bunch of medicine to help get rid of the cold I caught. Afterwords we went to the bank, Taco bell, Walmart then back home. We packed up some more things into my suitcases and then went to pick up dinner after saying goodbye to Joani, Dean and Gavin who had stopped by. While out we ran into Linda and had a funny conversation in the parking lot about the CNN rule, it’s more of a running joke we all have and I will post later explaining it and some other funny rules my mom told me the other night. As for now I have been packing up last minute things, transferring files from my huge hard drive onto my new portable one and cleaning my room so that it will look good when I leave tomorrow morning. I have been really sad today because I will be leaving my mom tomorrow. After I am gone she will be here all alone, aside from when Simmie and Aimee get back down. She was talking to me about it today and about how much she will miss me when I am gone but how happy and excited she is for me. I am excited too, but I am going to miss my mom a lot. Tonight I kept asking her if it was really time for me to go because I just could not believe it. All the nerves have been getting to me these past few days and i have not been able to sleep well but I never had it click that my time left here was so short. Now that it is up I wish I had more time to hang out with my mom but I am also so ready and really excited about going abroad. This will be a big change, a huge jump into something I have only dreamed about, and tomorrow morning it all begins.

From Fayetteville, NC to Charlotte, NC(51min layover) to Toronto, Canada(2hr layover) to Tokyo, Japan(3hr layover) to Osaka, Japan(14hr layover) to Oita Japan(then a 55min bus to Oita station), My 37hr+ crazy journey with planes, long layovers, hotels, buses, and excitement is about to begin.

Funny thing is I am ready to start regardless of all my nerves and fears, I am ready to go on this trip and experience the world!

Let the adventures begin! <3

Beyond the clouds

September 17, 2008 – 11:28 pm Linden, NC

This morning I went with Jon and his mom to RDU where Jon would leave to begin his journey to Japan. The airport was not crowded at all given the early time we had arrived and this gave us a chance to walk around and chat. Jon also got money exchanged at the teller so he would be ready when he landed in Tokyo. I had never seen a currency exchange teller in action before so that was pretty interesting. The currency for Japan so colourful and detailed, I really love just looking at them. Jon was given a bill neither of us had seen before while this exchange happened and we both commented on how nice it was. Soon Jon’s brother came with his son and his girlfriend so we all chatted for a while. However as time always seems to pass by faster than what we would like the time for Jon to leave us and go through security had quickly approached. Goodbyes, see you later, and promises to email were said all around as once again I saw another friend begin their journey to the other side of the world. Jon’s family and I watched from the lobby as Jon went through security and then disappear through another hallway. Once again I was both excited for and sad that another friend had left, even though we will all meet up once in Japan. And with that Jon’s family and I departed from the airport and headed back towards home. Jon’s mom and I had a nice drive back and a lovely breakfast together. Once we were back in town we said our goodbyes and I headed home to nap.  In between napping I got a few calls from Jon between his flights. It was good to hear his voice and to know he was doing alright in the airports. I am so excited for Jon and I can’t wait to hear about his trip. Another cool thing is the fact that Nik gets into the airport on the same day, so the two of them will be able to hang out pretty much as soon as they get off the plane.Good luck and best wishes to the both of them, being the first two to go to Sophia will be a fun adventure.

There are only three of us left now. Tuan leaves soon, then Mike and then it will be only me left in the states until the 23rd. The longest summer I have ever had has come down to it’s last week. My packing has been complete now for about a week or so. Odd thing with that was I had everything I was to take in one suitcase,62lbs. After a confused state where I couldn’t figure out 1) how I managed to get everything including a folded up duffel bag into this one suitcase, and 2) why it was not heavier, I decided it would be best just to split up my bag into the duffel that was packed inside of it. But that was around a week ago. Now all that I have left to do is check and recheck everything right up until the day I leave. I even managed to create my photo blog today, after my long nap. Check the link for it on the “Life through Film” page as well as it being at the end of the previous post. I will be using that site to post all my pictures and albums from my trip.

1st family Vacation

September 17, 2008 – 8:45 pm Linden, NC

On September 13th my mother, sister, and I drove to Doswell Virginia to meet up with Simmie. After dinner at Cracker Barrel we went to our hotel, which was located across the street from Kinds Dominion. The whole reason for this trip was to go to Kings Dominion for the day on September 14th. Simmie’s company, Booze Allan Hamilton , had rented out the entire park for the day, making everything free for us, aside from a few food stands and the rinky dink games in booths around the park, such as the guess your weight, basketball toss, ring toss etc. games. The morning of the 14th we woke up around 8am and had breakfast before fueling up the cars and heading to the park. Once at the park we had an amazing time. We even convinced my mom to go on three roller-costers. Of course after that she would only ride the “nice rides” as she put it, like the carousel, old time car and such rides. Hearing my mom on a roller coaster had to be the funniest thing in the world! Simmie and I even were able to do the slingshot ride, the one shaped like an arch which pulls you 150some feet into the air before dropping you and letting you “fly”. We ended up buying the dvd of our turn as well. This ride was so much fun! The rush from it was amazing and falling from the sky like we were and “flying” back and forth was a great experience. On the dvd you can hear me scream with excitement as we drop and hear funny comments from my mom about how me and Simmie are crazy for going on this ride. It was great. the whole day went well and at lunch we had a buffet style layout sponsored by B.A.H. consisting of chicken, bbq, random fixings, and tons of drinks and ice cream. It was all very good. Our last stop was the water park where my sister and I ran around and then went on a really cool inner-tube ride. This ride made 2-4 people, in our case 2, sit on a clover shaped tube and float down a dark twisting tunnel before being shot out into a huge funnel where you slide back and forth until it spits you out through a smaller opening at the bottom. After this we all had had our fill of rides and the heat of the day and being 4pm we decided to close out the day by buying a set of family photos from the stand, and ended up with a bunch of pictures, some in frames, and also a key chain each. Our day of family fun was over but it was the best day it could have been. I am so glad we were all able to do this vacation trip before I left and that we were all able to bond as we screamed and laughed on the rides. Goodbyes in the parking lot were pretty hard, especially since that may have been the last time I see Simmie, my “fasha”,before I leave the country. In the end however we all had a great time and the memories of that day i will cherish forever. the family picture we took that day now sits in a frame next to my bed in my room.

Here is the link to the page on my photo blog which corresponds with this day: http://foreignaffinity.shutterfly.com/22

Into the Sky

September 03, 2008 – 1:20 pm Linden, NC

Monday morning I went with Travis and his mom to the airport, his time for Japan had already come. The night before we rushed around his house to try and make sure everything was packed and ready to go. In that moment the nerves hit me about going, even as I was watching as they had already hit him. However Monday morning we all seemed calm and excited though a little nervous. Once at the airport we chatted for a while, said our goodbyes and then he left us to go through the security check and onward to his plane. His mother and I went to the observation deck outside and then waited to hear his flight called over the radio out there so we could see him take off. Watching his plane slowly move down the runway and then steadily pick up speed I realized something, this was it. This was what we always wanted. This experience will stay with us forever and when we get back we will view the world differently than we already do. We will be more worldly and more informed on foreign affairs. This was the big jump out of our everyday routine and environment that we have worked towards. Now it was here, and I was excited more than anything, with some sadness and nervousness mixed in. I know everyone going abroad this year must feel that too. We will miss everyone left here but we are ready to go out into the world and have new experiences in other countries. I will miss being near all my family and friends and being separated from everyone abroad but I know we will still be in contact, thorough all the many ways we have now. The moment Travis soared into the sky I was so happy for him, and excited about all the wonderful things he will see and do. Leaving the airport I had a new burst of energy to get all of my things set out and packed up, to get all the errands and extra paperwork finished, and to finally be ready for my own departure.

So far my own packing has been pretty slow but I have made progress. I have my carry on bag set aside with my laptop bag and a pencil case inside of it. My list of clothes and things to take is almost done. I finally filled out my medical paperwork and tracked down copies of my prescriptions so that i would be allowed to take a years worth of medicine into the country and sent these papers off. I even cleared out a lot of clothes from my closet and dresser that I will not wear again. i will donate all these things. I want to get rid of as much stuff that I don’t need before I leave here. A few more checks through all my laundry and I should have all the things I really wear and that fit me set aside and everything else can be given away. Also a few more hours dedicated to just my inventory list and it will be done and my test packing can begin. I am working on doing a test pack possibly this weekend, or some night this week if I find myself unable to sleep, which has been happening more and more. I may even post some pictures once I get around to the test pack. I have a feeling that all the things I pack will end up weighing a lot more than I do in the end. I guess I will have to figure out how to deal with that one later.

11hours 15minutes until September 2008

August 31, 2008 – 12:45pm Linden, NC

I can’t believe September will soon be here. That idea is both exciting and saddening all at the same time. September marks the departure of all my friends to our various locations abroad. A lot of my friends will be centered around the Tokyo area or just an hour or so away, as for myself and the few others going to Oita we will be about 8hrs. away from them. This whole experience will be amazing and I know we will all have tons of stories to share with each other through our blogs, emails, on the phone, and even when we meet up from time to time while we are over there. In just a few hours I have to start saying goodbye to my friends whom leave before I do, I’m pretty sure I’m the very last to go. I leave September 23rd.

Coming to this realization that my time here with everyone in the states is quickly coming to an end has started to hit me and the nerves are beginning to sneak in. I haven’t studied anywhere near to what I should have during this break, instead I spent my time with friends, goofing around, running errands, or sleeping. So now my Japanese has gone downhill. I have all of my old notes however so I will look these over and of course bring my dictionary with me. This whole experience is about learning and I think being completely surrounded by the language day in and day out will allow me to get a better and deeper grasp on it. This same thing happened to me when I took french. In the end I studied the language for 5 years however it wasn’t until the third year where I was in the two AP French classes were we were only allowed to use french and all out papers out textbooks and notes were only in French that I was able to feel comfortable with the language and didn’t have to think to hard about how to say things, I even did skits and jokes in this class and everything came easy then. I believe it was due to the forced immersion into the language, however not using french for 3 years now I have replaced much of it with Japanese, I do plan on going back to French though someday. Knowing this about myself I know that as long as I do my best and study everything I am taught while abroad as well as meeting new people and exploring I will learn the language faster than I ever though i could, and have a better grasp on it. I’m ready for this as well as nervous about going and not knowing some things, but it’s a learning experience so I will be fine.

Tomorrow morning however is the day of my first goodbye, a few days later another, then two weeks later. Time has come up fast and we are all leaving to embark on our own adventures abroad and I can’t wait to hear about what everyone will be doing. Soon enough it will be my time to go to, but I feel I am ready for the change, and I know I am more than ready to get out of the country again.

I will post soon about my packing and other thoughts before I leave as well as update little things on my blog. Speaking of blog updates I have to give credit to Jon who helped me figure out the categories tab which I renamed locations, it was his idea first and he figured it out.I also plan on changing my header into pictures that I will take abroad so be on the lookout for that. I suppose that is all I have for now, be on the lookout for another blog soon!