Sunday, April 24, 2011

Chinpunkanpun

Posts are slowing down =] a bit more obviously now. I've been doing a lot of things, but nothing really post-worthy. I don't want to bore anyone ^_^ But I suppose yesterday was uber-Japan related. We woke up super early (on a Saturday morninggg) for a Field Trip to Osu. Osu is basically a little town on the outskirts of Sakae, the main city/district where I live. We went with my Japanese Culture class - the one that doesn't speak any English. It was pretty cool, apart from the rain. We went to second-hand kimono shops and looked around. Some people bought things, but I'm saving my souvenir shopping for when I come home.

By the way, let me know what kind of gift you want for when I come home. =] Comment or facebook or whatever. I already have a list of things to give Sean. I keep running into Pokemon stuff! Like today - pokemon bandaids. Can't find this stuff in the States! Will definitely want to take that home ^_^ But yeah, let me know. If it happens to be expensive you can send me money through PayPal.

Back on subject. I didn't bring my camera to Osu because I'm retarded, but I did use Nat-chan's video camera the entire time. ^_^ I'll see if I can make something out of the video footage, once I've got my hands on it.

The field trip ended at around 11am and we were supposed to meet up with two Japanese girls from school, but everyone decided to leave except Nat-chan and I. We had a TON of fun of them though. We didn't really do anything except PuriCura... They showed us some supa kawaii stores in Osu. And then we sat in a coffee shop and talked and talked and it was a lot of fun. I spoke in Japanese that entire afternoon ^_^ A great experience, really. I feel more confident with my speaking ability and my desire to study more has been heightened. So yay for that.

Last night we didn't do anything at all, which sucks cause it was a Saturday night. I was dead tired anyway from being out all day.

Today I haven't done anything either, but thats okay. I need a break. I've been doing nothing but homework today... which is actually a lie. I've only gotten 2 assignments done. The rest of the day has been spent watching anime. Yay, productivity. I'll finish the rest of my stuff sometime this week ^^.

Ooh Golden Week starts on Friday~ I wonder what we could do. =] Traveling will be so expensive, but supposedly there will be a lot of sales going on. Shopping in Sakae, anyone?! Oooh but I really do want to visit Nara before I leave Japan... Dilemma...

Well anywho. Until next time, minna <3

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Things are Better

I am going to go ahead and blame my emo on sleep deprivation. I'm not necessarily deprived, but I have been very sleepy recently. That generally causes me to be... well, upset. About things. So! More sleep in the future. Kay ^^;

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Genki janai...

The depression has started to sink in its shadowy fingers. I'm not too happy right now. And I wasn't too happy yesterday. Classes have begun and I'm not busy doing exciting things anymore. Yeah, the weekend was a lot of fun. Sunday was spent recuperating, and since then I've been spiraling downward. Not sure where I'm going, I can't really control things anymore.

I really don't want to sit here and write an emo heavy post, but I'm afraid that's what it has come to.

Little things are setting me off. I feel responsible for each and every individual, making sure everyone is satisfied with me. I feel a pressure of doing things just right, or have my life get fucked up. And when something goes wrong, I get 50lbs of earth lodged in my chest, and I can't breathe.

I have no willpower to do anything. I've run out of clean clothes, and everythings just scattered on the floor. I have a pile of school papers next to my desk that have yet to find a home anywhere. But I can't bring myself to care.

I've also pretty much decided that there is very little I'm going to learn here. My classes are so low level, I have no will to self-study, so I'm just going to stay where I am the entire time. How hopeless.

It's not that I want to go home. In fact, I don't want to. I like it here, and I love Japan. My friends are so nice and I'm always being given the opportunity to do something, or go somewhere. So - I'm not homesick. Just... generally... depressed.

It's really very awful. I want to spend the rest of the day in bed, but I am going shoe shopping. Hopefully that will cheer me up.

Friday, April 15, 2011

A Lil Update: Classes...

Allo~! So I'm not as stressed as was in the last post. My second culture class was pretty awesome. The 2nd "international student - designed" class. The Chinese and the Koreans and the Thai and etc. were not in this class, just us English and French and Polish. And a girl from Malaysia & Australia whose name is In-chan and is new to all the other classes I'm in ^_^

But the class was pretty cool. Instead of talking about the history or government of Japan, we started talking about the actual "psychological" culture of the people - such as behaviors, gestures, traditions, etc. There was a neat graph on the powerpoint that showed where an American vs. a Japanese is "allowed" to be touched (friendly touch!) by other people. The Japanese were not to be touched pretty much anywhere, but the Americans touchy zones were highlighted all over. Apparently, because I'm American, I am comfortable with a friend of the opposite sex touching me virtually anywhere except my shins... I find something wrong with this study...

This class was in Japanese, but easy Japanese, and she reviewed everything with English afterwards. =] Very helpful.

At lunch it kind of dawned on me that I need 16 credits this semester to keep my scholarship. And I'm only taking 12 I think? Feels like enough already! But I'm trying to add two more "bull shit" classes to complete my requirements... Classes that shouldn't require too much work. So far I've added an American Culture class taught in English, which should be a lot of fun. Secondly I'm trying to get into an English class to see if I can get any experience teaching, or at least tutoring, and by getting some college credit out of it. That would look great on resumes, don't you think?

I haven't been taking too many pictures lately, if I've been taking any at all. Nothing exciting has been happening. And I'm kind of scared to say, my blog posts might start dwindling away soon. Today I got my cellphone (w00t?), and tomorrow I am going shoe shopping (because I finally got my scholarship!). I don't know what we're doing after that but I'll be sure to bring my camera along just in case.

^_^ Sore ja... mata ne, minna <3

(PS. I hit 2,000 page views! Hooray~)

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

A Little Overwhelmed... Again...

Ehh. Okay. Things have been really nice here at Kinjo. But it's really starting to get to me that Chelsea and I are the only two "first semester" English only speakers here. Nat-chan is kind of in the same boat, but has a lot of experience learning different languages (uwa~ she knows Polish, English, French, Russian, German, and learning Japanese. Sugoi desu ne...). Oh and by first semester, I mean not having previously learned Japanese in a.. Japanese environment. At Kinjo.

So... the three of us... mostly Chelsea and I, I suspect... can't really speak Japanese that well.

So we were put into really beginner level Japanese classes. As in, we're re-learning "te-form" and particle usages (such as when to use 'de', when to use 'ni', etc). Which in all fairness is helpful I guess... I am learning some new words as we go along. And we're practicing reading & listening comprehension, which I'm pretty awful at. The conversation teachers also give us hints on how to be informal.

Okay so the language classes are fine. I shouldn't have any trouble at all.

Then there are the Culture classes. The three of us are taking 3 culture classes at the moment. One of them I've already talked about - it's for Japanese students who want to practice their English. The class is in English. Very nice. Not what I'm in Japan for, but whatever.

Today I had my first culture class that is designed for international students, and the only other classes available to us. Unfortunately... it was completely in Japanese. Completely. Because! All the other international students are so good at Japanese already, they follow her pretty easily. And it's fine for them. But I sat there the entire class so entirely lost, trying to write down anything I could catch, anything I slightly understood.

Yes, it's the entire reason I'm in Japan. To be immersed in the language. I understand that. And I'm extremely grateful not all of my classes are taught in English. I wouldn't be able to learn that way. It wouldn't be fair for the Chinese or Korean girls, too.

But when they put me in a class I have no choice in taking, that's in an entirely different language, and expect me to pass it - as in, write 3 page papers about "what I've learned" every 2 weeks - that's when I get a little emotional. And extremely overwhelmed.

I just don't understand why they put us in a Japanese class that doesn't teach us Japanese (exaggeration; I mean to say new material, stuff I don't know), and then put us in another class that's way too advanced for my comprehension.

I'm this close to asking my neighbor for a smoke. I won't. But it's extremely tempting...

Ehhhh I'll get over it eventually! It was my first class, and it's my second week in Japan, I suppose I'm expected to not know what's going on. (My plan to pass this class is to write down what I can in this class, and wiki it for the papers I need to write. Beat that, system!)

No pictures today, which sucks, because there was this gorgeous scene earlier today and I didn't have my camera! Despair. We walked out of the train station and the Sakura was falling like snow~! It was the most beautiful thing...

But that is all. Hope everyone is doing well ^__^ <3

Walking to Kinjo

So I thought it'd be a pretty cute idea to make a little music video with footage of me walking to class in the morning~ A lot of people have been asking me about that.

It didn't turn out so very well xD I had to make some parts super fast in order to get it all to fit into the song. But, it's good enough for now, right?

Enjoy ^^;

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Sakura Love

If you couldn't tell, I am in crazy love with the nearby sakura...





PS. I finally figured out how to focus my camera shots. Uwah. I'm so n00b.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Eccentric Flutterbye

Uwah~ new layout =] It's a spinoff of the old layout. Same picture (if you can call it a picture?) just... different theme, I guess. It's busy, but I like it! I call it Eccentric Flutterbye, because the old one was called simply Flutterbye. And this one. Is. Eccentric. I suppose.

I had a nice night. After cleaning my room all day (yay it looks so much nicer!), Ai-chan's friend Tei-chan took us to a super authentic sushi bar. I know the family is going to freak, but they assured me nonstop all day that the sushi was safe, and I really did not want to pass up this opportunity. We got to watch the sushi chef do his work and it was a very educational experience. I ate so many things I have never seen before! I even ate a shrimp head. Amg. o.o;

Sadly, I randomly decidde to be homesick right in the middle of dinner, for absolutely no reason. Nothing reminded me of home, yet all of a sudden, this rush of "I miss Sean" enveloped my entire being and I was so shaken... I could barely eat or talk to anyone. It took a lot of strength to not start crying at the table. Why did I have to get so emotional now, of all times! ... It was very mysterious.

The feeling subsided once we started walking home. Damn was it cold. And then we missed the train by barely 10 seconds and had to wait 15 minutes for the next one... Once we got home though, I got to my room and just cried and cried until Sean was randomly online (he hadn't gone to class yet! victory!) and he made me laugh... And I felt better so I coded this layout.

Thanks, emotions, for ruining dinner. You better not come back for a good couple weeks, now! I think I deserve it. D<

In other news.... there needs to stop being earthquakes!! I haven't felt any yet but my neighbors keep reporting them. "Did you feel it?! Did you feel it?!" No, I didn't. But poor northern Japan. Why, Earth! Why. D:

And that's it. I'm gonna start posting some pictures now. I still need to add pictures for the post I made this morning! Uwaaaah. Again - if you want a wider selection of photos, I add all the stuff I take to my facebook. I only put a couple on blogger because, as I've mentioned before, it's tedious. But I will anyway, for the sake of chronicling =] if ... that's a word...

Ja ne! <3


Karaoke & Nagoya Castle

CONDENSED UPDATE TIIIIME. So sorry to those who follow my blog~ I've been so ridiculously exhausted recently. Last night I actually felt physically ill and had to stay in bed with my laptop. I cuddled up in the covers and watched some shoujo anime and j-dorama. (Kobato, ending of Hana Yori Dango movie, and first episode of Koizora - if you were curious). Another main reason I haven't updated is because of the tediousness of adding photos. Blogger is forcing me to make my own tables (for those who under html), which is fine, just annoying when you have to keep switching between Edit HTML and Compose. And then uploading the pictures takes ages on this thing. Probably because they're large files... I could change that.

So! I'm going to be quick with this. And direct you to my facebook in the meantime, because I upload 100% of my pictures there. On blogger, I tend to pick and choose.

Karaoke was Saturday night. I had a blast!! It was great. I went with Chelsea, Natchan, Ai-chan, Ai-chan's friend Chiaki (Tiaki?), and my old conversation partners Yuka and Akane! Whom I haven't seen in so long, and it was great to hang out with them again. They are SO cute. Akane took charge of essentially everything, it was awesome. She's really excited to have us in Japan. She's like our own little tourguide! Kind of.

Ah, but what a magical night. I'd go to karaoke every night if I could. Even if I don't know any songs =P! They have a magical thing known as nomihoudai, translating to all you can drink! At 7, you go upstairs to the bar with your glass, and they fill it with any alcohol you want! All night! Whenever! It was great.

The next day Akane and Yuka took us out to Nagoya Castle for hanami, or flower viewing. Wow, the area was so entirely gorgeous. I made a whole new photo album on facebook for the amount of pictures I took! =P I'm so glad I came to Kinjo in the spring. If I had missed the Sakura... I'd seriously be missing out on all that is Japan.

That night, however, I got kinda sick. Felt like I have been overexerting myself and was really nauseous. Makes sense though, every day since I got here has been this intense "ZOMGJAPAN" sensation, and its really taking a toll on my body.

Bright side is I think my sleeping pattern is back to normal. Unfortunately, my feet are in so much pain, its ridiculous. I think with my scholarship money (that I'm getting later today), I'm gonna spend it on a nice pair of shoes. That don't destroy my feet.

Yay.


Friday, April 8, 2011

First Day of Class

First day of classes were today! Only had 2 classes, but that's enough to write about =]. First class was Japanese 202 Kanji. Everything we went over was basically review, the lady thought we were dumb. In her defense, we were having massive brain farts, and boy were they smelly. I did learn some new kanji, so yay. Test next week. Gotta remember them all!

Next class was "Japanese Culture Taught in English" which is a class not necessarily designed for exchange students, but instead designed for whoever wants to learn Japanese culture while practicing their English at the same time. Only 4 English people were actually there - me, Chelsea, Nat-chan, and Ai-chan. The teacher revered us for being able to speak English. I feel awesome.

The classes themselves were fairly uneventful. Just regular classes. Except, the only people in our Japanese 202 class are me, Chelsea, and Nat-chan. Lol. I'm hoping the extremely small class size will allow us to advance quickly. Everything feels like review... I think because we bombed the placement test so badly. They think we're idiots.

Which we are.

I'm just kind of scared that my Japanese will not have improved by the end of the semester. I only have 4 months to WoW my friends at how well I can speak Japanese!! Not entirely confident about that happening...

We'll see.

After that, CIEP (Center for International Exchange Programs) took everyone out for free BOWLING. The bowling alley looked really cool - it was powered by SEGA, and the third floor was an entire arcade, and the second floor was karaoke and stuff. Only we weren't allowed up there and bowled for two hours instead. BUT it was a lot of fun! My Japanese basically only consisted of "Ah sugoi!" everytime someone got a strike or a spare. Fun stuff. =]

That's all for tonight. I'm gonna try to sleep in tomorrow, yay! My first not-so-jet-lagged weekend! Hehe we'll see how late I can do it. I usually find myself waking up at 4 or 5 and wanting to get online just so I can talk to people - even if I'm still tired. Bad Lori. Stoppit.

Tomorrow I'm going to Sakae for SHOPPING and KARAOKE. Excited!!

JA~ baibai!

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Orientation, Day 4

Absolutely no point to this post whatsoever. Just letting everyone know that Day 4 of orientation was long and boring and uneventful. Actually, that's a lie. I did pick up my inkan, which is my personal seal stamp. It says ローレン on it. (Lauren). With that I was able to make a bank account. So... hooray. I have a bank account. Only - I have to wait a week for the card to arrive, so I can't really use it yet. Whatever. It only has 100yen in it because I didn't want to add more to it yet.

You can deposit moneys at an ATM here. Cool, right? I don't have to take the train every time I want to deposit moneys.

The tip of my toe is numb and has been numb since early High School, only I'm noticing it more and more now. I think it's more nerve damage than it is diabetes or whatever.

Wow, seriously off topic. Starting to ramble. This is bad. Poor blog /patpat.

So, er, yeah. Got my inkan, made a bank account, then went to the school for a video about safety when riding a bicycle, and then had an orientation on how to use the computer and the email. Snore.

Tomorrow my first class starts! AMG.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Orientation, Day 3

I really don't feel like talking about too much right now, but I already put off the post about last night. Which was... very very fun ^_^ We went out to eat with our landlord, and at first I thought we were going to his house, and was therefore very nervous, but instead he treated us to an authentic restaurant! And the atmosphere was very casual and fun.

The landlord's wife pretty much forced alcohol on me, but I wasn't complaining! In fact, I was highly amused. I ordered a coke first because I didn't know any other drinks in Japanese! But then later on they kept asking me. "Biiru o nomitai? Sake?" Want a beer? Sake? Pretty much wouldn't take no for an answer, and I was too flustered to say, omg yes! Which is... honestly what I was thinking...

After a few drinks, everyone really loosened up, and I spoke in extremely awful broken Japanese (basically just throwing words out there with random particles I find relevant). It was a lot of fun. And I was very happy to be slightly communicating.



Nomnom. Delicious chicken.

The hotpot soup stuff we ate!

Ume Sawa. Plum-flavored Soda Alcoholy stuff.


Okonomiyaki



This morning, on the other hand, was not so fun. We took our Japanese placement exam, which included of a test & a 5 minute interview with the Japanese instructor. Honestly I could have done so much better on the test if I had studied (but I was too busy having fun last night!). I knew all the jukugo, which was great, but messed up on the rest. The last question was an essay, How did you study before coming to Japan? Or something like that. LOL. Umm! I can't even tell you how I did on that. Just... lol.

It doesn't really matter too much on how I did, though. Still in the same class they expected us to be in =] Plus 3 Japanese culture classes. 1 of those is a class that every student at Kinjo can take, only it is taught in English. So. Yay.

After orientation was over, me and Natalia and a newgirl Iona (who is not new at all, but a second semester student from England) went to Sakae and Ai-chan (Iona) showed us around. My feet are absolutely killing me. Turns out my new shoes are definitely not made for walking. I'm kind of afraid to take off my socks to see what has become of my feet. Damn carnivorous shoes.

But that is all for now! I'm exhausted. Probably going to watch the episode of Being Human I missed at home. Ja ne ^^

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Orientation, Day 2

Today's orientation was long, but essentially uneventful. They basically went over the rules and procedures of the school. We were, however, lectured on how to protect ourselves from the perverts out there, and also the lingerie thieves. It was... pretty hilarious. But yes, boyfriend/dad, I promise to take the warnings seriously =]

I only have two pictures to show you from today.



Supa kawaii folder I bought!
A shrine near Kinjo =]


I am very excited for classes to start. They basically guaranteed that we'd be put into Japanese 201 (the lowest level), but we have to take the placement test anyway I guess =P They meet 5 times a week, so we can be sure to learn Nihongo super fast! Yay! There were two other classes we're taking for sure, which is Japanese Culture (Flower arrangement, tea ceremony, etc.) and Contempory Topics (more modern stuff). And then there's a third class we can take that's Japanese Culture taught in English that isn't necessarily for exchange students. So, that should be fun.

Oh! And they mentioned a paid teaching assistant position! For teaching English. How exciting is that?!

Tonight my boarding house is going to our landlord's for dinner. His name is Yogo-san and he doesn't speak any English. This will be interesting ^_^

Ja ne, for now!

Orientation, Day 1

Yesterday was pretty eventful... And exhausting. The day ended at 4pm, I took a nap, had dinner, and then fell right back asleep. On the bright side, I was so exhausted that I actually slept until my alarm! Victory! I'm going to set it for 6am every week day (unless I happen to have an especially early class) and sleep in on weekends, just so everyone knows my schedule. 6am is 5pm for my friends at home, and it gives me enough time to get ready for the day without rushing.

Yay for schedules. Speaking of schedules, I believe we are registering for classes today ^^ but this post isn't about today, it's about yesterday. I was way too tired to write about it, and I didn't want to turn this blog into a chore.

Everyone in my building met up in front and we walked down to the train station with two girls from Kinjo's international club. From there we met the other group of students (we're about 20 in all; I have a specific number somewhere but I don't feel like fishing it up). We separated into "regions" I guess, which I thought was very typical. Chelsea & I were with the Polish girl Natalia (who is very cool, we're friends) and we walked around Obata and did important document stuff.

Like buying an inkan (Y3,000! But, necessary to open a bank account.) And applying for our alien cards. And all that jazz. Very exhausting in itself.

When that was all done, we went and had a grand tour of Kinjo Gakuin! And may I say, it is the most beautiful campus I've ever set foot on. I am very happy that I chose this school! Oh, and we had lunch with all the other students, and had to give a (very awkward) self introduction.

Watashi no namae wa Lauren desu. Lori to yonde kudasai. Amerika no Uesuto Baajinia Daigaku kara kimashita. Watashi no ichiban suki na tabemono wa.... sushi desu ^_^. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu~
私の名前はローレンです。 ローリとよんでください。 アメリカのウエストバージニア大学から来ました。 私の一番好きな食べ物は。。。 すしです ^_^。 よろしくおねがいします~
My name is Lauren. Call me Lori. I come from America's West Virginia University. My favorite food is sushi ^_^ Please treat me well~


In retrospect, I probably could have said more. But... tanoshikatta...

There are some pictures under the break! Check them out ^_^ More are on my facebook, just because some of them get a little repetitive, hehe.


Sunday, April 3, 2011

Super PRT, Pt.2

Holy bajesus. I am so exhausted. Not only am I jetlagged, but I had to have fun all day. How awful!

(Just kidding?)

2 hours after my last post (... 3 hours?), Chelsea and I boarded the train once again, but this time it was to go to the ever-so exciting downtown Nagoya! Yay! We were to meet an old exchange student from WVU, Maki Okachi! Thank goodness for her and her directions, because it was crazy crowded. Think stereotypical Tokyo - only we weren't being physically pushed into cars, and there was no molestation going on. Just... a lot of people.

We found her though, and went to Bikku Kamera (Bic Camera~?). It was a 5 floor building full of everything and anything. Our minds nearly imploded by how much stuff there was. We were mostly impressed by the toy floor, but only because we are slight otaku ^^;

Under the link are pictures from Nagoya. The pictures of the anime toys are not shown just to save some space. You can check out my facebook for that! =D

(I am also way too tired to tell anymore stories. Orientation starts tomorrow and I still need to fill out forms and stuff.)

It's like Super PRT!

Chelsea and I took the train today!! A massive feat, being our second day here. But it was actually very simple. We didn't mess up and it was a very smooth, nice ride. Glad I looked up how to do it online, but Steve gave us instructions over e-mail too.

So we took the train, and I got my converter from him, and I am happy!! Here are some pictures from the station~



Coffee shop at Ozone Station!
Not the map we used, but another one.



We managed to get back to our station and then did a little shopping. Got some notebooks at a local drugstore, along with some dish soap, laundry detergent, and a bread bun that looked tasty. (Can't read to find out what was inside though.) Then we went to the grocery store and bought lunch! Sushi, onigiri (for later), and takoyaki.


The drugstore
Candy!
The things I bought today =]
Itadakimasu!
Takoyaki~ (Octopus in batter balls. [lol])
Red bean paste inside a bun! Nomnom.


In other news, I am ridiculously tired. Fell asleep at a normal time last night, around 10pm, but I once again woke up way too early. This time 4:30am, but I managed to stay in bed until 5:30, when I just became restless. Computer was dead, so I went downstairs and banged on Chelsea's door, just so I could use her computer xD Curse you again, jet lag!

But guess what. Now I have my own computer and don't have to bother her anymore! *So happy!*

It's only 1:30pm at the moment. I feel as if our train & shopping adventure took the whole day, but it definitely didn't... I want to take a nap. Don't know what we're going to do the rest of the day, but I do know that I need to fill out some forms for my alien registration cards and stuff. No fun.

Orientation starts tomorrow. Excited to start doing school-related stuff, not so excited about the whole I-can't-really-speak-Japanese thing. Ah well.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

In Japan... Finally

Aw, jeeze. Finally a post. Sorry. I've been waiting to try to get a plug adapter for my laptop (using Chelsea's right now). There aren't any electronic stores nearby, so I have to either find someone to take me to the mall tomorrow, or wait until Monday for some helpful people to take me. Until then, I'm shaking from being forced away from my laptop for so long. (I have a problem...) Seriously though, the culture shock isn't as bad as last night, but my social life (parents & boyfriend) really helps put me at ease. Also, the familiarity that is my Asus. I've been so fidgety and panicky. Should subside once I'm able to get back on my home-sweet-home computer.

So I'm ridiculously sleepy, but I'll try my best to talk about everything that happened =] Waiting for it to be a decent time in the States so I have a chance to aim with the boyfriend.

Let's add a page break~ This is a looong one.