fukui <3

going to fukui with mia for the second half of spring break was one of the best experiences i've ever had in japan =)

i don't have the energy to write the long post those four days warrant, so i'll be even more lazy and just echo mia for now XD
http://miamonnier.blogspot.com/2009/03/fukui.html

i'll get my pictures up soon, but mia's pictures are better anyway =]
http://picasaweb.google.com/mgnm9195/HoyaHoya#

ahhhhh!! >_<

okay, so the title of this blog post isn't quite accurate for what's about to follow, but that's how i'm feeling (as of this moment). i've never felt more "manic-depressive" than in the time i've spent in japan so far. i'm either really happy or desperately wanting to get the hell out. it'd be nice to just be content/okay most of the time... too much to ask maybe? probably.

anyway, i've had A LOT of fun in the past several days with my friends, but i haven't been good about updating this week. i'll get around to blogging after i get back from fukui (NW of kyoto... i think) ~ for reaaals. no joke. i know i say "i'll update later" often, but spring break has been amazing so far && i want to make sure it gets "documented" somewhere outside my (imperfect) memory ^_^

in the meantime, here are some random pictures that will mean nothing....for now :)

les étoiles!

they were out tonight!
accompanied by a beautiful full moon ^_^

i arrived in kyoto around 6:30am from a three-day trip to tokyo.
stories later. mia + danielle ♥ !!!

i tried sleeping in for a few hours after a restless night on the bus,
but that failed miserably, so i...

• watched two episodes of the L word in bed <3
• talked to a certain someone ♥ && it turns out i really was just paranoid (mia & danielle ~ i know, i know. i should've listened to you from the start LOL)
• downloaded some movies ~ which i will watch on my ipod at the gym
• spent three hours working out ~ 1 hr 45 min of intense cardio, weight training, flexibility/cheer stuff... it was soooo nice ^_^
• took a hot shower followed by the even hotter ofuro

.....going to bed now. write more later.

p.s. just putting this out there ~ i will never stop thinking that japan is crazy. and i will never stop thinking about how i could be at midd or at home with family. BUT ~ there is no self-pitying or anything of that sort to be had. i'm not wishing my time in japan away (with which i've been blessed). sometimes i just wish that i could experience the next three months on fast forward and finally get to go home ^_^

定期券!

we finally got our doshisha id cards this afternoon ~ which makes it possible for us to buy teikiken, or commuting passes, at a lower price.  the subway costs me ￥7500/month and the hankyu ￥2300/month... which isn't bad. [and doesn't matter anyway because we get reimbursed by akp] the forms weren't too complicated to fill out, thank goodness. 

i definitely will be looking forward to using the passes tomorrow. up until today, we were using single tickets [which some of us bought each day] each way.

today was also the first day of japanese class. it won't be a total breeze, but it will probably be really cozy and comfortable compared to third-year summer language school. and being the nerd that i am most of the time, i asked to correct my placement exam essay with 桑平先生 after class. 

[and i did ^_^]

yummy treats in uji

for some more pictures from this mini-adventure, please visit:

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2038073&l=639c7&id=4404537

i met up with several of my friends to see mia and hang out in her home away from home [uji]  after a 30-min jr train ride.  we enjoyed a yummy lunch at a little corner restaurant, followed by delicious softserve ice-cream ~ matcha and houji-flavored! [different kinds of green tea] afterward, we strolled over bridges around the river until we made our way downtown again. walking through the streets, shopkeepers were eager to prepare green tea samples for us to try. as common courtesy, we bought small souvenirs for our host families from many of these little stores. 

fun fact: the tale of genji was mainly set in uji.

lost again on the backroads of kyoto

practically all the backroads look like this >_<

they are not marked by road names, and the homes hardly ever have house numbers on them. furthermore, the roads are not "gridded" like new york city's ~ read: good luck if you get lost. 

when i made to back to katsura station from campus by subway and the hankyu, i was sure that everything would be okay and felt proud for being able to navigate the subway systems without screwing up.  well, i definitely "thought" too soon. long story short, i got horribly lost on the 5-10 minute walk home. i asked for directions, and the two women by the side of the road had no idea either. i took out the map with the marked route home that akp provided each of us and showed it to them. it was confusing, and even they couldn't comprehend it--- so one of them actually took me around to try and find my house. after getting even more lost, she stopped at a little shop and asked for directions. 

the shopkeeper took out what appeared to be a directory ~ but not only was this book like an address book, it showed plots of land with the owner's name and address on it. lucky me, nakamura is a very popular name... there were a ton of people by that name on my road alone. we eventually found my host family on the map, and the very nice lady actually walked me home. when we got to my house, she realized that she knew my family and has had some connection to my host sister mari. i couldn't understand what she was saying, so i still don't know how she knows my family. maybe she said she was a teacher? i don't know >_<

oh well. thanks to kawamura-san, i finally made it home! :)

like two personal assistants

where we had lunch :)

after making it to campus on our own this morning and getting through homestay orientation, we each met up with two student volunteers from doshisha.  they were responsible to showing us how to get to class from our houses, helping us apply for alien registration cards, and making sure we had the proper forms to get commuting passes when we get our student id cards next week. it might not sound like much, but aya-san and masato-san were with me all day long. 

we began by going out to lunch at a nearby restaurant.  the food was really good, but i didn’t even finish half of my [alfredo sauce?] pasta—let alone the bread, mini-salad, and soup.  we each ordered our choices off the menu by putting yen into a vending machine to receive a ticket indicating what we wanted.  i wonder if there’s anything like that in the united states. 

after lunch, we took the subway and hankyu in order to get to my house. unfortunately, the map we were provided was not very clear, and we lost our way several times. it appeared no one was home, but we could hear loud [and scary-sounding] barking coming from within. i wondered if it could’ve been my host dog. anyway, we headed back to the hankyu to go one stop further to kami-katsura, where i would apply for my alien registration card. the process was relatively long, but luckily, some of the other akp students were waiting with their respective doshisha students as well. 

they decided to go to a karaoke bar for the evening. as interesting as that sounded, i was ready to head back to the hotel and get some rest. i was exhausted to say the very least. however, not wanting to rain on the parade, i agreed and went along. but because i’m a terrible singer, and because i don’t know too many japanese songs, it wasn’t all that fun for me. still, i was very grateful for everything that aya-san and masato-san did for me today. and after a little while, i was finally free to run to the comfort of my hotel room! 

…but who knew that my friends and i would be getting naked together in a public bath later that night? 

^_^

first day of orientation

i'm getting so excited for this year! orientation has been fun and not the slightest bit overwhelming so far. my day started at 6:30am because i just couldn't stay asleep any longer. we had breakfast in the hotel, and i did something i'm not really used to doing--trying new food! i tried everything [ minus the pickles ] to the right of the rice, which included strange things i've never seen before. most friends know that this is highly uncharacteristic of me. even i was surprised for doing that. before arriving in japan, i was convinced that i wouldn't step out of my [ dietary ] comfort zone.

anyway, we headed out as a group after breakfast for doshisha's imadegawa campus by subway. the seats are cushioned! and i found myself at ease--as opposed to being completely on guard in nyc. the campus is merely several hundred feet from the station, which should be nice in the winter months.

i had ごほうてんぷら [ some kind of veggie tempura ] for lunch. it was delicious! and it only cost ￥110! the cafeteria is relatively small, but it's very cozy in that respect.

then at 2pm, we were turned loose in the computer lab--and here i am ^_^ ! but time's up, and now i'm off to explore kyoto!

finally in japan!

after a six-hour flight to san francisco and an eleven-hour flight to osaka, i've made it to kyoto!  i'll be staying at the kyoto tower hotel with the other AKP students until friday.  after the welcome party friday night, i'll be going home with my host family.  i'm so excited to meet them!

it still hasn't hit me yet.  i'm in japan!  after settling down in my hotel room, i went to a nearby convenience store with my friends, bought お弁当 (lunch box) with お酒 (alcohol--in this case, sparkling wine) for dinner, and wandered around kyoto for a little bit. breakfast is at 8am or so tomorrow morning, so i should get some sleep soon.

i'll try to blog more (and in more detail) later this week, but the flights were fine and comfortable.  the entire process was actually rather smooth-sailing.  i had no trouble with customs, and AKP staff were right around the corner to greet us.  our large luggage were shipped to our homestays, and after a two-hour bus ride, we arrived in kyoto from kansai airport.

and the journey begins... [part one]

mom & grandpa dropping me off at jfk :)

i went to bed after i got off the phone with matt around 1am. everyone else was already asleep, so i was talking in the bathroom as not to wake anyone up.  i really didn’t sleep too well.  i tossed and turned because the taxi service was going to take me to JFK at 5am, and i still had not finished packing. 

upon entering JFK, the first thing i noticed was the huge line at check-in.  much to my dismay, the line was actually a lot longer than what it had appeared to be at first sight, wrapping around the corner and then extending some 50 meters or so.  i was definitely glad i had arrived an hour and a half before boarding time.  however, it wasn’t until about five or ten minutes later that i realized I was standing in the wrong line. 

luckily, the line for united—not us airways—was short and much less intimidating.  i scanned my passport, but i received the same error message [something like, length of stay exceeds limit] when i had tried to check-in online the day before.  i was directed to a representative, and he got me taken care of—it was pretty painless.  as soon as i exited the check-in, i saw nestor and his family come in.  i ran to give him a hug and waited for him to get through check-in. 

going through security was relatively smooth-sailing too—until they found my nalgene with some water in it.  i just had to empty it at a nearby water fountain, but i had to go through everything all over again. 

>_>

*the rest of the story to come soon... i keep finding drafts of blog entries on my pc while i'm cleaning up some folders =]*

just a few more to go...

i’ve disappeared from this blog for over a month, and now i find myself on a greyhound bus headed for boston, where i’ll board another to nyc.  in three days, i’ll leave for kyoto from the san francisco airport after a six-hour flight out of jfk.  

it’s hard to imagine that the 9-week program is already over.  i finished with a grade much better than i had expected—i’m very pleased.  however, it goes without saying, the letter grade is rather insignificant to the overall experience.  

*the rest of the story to come soon... i keep finding drafts of blog entries on my pc while i'm cleaning up some folders =]*