Oh yeah so I forgot to update, but I'm back now.  ^^; Merry Christmas.

Osu (Again and forevermore)

Today I went to Osu (yes again) with E san.  We started off with the usual routine and went to the Nova building to check out the lolita stores.  Once we had assessed the stores wares, it was off in search of our main goal: a cat cafe.

Needless to say, it was hard to find but in the end we did find it.  Honestly this was a bit disappointing.  It was 700 yen for 3o minutes (and you get a drink) and you go into this small room off to the side of an even smaller reception area.

There were 5 or 6 cats and it was awkward because you had to share the room with other people.  Ugh.  Anyway have some pics.

Most of the cats here were unfriendly (no surprise there)

This guy was very handsome indeed.

After 30 minutes of this nonsense it was time to eat, and since E san and I both like udon (noodles) we decided to eat some.  This udon made up for the cat cafe.  (tempura udon *Q*)

It was in the noodle shop were this woman started a conversation with us and you know we were talking about being exchange students and I think she said her daughter had done it too or something like that.  But anyway, what really made this epic was when she gave us 1,000 yen to pay for our food.  Of course we refused but she insisted and said to "study hard." lol

Then we just kind of walked around for a bit longer, I showed her this other store and then stopped by for a snack.  It's a fruit crepe. OMNOMNOM

And for the last part of the trip I introduced her to this store called Loft.  Loft has about 5 or 6 floors each containing various things.  For example, the basement has books, the 3rd has interior, etc., etc.,  Personally I had only been on the 4th floor with all the stationary and I was all for exploring the other floors.  

The 5th floor was amazing. So many cute things.

Their selection of Studio Ghibli merchandise was really cool.  I'll have to come back for the mug with the cat (his name is Jiji) on it. :D

Next up is Sentimental circus, which is a series of characters created by a company called San-X

And last but not least Rilakkuma <3

Rilakkuma and Lawson!

As of right now Lawson (a convenience store) and Rilakkuma (relaxbear) are doing a campaign with the theme of chocolate and coffee.  There are some items related to this theme that you can buy but there are some items you have to win in a raffle.

So what you do is bring the raffle ticket to the register and for every raffle ticket you pay 500 yen.  Then they bring out this little box with more raffle tickets and you pick one or more depending on how much you payed for.

When you receive the ticket you peel the back side of it and depending on how lucky you are you get different prizes.

(They look like this)

Sorry to say I did this raffle three times today ^^;

I got a cell phone strap, a hand towel, and a gift bag set.  Not a bad haul if I do say so myself.

Reading out loud.

I remember when I was younger my teachers would constantly tell us to read lots of books.  Back then I didn't understand why but I found them to be enjoyable and read all the time anyway.  Now that I'm older I understand the significance of it.  When you are constantly reading books you are introducing yourself to new vocabulary and strengthening other reading skills (grammer, sentence structure, etc.)

Now let's take what those teachers said and apply it 10 years later with a foreign language.

That being said, today I went to the local bookstore and bought a children's book.  It's called　にんぎょひめ (Ningyo Hime) or loosely translated as mermaid princess.  There are 44 pages in all but every other page has an illustration on it.

Reading this story out loud was frustrating because I would read in a slow and hesitant manner and I'm not used to that.  But I guess you have to start somewhere.

While reading the story I was learning new vocabulary, kanji, practicing my pronunciation, and learning a certain tempo that comes from speaking/reading a foreign language.

So is reading a children's book worth the effort when learning a new language? I think so.

Osu Part 2

So on this day it was decided that me and E san should hang out and show each other the parts of Sakae and Osu that we didn't know about.  E san would show me the Lolita floor in Sakae and I would show her were Osu was.

The day started off quite nicely as we boarded the bus to Hongo station.   (On the way to the station there were quite a few middle schoolers going to baseball practice (important for later)).

Once we boarded the train it got progressively more and more crowded.  At one point I felt like I would freak out from the claustrophobia, but then it passed as we got closer to Sakae.

Then once off the train E san showed me the holiest of holies.  This one floor of a department store that had like almost all the brands of lolita fashion.  Floor 5.   Awwwww yeah

Here I'm taking a photo on the escalator.  The AP store is on the right and the AATP is on the left.  (check out that old man giving us the "gaijin" look LOL)

 Tried to take an inside pic of the store :P Fail.

 And here's the BTSSB store. <3

And I know your not supposed to take pics but hey...



After the coolness of looking at the lolita store, E san and I went and ate some parfaits. YESSS!  I got the mango one and she got a matcha (green tea) and mochi (glutenous rice) one.

So now that we had had a little something to eat, it was time to try and find Osu.  I had been only once before so I had hoped I could find again.  We left the station and luckily when we picked a direction to start walking everything looked familiar so in the end there were no problems.

Once we found Osu we checked out the Hobby store and the Toy store.  Sorry no pics. :(  Then I showed her the arcade, took purikura pics, and found Violet Blue (A second hand store for brand fashion)!

After shopping here we decided it was time to head on back before the train became unbearable with the return home rush.  

So when we get on the train, we notice some kids in baseball uniforms but thought nothing of it.  But then when they got off at the same station as us, I was all like in my head "WAAAAAAIT, these kids looks familiar."  And they even got on the same bus as us.  They kept glancing at us and we're all like trying not to make eye contact.  "awkwaaaaaaaaaard" LOL  Thankfully though they got off before us.  

All in all a pretty good day

Cellphone!!

Finally! After all this time I am now the proud owner of a Japanese cell phone.

Today after the placement test I met up with C and she said that she would help me get my cell phone.  We went with the company called Softbank and I got myself a little prepaid phone.  It should last me the entire length of my stay, and I also got unlimited e-mail (it's like the same as texting) for about 300円.  Altogether with the phone, charger, unlimited e-mail, and the pre-paid phone card it was about 9,000円.  So definitely worth it.

I have to say, even though this phone is a pre-paid one I think it's way more cooler than the one I had from Verizon.

Sakae

Today we had our entrance orientation, which consisted of dressing up nicely, having a chill buffet thingy afterwards, and learning about the clubs they had on campus.

The entrance ceremony was fairly quick and we got to see the staff that would teach the Language students and the Culture students.

Then it was the buffet.  It was okay as was the club. eh Don't really want to explain that.

What happened after the entrance ceremony was waay more fun.  So me, Nana, and Jess decided to hit up Sakae and check out the shopping scene.  Rode the subway for the first time and it was cool.

Eh more later. I'm exhausted.

Tuesdays.

Today was a pretty chill day.  Just went to Nisshin Municipal Office to get our gaijin cards.  It takes about a month for us to actually to get it.

After this Nana and I decided to eat lunch at the university.  She got an omelet rice and I got a tomato pasta.

Then we went to try and withdraw money from our bank accounts.  We were successful when we went to the ATM at the 7/11.

The rest of the day was pretty chill like I said before and I ended up making a budget, taking a nap, and buying some more stuff for the room (something for my clothes and shampoo, conditioner, etc.)

Lot's of Walking and Sushi.

Today started off at 7 AM and around 9 we students gathered in the lobby to be carted off on a tour of the school.  But before we had the tour of the school there were papers to complete.  We were all put in a classroom and had to find our numbers.  Once we found the assigned seating (there was a package with our name and number) it was time to fill out/sign some documents.  Most of the paperwork dealt with gaijin cards, insurance, and filling out the back account stuff.

Afterword the document preparation it was time for lunch.  Down the stairs on the first floor was a convenience store and I bought something that was like kimbap and water.

Then it was time for the tour of the campus.  There were two people who guided us and we went to various places on our map.  At each destination there were two students who would read off cue cards and describe what you could do/the rules for each area.  After they had finished reading they would place a sticker on our map.  So basically we visit all the places on the map and in the end we get a prize (chopsticks LOL).

When the tour was over I then went with Brittany back to Proxy so she could get her money.  On the way back to school so we could pick up Kim we found her walking back (which was kind of convenient).  And then the shopping ensued, because I wanted some freaking shorts.

I found what I wanted at Piago and Brittany kind of overdid at the 100 yen store.  When everyone was done with shopping we realized we had to go back to the Uni and get our passports, turn in some extra paperwork we had forgotten, and receive our money that was left over after the rental payment.

PHEW! That was a lot to do, but the day wasn't over just yet.  Around 5:40PM there was a meeting at Proxy discussing how to separate our garbage and where/when to throw it away. So then after the meeting me and Nana were invited to go eat okonomiyaki but because we were unclear about what the other people were doing we decided to go eat sushi.

(Tamago sushi)

It was a fun experience eating there and afterwords, we went to get photos for the gaijin, Nana bought chicken at the supermarket, went to check out G. U.  and then the drug store.

Fun fun day. :D

Ugh. Tired.

So it's been at least 3 days since my arrival here and let me tell you, I am freaking exhausted.  My sleeping pattern is off and I get very little sleep.  Today for example I only got 4 hours of sleep before waking up at 12PM (night).

Then there's the shopping.  Oh God I have done a crap ton of shopping over here.  Not for clothes or anything like that, but for cooking utensils, cleaning supplies, groceries, etc.  The grocery stores are not too terribly far away, maybe 10-15 minutes.  But if you want to go to the $1 store it'll probably take 20-30 minutes of walking.  Plus I keep forgetting to get stuff too, and it seems like I'm constantly going back and forth and I have to carry everything I buy all
the way back to the room.

                                               Here's an example of stuff I buy.


Oh yeah and then there's the money. BUM BUM BUUUUUUM.  I've only got 15,000 yen left, but I'm only a little worried about this.  I would feel a lot better though if I knew how to get more. OTL

Still I can say I do like the stores around here.  There's this electronic goods store that also has a toy store in it called Neverland and in the toy store is a stationary store. I really like all the clothes here and when I get a chance I should go shopping for more, since I didn't bring that much LOL

Finally Landed

1 Sept 2011

Arriving at the Narita airport was humid as hell.  I ended up standing in the wrong line like an idiot and was told to go follow the yellow signs for domestic flights.  Then I went through customs, got my bag and re-checked it in.  Way to go AA (sarcastic).

Also helped out this one girl, let's called her S.  Saw her having trouble trying to figure out what to do next.  HAHA Just like me (YAAAAAAAY!)  So in the end we checked in with the ticket peoples and coincidentally our gates were right next to each other so we hung out till it was time to board.

The plane ride from Tokyo to Nagoya was a smooth one and the view from the plane was incredible.  I'm sorry that I didn't take a picture.

Upon arrival at the Chubu INT. airport and getting my luggage, someone from the college came and picked me and the other students up.  From here they bought us bus tickets and we rode the bus for about an hour to the next destination.  When the bus dropped us off there were more students and they called  taxis for us.

The taxis took us to our dorm: Proxy Friends Nisshin.  Then we were greeted by more students and they took care to the taxi fare and showed us inside and quickly gave us the rundown.  Where the laundry room was, getting the mail, got room keys, and a bunch of paper describing how the whole recycling thing works over here.

The Airplane Rides

31 Aug 2011

Still haven't crossed the International date line just yet.  Might be another hour or so.....

Synopsis of this morning: Woke up around 5 AM and was ready in about an hour.  We left the house around 8 and go to the airport fairly quickly.

The wait for the first flight wasn't bad at all.  The gate wasn't that crowded, but I got a random pat down.  It only took about 45 minutes to get to Dallas.

Once we landed in Dallas it didn't take long to find my gate and the DLW is too cool.  (It's got a sky rail.)  This gate was pretty crowded so I stood up most of the time (try the entire time).  While waiting I got my money exchanged and called my parents to let them know I was okay.

Still on said plane with about 4 hours to go.  For dinner we got either chicken or beef and I chose beef: mash potatoes, some kind of vege mix, a mushy wedge of cheese, pathetic looking salad, sucky piece of bread, something else I can't remember, and a cookie cereal bar.

I think they just served us lunch, but it was the most sorry excuse for a sandwich I had ever seen.  The bread was soggy, the meat was ham, the cheese was cheddar, there was dijonnase dressing, a plain biscotti, and a mint.  Also at this time I have already eaten all of my snacks.

4 hr 52 min left
11:06 AM Narita Airport
9:06 PM San Antonio

Passports and Visas

Like I said before, after filling out the initial paperwork there is an agonizing period of waiting time.  So I decided to go get my passport.  I went to my local post office which takes pictures for passports and got mine.

Then you fill out the passport forms and mail them out.  Within a couple of weeks you have yourself a sparkly new passport.

So you have yourself a passport, big deal.  Round two is coming up so get ready.  By know it's late June and my university has sent me another packet with even more information.   But the most important thing you will find is the Certificate of Eligibility.

This little slip of paper sort of explains your reason for going to Japan and without it you can't get a visa.

A visa is a stamp they put in your passport and to get it you have to look for your nearest Japanese consulate.  Once you've found it, you can either go there in person or snail mail the necessary forms which is what I did.

If all goes well you should  receive your passport back with a visa on it.

So It Begins

Ok then, let's begin this shall we?  This blog will be used primarily as a learning tool (I sound so teacher-ous) so that I can hopefully help out other students see what it's like to study abroad for a semester.

Here I will write about my daily goings-on and will also post pictures, video, etc.

What's Happened So Far

I had decided to study abroad  back in January or late February, but if I recall the deadline to apply was the second or so week of March.  You can imagine how stressed out I was getting all the necessary paperwork completed on time. LOL

Anyway after the application process is a LOOOOOOOOONG wait in between months until finally there was the study abroad orientation.  In the orientation we learned about insurance, safety, etc. etc.  There were also several students who had studied abroad before and discussed how and what it was like.

Then after this orientation you have even more paperwork to fill out and it's around late April-early May that I also applied to the Japanese University (Nagoya University of Foreign Exchange)

So after you apply to this college you may want to use this time to apply to a lot of scholarships.

I only applied to four and only got one.  That one gave me $2,000 and also the scholarship my school gave me which was $2,200.  This alone was not enough so I got a summer job and should have about $3,000 by the end of the summer.  Plus only a few weeks ago my FAFSA kicked in so a little bit more money and a loan and I'm all set.

(It also helps to have supportive parents who can chip in once in a while ;D)

And then there's the possibility of getting scholarships with the host university.  So it pays to get your money resources in order way before you have to leave.


Next Up, Passports and Visas

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