STUDY ABROAD: WEEK 6

OCTOBER 6

It’s now Sunday afternoon, and I just woke up. That party lasted all night, and it was so much fun! No regrets.

I have only been to a couple parties back in the States, and usually when people start getting drunk that’s when I would leave. Last night, everyone had been drinking for quite some time, but they weren’t obnoxious and crazy. Some were less shy than usual, and maybe the group was louder overall, but it was all good fun. I also learned that they serve non-alcoholic cocktails (so, juice mixes), so I could also enjoy the three-hour nomihoudai (all you can drink).

We did indeed go to an izakaya called Yamachan, famous for its tebasaki, or chicken wings, which is also a meibutsu, or local specialty.

There were maybe 25+ people on the whole, so we took over four long tables, sitting 6 to seven people. There were only a few people outside the international students that I knew, so I chose to sit at a table with one of them. I expected Mark, or someone else to join me, but somehow the rest of the new international students grouped themselves at the other three tables. What else was there to do, but make new friends? I had already met Kentaro. The others were Kim, Long, Yohei, and Kyohei.   Kim and Long were actually upperclassmen, Kim from Korea, and Long was from China, but they both were already quite fluent in Japanese, as this wasn’t there first year studying abroad. Most everyone at the table had studied abroad before; Yohei had studied in Canada the past year, so we talked to each other the most, in English and Japanese.

After the course meal was complete, we went to CHIKARA, for karaoke. From 11pm to 6am! It was very clearly morning when we left. How I managed to not only stay awake, but sing until the end, is a mystery. Well, to be honest, it was all you can drink at karaoke also, so I had cup upon cup of coffee, and cocoa. That and it was a lot of fun, so I hardly noticed the time passing.

Thanks to all the coffee, when I got home at 7am it was hard to sleep. But now I’m up trying to be productive. So much to do, and I’m sure there’s also homework…

(6am, the morning after all-night karaoke)

OCTOBER 7

I hung out in the library most of the day doing “homework”. In reality, I was writing and editing my report for the International Center. I did some homework, but since the library discussion room is one of the few places we can hang out and talk, that’s usually what we tend to do. Often it’s just Jason, Mark and I, and then sometimes Totoro, or Chaerim, or some of our Japanese friends like Taigen, will join us during their free period. We are only taking 7 classes over the course of the week, so we have ample free time.

OCTOBER 8

In Survey class this morning we completed writing up our surveys. That means for the next two weeks we have to start the survey and prepare for our presentations. If I can ask my friends that will probably be enough to cover the minimum amount of surveys we have to do.

Also, more groceries today! Finally! But I used a cart instead of a basket when I was shopping, so I bought more than would fit comfortably in my bike basket. It was a bit of a balancing act to get home on my bike, through the pedestrians, with one hand. No casualties, groceries or otherwise. Now it’s back to school for dance tonight~

OCTOBER 9

Not much to say about today. Went to kanji class, and then went to visit the English class. I had lunch with Akane, then drama class, and then I met with another Japanese girl, Yoshimi, during 4th period. That was my day. The only thing on my mind now is how to make a money transfer from my bank back home.

OCTOBER 10

We learned two more parts of the choreography today. Right now, I’m working up on the muscle memory because we haven’t really been able to practice with music yet, at least not loud enough where I could hear certain cues.

I am actually performing with two groups. One is the hip-hop group, led by Kazuma and Mai. The other is the freshmen group, led by Yuki. The freshmen performance is broken up between hip-hop, girls and jazz, break dance, krump, pop and lock. At this point, we have most of the hip-hop parts covered. Practice practice practice~~~

Speaking of progress, I took a picture with some of the members of BPM for my International Student report! One picture down and four more to go; not to mention, one of them needs to be a self-portrait. Maybe Mark can take the pictures for me…

OCTOBER 11

No class today! But we have it tomorrow. Actually, it’s more of a field trip, but the reason it was moved to Saturday instead is so that both classes (A&B) can go together.

I got a lot of done this morning, in regards to errands. Paid my electric bill (2402 yen), bought toilet paper, sent postcards and withdrew money from my Japanese bank account. I was told that I can use the card from my bank in the States to withdraw money at the ATM here, but my current card just expired! I need my new one before I can pull out any more money…

OCTOBER 12

Field trip!!!! I haven’t been on one since elementary school probably. Our destination was Inuyama Castle. It overlooks the Kiso River, which is the border between Aichi and Gifu Prefectures. The castle itself is one of Japan’s four national treasures, along with Matsumoto, Hikone and Himeji castle. The grounds were huge, and it was a small climb up the mountain to the main castle. Our group went up to the top floor, where you can walk on a balcony that surrounds the top of the castle. The wind was really strong today, so when I was up there we had the chance to make the 360, but after we went back into the castle they shut off part of it against the wind.

After the group tour was over we had the chance to explore the surrounding area. In the past, it was all the functioning village of Inuyama. Now, many of the traditional attractions are along the main road leading from the station to the castle. There was a museum of bunraku puppets, and also a historical museum with a miniature display of what Inuyama castle looked like in the past. The rest of the exhibit was mostly dedicated to explaining the history of several wars that took place.

For lunch, we chose to order food from one of the food stalls in front of the castle, rather than sitting in a restaurant. For 500 yen, we received a huge serving of omuyakisoba, which was yakisoba covered in egg and a tomato/mayo mixture that I’m sure clogged up an artery somewhere.

Following lunch, we had a chance to watch a shodo, calligraphy demonstration. If we wanted to, we could also try to write our own calligraphy. The place was pretty full, so I passed this time, knowing that in a few weeks, we would have a calligraphy lesson as part of our culture class.

(Wooden model of Inuyama Castle, and view of the castle’s shrine)

(panoramic view from the viewing platform atop Inuyama Castle)