Japan 3/30

In the morning, my building mates and I went to school by bus. All of the international students were split up into small groups, each with their own Doshisha student volunteers. Our 2 volunteers were Ryosuke and Kazuya, who showed us around the campus and took us to a restaurant near school for lunch. Some of us went to eat gyuudon (pork over rice). It was so good and so cheap! Japanese pork tastes different somehow..perhaps it's more lean?

Later, we went to Kyoto station and walked to the ward office from there. It took a long time to register for our alien card! Even though the workers there had to deal with foreigners, none of them spoke English! Luckily, the two Doshisha volunteers helped us talk and walked us through how to fill out the Japanese forms.


Another building mate and I went to Softbank to buy our cell phones afterward, but that took a long time too because a lot of people were getting their phones that day. While we waited for our phone registration to process, we shopped inside Kyoto station. There were so many cute and cheap clothes!! A lot of them were my style too :D

The guy clothes were kind of girly...haha

Group picture at Kyoto Station: with my building buddies and the 2 volunteers R and K

japan- 3/29

This morning, I took the train by myself (first time without my building mates) to Doshisha university because everyone had a different time for their oral interview. I got on the right trains and everything, but I still had to ask the train station people where to go. I met some other international students while waiting for my turn. The teachers were all very nice during the interview!

Afterwards, I met up with some of my building buddies and we walked together to Mina shopping center, where we shopped for some clothes at a store called UniQro (clothes were pretty cheap there!), and then returned to our apartment.

Finally got to cook, do laundry, and vacuum today! I feel so retarded trying to figure out how to use these Japanese machines..
Accidentally burnt the rice >.< Wish I had a real rice cooker!

Simple dinner I made :)

I got to catch up on some sleep today and get everything straightened out at the apartment. Now I have to go read all those papers Doshisha gave us and fill out forms!

japan- 3/28

In the morning, my UC building buddies and I went to school together. We took our written placement test, and after lunch we had our Doshisha orientation (in Japanese and English). There are so many deadlines, forms and information..! I accidentally dozed off during the orientation, but I understood everything they were saying. Later as we were waiting for the bus to go back to our apartment, it started SNOWING!! It was unbelievable..it usually doesn't snow in Kyoto at this time of year.

After getting off the train, we stopped by the grocery store inside the shopping center. There were so many pretty and delicious cakes, pastries, etc. and lots and lots of food! Price of fruits aren't ridiculous, but apparently the melons really are overpriced! $50ish for one cantelope!?!?!

Later that night, we all went bowling (there was an arcade in the same building!). No group picture unfortunately, so I'll post a pic of the bowling alley. We ended up paying $17 per person! So expensive... guess we won't be going again!

Japan day 4- 3/27

I met up with friend S around noon and we ate okonomiyaki for lunch. First okonomiyaki in Japan! We went to a lot of places in the afternoon:
along Kamogawa- cherry blossom trees are in bloom!

Yasaka Shrine: there were lots of food stands along the path. I got to toss a coin and pray here.


Maruyama park: popular spot for hanami (viewing cherry blossoms). lots of beautiful sakura trees! (picture: pond inside of the park)

I can't believe I got to see the Ryozen Kannon! I remember really wanting to go there when I saw the picture in my guide book. It was breathtaking. Especially with the green mountains in the back. FYI I don't know that couple in the picture..

Later we ate cake at a cafe, and around evening time I met up with friend Y who brought me to Kyoto station to look for an electronic dictionary. I didn't buy one because those were too expensive. Then we had tsukemen (a type of noodle kind of like ramen, but eaten like soba) for dinner. First time eating tsukemen! It was really good. The noodle itself was cold, but you dip it in the hot soup and eat it like that.

Later that night, my UC building buddies rang my doorbell and we all went to play pachinko for the first time. I managed to take some pictures before the worker guy told us that photos are forbidden inside the place. It was extremely noisy in the pachinko place. We also played arcade games upstairs of the pachinko place.
Glad I finally got to see some famous spots around Kyoto! X)

Japan day 3- 3/26

After the sleepover at a friend's house in Shiga, M and I got back to Shiga station (on friends'motorbike :D). We took the train to Fukakusa, where M got back his luggage from his friend's place.


His friend made us pizza for lunch- it was so good!!

Later that day, we met up with our friends Y and C, and we went to a store called Loft so that M can buy his last souvenirs. There was so much cute stuff there!

M had to leave for the airport, and so we all went our separate ways. I walked down Shijo street to do some exploring myself and found so many cool shops along the way. I somehow managed to find my building mates at Teramachi. It's been hard these days without a cell phone! At night some of my building mates came over to my place and we chatted for a while.

Japan day 2

First time going to Teramachi, which is a long street with tons of shops and restaurants. It's parallel to another street called Shinkyogoku, and both are famous places to go shopping. I met up with M, C, H, and Mas that day and we went to Teramachi to eat lunch and look around, city hall, and citibank.
Time to bust out the Asian peace sign.

We also went by Gion Shijo, where we pass by the gorgeous Kamo River (Kamogawa). Have to go there again to walk around!

After that, M and I took the train to Seta. We were going to meet up with BIE friends.

T and H met us at the train station when we arrived, and we got to ride on their motorbikes! It was fun :)

At T's house, they cooked dinner on a big hot plate. First time eating at a kotatsu and first time taking a bath (not shower)! Baths feel so good! I've been missing out.



Group picture!

I ended up staying over, and the next morning M and I went back to Kyoto.

finally in Kyoto!

The flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong took a really long time. It got pretty cold in the plane, but somehow I managed to sleep through most of the flight. The old woman next to me chatted with me a bit (we talked in Cantonese) and she was telling me about all the places she has traveled to.

The flight from Hong Kong to Japan didn't take very long. It was so nice and sunny on the way to Osaka, but once we arrived, it was dark and rainy! By the time I got through customs and retrieved my luggage, it was already 4pm, and I spent another 30min (maybe more) trying to find my friend S and his girlfriend A. Luckily, they found me and we had dinner at a restaurant somewhere in Kyoto before heading to the hotel. The drive took a pretty long time. I'm really grateful for their help!! I was so dead by the time I arrived in Osaka and it was dark and rainy.
What a cute couple!

Miso ramen!

I stayed at the El Inn for one night. The toilet was so amusing!! I used the water spray thing for the butt! That was an oddly nice feeling XD haha

Picture below is the view from my hotel room.

This morning I met all the other UC students that are studying abroad with me. We had orientation in the morning and free lunch at the cafeteria in Doshisha campus. Then we went to our apartments (4 other UC students live in the same building as mine) to wait for our luggage to arrive, and then we went as a group to the welcome party near campus. Got lost a lot today, but it was fun! Glad I had the other people with me the whole time.

This is the main street (Kawaramachi) that my apartment building is on.

After getting our luggage, we headed over to the welcome party that's at a restaurant near campus, but we got lost. People in Kyoto are really friendly though. We asked a lot of people for directions and they were all very helpful. We made it to the party late, but there was still food (very good food!) and we got to chat with the other students more. Then I went with a whole bunch of UC students and one Doshisha student to a Doshisha dorm party, where we met and chatted with a lot of new people. Got lost going back home too, but found it after walking a while!

Will update more another time!

Chocolate!

Fort Mason, San Francisco


Cy and I made it to the last hour of the International Chocolate Salon at Fort Mason. Since it was the last hour, ticket prices went down to $20 per person, which was a decent price considering how much good quality chocolate we ate. There were many different tables where they served chocolate and wine samples. To make sure we got our $20 worth of chocolate, we walked around the whole place stuffing ourselves with samples. The fat kid in me is very very satisfied today. I think I can die happy now :]
Below: some pictures I took around the area





Some more pictures around SF from after the chocolate salon:

the Keyhole House :3

view from afar looks like a painting!

SF Chinatown at night

Pictures taken with my new camera

SF from inside the bus


Pictures around Alameda and inside home

Friday night late update

Birthdays= yummy food, cake, and/or possibly alcohol involved☆
Late 21st birthday shout-out to Cy <3! Thanks for sharing some good plum sake with me.

Earlier this week, I went with 2 friends to various touristy spots in SF like Lombard St (still no flowers yet!), Ocean Beach, etc. Super windy at Ocean Beach.. Then I went with them again another day to Coit Tower (my first time there) and SF MOMA. We took the long way up to Coit Tower accidentally, but the view of the steep stairway path was beautiful and worth the tough climb. I didn't get to take many good shots since we didn't have a lot of time. This was part of the many steep stairs we had to take. Lots of nice houses and foliage.

The view from the top was breathtaking! I love SF.
Later that night, Cy and I went to the opening night of a videogame art gallery at Hotel des Art, which had cool art, DJs, amazing murals in certain rooms, and lively people. One of the painted rooms. I wish I had this room!! Apparently, the walls of this room were painted by the guy who drew the famous Obama HOPE poster. Amazing, amazing art. I don't know who that guy is in the picture, but he had a light-saber. XD

Creative piece of Mario art!