First Week of Classes and Chilling with friends! (UPDATED VERSION)

Hey guys~!

Sorry I have not posted in a LOOONNNGGG time. I have been busy with classes and everything! Anyway, for some reason, my pictures are not uploading to my computer, so I won't have any pictures this time. :( Next week though, I'll try to buy a new memory card! So this week, I'll try to make it a bit short! (UPDATED Monday, September 16th: Memory card finally uploaded the pictures into the computer! YAY! But I'm still getting a new one).

Anyway, I started my first week of classes on the 3rd with a Japanese language class. On Tuesday (which was the first day of classes for me), I had a Spoken Japanese class, which was a bit hard because I'm on level 6. :[ The reading had difficult words inside and I had to search it on the dictionary each time. Then I had Peace, Development, Democratization, and Human Rights class. It is very interesting, but some of the topics were a bit difficult to follow. However, the teacher is very passionate so I like him a lot. Then I had Cross-Cultural Psychology, which is again was very interesting. Not as hard as the other classes. On Wednesday, I had Reading & Writing Japanese for the first time during the week. There were so many kanji that I didn't know and I felt a bit dumb. -.-'' I guess more learning for me. Out of the week, I have three 9am classes, while on Mondays I start at 11am and Fridays 12pm! :] And I end early on Mondays and Wednesdays, which is good.


Sunday (September 8th, 2013), I went to Osaka with my roommate and her friend. We went to Osaka station to do some shopping. I bought some food, tights for my friend back in NYC, and a headband (which I wore twice this week already!). We also went to a cafe, where I had some really good sandwich (avocado and shrimp sandwich!). My friends both had mushroom cream pasta. Since my roommate's friend had to leave early, my roommate and I went around the supermarket and looked at some food. I only bought potatoes and nagaimo. I haven't made anything yet with those food.

I've recently been making food for myself and it's been going pretty well! So far, I have made broccoli no gomae, chicken/meat with vegetable satay, kabocha nikomi and yakisoba. I have been making lunch/bento as well. I am VERY proud of myself.

I have also went to a ramen shop near Kansai Gaidai University with a few friends. Although I did not get ramen, I had two plates of fried dumplings and it was delicious! And it was really cheap! ONLY ¥500. Wow~. Next time, I'll get the ramen. ;D

Other than that, I've been hanging out with friends after class at the lounge at school and at the dorm lounge. It is so much fun! Next week I'll be writing about my adventures during the weekend. Hopefully I can get a new memory card.

Until next time, sayonara~!

First Week in Kansai Gaidai University (Orientation)!

Hey guys~!

Sorry for the late post! I've finally made it to Kansai Gaidai University and the internet has been pretty bad (and when I mean bad, it's HORRIBLE. It's like I went back to the 90s, literally!). But besides that, it has been fun so far. :] I've only been here for a week, but I've been very busy. I've been meeting many people from around the world and I've went to many places! For the first two to three days, I had a lot of paperwork to do, so I went to the campus many times. Because of this, I learned all the important buildings on campus. I also went to the supermarket many times to buy some groceries. During the week, we weren't allowed to cook in the kitchen, so I bought a lot of bentos and cup ramens. Starting today, we can use the kitchen and borrow different cooking utensils. So I will cook a lot more. Also, during the beginning of the week, I bought a bike, which makes it easier to go to the main campus from my dorm. It literally takes about 10 minutes! 

On Friday, I went to Kyoto with a group of friends, which was so much fun! We went around shopping and I bought a manga called 聖おにいさん (seinto oniisan - Saint Young Men). I also bought a facial moisture cream as well from The Body Shop. During shopping, we stumble upon a Buddhist temple. We all washed our hands and prayed. Then, after shopping a bit, we went to a shrine. It was really big and BEAUTIFUL. After Kyoto, I went to Nagoya to stay over at my grandmother's house for a night and I came back on Saturday night. 

Today (September 1st) was a free day, so I went to a festival with a group of friends late at night. It was so much fun! There was a lot of food and game stands. Some of my friends played at some game stands and won some toys. One friend won a balloon hammer and another won a horse balloon. I didn't play any games, but I ate sausage and chijimi (Korean pancakes). Both was very delicious! I also met some local people around the area and they were really nice. One guy even payed for my chijimi! :D

Anyway, I have to go! I'll try to write next week if the internet is not bad. Until then, sayonara~!

Almost school! Part II of summer pictures!

Hey~!

This week was the last week before school starts. To be honest, I am SOOO excited for school (this is pretty rare for me since I'm not a big fan of school in general)! I'm leaving Monday afternoon, reaching Kyoto before 4pm. From Kyoto, I'm getting picked up and then going straight to the Kansai Gaidai University campus! I'm still deciding if I should go to Kyoto early so I can tour around the city for a bit before getting picked up. :P

Anyway, before going to Kansai Gaidai, I'll be posting a picture blog once again! This is part II! :D

This is the picture of Seiji-san at the restaurant Gomitori during early summer after teaching a few dance lessons in the Aichi Prefecture. We ate with a group of friends as well.

I took this photo at a udon restaurant when going towards Kirishima, Kyushu with a friend of mine. This says, "Since you only have one life, you gotta laugh when you're living." I thought this was a very nice quote! :3

This is at the Kirishima-Jingu in Kyushu. It is a shinto shrine and before praying, my mother, friend, and I all washed our hands. This is the etiquette for all shrines!

This is picture at Yufuin, Oita Prefecture in Kyushu. I saw this little doll near Donguri no Mori hanging from a tree.

This is the temple my mother and I visited in Oita Prefecture. It is called Rakan-ji and it stands on the side of the mountain like this! It's pretty cool and the view was excellent!
















Back in Nagoya, this is when I visited the Nagoya Castle. Inside there were many historical context about the castle. This is called the kinshachi ("Golden Dolphin"). There are two on top of the Nagoya Castle (which I actually saw) and they are platted or made with real gold. The one inside the castle is not real (but I'm not too sure...).

I took this photo when I went to the top of the Higashiyama Sky Tower with a friend of mine. It was right when the sun was setting and I was able to see the whole city of Nagoya! I highly recommend people to go to this tower when they have a chance to. It's great for couples and there's also a restaurant on the highest level. ;D

Can you guys tell what this is? You guessed it! It a towel of breasts! I saw this at Atami while my mother, grandmother, and I was shopping for souvenirs. It's kind funny, but weird.

I took this photo at Asakusa, Tokyo. This is inside Senso-ji. It was really big and very beautiful especially at night!

















Anyway, that is it for this week's post! Next week will be the first blog about being in school. I hope you guys are as excited as I am!

Until next week, sayonara~!

School in about a week! Photos from the summer!

Hey~!

This week, I have been hanging out in Nagoya mostly by myself. Since it's so hot, I've been inside the house most of the time except during the night, where I go to the gym. Anyway, this week's post, I decided to post pictures I either like or didn't get a chance to post from over the summer. Here's some of them!


I took this photo in Kijimadaira, Nagano Prefecture right near the Ski Resort. I don't know, but I like it. What do you guys think?











This was taken at Yufuin, Oita Prefecture. My mother and I visited many stores there and one of the them was Donguri no Mori. In front of the store, Ghibli items were lined up and I couldn't resist and I had to go inside! However, most of the items were expensive and I went out the store empty-handed. -.-''

This is also in Yufuin. I was waiting for my mother and since I had a cold, I decided to dip my feet in the onsen  right in front of one of the souvenir shop. Honestly, the water was SOOO hot that my foot was red when I pulled it out of the water. -.-''

I took this picture at Atami, Shizouka Prefecture when me and my family went to a rose/herb garden near the hotel. This was one of the Japanese gardens!  I love the way the ocean is in the background of the garden. It think it just beautiful!







When leaving Atami, my mother, my grandmother, and I stopped at a shotengai (Similar to an outside mall, but on the streets). We were shopping for souvenirs when we passed by this women and her monkey entertaining little children. It was very cute! :]

Can you guess what fruit this is on the right??? It is actually a watermelon! I had this over at my mother's friend's house when we visited her and her newborn baby. I never seen an orange watermelon before, so I thought it was quite cool. However, the taste was no different than the regular red ones.

This is the picture of the famous Tekeshita Dori in Harajuku! I was debating whether or not to post this last week because I don't think I took this very well. However, I like the expression the guy in the front made in the picture (he looks really mad, but I find it quite funny). Do you guys think it's funny or is it just me?














Anyway, that's it for now! Next week, I'm going to prepare to go to Kansai Gaidai University. I'll be packing mostly and sending my luggage to the campus. Then on Monday, August 26th, I'll be heading towards Hirakata City! So excited! So, I'll be writing one last post for the summer next week before the semester starts. It might be blog full of extra pictures (like this!).

Until next week, sayonara~!

Fun in Tokyo

Hey~!

So early this week, I went to Tokyo to meet with my family and to hang out with my friend. I went from Thursday night and left on Sunday night. Although it was short period of time, it was very tiring!!! >.<

Anyway, I went to Tokyo on Thursday night with my mom because she was leaving Japan the next morning. While my mom stayed until 4:30am to catch her flight, I stayed over until 10am. Around 11:30am, I met up with my cousin at an area called Ginza in front of the Kabuki Theatre. The theatre looked BEAUTIFUL on the outside! I wish I could of gone inside, but for some reason it was closed that day. :/ After meeting up, my cousin and I went to a sushi restaurant nearby, which a family member recommended to us. I did not catch the name of the restaurant, but it was delicious! My cousin and I had a kaidendon, which is a just various sashimi topped of rice.

After eating, we went shopping around Ginza. We first went to a clothing store called G.U., which is affiliated with Uniqlo. However, it is much cheaper! I bought a shirt for ¥990 (approximately ~$9.90). I wanted to buy a dress as well, but it didn't look good on me. -.-'' After, we went to Uniqlo and I bought a camisole, which supposedly very cooling during the summer. My cousin and I went shopping a little more, however, we didn't buy anything else.

That evening, I parted ways with my cousin and slept over at my younger cousin's house. The next day (Friday), I went to a hotel called Villa Motosu located in Yamanashi Prefecture. My family and I always go there when we all get together. Usually we go there for a few days, but this time we only stayed for two days and one night. On the first day, my younger cousin and I played tennis for about an hour. It was my first time so I was really bad at it, but by the end, I was able to serve (kind of)! Later that night, my family and I went in a bath, played table tennis, and then ate dinner (which was a course!).

The next day, we didn't do much besides eat breakfast and go in a bath. We had to leave to Tokyo early the next day since my cousin had work. While my cousin was off to work in Tokyo, I went to see the Sky Tree with my cousin's mother and my great aunt. The Sky Tree was HUGE! We went up to one of the observation deck, which was at around 350 meters. I was able to look out at the whole city and it was really beautiful! However, it was a bit foggy and I wasn't able to look out at the distance. If it was a clear day, I would of seen Mt. Fuji! >.<

After going to the Sky Tree, we went to Asakusa. We went inside the Senso-ji, which is a buddhist temple. I didn't pray, but I did look around the shops nearby. After looking around Tokyo, I went to have dinner with more family members at a restaurant near Asakusa. I had some really good kamameshi (rice in kettle pots). We had various kinds of kamameshi, but I liked chicken kamameshi the most.

On the last day, I went to Shibuya around noon saying goodbye to my family. For about 3 hours, I walked around Shibuya by myself, shopping at various stores. I mainly went to Shibuya 109, which is a gigantic shopping mall. It had several floors with various clothing stores. To me, the clothes were all flashy gyaru style, which is fine, but not really for me. Also, many of the clothes were very expensive. It was just nice looking at it.

After looking around Shibuya, I met up with one of my best friend from NYC. We went shopping in Harajuku at Tekeshita Dori. I've been there several times already so I know some stores in the area. We went to several clothing stores, but I only bought two things. I bought a brownish-orange shirt for ¥1050 (approximately ~$10.50) from a store called Sango. I also bought a cute cat eye mask for ~¥290 (approximately ~$2.90). I went back to Nagoya at night by bullet train. It was all so fun and I was so glad I got to spend time with family and friends.

Back in Nagoya, I spent time mostly by myself, relaxing at home. During the next week, I went to the movie theatre with a friend of mine on Thursday night. We watched the new Miyazaki movie called Kaze Tachinu. It was about a young man name Jiro Hirokoshi who chases his dream to make airplanes. The movie spans about 10 years and although the story line was slow, it nice lighthearted, summer movie, which I didn't expect. I expected the movie to be more depressing, but that wasn't the case at all. I recommend this movie for anyone who doesn't want to see anything heavy.

I also made some new dish! I made mentaiko cream pasta with sausage and onions. It tasted delicious and I got the recipe from the website http://justonecookbook.com/blog/. It has various Japanese recipes and they are all so simple! :] Anyway, until next week, sayonara~!

Festivals, Chilling, and Cooking in Nagoya

Hey guys~!

This week has been a bit slow, so this post will be a bit shorter than usual. Anyway, early this week, my mother and I went to a family friend's house in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture to meet her newborn daughter. My mother and I went by car with another friend of ours. Anyway, the house we visited was VERY cute and it looked like an American house! Inside the house, we spent a few hours talking and playing with the baby. She was very adorable and she was smiling most of the time! No matter who held her, she never cried, which surprised me. I would love to visit our friend's daughter again!

After the visit, my mother and I went to a restaurant with the friend who drove us to Toyota. Although I been to the restaurant many times, I still don't remember the name of it. :[ However, when we all get together, we always go to the same place. We ordered okonomiyaki (Japanese pancakes), monjayaki (Pan-fried batter, kind of similar to okonomiyaki), and other pan fried foods (such as seafood). It was all very good and I was BLOATED.

On Sunday, I went to a a festival near the house with my mom, grandmother, and my grandmother's friend. It took place in an area called Kakuozan in Nagoya. It was awesome! It was similar to the street fairs in NYC, where there were many clothes and food vendors. There were a lot of people as well and some were wearing yukata. Seeing them, I wish I had brought mine with me from NYC. >.< Along the way, I saw some performances including bands and taiko drummers. In general, the festival was very lively and I loved the atmosphere. I hope I can go to another one!

I have been recently been making food for myself as well! In the picture, I made pumpkin wrapped in pork, sour plum rice balls (using brown rice), natto with sour plum, and slice nagaimo with pumpkin, shiso, and sour plum sauce on top. It was really good! I ate all but a rice ball. I am hoping by cooking often at home, I can cook while I am in Kansai Gaidai University. ^.^



Anyway, next week I'll be going to Tokyo and seeing my family and friends. I am SOOO excited!

Sayonara~!

Touring Around Nagoya and Going to Atami

 Hey guys~!

Sorry I've been writing later and later. A lot of things has been going on and I couldn't start on writing the blog! Early this week, my friend from NYC came to Nagoya and we went around various tourist attractions. He stayed for two days, one night at the house. On the first day, we went to Nagoya Castle, Oasis 21, the SKE48 theatre, Higashiyama Sky Tower, and the restaurant Gomitori with my mom. I've been to Oasis 21 and Gomitori before, but other than that, it was my first going to all the places. It was really fun looking around, but so tiring! -.-'' Here are some pictures of some places we went to.

This is the Nagoya Castle, which is one of the Japanese castles around the country! Here, we ate kishimen, which is flat, thin noodles famous in Nagoya. I ate cold kishimen and it was perfect for the hot weather.

This is the Higashiyama Sky Tower. We went up to the top by elevator and we were able to see the whole city! We went up exactly when the sun was starting to come down, so it was VERY pretty! ^.^ The picture of the view is right under. If you look closely, there are mountains all the way in the back.



 The next day, we went to Osu Kannon Temple, where we prayed, and the Osu shopping area. The shopping area is HUGE and we only walked around just a bit of it. We looked at some shops, but I didn't buy anything. We had lunch there too, and we ate at a hamburger shop (I had a gorgonzola cheese burger). After, we hanged out at Nagoya station for a bit until he had to leave to Osaka. It was very nice looking at all the Nagoya tourist sites because usually I don't have the chance to actually visit the places. Maybe I'll go again (like the Osu shopping area!).

This past Saturday, I went to Atami, Shizouka prefecture to meet with family members and spend time with them for two days, one night. I went with my mother and grandmother, and we met up with my aunts and great aunts. We went to a hotel that's right in front of the ocean and it was very nice! It has been 3 years since I actually went to the beach (except for Coney Island. That doesn't count). The hotel had a very retro 70s look. There was a dagashiya (cheap candy store), an izakaya with old movie posters on the wall, and souvenir shop (it had a lot of retro bathing suits!). It was so much fun just looking around the hotel.

At night, my family and I went to a performance dinner. The dinner was really good although I thought there was too much meat throughout the whole course (In one course, there was pork hot plate, sashimi, and steak. I thought the steak was unnecessary). The performance was very nice as well, where the performers sang various types of songs. However, the performance was too loud and I was unable to hear my family members talk.

After the performance dinner, we watched fireworks go up from the ocean. I loved it! It was much prettier to see from the ocean rather than the Hudson River in NYC during July 4th. The firework performance lasted for 30 minutes.

Later that night, we all went to the onsen before going to sleep. The next day, my family and I went to a rose garden that was set on a side of a mountain. Although it was VERY hot, looking at the flowers was nice. There wasn't much roses, but there were other flowers as well and the garden was very colorful. At the rose garden, we all ate this delicious rose ice cream! On top of the rose ice cream was rose syrup and on the bottom, there was corn flakes. I must say that this ice cream was probably the best ice cream I ever ate (the second best ice cream is the ice cream I ate at a farm in Kyushu). However, the ice cream would of been better if the flakes were on top instead of the bottom because by the time I went to the bottom, there was no ice cream left but corn flakes. >.<

Anyway, this week has been fun! Until next week, sayonara~! ^.^