So I've made it here safely! I'm currently sitting in my apartment in Kyoto, it's 3 a.m., and I just woke up after having slept for about 5 hours, which means I have "jisa-boke" or, as we say in English speaking countries, jet-lag. This is experience has felt pretty different than my previous two trips here. There are two major differences between now and then. The first is that I speak a lot more Japanese now, which means I understand a lot more of what is going on around me, and that I am also comfortable in communicating with people. The second is that we don't have a host family or Japanese people always looking after us. That makes a pretty big difference without a doubt. We have had UC EAP people from Tokyo helping us along these first few days with orientations and taking us where we need to go, but at the end of the day they let go of the leash pretty much. There are ten of us living in my apartment building, and 30 UC students all together on this program. We all haven't really had any chances to make other friends (i.e. Japanese friends), so we stick together pretty well. This has been good for the first few days as we get to one another and get used to being here. The bummer is that we speak English to each other the entire time. We'll probably have plenty of time to practice our Japanese eventually anyway, so for now, it's no big deal.
My friend Adam gave me a cool idea to do with this blog. I'm going to post one picture a day and one word to go with that picture. I'm going to try my best to keep this up as long as possible. I'll also make longer posts like this one where I talk about things and post multiple pictures. Here are a bunch:
Advanced toilet.
Guess what those buttons do.
The exit for my school and the imperial palace...
The view from by the elevator of my apartment building.
Outside the window of our classroom yesterday. With all of its brick buildings, this place looks more like an American college that UCSC.
Last but not least, a video:
That was just to give you guys somewhat of an impression what it was like walking around last night here. I'll try to take a few more videos if I can sometime.
Well, I hope this was a good first post from Japan! By the way, I wrote most of this at about 3 a.m., but then my internet connection got lost, so I went back to sleep, woke up, and finished this up. Thanks for checking this out!
4 comments:
I love the pictures :) As for the part where you say you speak English and that it doesn't matter, let me tell you that you're WRONG. A LOOOOOT of foreign students that speak a specific language ALWAYS stick together when they are abroad, which is a major mistake. Not only does it hinder your language abilities in Japanese, but it also prevents you from living the REAL local culture. Anyway, glad you arrived safe :)
Hugs
B~!
Thanks for the insight Benedict, I'll keep that in mind. I just hung out all day with a Japanese friend, so that's a step in the right direction!
Awesome !
PS: Be sure to updated it more often than Saya ;)
B~!
im so goddamn jealous.
your reliving my memories in my head!
yesssss.
Im sure you must be having fun?
are you living in kuju, or over by sanjo? did you say terramachi? woooow. eat good food for me! Check out a ramen place on sanjo before you go into the covered mall area. the place is yellowish and upstairs somewhere near some konbinis. get curry ramen. its the best.
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