chii and i eating a mid-lunch snack at laqua, where I used to hang out at before judo practice at the kodokan.

Today was really interesting. Not only did I get to visit Sophia University, but I survived the scorchingly hot and HUMID weather. You could break a sweat just standing, it was so nasty. On the way home the trains were packed full and that was an even more thrilling experience, yuck. Anyway, Jochi (The Japanese name for Sophia) was pretty cool. I met with Chii and one other JASCer and we had lunch in one of the Jochi cafeterias, apparently the ‘nice one’. They had both Western and Japanese style menus. The Western one consisted of spaghetti and some sketchy looking faux hot dogs, so needless to say we all got Japanese food. After eating we walked around the campus a bit. The place where most of the exchange students take their classes in is towards the back of the campus in one of the older buildings. We peeked in on a Japanese class and everyone was attentively watching some Japanese drama. Best kind of studying ever ;) We also visited the school store and I was really tempted to buy some of the school apparel, but my bags were already full when I got here. I’ll be back soon anyway. Chii told me all of the exchange students have the Sophia hoody. I talked to her a lot about what kind of students come abroad to Jochi. She said a lot of them are ‘otaku-poi’, anime fanatics, and that she sees a lot of them walking around school with little stuffed characters on their shoulders… Also, it seems a majority of students who come don’t really speak the language and/or make little effort to mingle into the Japanese student body and spend a lot of their time in ryugakusei cliques. Coodies~. Tokyo is one of the only places that you could really get around in without knowing any Japanese, it’s kind of unfortunate. But anyway, I shouldn’t generalize too much about the kind of people who go abroad. Besides, there are also really awesome people too (^o^)v. Ahem.

Happy Fourth~

Toodles 'till next time! <3

And I thought I would have more free time…

It didn’t really sink in that I would be having class three hours a day five days a week once I got here ><

Outside of class we’re always busy. The program has a lot of planned and optional trips for us, so free time is pretty scarce. This weekend we’re going to Nikko, a good spot for onsen (hot springs). And where there are onsen, there are Japanese monkeys, the kind of creepy ones with red faces who chill/broil in the onsen all winter.

Last weekend we went to Kamakura. It was fun seeing the area in a different season. I also got a chance to eat some sweet potato ice cream. It tasted like lucky charms, in a totally delicious and addictive way! Worth splurging 3 bucks on a tiny cone. Also, because of the time of year, everywhere is blossoming ‘ajisai’. This is a new word I learned because in June/July Japan is in a hydrangea frenzy. They were even selling candies packaged to look like ajisai. And yes, I had to look up the English word because I had no idea what the flower was just by looking at it. So much for my knowledge of botanicals. We also visited the beach in Kamakura. It wasn’t really a sunny day, but my group dipped our legs in the water and avoided the skydiving sea hawks. These birds are creepy! I watched one take some girls lunch bread in one swoop. I also had an encounter with one at Sea World last time I was here, but I’m way protective of my pastries and other food products ^_^

On a side note, I can’t go a day without seeing a Japanese person wearing crocs! It kind of gives me the hibbie jibbies. And as Japanese people like cute little accessories, they have all the holes filled with things. I’ve passed two or three stores crowded with people trying to buy these ‘hip’, foreign sandals. I guess it’s kind of fun seeing a little slice of Boulder, CO walking the streets of Tokyo.

とにかく, tomorrow I’m going to be mysteriously absent from class and visit Sophia University (where I’ll be in September) with a girl who is going to be on the Japan America Student Conference with me when I get back. I’m pretty stoked to see the campus minus the fact that they had a small outbreak of otafukukaze (‘mumps’, a word I didn’t think would turn out to be a necessity to learn…). Last time I was here too, the other exchange student’s host brother got the mumps. In any case, I’ll be sure not to contract anything ;)

それじゃ, hopefully I’ll get a chance to post something more again, at least before we leave!!!
Bye~

Ah, Flesh.