Last

Today is my last day in AP House. I leave at 1pm, and am already all packed. This study abroad was so amazing. Japan is a great country, and I met so many amazing people. I just wish it wasn't so expensive. I'm staying another week, which was supposed to be for traveling but I ran out of money, so I'll be staying with friends. I do feel ready to go home, though, and I can't help but feel this next week will be really lonely. I'll probably read a lot, game a lot, watch a lot, and write my paper for Honors (which I'll post here).

If you have the chance, you should do a study abroad, at least a summer one. In fact, I think the only reason I met so many great Americans is because I did do a summer stud abroad program. When I go to Tokyo for a year, I think I'll meet a lot of great Japanese people, but less Americans, since it'll be an exchange, not a program.

~M

Things I miss

Things I miss in Japan:

Tacos

Chic Fil A

Tacos

A dryer that works

Tacos

My Xbox and friends

Tacos

Bookman's

The Peaks

A soft bed

Dr. Pepper

did I mention tacos?

Things I'll miss when I get home:

The nice, wonderful people!

Public transportation that doesn't suck

Co-op brand delicious cheap food

Ramen

Karaage

Department store malls

Y105 ($1.25) manga

POKEMON!

This weekend, I went to Fukuoka with some friends. The group was originally 4 people (2 people in each single room we planned to use), but that turned into 8 people (4 in each room). It ended up being okay, since the price for each of us dropped from 3000JPY to 1500JPY.

While in Fukuoka, we went shopping. The Hakata JR station has a Pokemon center on one of the floors, which was my personal favorite part of the trip. There were a lot of new Pokemon, as well as a few of the popular old Pokemon (but no Butterfree :( ). I ended up getting some souvenirs for people, as well as a few things for myself. I also got a bunch of free pamphlets and such.

After, we took one of our Japanese friends to Krispy Kreme, and got him a doughnut. He enjoyed it immensely and ended up smelling the wax paper in the elevator.

We also watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 in a theater at the mall. It cost 1000JPY ($12.50). In Japan, you reserve seats in the theater when you buy your ticket (in advance), which I thought was a great way to do it. The movie was in English with Japanese subtitles. In front of the theater, they had a lot of flyers for upcoming movies. Unfortunately, there wasn't a Harry Potter flyer. It may have been a little more expensive to see Harry Potter in Japan, but I feel the experience (and ticket souvenir) was worth it.

The next day, the groups split up. I went with a friend to go shopping all around the area our hotel was in. We stayed in the Tenjin district of Fukuoka, which is the main business / entertainment district. There is a shopping mall right next to the station/bus center, as well as a few across the street. The main mall we went to had a floor dedicated to gothic lolita/visual kei fashion, and a floor of anime/manga goods. I was able to find some cheap clothes to replace some of my worn out shirts, and some Touhou (my primary Japanese fandom) goods.

Fukuoka was great fun. If you ever have a chance to go, I think you'll enjoy it. I definitely wish we had had a 3 day weekend or week/halfweek break to go traveling.

~M

Preemptive decision/Rickrolling

Second part first: We Rickrolled a bunch of 4th graders today. They didn't get it, and we had some technical failures for the performance, but it was hilarious.

We visited an elementary school in Oita. Japanese elementary schools are pretty much amazing. Elementary and middle school are focused on discipline. While they didn't have uniforms, they did have to serve lunch, and clean the entire school at the end of the day. It was pretty amazing. They were so much more well behaved than 4th (and even older) graders are in the US. You could blame the parents, or the school system (0r both). It's one reason I'm a fan of uniforms. You can express yourself in other ways, you don't have to be straightforward and loud about it. They also knew more English than I knew Japanese at the beginning of last year, even at the end of the school year.

Now onto my preemptive decision:

Studying abroad here is the best thing I've ever done. At first I was expecting a bunch of weeaboo/wapanese/otaku/_____, since I was coming to Japan, but that's far from the case. There are so many different people in this program, and they're all pretty awesome. I would say it's because they have an interest in other cultures, which is evident from the fact that they're here in the first place. If you took that away, they'd be pretty boring, normal, annoying stereotypical people. I'm going to miss this town, this university, these classes, and every single one of my fellow American study abroad students. But there's still 2.5 weeks left. We've got awesome stuff planned (like a Fukuoka trip this weekend with my best friends), and we'll go out with a bang (literally) and some great memories and pictures. Assuming they get uploaded.

~M

Money

Today I found out how fast money goes. Bus tickets are way, way, way too expensive. I looked at my money and found I had half of what I thought I had, from what was given to me by my parents. It was to be used for food, but I used some for souvenirs (おみやげ) for people, and a few things for myself, but most has been spent on food and bus tickets (to get food). Thankfully, though, I have a lot saved up, so I just have to keep track of how much I spent on gifts and such, so I know how much I owe my parents once I get back.

Here's to not spending ridiculous amounts of money!

~M

Nagasaki

We went to Nagasaki this weekend. It was pretty neat, saw a lot of museums and stuff. We saw the A-bomb museum, which was really sobering, and some neat statues and stuff. We also went to a museum for some TV show based in ancient Japan, which has been running since the 60's. We had Champon in Nagasaki Chinatown, ate at a buffet, and went shopping at the mall, which was right next to the big train/bus station. I didn't go out, since I was (and still am) sick :(.

I didn't get a whole lot of pictures, becuase I lent someone my camera, but I manged to snap a good number on my crappy Droid camera.

~M

Pictures

Day 9

Today was my first time getting "lost" in a foreign country. All those times when my papa got us lost don't count.

We went to visit a radio/tv tower up higher above the university. Turns out, there wasn't a bus stop that went back, so we had to go all the way around to the train station, then take a bus all the way through town. It wasn't that expensive, and we saw some neat things we might want to do, namely a lot of hot springs in one area.

I also watched my floormates practice for the "World Festival" this weekend. They played some music and danced, and it was really, really funny.

~M

Pictures