My First Kyoto Trip!

Hey Everyone!

Today, after an uneventful morning of safety lectures and finalizing paper work, I got my student ID and list of classes. I got all the classes I wanted! Yay!

I signed up for the Kyoto tour. They paired groups of International students and Japanese students and sent us out the gate of KGU. We were completely reliant on the Japanese students in knowing where to go. In our group, it was Briana, Alex, I, Malaika from Uganda, and two Japanese students: Yukiko and Ayano. We walked an hour in the hot sun to Gotenyama station (talking and sweating all the way) and from there took a two trains to Shijo to see Nijo Castle. It was awesome!

After that, we took a bus to see Kyomizu Temple. To get there we had to follow a winding road up the side of a mountain through a quaint shopping district. Although it was very hot, it was a lot of fun.
We stopped at this cute little place for ice cream. They had some pretty interesting flavors.

I got "White Peach"

Then while we were eating our ice cream, these guys from Nagoya University approached us. They were doing some sort of quirky project, getting foreigners to take a picture with one of them "making a heart." They already had an American, but no one from Uganda...

This is Yuki-san (left) and Aya-san (right) ^.^

Finally we reached Kyomizu Temple!

We washed our hands in holy water. Would hate to break tradition.

Afterwards we walked back down to the bus and went to the train station where we took one straight to Hirakatashi. We then found GAME DINO, an arcade in the station and did Purikura!

You basically stand in the photo booth in front of a green screen and goof around while the machine takes pictures.
Afterwards you go to the other side of the booth and play with the photos, adding writing and "special effects. Here is two of our photos. It was so much fun!

Then Aya-san and Yuki-san helped us find the right bus to take us to katahoko, the nearest bus stop to Seminar Houses. We said our goodbyes and headed back. Only after we got off the bus, did we realize that we hadn't eaten and the nearest grocery store was a 15 min walk behind us. We went anyway and picked up lunch from TOP WORLD, which is a grocery store chain here. Go figure...

This is my dinner. It's rice and some sort of gravy... Looks like one potato is in there too... Woo. Well, I'm tired, I need a shower, and it's been a long day. I'm going to sign off.

It Starts!

Oh my gosh, everybody, I'm sorry about the late update. I have been so busy and out of my mind. But I'm here1 And I'm safe! And I'm going to try to give you the whole story, but it's long...

So I got on my first plane to Atlanta on the 29th, but we sat on the runway for twenty minutes waiting for clearance from air traffic control. Apparently there was some problem with "clouds over Atlanta" so we were late flying out. We reached Atlanta fifteen minutes before my next flight to Seattle took off. I was in the VERY BACK of the plane so It was five till when I reached the gate huffing and puffing. I was greeted by the sight of four other people arguing with a man. The plane had already left. In total there was like ten of us that had delayed flights and missed this particular Seattle flight. So after speaking with several people, I ended up getting the next flight out which was at 8 the next morning. The Delta covered it and also gave me a hotel voucher.

I got up the next day and flew out on the 8:20 flight. I was really lucky in that I was seated next to a nice lady named Edie. We talked the entire five hour flight time literally flew by. Honestly of all the flights I had to take, this one was the most fun.

Me and Ms. Edie

It must have been in God's plan for me to miss that first Seattle flight. Otherwise I would have gotten in at Midnight and had to stay 12 hours at the Seattle airport waiting for my next flight. This way, I not only got to enjoy Ms. Edie's company, but I arrived with only two hours before my next flight, having stayed in a hotel that night instead of an airport.

The Seattle-Osaka flight was not so enjoyable. I have never sat that long before. 11 hours... My butt was so numb by the 8th hour that I briefly wondered if it had fallen off somewhere between Alaska and Russia. There were no cool TVs in the back of our seats this time. This plane was much older and you could tell. What annoyed me was that there were controls on the stationary armrest that was constantly pressed to my thigh. You see on the far right, the big, indented circular button in the picture below?

That's the "call the Stewardess" button. My jeans kept accidentally calling for help...

This was our inflight meal. We also got like two other snacks.

This was my view flying into Kansai. It was breathtaking.

When we got off the plane, we followed a long, winding path as if in a labyrinth of glass walls. Finally we reached a train that took us to baggage/ customs. We had to pass through "Quarantine" turnstiles manned by Japanese workers in surgical masks. That was a little unnerving... I hand to wait in a long line to be photographed, finger printed, and my visa looked at. Then I finally got my baggage and went through customs. Right away as I left the secure area of customs I saw two very excited people holding a sign that said "Kansai Gaidai.

They gave me a "ticket" and told me to buy supper and meet back at the same spot in two and a half hours. Alex, another Kansai Gaidai student, was on the same plane as me. We wandered the airport looking for food...

There was a lot to look at...

THe strangested thing to me was that for nearly every product they sold, they had a plastic replica of it on display.

Even for restaurants.

This is where we ended up getting our food. We figured it would be easier to point at what we wanted. I am terrible at ordering in Japanese. ...Even if the food I'm ordering is Chinese...

This is what I bought. It cost me 680 yen.

The fried rice was actually very good. I liked this.

On the bus ride to Hirakata, I felt quite shaken by my first experience ordering food. It upset me a lot that when people spoke to me in Japanese, it was too soft and too fast. I floundered. I felt lost and a little bit alienated. I was stressed out, exhausted, mentally drained, and with a serious case of jet lag. I found myself asking myself, "What the heck am I doing? I must be out of my mind!" Luckily I was saved from my descent into madness by another student, Peter from England who sat beside me on the bus and talked to me most of the way.

We arrived, got the tour of the Seminar House's general whereabouts, got our room assignments, and got settled. I am on the 3rd floor in a unit with pretty much all Americans. Only Meri, one of our home-stay students is from Finland. My roommate, Shamikia, is from Georgia. I was so tired. I practically passed out on the futon.

The next day, we were up at seven. Meri and Miriam (from SH2) walked me to the University so I would know where it was. It was quite a long walk and it is really hot out. Though, it's not as hot as Memphis has been recently. Hirakata heat is more of a slow burn. You're okay at first, but twenty minutes of walking later, you're red in the face and sweating.

I got most of the things that were worrying me done. I'm registered for class, my fees paid, proper paperwork turned in, and all orientation lectures attended. Oh, a wonderful discovery I made...

Those vents in the ceiling, they're fans! If ever in Japan in the summer, I recomend standing under them.

Seriously, I do.

After we were done at the University, the group of us headed to Soft Bank to buy phones. I have my Verizon Wireless cell so I didn't need one, but it was fun none-the-less.

This is a Gundam phone they were selling...

Next we went to Cycle World so I could buy a bike! Yay!

This is the bike I chose. Silver with a black basket.

This is my bike key!

You put the key in the top of the lock and it unlocks the back wheel. The bike will only work if the key is in the lock on the back. It's the same concept as a car key...sorta...

You can see the lock on the back wheel under the bike seat. My bike has a little bell and light, that by law must be turned on at night. My bike is registered with a license sticker and everything, though the nice lady at the bike shop (who spoke little English) had a hard time with my name when filling out the paperwork. When I said "Laurie" she head "Marie." Meri had to tell her in Japanese that My name stats with "Ra." Anyways, I love my bike. It's old, but it has character. :)

This is the classroom we had the Seminar House Residents meeting this morning, where they went over the rules and saftey tips.

I thought the chairs were neat.

This is Miriam.

Briana and I bought Onigiri (riceballs) for breakfast today.

Mine had salmon in it.

Afterwards we went to the banking session. It was very confusing. By 12:15, we still had a line of people. They told us to just hand them the paperwork and they would notify us if there was a problem.

At 12:30 we had to be seated for the ceremony. The university president spoke as well as some people from the American Osaka Consulate and Australian-Osaka Consulate.

I took this picture for my dad.

Then they had a luncheon with plenty of food: from grilled yakitori and udon to ice cream and sandwiches.

Cory, Meri, and Shanikia.

Alex and Briana.

We then stood around reading the posters about all the cultural opportunities and trips offered by the University.

This is a playground near the university.

The walk back to Seminar House 3...

Okay... I'm kind of tired. This has been a really long post. I hope this update helps.

So far, I've been having a lot of fun. Now that I'm mostly over my Jet lag, I'm mostly excited and can't wait for the Kyoto trip tomorrow!

Thanks everybody for your support and prayers!

I promise to update again soon!

Laurie

You Can't Take It With You

(Me and my cats- I will miss them!)

Ten days before I fly and I can barely believe it! I've been in the process of packing for weeks, but I'm still not done. I've decided to bring two suitcases and a carry on.(my backpack)

As far as I've been able to find out, the weather in Japan is a lot like here in Memphis: hot summers and fairly cold winters. Though, it is more humid there, like 90% humidity instead of 70% like here... I'm packing like ten shirts (mix of long and short sleeved), six pairs of pants and two "nicer" outfits. I'm still not sure how many pairs of shoes I'm taking.
Beyond that I've been trying to cover the basics: socks, underwear, toothbrush, makeup, winter things like scarves, gloves and hat...The hairdryer proved to be a little tricky. I ended up buying a duel-voltage one just to be safe. I'm bringing some school supplies as well, mostly pens, pencils, paper and spirals.
I'm bringing my laptop too. I know they don't have wifi at Seminar House, but I hear you can hook up with a lan-cable.

Lately I'm been stressing out over the "omiyage" or small gifts that you're supposed to bring to give to people who will give you small gifts as custom. They say to bring small things like candy, postcards, T-shirts, caps, nifty little souvenirs from your area. I've been having a hard time finding things made HERE. Everything is made in China! I read on another blog that you shouldn't give gifts in 4s (associated with death) or 9s. (associated with suffering) Tomorrow I'm heading downtown to the Peabody Hotel and Beale Street area to look for something to bring. Hopefully something was made here. Knock on wood...

Oh! And I found out who my speaking partner is! Her name is Chie Sakai and she is two years younger than me, a Chinese and English major! I feel bad that I don't know that much Japanese to speak with her. I've only had one semester of Japanese and the summer break has been slowly dragging it out of my brain. So mostly our emails have been in English...

I'm not sure if this post has been productive or not. My thoughts are kind of scattered and I'm so excited I can hardly contain it. I had to sit down and sketch something to relax...hence the self-portrait up top... Ten days! Tomorrow my countdown will be in the single digits! Wow! Just wow...

Red Tape and Hoops

Just kidding! It's not that bad, though it feels like it sometimes.
Waiting is the hardest part.

July update! And kinda late too...
So yesterday I received word which seminar house I'm going to be staying in: number 3! So I'm very excited! It's apartment style, unlike the other three which are like traditional dorms.

I got my COE, (Certificate of Eligibility, which was sent from Japan) on July 5 (I believe that was the day...) and drove to the nearest Japanese consulate to apply for a visa. For me, that meant three hours to Nashville, TN, but it wasn't hard to find the consulate and the people there were really nice! When we got there, I realized I had left my small photograph and the visa application I had already filled out back in Memphis! (... left it on the scanner.) So the security guard at the front desk pointed us to a Kinko's five miles down the street. We drove past it, but eventually found it and got another photo. Luckily I got my visa application in before the consulate closed. Though I was quite perturbed to find out that there was another Kinko's right around the corner from the consulate! Oh well. Last week I drove back to Nashville and picked my visa up. It's shiny! And quite pretty if I do say so myself. ^.^ Some may wonder why I chose to go to the consulate myself, when you can just mail it in. Personally, I didn't want to take the risk of my passport and COE getting lost in the mail. A little paranoid, but "better safe than sorry."

So other than the application process, which was very confusing for me, (I had to fill out an application for my university's study abroad program, ISEP, and Kansai Gaidai, but the KGU application was online and much later. They didn't tell me about it at first and due to an error concerning my email address, I didn't find out about it until it was almost too late. Make sure your email addresses are correct on all applications!) and getting a visa, there really isn't too much red tape. Mostly you just have to keep up with a long checklist of things to do before you go, like registering with the state department or buying the right type of insurance. It really depends on your situation.

I'm starting to pack and working less hours at the bakery so I can get everything together. I must say, I am every shade of excited and nervous inside at the same time. 34 days until I leave. The countdown continues. 34...