I know I haven't blogged in a long time (2 months!) but I haven't really had anything to write about!
３学期 ended in early March and the next term doesn't start until like April 16th, so in other words, spring break is over a month long! At first, I just took a much-needed break from school and relaxed, watching TV or going shopping around Tsukuba every once in awhile. However, last week, I took a little vacation with my friend Zoe (also from OSU).
On Monday, we had a farewell party for our good friend Choi because he had to return to Korea, but unfortunately it had to be cut short for me since I was leaving early the next morning. Tuesday, I woke up at 7 and left with Zoe for Odaiba, in Tokyo Odaiba is a man-made island in Tokyo Bay. It was the first time I'd actually seen the water since coming to Japan. Around Odaiba are basically just a ton of shopping malls, but it was fun. Also had a good view of the bridge (looked like Skyarrow bridge from Pokemon BW) and Tokyo Tower! We ate at Odaiba Takoyaki Museum and I had some garlic-flavored stuff that was a different take on one of my favorite foods.
Before meeting up with my bestest buddy Jess, her boyfriend, and Hannah (another OSU buddy studying in Tokyo) Zoe and I also checked out the 科学未来館 science museum. They had some pretty cool stuff in there! Everything was bilingual, too, so that was nice. There's also a giant Gundam in front of a mall that we couldn't go in because it was being worked on. By the time we made it to the gundam, it was too dark to get a good picture.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Still alive!
Hey.
I know I haven't blogged in awhile, so I figured I'd make a post to update the (Western) world on my status.
Honestly, not a lot has been happening lately, so I haven't felt the need to post. With it being winter, combined with all the random time off and canceled classes, I've been hibernating like a bear! My sleep schedule is pretty screwed up and it's actually caused me to get a little behind in my studies. Recently, my computer gave me a scare, so that added to the stress as well. I really don't want to have to buy a new laptop if I can help it. Right now, I'm writing this at 6:45 am on a Monday morning. I've got 7 hours until my only class today, but with the help of some coffee and a balanced breakfast, I'm planning on getting a lot of work done, since I was way too tired to do anythinggg on Sunday. I ended up going to bed at 6 pm...
Speaking of coffee, have I mentioned how common it is here? Most people would associate Japan with green tea, which is a proper assumption, but most people don't realise that coffee comes in about a billion forms in Japan. In particular, I see a lot more instant coffee, because of the popularity of the hot water dispensers known in Japanese-English as "pots" (katakana: ポット). "Stick" type coffee, or powdered coffee that comes in a small plastic sleeve (think pixie sticks) is everywhere because all you need to do is add hot water and you'll have yourself a mug. I also have a jar of Nescafe coffee, which, while it smells TERRIBLE (usually I enjoy the smell of coffee more than the taste), it does the job pretty well. Coffee with milk, known as カフェオレ (which I thought up until this morning was romanized as Cafe Ole, but it is actually spelled au lait, which comes from French) is also super common, even coming in instant form. Not to mention the fact that every vending machine has like 4 different kinds of canned coffee, at least, both warm and cold. Due to these reasons and the general lack of energy drinks, I've started drinking a lot more coffee than I did in the states.
I mentioned milk when talking about coffee. If you've never been to a Japanese super, you have no idea how overwhelming the milk selection is. To this day I still have trouble knowing what I'm buying, but I can at least distinguish low fat from normal. Next time I go shopping, I'll try to remember to get a picture and edit this post so you can see what I'm talking about. Also, my readers from Northeast Ohio will probably remember Lawson. Supposedly, they're famous for their milk, so I've gotta try that since there's one on the way to the grocery store anyway.
It looks like Blogger added some Google+ integration, so those of you in my circles get to see my blog posts now. Yay.
More later, if I don't die from overstudying. XD
I know I haven't blogged in awhile, so I figured I'd make a post to update the (Western) world on my status.
Honestly, not a lot has been happening lately, so I haven't felt the need to post. With it being winter, combined with all the random time off and canceled classes, I've been hibernating like a bear! My sleep schedule is pretty screwed up and it's actually caused me to get a little behind in my studies. Recently, my computer gave me a scare, so that added to the stress as well. I really don't want to have to buy a new laptop if I can help it. Right now, I'm writing this at 6:45 am on a Monday morning. I've got 7 hours until my only class today, but with the help of some coffee and a balanced breakfast, I'm planning on getting a lot of work done, since I was way too tired to do anythinggg on Sunday. I ended up going to bed at 6 pm...
Speaking of coffee, have I mentioned how common it is here? Most people would associate Japan with green tea, which is a proper assumption, but most people don't realise that coffee comes in about a billion forms in Japan. In particular, I see a lot more instant coffee, because of the popularity of the hot water dispensers known in Japanese-English as "pots" (katakana: ポット). "Stick" type coffee, or powdered coffee that comes in a small plastic sleeve (think pixie sticks) is everywhere because all you need to do is add hot water and you'll have yourself a mug. I also have a jar of Nescafe coffee, which, while it smells TERRIBLE (usually I enjoy the smell of coffee more than the taste), it does the job pretty well. Coffee with milk, known as カフェオレ (which I thought up until this morning was romanized as Cafe Ole, but it is actually spelled au lait, which comes from French) is also super common, even coming in instant form. Not to mention the fact that every vending machine has like 4 different kinds of canned coffee, at least, both warm and cold. Due to these reasons and the general lack of energy drinks, I've started drinking a lot more coffee than I did in the states.
I mentioned milk when talking about coffee. If you've never been to a Japanese super, you have no idea how overwhelming the milk selection is. To this day I still have trouble knowing what I'm buying, but I can at least distinguish low fat from normal. Next time I go shopping, I'll try to remember to get a picture and edit this post so you can see what I'm talking about. Also, my readers from Northeast Ohio will probably remember Lawson. Supposedly, they're famous for their milk, so I've gotta try that since there's one on the way to the grocery store anyway.
It looks like Blogger added some Google+ integration, so those of you in my circles get to see my blog posts now. Yay.
More later, if I don't die from overstudying. XD
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