ありがとう

Hi
My flight to the U.S. leaves today. The conclusion of this semester brings an end to my study abroad experience, which started over a year ago in South Korea. Studying abroad is one of the best things I have ever done. It was a great decision, and I'm quite satisfied that I went to South Korea first, then on to Japan, and that I chose to extend my time in Japan. Considering timing and various other factors, it worked out perfectly.
I've had a wonderful year in Japan. I will never forget Kansai Gaidai, Hirakata, or seminar house 2. I had a lot of fun and got to know many people. I was able to do a lot of sightseeing and travel, as well as spend time with new friends. I've had a great time. I can't imagine my life without these experiences I've had thanks to being a student at both Kansai Gaidai and Korea University. I can't express how valuable these past three semesters have been to me. Each semester was better than the previous one. I'm so happy I could do this.

Thank you for reading my blog.

In Japan

A review and overlook.

Previously while in Japan, before I arrived here in August to study abroad, I had several experiences, including:

• going to a sumo wrestling tournament
• driving up Mt. Fuji and standing on it
• doing a homestay with a Japanese family
• going to a Toyota museum and inside a car factory

Overall, I've been to various Japanese cities, including:

• Nagoya
• Kyoto
• Osaka
• Nara
• Hiroshima
• Kobe
• Tokyo
• Yokohama
• Naha

I've eaten Kobe beef, been to Miyajima, bought a bicycle, saw the deer in Nara, met an atomic bomb survivor, went to a Takarazuka performance, and visited Okinawa.

I've taken a shinkansen three times:

• from Nagoya to Tokyo in August 2010
• from Osaka to Hiroshima in October 2013
• from Osaka to Tokyo in March 2014

I seriously considered traveling up north to Hokkaido this semester, but decided against it. I don't have much time to travel since I'm a student, and I'd rather spend time with the friends I have here than go to Hokkaido by myself just for the hell of it. Besides, I can always come back to Japan in the future and perhaps visit Sapporo then. I also wouldn't mind seeing Kumamoto Castle or checking out Fukuoka, which are on Kyushu. I also want to go to the Studio Ghibli museum. Maybe I'll even travel around northern Honshu someday.

I don't have to do everything during my study abroad time here.

Overall, I'm satisfied. Coming here was a great decision.

Done!

I've taken all my exams and written all my essays. I have no remaining schoolwork. I'm done with this semester! This completes my third year and my sixth semester, half of which was spent studying abroad.
Some other students here still have finals left, but everyone will be finished with everything after Friday. Fortunately I've gotten everything out of the way already, so I can go to Tokyo! I'm going to see one of my favorite groups perform, since they're touring Japan right now. Not only that, but I'm going to attend their concert at Tokyo Dome! I feel so lucky.

Last Day of Classes

Today is the last day of classes of Kansai Gaidai's Asian Studies Program, in which all exchange students here are enrolled in (the Japanese semester ends in July).
I had one class in the morning, but now I'm done. I won't have any more classes this semester. Finals week starts on Monday.
I have two tests and two essays left. I'll have my Reading and Writing Japanese test on Monday and my Speaking Japanese class test (which is written) on Tuesday. My essays are both due on Thursday, but since I'm going to Tokyo in the middle of finals week to attend a concert, I'll have to finish them by Monday or Tuesday. I should be completely done on Tuesday.
Things are clearly winding down. In addition, I closed my Japanese bank account this week. I only have about two weeks left here.

Korea

Hi
I'm going to spend the first week of May in South Korea :)
It will be my third time in Korea, after first going there last year to study abroad in Seoul, and then going to Korea again last fall to attend a concert. This time, I have no specific reason for going. The timing is solely based on Japanese holidays. It will be Golden Week in Japan, which means I'll have a few more days off (I admit I'm also going to skip class, but until now I've had perfect attendance). I booked my flights back in February and I'm going by myself. I like South Korea a lot, and since it's fairly easy to access from Japan, I'm taking this opportunity to go back again.

I'm so happy to spend time in Seoul again!!! It's one of my favorite cities. I'm planning on visiting my favorite areas, as well as go to some new places that weren't open yet the last time I was there. I also plan on shopping and meeting up with some of my Korean friends.
Since I'm still living in Japan, it's much easier to travel to South Korea. After my time studying abroad comes to an end, I will find myself on the other side of the world again. So I decided to go back to Seoul while it was still easy and inexpensive. I really love Seoul.

Midterm Exams

Midterms are coming up fast. In fact, mine start on Tuesday.
My schedule is unique this week because I only have three classes, as well as three exams. A lot of my classes were cancelled due to exam schedules. I'll have three classes on Monday, and that's it for the week. Then, I'll have a different Japanese midterm exam each day after that. Friday is a holiday, and next week is spring break. Therefore, I'll have a break from school from March 21 to March 30. My mom will come to Japan to visit during that time! I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to show her around Osaka, Kyoto, and Tokyo. :)

I know I haven't been blogging much lately. Sorry for the lack of updates. It's not that I've lost interest in blogging. I still enjoy it a lot! The thing is, I haven't been doing the things I normally blog about. For example, I don't go sightseeing often anymore. Even though I've started making fewer posts here, I'm still quite busy! I'm having a lot of fun. I met a lot of new people in the seminar house this semester and I enjoy spending time with them. I love studying abroad. I'm worried this will end too soon. I know how time flies by. It's already time for midterms! They snuck up on me.
Anyway, that's the update for now.

Figuring Out My Schedule

I truly can make miracles happen with course registration!!!!!

ahhhh this is wonderful :D and it lifts some of my stress away because the class I somehow got into suits my major perfectly.

I beat the odds last spring when course registration at Korea University was looking quite dismal. There's one class I went to that I thought was perfect and I flipped out about it and really wanted to add it!!!! but it was thought to be impossible. On the first day the professor told us that nobody would be able to add the class. Yet I managed to get in! That was a challenge. I also added another class that was important to me.

I had no problems in the fall because for the first time since starting college, I got into every course I had requested or tried to register for. lucky lucky

This time I was close to giving up. Earlier this week I thought things wouldn't work out. But tada~~~~ I got into a full class!!!! yay!!!!!! :)

anyway I guess I'll explain later I have to go make tarts since we're having a seminar house event.

First Day of Classes

Orientation week is over and classes have begun!

Speaking Japanese is required for all exchange students, and though I didn't take Reading & Writing Japanese last semester I decided to take it for the spring semester.
I had the best Japanese teacher ever last semester. He was awesome and class was always fun. I miss that class, but my Japanese teachers this semester also seem friendly.
My Speaking Japanese class includes three other people who were in my Speaking Japanese class last semester. In fact, out of 11 students, there are only three people who are new this semester. There were a few people who were absent though, so I'm not sure about the final count. Also, the first week is review and then we take a test. Therefore people have the ability to move up or down a level.
My Reading and Writing Japanese teacher lived in the U.S. for nine years so I'm sure she's fluent in English. I can't be certain because the class is taught in Japanese so I haven't heard her talk in English, but she did say a few words in English to translate and her pronunciation was great. She seems really nice.
The thing about Reading and Writing is... my level. I didn't take that class last semester. In fact, I haven't done much with kanji in over a year! I didn't take any Japanese class at all last spring when I studied in South Korea. I took a placement test last week and it was short, and somehow I was put into the intermediate level. I thought I'd be far lower for Reading and Writing. I was surprised.
Now, after the first day of class, it dawned on me that I really want to try to stay in this level. I'm worried now, since to do so I can't fail the review test next week. Therefore I hope to study lots of kanji and try my best to pass. I felt a little overwhelmed. I hope I can do it...

Since I'm taking two Japanese classes this semester I signed up for two lecture courses instead of three. One is Pacific Rivalry, which I really want to take, and the other is Japan and Globalization. Well, I didn't get into the Globalization class. They placed me into Visual Anthropology instead, which I don't want to take! I'm going to drop it. At first I thought I'd try to get into the globalization class, but over the weekend I talked to half a dozen people who are also on the waiting list. Since it seems difficult to get into that class and since I found another class that would be better for my major, I'm not going to worry about getting into Globalization anymore. Now I'm trying to get into a class about the modernization of Japan and China. I really want to get into it. It interests me a lot.

What else... I could write about a lot of things.


All exchange students here are in the Asian Studies Program, which is different from the rest of the university. We're on a calendar that resembles the American calendar, so although our semester started, the Japanese students won't start their semester until April or so. It was different in the fall. We started earlier then too, but the Japanese students started about one week later (and ended much later than we did). Now we'll be on our own on campus for roughly two months. It's emptier, and it's not difficult to find a place for my bike in the bicycle parking lot for now.


We don't have a fancy opening ceremony this time. Instead, we'll have a completion ceremony in May.


I live in seminar house 2 again. There are four in total and SH2 was open during the winter for extension students, but I moved out completely for the winter because I traveled the whole time. I was surprised that they assigned me to the same exact room I had last time. Initially I had a roommate from the U.S., but I met someone who wanted to change rooms so she ended up switching with my roommate. That means that I've had a new roommate since yesterday. She's from the Netherlands. We get along.
I'm used to living in dorms. I think this will be my last semester having a roommate, and I don't mind at all.
This will be my sixth semester of college and my fifth semester sharing a room. I will have had roommates for a semester from four countries: the U.S., India, Japan, and the Netherlands.

There are some changes to this seminar house. One major difference, compared with the fall semester, is that the third floor changed from a boys floor to a girls floor. That means there are only nine guys who live in this building now. Seminar house 2 is the smallest seminar house. We have four floors. The first floor barely has any rooms. The second floor is an actual floor, but it has slightly fewer rooms than the floors above because the kitchen and dining room are there. The third and fourth floors only have rooms. Last semester, the first and third floors were for boys while the second and fourth were for girls. Now all floors except for the first are for girls, and the first floor only has four rooms.

Aside from more girls, there are some empty rooms this semester. At least two or three rooms are completely empty. Also, rooms are assigned to a refrigerator, and they changed the numbers. Even though I live in the same room again, I'm using a different fridge now.

As for RAs, only one RA from last semester is an RA again. We have three RAs here in total, and I actually knew two of them already because one of them who is an RA now was a resident here last semester. That means there's just one new person (in my view), and she's quite nice. Also, she's good at English.

Last semester we had three Japanese RAs and four Japanese residents. This semester we don't have any Japanese residents.


I'm still adjusting to this new semester. I'm having a bit of a hard time because I don't warm up to change like this easily. I'm in a bad mood sometimes or feel sad.
Last semester wasn't always the greatest and there were some people I disliked, especially towards the end, but I've started to look back at it and I miss it. Last week I was thinking about all the people who used to live here in this building, many of which are no longer in Japan. Since our seminar house is small I knew everyone by name and face.
Now there are all these new people. That's ok, I get along with some of them and we have fun, but... it's different because I'm not new.
One major change is that my two really good friends don't live in the seminar house this semester. I met them here in the fall and we started to go to places together on weekends and watch movies together and stuff. I spent my winter break with them. This semester, however, they decided not to live in the seminar house. One of them is doing a homestay and the other is living in an apartment. I never looked forward to living in SH2 by myself. We wouldn't see each other in the hallway anymore, or hang out in the kitchen, or spontaneously watch movies together. I miss that. I think it will be alright, and we can see each other at school and make plans on weekends, but it's another adjustment.
Many SH2 people from last semester were either in their second semester already, were only here for one semester, or are still here but live off campus in their own accommodation now.

I'm still getting used to all these new people, some of whom I haven't met yet, and my new schedule and classes.

I actually counted the other day, and I could think of 12 people (myself included) who lived in SH2 last semester and who are living here again for the spring semester. In addition, I know of five extension students who lived with host families last semester and who live in SH2 now. This is just based off of my memory and the knowledge I have. SH2 supposedly has a capacity of 58, and I know that the number of people who live here is lower than that, so 17 people from last semester actually isn't that bad.

Sometimes I wish I weren't living here again just because I could then avoid having to deal with all these changes and differences.


The weather has been warm lately, at least during the day. I keep thinking that it feels like spring.


I looked at the list of everyone who is living in the seminar houses, and not including SH2 I could only recognize a couple of names. Wow. Are there no students left from last semester? Perhaps a lot of the extension students live off campus now? Then I reasoned that most of the people I knew last semester I only knew because we lived in the same building. There are plenty of people who I can recognize when I see them, but I don't know their name. Since I was on campus for classes today I realized that I recognize a lot of people from last semester, only I don't know their names. I don't think it's that uncommon for the people who do a year here to stay for the fall and then the spring. Still, I met plenty of one-semester students last semester.


Anyway, these are some things that have been on my mind. I'll probably come up with more things I could mention later, but I'll end this post now.

Return

I returned to Hirakata today. I'm back at the seminar house. After five weeks, I'm here again... It's a little weird. A lot of new people have been arriving throughout the day.

I was really excited earlier in the day. I went shopping today and did laundry and took care of some other things. I got all my stuff out of storage but I have yet to unpack. I don't want to deal with that yet.

Oh, two things!!
I moved out for the winter break, but this program put me back into my room! I'm going to live in the same exact room from now on that I lived in for the fall semester. I don't mind at all. I like my room's location.
Since it's orientation week, everyone can expect to live in a temporary triple. The third person has to live here for this week and then they'll move out next weekend to go to a host family or their own off campus accommodation. However, there won't be a third person living in my room this week. I won't be in a triple!
I haven't met my roommate yet. She arrived at some point today, after I got there.

Most students should be here by Tuesday. They'll be arriving over the next few days. There's a busy schedule full of orientation programs, such as introductions, campus tours, opening a bank account, and other sessions. As an extension student I can skip all of those, which means I have the week off. The first day of classes will be on Monday, February 3.

Being back at the seminar house during orientation week means that my internet connection will be terrible. It was horrendous at the beginning of last semester. It will get better, but it should take a while, like a couple weeks maybe. I find this really frustrating. I'm relying on my friend's pocket WiFi right now. Anyway, I know I'm behind on blogging but I'll try to update throughout this week. The problem is, I may not have a reliable connection or access to the internet at all.

Okinawa

I'm going back to Japan, but I'm not returning to Osaka just yet. I'm headed for Okinawa!
Okinawa is conveniently located between Taiwan and Japan's Honshu island.

Taiwan

I'm leaving Japan to go on vacation. Guess where I'm going

I'm going to ... the Republic of China.

No, not this China

This one

I'm going to Taiwan!

新宿 / Shinjuku

I walked around the area near Shinjuku station.

By the way, Shinjuku station is the busiest train station in the world. There are 2 to 3 million people who pass through it daily, and it has more than 200 exits.

I guess I'll add this in here...

I feel like my blog is getting boring. Also, maybe it's because I'm often exhausted from walking around for hours each day, but blogging is becoming a bit of a chore.

Christmas

Today is December 25. It doesn't feel like Christmas because I'm not at home and I don't have a tree.
Japan is not a Christian country at all and Christmas is not an official holiday. However, Christmas is not absent. I bought a calendar here and saw that Christmas Eve and Christmas are marked. Christmas music has been playing in public places for weeks, and there are plastic Christmas trees everywhere: in stores, lobbies, train stations, and even at Mos Burger. My Japanese friends have Christmas trees in their homes. I've seen many Christmas decorations, even in grocery stores. I've also seen ads for Christmas cakes for weeks. Apparently Japanese people eat cake for Christmas. I've heard that aside from the decorations and music, Christmas tends to revolve around gift-giving and couples.

One of the friends I'm traveling with is Swedish and in Sweden Christmas is celebrated on December 24. My other friend is from the U.S. and celebrates Christmas on December 25.
I spent Christmas Eve walking around Tokyo and then I went on a roller coaster next to Tokyo Dome. Christmas wasn't on my mind at all. In the evening, however, my friends and I watched a famous Disney cartoon that is shown on TV in Sweden every year, watched the Spongebob Christmas Special, and read a brief Christmas story. Then I opened a package that I received in the mail. Not to mention that I opened the last door on my advent calendars yesterday morning.
Still, I feel like I'm skipping Christmas this year because I'm not at home.

I had a good day though because I'm happy to be in Tokyo. :)
Today I walked around for hours and then I ate cake.

In the evening we watched The Polar Express.

Merry Christmas ☆

Traveling to Tokyo

Today is December 21. Originally, I was scheduled to fly back to the U.S. on this day. Instead, I have a flight to Tokyo. I'm so happy I can spend more time in Japan!

I am completely moved out of my dorm. All of my belongings are either in storage or packed and here with me.

Extension Approval

The fall semester calendar is marked with Notification of Approval or Disapproval of Extension of Stay on December 18. I knew that I'd have to go to campus to check my physical mail box in the Center of International Education on that day. Everybody who wants to spend a second semester here, regardless of whether they initially applied for one semester or one year, need to do so.

My extension application was approved! I'll be studying abroad at Kansai Gaidai in Japan for a second semester. It will be my third semester abroad.

After getting the official notification in my mailbox, I picked up my new student ID card. The only difference is the dates.

I never worried about my request being denied. Although I originally applied for only one semester, anyone who wants to extend to spend a second semester here is approved, unless of course they fail a class.

I look forward to spending more time in Japan.

Moving Out

The last day of the semester was yesterday. Most students were done before Friday, but that was the official day. Now that the semester has ended, people are leaving. Many are returning home to their countries, some are traveling in Asia, and others are staying in Japan.
It hadn't really occurred to me that people are going home. I was surprised on Friday when I saw futons laid out in the hallway. That means someone moved out.
Earlier this week I overheard classmates talking about how they have flights back to the U.S. in a week. For them only a few days remain now. I find all this a little strange. It's still sinking in.
I haven't really thought about what the semester ending means. Probably because not much is changing for me, at least not yet.
I'm not sad. Though I've said goodbye to a few people already and I have friends who will leave Japan soon, I feel fine. It may be because I don't have to stress about my last days in Japan and somehow pack everything to go to the U.S. yet. My time in Japan is not over.
I don't know what I'm going on about anymore... It is apparent that people are leaving and I think that's especially the case here because I live in the smallest seminar house and I know everyone by name and face. I've worried about living here next semester because it could feel strange and sad to have different, new people here instead of the ones I've grown used to living with. Maybe that will affect me later on, once the spring semester starts.
I guess it's kind of a shame that the time has come for everyone to go different ways. On the other hand I don't care because I'm staying in Japan for another semester and I get to travel during the break with my friends.
Anyway, here are pictures from my seminar house. Evidence of the end

As for me, unlike what the title of this post might indicate, I don't move out for another week! That doesn't mean I haven't started packing yet though. I'm going to pack very lightly for winter break.

I should clarify things. Nobody from the fall semester can stay in a seminar house longer than December 21, which is in one week from today (there is an exception which I will get to). That's the last move-out date. For the extension students and those who will be studying here for the spring semester, the seminar houses open on January 25. They open early, before the start of the semester, for orientation week. Extension students (those who study at KGU for two semesters) have the option of choosing to live in a seminar house during winter break. Of the four seminar houses, only two are used for winter housing. Seminar house 2 is one of them. I know people who chose winter housing, and since they already live in one of the seminar houses designated for winter, they remain in the same room. That doesn't mean they've escaped from the tedious check-out procedures though. They also have to clean everything, check out, and then check back in, even though their living situation doesn't change. Winter housing costs additional money, of course.

I decided not to live in the seminar house during the break (between the move-out date of December 21 and the move-in date of January 25). I already had two trips booked for January and I knew I wanted to spend time in Tokyo as well. My friends and I realized it wouldn't be worth it to sign up for winter housing since we'd be spending a great amount of time elsewhere anyway, where we'd also have to pay. So I planned my trip to Tokyo and made more bookings after realizing I wouldn't have use for winter housing. I've already spent a lot of time in Kansai, and I'll be living here again for the spring semester anyway.

Since I'm going to travel a bit during winter break, I need to pack lightly. KGU conveniently offers storage for extension students. I can pack up my things and put them in a trunk room here. Once they're in there I won't have access to them until January 25. What I find a bit inconvenient is that the last day I can put something into storage is on Monday and I'm staying here until Saturday. Oh well...

I've spent most of today preparing for winter break. I typed up a lot of information because I like to plan ahead. I can easily print things before moving out. I also packed most of my stuff today. I had already separated what I'm taking for winter break and what I'm leaving here. I was reminded that packing is the most miserable thing ever. I hate it! My room got really messy. I realized I have a lot of stuff and I don't know what to do with it. My room is still messy but it's also emptier in some ways and I have most storage items packed. I'm going to finish packing everything on Monday.

One week left in Hirakata!

I'm Done

The semester is over.

Daily Life

I was going to make a post like this last month. I'm a little late.
This is just to show what an average weekday is like, on which I go to campus for class. Actually, maybe this will be really boring. Well, I took pictures for this so I'm making this post anyway. Also, I took pictures on different days so that's why the lighting from the sun is different.
This isn't even what my daily life is like anymore because the semester is nearly over. The official final exam week starts today. I don't have school days anymore.

I wake up here

In my first several weeks here I always ate fruit for breakfast. Sometime in October perhaps I switched to toast. I never eat toast at home because I don't really like it at all, but here it's fine. I usually toast it and then add butter.

いってきます

upon leaving the gate of the seminar house

looking back at the dorm building

Shortly after leaving the gate and turning right, I turn left here. There's a park to the right, and a library is over there in that direction too. The way I go when turning left is a shortcut, which everyone who lives in seminar houses 1 - 3 takes.

right after I turn it goes uphill a little bit

along the way... more pictures are here

I pass this at some point

almost there!

The shortcut street ends when it meets this busy street. I have to cross this street

There's a crosswalk towards the right

Once I'm on the other side I continue to the left

There's this big Komatsu plant to the right of the east gate of campus

After having crossed the street it's not far to the east gate

The east gate is at this terribly designed 5-way intersection

on the right

This may be the east gate, but even though I've reached it, it's still quite a way to the campus area and the academic buildings

I thought this road went on forever the first time I went to campus. This is looking back after having entered through the east gate. You can't see it anymore

keep going forward

up this little hill

turn left

this is where I park!

I took these pictures on a weekend so the bike parking lot was really empty

Normally, it looks like this. It wasn't very full or crowded when I took these pictures. It can be a lot worse. Sometimes there's no space, so bikes are everywhere, such as lining the fence and added on at the ends of rows

At the other end of the bike parking lot. Still going forward

This is where I turn right

I have to walk around this building. Everyone goes to the left

The CIE! Everyone starts out their day here because all exchange students have a Japanese speaking class sometime in the morning from Monday to Friday. This is also where we go to check our mailboxes, use computers, ask questions or for help, and so on. The Asian Studies Program teachers' offices are located in this building, as is a large lounge for students

when facing away from the CIE

a look to the right

a look to the left. The main gate is down there, and that's also where you go to get to the train station

the CIE again

That building on the left is the CIE

down there to the right is where the main gate is located

the CIE in the center

This shows the pathway from the east gate starting at the hill (bottom left corner) to east bicycle parking 2.

Here you can see the way from east bicycle parking 2 (bottom left) to the Center for International Education (CIE), which is building number 3 (top right).

Now I'm leaving campus. This is right after passing the bike parking lot and heading back to the east gate

down the hill

This is at the mouth of the shortcut. I arrive at a park if I go to the left

I have to turn right to go to seminar houses 2 and 3

SH2 is on the left and SH3 is on the right

ただいま

This is how uneventful my life is.

I think it takes about 10 to 15 minutes to bike to school.