April 27th, 2008
I’ve been having another great week in Japan. This past Tuesday and Wednesday, I attended hanami on three separate occasions at Hirosaki park. Situated in the northeastern portion of Hirosaki, the park is home to about 2600 cherry trees, which all have spectacularly blossomed. I’ve been told that over the course of “Golden Week” (which happens next week), about 2 million people will pass through Hirosaki park. I will now do as many other gaijin already have and cover my blog here with photos of pink trees.
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April 20th, 2008
This past week has been one of adjustment - it’s been a long while since I last went to classes at a college level. Like I mentioned in my last post, I last went to classes last fall semester at UMaine, about four months ago. Now I’ve gotten my schedule all worked out and I feel like it won’t take long for me to get back into the swing of things. I’ll talk a bit about my classes, and then about the weekend, which was exceptionally fun - there was a welcome party for the new foreign students and then rafting with the club I just joined, the adventure club, or tanken-bu.
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April 13th, 2008
It’s really been a while since I last attended a class. I finished up my last semester at my home school in December of 2007 and have since been working and now traveling before settling in for my spring semester which starts tomorrow. I’ve made some choices about what I want to take for classes, including some really interesting sounding culture and business classes.
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April 12th, 2008
This one isn’t going to have a day associated with it because I haven’t been able to keep up with writing about everyday. The main reason for this (if you follow my Twitter then you know) is that my MacBook’s hard drive crapped out on me on Monday. However, everything is good and back up and running. So this will be a quick post to get everyone back up to speed on what’s been happening the last couple of days or so.
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April 10th, 2008
I met Lim upstairs at his room exactly at nine o’clock, just as we planned. He was already cooking some rice in his rice cooker, the steam warming the room. He mentioned that he was watching a “dorama” on his computer, but when I went to see what it was I found it not to be a drama at all, but rather a comedy. He was watching the American version of “The Office.” I was pretty surprised. I told him how popular the show is in America and how my brother Will is a big fan.
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April 10th, 2008
It’s been a couple days since I’ve been able to sit down and write a blog post. Being as such, I’m going to make this a quick one (I hope). My first weekend in Japan was one of two worlds: solitary exploration and raucous socializing.
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April 10th, 2008
I woke up a couple minutes before my alarm clock was to go off at 7 A.M.. This night went much better thanks to the working heater over in the corner. Today was the day of the Japanese Language Placement Test, the evaluation that would determine what level of Japanese language class I would take. I wasn’t too nervous, since there really wasn’t anything to be nervous about - it served only to place me in a class appropriate to my skill. I did the usual morning routine of showering and teeth brushing, grabbed my things and went out the door.
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April 10th, 2008
The second day has come and gone. I sit here in my room tonight, unpacking my things (finally) and getting ready to sleep, in preparation for the Japanese Language Placement Test tomorrow. Due to the incredibly long length of my last post and the need for me to get to bed on time, this will be a much more abbreviated entry.
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April 10th, 2008
*** WARNING: EPICLY LONG POST AHEAD ***
Here I was thinking that yesterday was as good as it could get. Today was an absolutely packed first day in Japan. Where do I even begin? I suppose that there is but one place to begin, and that place is the beginning.
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April 1st, 2008
Here I sit in a Japanese hotel room in Hirosaki, Aomori, Japan. It is hard to come to grips with. The whole arrival in Japan and subsequent journey to my present location has been and still continues to be the most intensely lucid dream I have ever had - I fear that I might wake up tomorrow, back in my bedroom in Maine. After all the talk, all the preparations, my money is where my mouth is. Perhaps you would like to share with me the events that have transpired over the past 24 hours or so, complete with pictures and video? I thought you might.
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