For those of you who don’t know (that would be all of you, because I don’t think I have ever mentioned this before), my housemates and I refer to our home as the Panda House. We no longer live in a dorm. We live in a house about a 12 min walk from campus. Our house has been separated into 3 apartments. I share an apartment with two other girls.

The first semester is almost over and it is time for a spring cleaning in the middle of November.
We recently just called a meeting to discuss what needs to be spiffy’d up!

Maybe I’ll post pictures when we are done.

On the flip side, when I came home today there was a little pink sticky note on my door from my landlord that said she’d be showing our apartment to somebody else tomorrow! I am telling you, finding another place to live is not what I want to be doing with my time right now. The stress of finals  is already here with finals week being less than two weeks away! I know what you are thinking…
“Why don’t you just stay at the Panda House next year?”
I’ll tell you why… because it is so goshdang EXPENSIVE.

I want to be closer to campus (although I am already pretty close), and pay less than the 583$ I am paying for rent every month of the year (it does not exclude the summer months) and that is not including utilities. I don’t ever think I’ve ever been so broke before in my life! We have a really nice house and a decent landlord, but I just can’t do it. I just picked up another job.

Say HELLO to Buffalo Wild Wings!
I had my first day of training today, and I loved it.
But it is still a job and takes up time and energy.

My goals are to find a cheaper place to live, budget my money better, study early and study well for my finals, clean up my house, and stay on top of things with my organizations.

With all the beautiful leaves changing, this campus just becomes even more beautiful.

I am trying to balance staying inside and sipping on my hot Chinese Peach Tea and studying.

I really need to utilize all the study spaces offered on campus.

It is decided!

My rent is too high. I need another job. 🙁

I will begin searching on Jobnet this weekend. Jobnet is the University’s on-line advertisement system for all employment, including student employment.  Community employers can also utilize this site to advertise part-time jobs that are for 20 hours or less per week. I will let you know what I find.

=Kyra

A month into school and I’ve already realized I have been slacking. 🙁

This weekend I have cleared my schedule to take some time to sit back, reorganize, and set some goals and guidelines.

To make sure that I hold myself accountable, I am going to write an update each day of the weekend on my blog. I will include all accomplishments that I’ve achieved during that 24 hours. Look out! I am about to get back on top of my academic and organization game!! 😀

Sincerely,

Needs To Be More Productive.

先週のしゅまつは　京都　に　いきました。

Here are pictures from my trip to Kyoto.
I visited Toei Kyoto Studio  Park and Arashiyama Monkey Park Iwatayama.

Today, marks the end of our third week of class which also (unfortunately) means that earlier today I had a midterm exam. As usual I was the last one to finish my exam. However, I do feel confident that I study efficiently and that I did my best. I will let you know how that plays out once I get my score back. Today the program created an event for us to connect with more of the locals called Curry night! Some Japanese students from Shiga Daigaku will come over to our apartments and cook curry with us. I am not really sure what history Japan has with Curry, but I know my best friend’s mother makes the best Indian South Indian curry I ever tasted so this meal is going to have some pretty high standards to live up to! I just got back from the Grocery store, Beisia, I swear I have to go like every three days. Today I spent way too much money!!! My groceries costed about 5000 Yen. 🙁

I need to be a little more strategic when purchasing my food. On the way back I stopped at McDonalds…what can I say??

A Karaoke Night!

カラオケ

Karaoke is said to be a form of entertainment invented by the Japanese (I am not sure if this is true or not, I wouldn’t doubt it though). Unlike what is common back in Iowa and nearby locations, karaoke bars are virtually all over here. I’ve seen about 4 so far and I have not been anywhere close to seeing a fourth of this city. They are extremely common and are just as popular among Japanese businessmen and women as it is with the high school and college students.

The Welcome Party was an event planned by JCMU staff to help us American students make Japanese friends. At the welcome party students from the near by university (Shiga University)  met with us, played games, and practiced speaking both of our foreign languages. I met a lot of really cool people, I can’t wait to begin building relationships with them!

June 3, 2012 Sunday- Japan

Today I woke up around 10 am Japan time and let’s just say I felt like a real adult! Lol
I got up and toasted me some raisin Danish bread that I bought all on my own yesterday evening at the supermarket called Beisia! My microwave in Japan acts both as a toaster and a microwave! How sick is that? I just put the bread in and push the little red bread icon that reads “to-su-to”トースト (toast) and when I take my bread out it is toasted! I put some jam on it and had a bottle of Aquarius water! Then I decided to do some planning for my trip to the Dominican Republic that I want to take before school starts, the moment I leave Japan. I will share more about that later.
After spending about 3 and a half hours on Students Abolishing Slavery academic year planning, there was a knock on my door. My new friend Scott from Massachusetts wanted to know if I wanted to go exploring. HECK YES! I asked my roommate Addie to go and then we were off! Frannie, Scott, Addie and I went to a nearby Shrine, chilled on a huge rock in the lake, climbed a mountain, and explored a nearby town. To say I had a blast is a huge understatement.

Now I am back in my apartment waiting for the rice to cook so that I can cook my dumplings! After cooking dinner today’s exploring group is going to be reunited so that we can watch a Japanese movie together! 😀 All the other students have been studying all day because we have a Japanese level placement test tomorrow, but because I plan to get placed into the first level Japanese I don’t necessarily need to study. There will be plenty time for that once classes start on Tuesday.

NEW YORK NEW YORK!

Before my I arrived in Japan, I spent some time in the Big Apple. I had never been to New York, and lets just say this wont be my last time!

I met some really amazing people, I mastered the Subway train all over Manhattan, and I got lost in Jersey Shore. 🙂

There was so much to see in New York, and I couldn’t see it all… So I will definitely be back!