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!

One of my passions, among many, is fighting for those who have had their voice silenced by slavery. I want people to know that slavery still exists. It just takes various forms (often unrecognizable to those who refuse to pay attention, or just don’t know about it) and occurs every day in places such as Japan AND the United States including Michigan and even Iowa. There are tons of different ways to get involved in re-abolishing slavery and raising awareness about all the modern forms that it takes. If any of you are interested in this topic, please hit me up. Secondly, I have a Facebook page dedicated to the awareness part of the Abolition Fight…if you would go and ‘like’ it and check it out every once in awhile I would really appreciate it. As an FYI the most recently post is about slavery in a karaoke bar, check it out if you find the time. http://www.facebook.com/IowaSAS?ref=ts