Kyoto, Nara, and Deer!

Last weekend I went on a field trip to Kyoto, the old capitol of Japan. We went to some shrines, temples, and famous places, but my favorite place by far was a garden that was part of a shrine called "Heian Jingu". Here are some pictures of the trip.

Yesterday I went to Nara with some friends. Nara is where "Todaiji" temple,  the biggest wooden building in the world, is located. It is enormous! Nara also has a park where deer roam freely. We got to pet the deer! They are so cute! It was a fun day. Nara is beautiful.

Weekends!!!

We learn a lot in class during the week, but the weekends are when we get to go out and see the sights. We also get to practice as much Japanese as we want, whenever we want. Last weekend I went to Osaka with a rather large group of people. When we got there, we split up, so a bunch of us girls walked around together. We shopped, took in the sights, and ate some famous Osaka food. We even got to see a part of a festival that was going on.

 

This week was a short week because of a national holiday (Respect for the Aged Day) on Monday, so we started classes on Tuesday this week. On Friday afternoon, after our weekly test, we got a chance to have a koto lesson. The picture below was taken by my friend Katie, who is a photography major at CMU. I look a bit too intense here. Haha! I was a lot of fun, though.

That afternoon, a few girls went to a furisode shop and bought kimono! This picture was also taken by Katie.

Today (Saturday), some friends and I went to a restaurant called "Baby Face Planet's". I got to practice my speaking skills there, as we had some problems arise when ordering. This weekend has been very fun so far. Tomorrow I'm hoping to relax, do some studying and homework, and possibly go to another town nearby.

Hikone Castle

This week has been very hectic because of the start of classes, but I got to do a lot of fun things as well. On Monday my Culture and Society class went to 彦根城(Hikone jo), known in English as Hikone Castle. It was very cool to see the structure and how it was built to keep away attackers. My favorite parts, though, were climbing the main tower and getting to see actors in full costume for a drama shooting they were doing that day on the castle grounds.

 This weekend some friends and I are planning to explore Nagahama, a nearby town. Then, on Sunday, I'm going with a group of students to Osaka for the 岸和田 だんじり(kishiwada danjiri), a festival with hand- held floats and lots of lanterns. Hopefully we will get to explore Osaka a little as well.

Pictures!

                                                                 Lake Biwa at night

                                           Taking pictures of Lake Biwa on orientation day.

 

                                                                           Ramen!

                                                                        More food.

                                                 Part of our lounge area in the dorm building.

  View of Hikone Castle, which my Culture and Society class will be visiting on Monday. It  was a little cloudy that day.

        Kristen on our bike adventure to "AL PLAZA", a 6 floor shopping center in downtown Hikone.

                                                           Pretty river view in town.

        Part of our cooking lesson group! Some Japanese ladies came in today to cook with us.




I will post some pictures of my apartment and the outside of JCMU sometime next week.

暑い！

   

      It is very hot here! Most of us are trying to get used to the humidity. We arrived on the JCMU campus last night at around 830pm, though it felt like 8 in the morning for most of us. After a good night's sleep, we had orientation today. We got our bikes, met the English language program students, and toured around the city.
     After the event ended, most students biked to Beisei, the supermarket in Hikone. It's just like a Target or Meijer. Some of us also ate at a ramen place inside the supermarket. The ramen was very good for the price (280 yen)! Tomorrow is the placement test to determine what level of Japanese we're taking. I hope to get in to level 3. Everyone is super nice here; both the American and Japanese students. My only complaint would be that I hope it gets cooler soon.

-Deanna

Five Days

     I will be leaving in about five days, on September 2nd, so I thought I should start this before everything gets too busy (a.k.a. I get too excited to concentrate on anything for more than five minutes). This is where I'll be posting updates, pictures, and anything else I can think of during my time in Japan. The updates may be short, or not so short. It depends on how much time I have between classes, traveling, and social activities.
     For those of you who don't already know, I will be staying and studying at The Japan Center for Michigan Universities. It's located in Hikone, which is a small city in a more rural area in Shiga prefecture. I will be there for just a semester. I hope to get into one of the higher levels of Japanese that's offered there. Well, that's it! I will post more sometime after I arrive.
-Deanna