Happy Easter Everyone! 

Today was a lot better than yesterday. It started out kinda chill with me not doing much. I got to video chat some people which was nice. I decided at about 12:15 or so that I was going to venture down to Beppu City to try and find the Catholic Church so I could go to Mass. 

After I got off the bus at Beppu Station, I wandered for a bit since I had time to kill and managed to see of in the distance an amusement park up on the mountain. I thought that was so cool! While exploring was fun, it did result in me being a tad late for Mass (I forgot how to get to the church lol :P). 

Once I got to Mass, things got real interesting. For starters, you can't wear your shoes inside the church which is not exactly something I'm used to lol. On top of that, the priest's English wasn't that great so the homily had to be translated (which was still hard to understand). They also use the Apostles' Creed instead of the Nicene Creed as well as combining parts of the old and new Mass (For those who aren't Catholic, Boss guys out in Vatican City decided to change things up a bit last Summer and redo parts of the Mass). Finally, for the Sign of Peace, you bow to the priest first and then bow to those around you. Not your typical Christ the King Mass at all lol :) 

After Mass, I walked back to the big Daiso (100 Yen store aka Dollar Store) and did a little shopping. I bought some things to decorate my room with as well as a planner and other small things. While wandering the store, I found some interesting items that included fuzzy handcuffs as well as a sumo thumb-wrestling arena (I didn't buy these though). Needless to say, I will be frequenting there often. 

And that was pretty much my day :) I'm going to work on my puzzle now. 

Random note: If you would like my address, please message me on Facebook or through Skype. Thanks! 

Today was not one of my finer days so far. This morning was really rough for me. I was talking with people back home and I kept feeling like I was being petty and bitchy. That's not in my nature at all. I can't help but think that being stressed about classes was probably the root of that behavior and if you encountered that at all, I'm terribly sorry. I don't like taking my stress out on other people but occasionally it happens and I'm sorry. 

After those fiascos, I began tracking the Duke basketball game. I would have been ok if it weren't for the fact that the ONLY reason I ever watched Duke basketball was if Genie was watching it. We'd go out before a game and buy chips and queso and take over Dustin's apartment to watch a game. It kind of became our tradition. 

Reflecting on this memory quickly turned into me crying for about 20 minutes this afternoon. I felt alone. I didn't want to be at the university anymore. I was tired of all the stress and things not going like they were supposed to. I wanted to be with my friends and family back home at Tech. Fortunately, Genie was able to give me a pep talk and calm me down a bit. 

So after that, I ate lunch and decided to go take some pictures around campus. As I walked around, I heard something that I needed to hear -- ongaku aka music. Since coming to Japan, I had not heard any music that wasn't mainstream crap. I wasn't able to figure out which ensemble was playing but it was classical music. I heard an oboe and a trumpet and it made me smile again :) As I turned the corner, I also managed to hear a group practicing "Salve Regina" which is a hymn honoring the Virgin Mary (PS: My favorite hymn ever; PSS: For those who aren't Catholic, the Catholic Church has like 200 hymns that they use and once you go to Mass for as long as I have, you pretty much memorize them all which is why I'm able to have a favorite.) It was really nice to be reminded of how awesome music is and how universal it is as well. 

After taking pictures, I met with Maria to go check out phones in town. We walked around and managed to find a beach that we plan on visiting when we have time. I'm still not sure what I'll do about a phone yet. The cheapest deal I can find is for $130 for 4 months which seems a little excessive for my taste. We also shopped for a bit and even tried some local treats. So even though my day started off kinda crappy, it ended on a rather positive note :) 

Random note: Even though I don't have a phone at the moment, I do have video calling on Skype so if you would like to video chat, let me know :) <3

So today was a kinda laid back day. I didn't have to go to Hiragana class this morning nor did I have to sit through advanced Japanese testing. How did I spend my day then? 

To start, I completely forgot today was Good Friday. As a Catholic, that means no meat plus I'm supposed to fast. Fortunately, I was reminded of the day and was able to meet my obligations. Anyway, I spent most of the morning trying to figure out what I'm going to do about classes both this semester and in the Fall. Fun fact: I register for Fall classes before I register for my classes here which isn't doing me much good. I haven't figured out my language situation fully yet; however, I've pretty much decided that regardless of what Tech does, I'm going to take the Foundation II course to help boost my confidence as well as be a great refreasher for the Fall. 

Here is where the problem comes in. Tech clearly hates me and wants me to do nothing but study because every major course here equates to 1 GT credit. For IAML, most of my classes are 3 credits. Oh, and did I mention that I HAVE to register for 12 GT credits to maintain status?  I'd really rather not have to take 12 classes as an exchange student but I may have no other option. Yay, Tech -.- 

In other news, we had a mandatory evacuation drill today at AP House. It would have been fine if it weren't for the fact that this university is located on a mountain and it's really flippin windy outside. But besides that, I had a pretty funny experience happen on the way back from the drill. One of my RAs (Ako-kun) began joking with us about how another RA is his "night buddy" and how "spicy" he is. The other RA played along with it really well and talked about how he ditched Ako-kun's request for a movie because it was an adult film that Ako liked. It was hilarious! 

I've also started to meet some more people on my floor as well as trying to speak Japanese more often. What's so great is as nervous as I am about speaking Japanese, they are just as nervous about speaking English. They are really patient and super helpful when it comes to speaking Japanese too. 

In the coming days, I plan to try and get a prepaid cell phone so I can potentially call people for a couple minutes. I've also started looking at clubs and organizations I can join. They have both a wind and symphony orchestra here but my trombone did not make the journey with me :(. I'm hoping they may have an instrument I can borrow. I'd also like to get involved with sports. I'm looking at potentially doing basketball as well as karate or muay thai ( I would do kickboxing, but it conflicts with a class). For now, I'm going to try and relax before classes start :) 

So I had my first orientation today. I had a lot of information thrown at me but I feel like I could remember most of the stuff we talked about. I also got to eat in the cafeteria for the first time. My entire lunch cost me less than $5 which was awesome! :) Got to hang out with my awesome APU buddy, Mariko! She used to play drums in a brass band ( I may have asked her if she could teach me some tricks :P). I've also finally gotten to meet some of the other exchange students here. They're all super nice and I can't wait to get to spend more time with them. There has even been some discussion about going to Tokyo for our semester break :) I finished out the day with a welcoming party that included some delicious Japanese food as well as a demonstration of Kendo (Japanese Sword Fighting). 

Of course, like most things, not everything was rainbows and sunshine. I took my Japanese placement test and was slotted for Foundation Japanese 2. Was I surprised....not really. I'm not the most confident speaker and I could definitely use help with the kanji. The problem: this is the exact same course I just took in the Fall. I don't know what I'm going to do now about that. Japanese counts for about 7 GT credits but is it worth taking if I'm not going to get credit? I'm not sure and I'll probably have to talk to my advisers. 

Let the stress continue. 

PS: As I was writing this, I experienced my first earthquake while over here. I expect many more of those in my future lol :) 

Hey Everyone, 

Sorry it has taken me a while to post but I've been busy adjusting to everything here in Japan. I figure the best way to start this blog is to recap how the first couple days of being here have been. 


Day 1: Travel 

I knew that it wasn't going to go smoothly. The entire week before I left was filled with ups and downs and last minute chaos. Anyway, I make it to the Atlanta Airport at around 6 am to catch my 7:40 flight to Dallas. As I go to check my bags, I am told that one of my bags is about 15 pounds overweight. I now have to go over to the side with my mother and sister and get rid of 15 pounds of clothes, toiletries, and other stuff to meet that requirement. Needless to say, this is not how I wanted my travel experience to start.

I make it to Dallas and have a little over an hour to get to my gate. I hadn't eaten breakfast at this point so I stop by Starbucks and get a hot chocolate and some berry coffee cake :). Next thing I know, it's time to board this 13 hour flight. It wouldn't be so bad other than the fact that I am in a middle seat in a row of 5. I figure I'll suck it up and just make it through it. 

Here is where the fun begins. My flight was supposed to leave at 10:40ish from Dallas which would put me at Narita (Tokyo) at 2:10ish to catch my connection to Fukuoka. My flight from Dallas didn't leave until after 11 due to us waiting for maintenance reports. Fun stuff. On top of that, I had ordered a special meal so that I didn't have to eat gross airplane food. While my food was definitely better than the regular food, it was also half frozen because the staff is incapable of reading directions that say to let it thaw. The cherry on top is that I did wind up missing my connection to Fukuoka. Fortunately, the airline had already gotten me another flight. 

The one glimmer of happiness on that Dallas flight was the fact that I FINALLY got to watch Skyfall, Life of Pi, and Wreck-It Ralph. (All of which are awesome movies!) 

So I land in Narita and discover my new flight that is scheduled to leave at 4:55 pm. That's awesome other than the fact that I have no way to contact my parents or the university to let them know about what happened. I tried to get my computer to work and it decides that would be the perfect time to do system updates (insert rant about how much I HATE HP). At this point, I'm freaking out and I just wanted a hug but that wasn't available :(. 

I get on my flight and make it to Fukuoka. I now have to purchase a bus ticket to get me to the university. The problem: I had not had the opportunity to get any yen. So, I make my way over to an ATM that says it takes VISA. Well, apparently it didn't like my VISA and refused to read my card. I look over at the ATM next to it, and it's out of order. I'm thinking please just get me back to the US, I don't want to be here anymore. Fortunately, I found an ATM outside and was able to withdrawal some yen. The kicker: I still can't do math and pulled too much yen out. 

Now that I have my yen, I go to buy a bus ticket and the man tells me that I have to go to a different terminal to get the ticket I need. So I get on a bus with my two pieces of heavy luggage and head towards the terminal. I get my bus ticket and head towards the university. 

I get to the bus stop at the university. It's about 10 pm and we're at the top of a mountain. I have nobody to help me and I have to carry my two pieces of luggage down two flights of stairs and across campus. I eventually make it to the dorm that I am staying at and get checked in. End day 1. 

Day 2: Unpack and Sleep 

That pretty much says it all. :P  


Day 3: Exploring Beppu City 

So the weather yesterday was pretty awful. It wasn't cold but it was rainy and foggy. After being stuck inside all day the previous day, I decided to go into the city and do some shopping. I bought a bus ticket at our local store and headed out. I managed to find two big stores to go to. One was like a department store, the other was more like a mall. I was able to buy some stuff I needed to get. I also made some discoveries along the way. 

1. They have KFC, McDonalds, and Starbucks over here. 
2. I forgot how much the Japanese enjoy gambling. You literally cannot drive a mile without seeing a pachinko place. 
3. They love Disney and Hello Kitty over here :) 
4.
5. I can walk down the street and not have to worry about being mugged or getting harassed by homeless people. 

Since the weather wasn't really cooperating, I wasn't able to take many pictures. The ones I did take have been posted to Facebook :) 

I'll keep you updated as I prepare to go through orientation!