My next adventure has begun. I will be visiting the not small island of Australia. It is a bit odd, after two summers in Japan I am going to Australia (it is kinda close to Japan…kinda). It is even odder that I have to pack autumn/winter clothes instead of summer clothes (btw it is always opposite day in Australia).
I will be staying in Sydney, which turns out to NOT be the capital of Australia…(it is Canberra) for an entire month. I know I know, Sydney doesn’t count as all of Australia, but my university student lifestyle and budget can only allow for so much, plus I have some super friends in Sydney that will keep me from feeling lonely in a new place.
Some fun facts about Sydney, Australia
- It is illegal to hold a koala in New South Wales unless you have a fancy license to hold one.
- Kinder eggs are legal
- There is a suburb called Newtown and it is not new
- You can’t hug koalas
- They have pretty decent public transportation (unlike Miami..)
- University of Sydney has a building that looks like a castle
- Most of the museums are free
- You cannot hug or hold koalas
Watch out for this tropical bird leave her comfort zone tackle autumn in the place where everything is out to kill you.
I have come to accept that everyday I will be waking up around 6am. My body has decided that 6am is when it is re-charge and ready to go. I am not really complaining, when I get up that early it means I can FaceTime with my family for a few minutes.
Today started a bit tricky, because I had to cook breakfast and in the apartment in Seed in Horikawa only has two cooking pans, a pot and a pan. So I toasted bread on a pan and scrambled eggs in the pot. (Fun fact: the stove is a gas stove so it takes me a couple tries to get it to turn on).
I am started to love Japanese food more and more every day. The slice of bread was so thick and soft it brought tears of joy when I took my first bite. I love bread, and Japan has ruined all American bread. Flimsy stuff that the States claim as bread is a joke and they should be ashamed of themselves.
After breakfast Michelle and I ran to the bus stop because the rest of the people in our study abroad decided to leave without mentioning it on the group chat. We made it to school with 10 minutes to spare, but one girl got so lost that she missed the exam completely.
The exam was pretty simple and I got placed in the level I wanted to be in (yay). I completely blanked out when the exam asked me to write the Kanji for fall. I remembered it and at the same time I did not. I still do not know the kanji and it will frustrate me to no end. The placement exam finished at 10:20 and twenty minutes after we had our first class.
My first Japanese class went better than expected. We were asked to introduce ourselves and ask questions to other people. Pretty simple, it is when we get to vocabulary and kanji when I will probably be internally crying and screaming.
Lunch began at exactly noon (in japan time is important and running on cuban time is extremely rude). I did not buy lunch this time because I made a small lunch the night prior. (which I forgot to take a picture of). My lunch was minced meat and Japanese salt-less sticky rice, a snack bar that I brought from the States and cute panda cookies!
After lunch we gathered into the A,B,C,D Groups again (I'm group c) and we headed off to Kinkakuji temple also known as The Golden Pavilion. The Kinkakuji is a three story building with a pyramid-shaped roof. It feautres a mythological phoenix, which is considered an auspicious bird, on top of it. The gold leaf covering the surfaces of the lacquered two top stories, which were done by traditional Kyoto craftsmen, represent the holy land "Judo" taught in Buddhism.
I thought the Meiji Shrine was breath-taking, but Kinkakuji is a whole different ball game.
This is a traditional tea house that it no longer in use. I found it pretty cool that they allow dust to accumulate in such a beautiful place. And to a be a Japanese tea house it looked plain, maybe it was beautiful during the height of its career.
Once you finished walking around the temple area you end up in a shrine, one thing you must do when you end the shrine is to smell the incenses. Why you ask? From what I understood it is a form of cleansing before you approach a god. They smelt nice, but the amount of smoke was overwhelming for my smoke free longs. Mayu and I did not stay near it too long because we felt suffocated by the smoke (well at least I did).
When the temple excursion was over with everyone from the program met once again and headed back to Ritsumeikan Welcome Party. This party consisted new professors being introduced, eating Japanese food and drinking the most delicious apple juice in the whole world! and chatting to the buddies.
It might look like a lot of food, but I had seconds and thirds of such and the roll thing. (Free dinners are the best type of dinners!) and to be honestly I had no idea what I was eating. I only knew that the green stuff was tea flavoured.
As soon as the party is over, some of the FIU study abroad kids and I head out to Sanjou dori once again. Some people needed to do groceries and others wanted to walk around and that is exactly what we did.
I bought Melon Bread and some make your own candy...candy thing. When I eat these I will let you guys know it is is.
I know my days have not been super exciting as my days in Tokyo, but I am enjoying myself and I hope that they become a tad bit more fun!
In a couple of days I will be embarking on the first big adventure in my life. In just a few days I will be boarding a massive plane to ride in the sky for about 13 hours straight to Japan. (well with a layover in Canada).
I have never been to a new place without my family. Going to a foreign place with the protective presence of family makes being a new place not as scary. This time the protective family bubble will be missing. It will be just me.
Me…alone…in the country of the rising sun…oh boy.
I have always had this giant fear of being alone in an unknown place. It is bad enough to feel lost at life, but it is much worse to actually be lost, like actually physically lost. This whole concept sends me into a state of panic. A little pathetic I know.
Though, I will not be by myself in my six-week stay in Japan. When the time comes for me to take the train down to Kyoto I will be sticking to my friend Franz like glue. He will be responsible for taking charge of all the scary situations that could arise. But before gluing myself to someone else, I will spend three long days in the capital of the rising sun. Three freaking days. All by myself. Lord help me.
Don’t get me wrong. I am super excited about being in a big city all by myself buuut, at the same time I am internally screaming. Very conflicting feelings right?
In order to help me calm down, I have created a small schedule to keep my nerves at ease (hopefully). But enough of that~
In order to survive this long haul flight I have been doing a lot of research and I am prepared! Or at least I hope I am, because….I might go crazy sitting in a small chair for who knows how long. (well 13 hours).
One of the key things for long haul flight is comfort! For my flight to Japan I have gone for cozy leggings that I purchased a while back through Amazon, a knitted beige cardigan from Forever 21 and the softest shirt in the world from Cotton On. There is no harm in looking cute and comfortable~
Then there are these extremely tacky socks that I stumbled upon in my University’s bookstore (because Uni bookstores sell clothes for some reason). I wore them on the car ride to New Orleans a while back and my feet were super cozy and did not swell (so plus for me). Though, I don't think I will be sporting them when I am loitering in the airport. I will wear them during the plane ride, beginning to end~!
Now let’s have a look what I will be carrying in my bag.
Being a giant book nerd it is a big must to have my kindle! Recently I have a bunch of new books I am ready to dive into. There is also my laptop, which will probably not be used on the plane, but I am not crazy to put it in my luggage. My 2DS, I have Majora’s Mask to defeat, Pokemons to train, and puzzles to solve.
My new travel journal (attempting something new). My camera, because that baby is not going in my luggage either.
Headphones, eye mask, contacts, phone, charging cables, battery, external hard drive and snacks.
And finally small amount of toiletries such as creams, make up, perfume and germ-x so I don’t come out of the plane smelling and looking like a gross person.
And don’t forget wallet, travel documents and your passport!
I just returned from a quick "business" trip. I went to the marvelous city of New Orleans, Louisiana. It was a very out of the blue trip, but it was an experience I will never forget. I entered the city with a very opened mind since all I knew about New Orleans was what I had seen from Disney's:Princess and the Frog... and that New Orleans is famous for its Mardi Grass festival. When I arrived the first thing I did was visit Bourbon Street (after checking in to the hotel of course). Bourbon Street is one of wildest street in the French Quarter. There was bars everywhere, alcohol everywhere, strip clubs everywhere, live music everywhere, street performances everywhere, life in every corner. I immediately understood why people made such a big deal about visiting New Orleans.
I have not travel very far in the states, and living in Miami I have never experienced anything like New Orleans. It is hard to compare Miami to New Orleans since I have never actually tried to experience Miami as a tourist...anyways.
There is a well define difference between the night life and the day life in New Orleans. Just like any major city, but the music was always alive and flowing in New Orleans. Whether is was mid-day with the sun right smack in the middle of the sky or late evening with the dimming of the lights as shops close for the day...the music was always pouring out on the streets. There were all sorts of performers on the street...from saxophone players, trumpet players, trombone players, violin players, guitars, ukeleles, banjos, kazoos. Someone, somewhere, was playing and bringing life to the world.
After the business aspect of the "business" trip was done and settled with, I explored the city the best I could in about a 12-hour time span. In these 12 hours, I was blown away by the architecture; modern metropolis buildings mixed in with vintage like buildings. Right along side with art shown off around the streets: musically, artistically and performances.
I also visited Cafe du Monde, a coffee shop that has been open since the 1800s. Then had some of their world famous beignets (rectangular powdered doughnuts). If I could have... I would have probably eaten like twenty beignets, because they were heavenly. Once you take the first bite of the warm beignet and watch the white powdered sugar fall over the itty bitty plate in front of you...nothing matters...other the fact that you don't want to share with anyone else.
There was also the Mississippi River, (it was nice to be able to see the only river you know in the USA map). It was massive...and murky. I would definitely never want to swim in there...but having it's fog engulf you entirely is something to add to any bucket list. It was an odd sensation, having your vision suddenly become opec as the fog...well fog your vision and having random wisps of cold air tickle your skin and the fog continues on rolling into port...to only desaperate minutes later.
Boutiques are another must see when exploring New Orleans. I love boutiques more than a regular shop because you are able to find more unique items...like candles that smell like famous book authors or vintage furniture or high quality hats or even voodoo dolls.
One day I will return to New Orleans with more than 24 hours to spare and with more spending money, because it is definitely one of those cities one must visit and explore before settling down and disappearing into the ground.
In most Universities it is often advised to participate in a study abroad program. I have fallen under the university's advice and applied to a summer study abroad program. The program that I have embarked on is: Intensive Japanese in Kyoto.
Ever since I was a child I been wanting to visit Japan. (As weeb as that sounds)
and the opportunity opened itself up I grabbed it with both hands and took it.
There are many thoughts circulating my mind as I think of my future adventure.
Most of them are positive, but one of my biggest fear will become possible once I reach my destination, and that is....getting lost.
I know getting lost is not a big deal, we have GPS's that aid us when we take the wrong path...but being in a foreign country with no cellular connection has me suffering the famous hibijibis.
That put aside I am overall quite excited to be able to participate in the opportunity to explore foreign territory (to me).
As the due dates near there are multiple knicks and knacks I have to accomplish. I still must purchase my plane ticket, figure out what to pack, find on plane ride essentials, book hostels, and just so many other requirements to attain before departing.
I plan on updating what will be on my carry-on bag and possibly my luggage here on the blog. I might (MIGHT) also post my over all plan for my future adventure.
I will defiantly keep everyone posted on what I do everyday once I actually do I arrive to Japan. There will also be a daily vlog to come along. So...subscribe to my Youtube channel if you wanna see someone get lost in Kyoto and Tokyo~
This is my life. My beautiful life, and I love it.
Simply a girl who loves tea, blogs about her ever exciting life and wants to make her dreams come true.
