busy busy busy busy busyyyyyy~

Okay, so I've legit been MIA for more than a month now but I'm aliveeee~  November turned out to be a SUPER busy month; fun nonetheless, but crazy. I'm going to give you the abridged version of what happened in November / the 1st week of December because like I can't imagine how long an actual description of everything would be. You'd probably be scrolling down and then realize "wait, what? this is the SAME post?" so yea... I'm going to bullet everything.


1. November 1 -3 was our school's annual festival: Sophia Festival
 - It's pretty much when all of the clubs either set up little booths and sell food/candy to raise money, or you showcase your club by doing a performance

 - My club (SISEC) sold bubble tea =)
 - We made lots of money =)
This is my friend Shodo. He is from Hokkaido. He worked super hard and helped us sell out of the bubble tea. 

2. My friends and I creeped on Waseda University's festival the following week - it's normal to check out the other schools' festivals and see the different things they have. (I'm not THAT big of a creeper)
 - Waseda's was like a) 3x bigger b/c their campus is like 3x bigger, and b) WAYYYY more legit than ours
 - I heard that CIEE was at Waseda before, but that the exchange students were placed in a separate campus. So the major complaint was that they didn't have the chance to actually interact with Japanese people. (They called it the gaijin (foreigner) ghetto)

3. .....MIDTERMS..... (O_o)
 - yea.... the whole 'school' thing is still not working.... 
 - it's weird b/c like the majority of Japanese college students don't care about grades as long as you PASS the class. 

4. I made zori (traditional Japanese straw sandals) but with left-over futon fabric

 - I don't understand how Japanese people just like suddenly had an epiphany and made these sandals 100's of years ago - they're easy to make, but like HOW DID THEY COME UP WITH THE METHOD?
My zori are the pink ones on the top left-ish. (so like 11 o'clock?) But yea, this is a picture of a couple of the finished ones =)



5. I ate yakiniku (Korean BBQ) for the 1st since I've been in Japan - it was delish <3

So like we ordered 'sausage' thinking we'd get like a couple on a single side dish... nah dude. you get ONE. so we grilled it in all of it's glory, and my friend Jason ate it haha.





6. My camera broke =( it decided to start vibrating on me... 

 - the same thing started to happen to my friend Hanna's camera so we said our cameras were drunk - all of the pictures I tried taking legit looked like we were drunk 24-7





7. We found FRIJOLES (aka Chipotle).

 - It's located in Azabu-juban, and it has legit guacamole and huge-ass burritos like home. It's a little pricey, but SO worth if you're craving a LEGIT burrito. 
 - But the actual place is SO inconspicuous. Like no sign - the name is just straight-up CARVED into the front of the building. 

8. We held a Thanksgiving event with the club that I'm in!!!! I am SO sad that my camera was broken b/c I couldn't take any pictures, but the exchange students did this event to show the Japanese people what Thanksgiving was. (aka we committed carbo-cide)
- we madeeeeeee: 
  a) 2 turkeys (there was only 1 oven so we cooked 1 in the oven and the other we cut up and seared in a pot)
  b) stuffing
  c) green bean casserole
  d) mashed potatoes
  e) latkes
  f) sweet potatoes with marshmallows & brown sugar
  g) cornbread
  h) corn
  i) consomme soup
  j) cranberry sauce - my Japanese friend Shodo fell in love and legit ate it with EVERYTHING
  k) PUMPKIN PIE
     - dude, like okay. Japan, I'm sorry but pumpkin pie season = Thanksgiving. NOT HALLOWEEN. So please keep the cans of pumpkin pie mix on the shelves so I can make pumpkin pie and my pumpkin chocolate chip muffins in the future. 
     - My friend's host mom has a CostCo membership here (i know - like whattttt~? CostCo in Japan?!) and after 4 days of running around ALL over Tokyo and calling like every foreign goods store, I finally found ready made pumpkin pies at CostCo <3 <3 <3
  l) chocolate chip cookies =)
      - I got to bake, and I was in heaven, and I was super happy <3

9. I got a new camera =)
10. I went to Hiroshima & Miyajima

 - I was kind of skeptical of the trip b/c I felt like it was 'too' organized and I wasn't going to be able to like experience it for myself, but it was actually really awesome

 - We has Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki, which is different from regular okonomiyaki b/c it has 5 layers instead of it all being mixed into a batter and then grilled on a flat-top. 
 - Layer 1: thin okonomiyaki base
   Layer 2: cabbage and moyashi (bean sprouts)
   Layer 3: 4 slices of pork
   Layer 4: thin layer of scrambled egg
   Layer 5: yakisoba

 - Miyajima was soooo beautiful <3 me + nature usually don't mix, but this place (and Hiroshima in general) reminded me of my grandmother's place in Tokushima so I guess it was a little nostalgic at the same time =)
 - But yea, the island is famous for the 'floating' gate, which just looks like it's floating when the tide comes in. There's a temple on the land behind it and it was so pretty to see the tide flowing in ,the architecture , and everything else on the island on SUCH a gorgeous day. 

 - And another thing the island is famous for is for the wild deer that roam around. This is a picture of my friend Hanna being attacked by a deer for her ice cream. 

- Yea, it's pretty much just straight up deer in yo' face. 







10. The university held a Christmas party for the exchange students yesterday =)
 - I got to hear the Japanese gospel choir sing... interesting... 
 - motivating: yes
 - should they be asking me if i'm 'Down with G-O-D': no. (these 2 dudes broke it down and started rapping about God. They spelled it out in the song)
 - They played this like quiz-bingo thing where it was a bingo sheet, but you had to get bingo by answering questions related to Japan. And then if you got bingo, you'd hand in part of your ticket to be entered into a raffle and numbers were drawn for prizes
 - I was holding on to my friends' Alli and Kenney's bingo sheets because they had to leave early, and Alli's number actually won the 'grand' prize!!! It was a Sophia duffle bag, but like whatttttt~? I got to go on stage and get my picture taken  =)

halloween sum up

So I started this post like a week ago and haven't had time to finish it until now... But since my last post, I can say that Japan did a pretty okay job in helping me celebrate Halloween as best I could away from home =) I ended up going to a Halloween party later that weekend and it was SUPER chill and SUPER awesome <3

 I was invited by a friend, who was like invited by his friend, but it had a lot of other exchange students from other universities in Tokyo. And omg... I got to dance like back home!!! But by 'I got to dance,' it means that me and the 3 other girls I was with had our own dance party. Some other people started dancing, but like Japanese people don't just break it down like we Western-folk do =/ 

I don't know if the DJ could see through that mask... like he had to hold it up while he was mixing because it was so big... The space was small, but it had like this intimate atmosphere so it was nice to be with everyone =) There were a couple of things that were weird though: a) the music that was played, and b) the movies they projected on the wall/TV. Well for a) it was good overall - all of the songs were songs from the U.S., but like you'd have Lady Gaga followed by a set of country songs... So like I'd be super pumped from Gaga and then be like "oh... i guess we're switching to country..." haha. And for b) I think it was Soul Train when we first got to the party? And then it went to Charlie and Chocolate Factory. I mean it was cool and all, but I got SO distracted and found myself watching Johnny Depp for a good portion of the movie. And then they played this random movie at the end, I have no idea how to even begin describing it, but I feel like there wasn't any music or much dialogue that accompanied the movie when it had sound. 

 

How cute are the sleeping cats~!?? I went to a cat cafe with some people =) Yup, a cafe with cats <3 These types of cafes have been getting more and more popular because people want the enjoyment of spending time with animals like cats and bunnies without having the responsibility of actually having to take care of them. 

But like these cats are SO spoiled. They just prance around and are all like "Ohh hayyyyyyy. Yea I know you want to pet me" and then they just judge you... I got to pet a couple but getting them to like me in the first place was a bit of work...


I saw this cat as I was walking past the sink. He was sleepingggggg <3 <3 <3 


And now for legit Halloween. We went to this restaurant called 'Lock Up' with a bunch of people and it was super fun. I don't know if the workers always dress up in funny outfits, but they had some pretty awesome ones that night. 

  

Hellz yes: wait staff = awesomeness. The food was made for like everyone to have fun together with too. Like one of the course items was 'Russian roulette takoyaki.' Takoyaki are little balls of flour and cabbage all cooked together in a semi-circle pan so it comes out in the shape of a little ball. And 'tako' means 'octopus' in Japanese, so it has a piece of octopus in it. (Think like the pan for the TV informercial product the 'Pancake Puff') But yea, one of the 4 takoyaki had hot sauce baked into it - I don't have the pictures, but who ever ate it legit started crying.  

And this doesn't have to do anything with Halloween, but I give this dude madd props for rockin' this jacket. 
Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween~! I can't believe it's November now... Like that's cool and everything, but where did the time go?! The weather has started to feel more like November-ish, so it's all starting to set in... We'll see what craziness I get myself into this month - haha. 

hallooweeennnnnnnnnn

so I originally started the previous post with the intention of making it halloween but then I went off topic about the stupid typhoon and I just decided to split them up. But yay for 2 posts!

Halloween is coming up soon!!! I know you're probably like: "umm, yea. duh Tiff," but like being away has made me miss it/ get more excited about it. And yes, Japan has been advertising Halloween.  And I was like SO excited to see that pretty much all of the bakeries and patisseries were doing 'Halloween' specials - but like Japan takes pride in celebrating the seasons so they're using their seasonal vegetables.

So there are sweet potato and chestnut flavored things everywhere with the occasion image of a pumpkin slapped on a cookie or slice of cake - but no cinnamon spicy goodness =( I don't want to sound like I'm complaining about the food because I love how Japan caters to each season by showcasing what foods are at the peak of their harvest, but Halloween = pumpkin spice in my heart <3

Anywho, I wanted to talk about how Japan has been incorporating Halloween into society. I've become really fond of this fast-food chain called 'Freshness Burger" lately. Yes, it is super fresh AND super yummy =) But look at the wrappers they serve your burger in! so cuteee <3

And most of the major department stores/Target-esque homegoods stores have displays where they sell costumes and candy - there's also this one place called 'Don Quixote.' I have no clue why it's called that, but it's pretty much like a huge Spencer's. They have a lot of Halloween stuff, a good portion of it imported from the U.S. but that also makes it more expensive =/ Yea, I don't know why they have a penguin in a Santa hat as their mascot either, but that's Don Quixote. 

Here is the Halloween menu from Baskin Robbins - they have flavors with names like "The Candy Man," "The Witch's Trick," and "Magical Night." There is a pumpkin pudding flavor, and I'd like HOPE that it tastes like a pumpkin pie, but I wish there were pumpkin spice lattes (or I wish I had an oven to use so I could make my pumpkin chocolate-chip muffins...). Okay, and it is pretty cute how they made that orange choux look like a pumpkin with chocolate ice cream in it.

My mom sent me my box of clothes that I had packed before I left a little earlier this week. I had her stuff my eskimo costume in there as a back-up because I have an idea for a costume, but I'm just scared it's not going to work. I'm helping plan this Halloween party with one of the directors from CIEE. It's just something to celebrate the season and to get the host families to come out and meet other CIEE students.

And since I've been going through baking withdrawal, I've decided to make pumpkin-spice rice krispies for the event =D Rice krispies were surprisingly hard to find in Japan... I actually like to legit do research and SCOUT out the foreign foods markets in Tokyo. But I am proud to say that I found them, and even more exciting - PUMPKIN SPICE!!! <3 ahhh, I like cried a little on the inside when I saw the jar of pumpkin. It was awesome though - the store I found has a huge variety of import foods and household goods so I felt a little connection to home as I walked through it. It's in this part of Tokyo called 'Azabu,' which has a lot of foreign consulates located in it. But it was funny because I saw so many foreigners there - like I saw ginger kids running around with Japanese kids. IT BLEW MY MIND haha. but seriously

So I'm not going to lie...  the box of Rice Krispies kind of freaked me out... like Tony the Tiger is still on the Frosted Flakes box - but nah dude, it's just straight up katakana on this box. No Snap, Krackle, or Pop =( I actually walked past it the first time I went down the cereal aisle because it was so inconspicuous.


But yes, I did a trial run for one of our planning meetings and they were super-awesome. I'm so excited to make them for everyone on Saturday =)

... typhoon day

sooo yea... so much for being 'on top' of my posts. But after typhoon day... oh yea, the 'typhoon' came 2 days after my last post. I would rant about it, but that would include wayyyy too many curse words and ALL CAPS sections so i'll just give you the abridged version:

- I get a text from my program director the night before to watch the news to see if the trains stop running because classes would be cancelled
- I got up, showered, ate breakfast and all that jazz
- I see that there are delays on some lines from the TV, but not the JR lines that run to school
- I get another text from the program director saying classes haven't been cancelled
- I go to the station and make the commute to school
- As I expected, there were delays; Keio was delayed 20 minutes
(Here's the best part)
- I get a text AS I am walking up the platform to transfer that says that 1st and 2nd periods have been cancelled... I ONLY HAVE 1st and 2nd periods those days
- I am gross, getting pushed from people who are flipping shits, and I am LIVID
- THEN: Tokyo stopped running ALL of the trains
- I got stuck in Shinjuku for 4 hours...
- Luckily, I found a friend who was also stuck so we explored Shinjuku
- We ended up meeting a bunch of people later and went to karaoke

~ The end

yea... it was a 'fun' day... like it was actually kind of, sort of funny after I calmed down and figured that I might as well relax somewhere to come up with a game plan to kill time. (In which, I totally spotted a Starbucks from 3 blocks away - WIN) I started taking pictures of the mass panic that it caused too.

The first picture is of the fallen late slips that the train attendants hand out if the trains are delayed. They began to litter the floor and get sweeped up in people's shuffling.

This one is a little hard to see, but the woman with the green arm band has 2 sets of late slips in her hands and is screaming out to the crowd to apologize for the 'inconvenience' that the temporary stop in rail service caused. Poor lady though... people were legit freaking out AT her and pieces of paper were flying everywhere.

And since I had SO much free time on my hands, I went around and got all 3 late slips (Keio, JR, and the Marunouchi subway). yea... I had a lot of time though haha.

Oh, but did I mention the sun came out like around noon? It was a BEAUTIFUL day from like 12:30 ~ 1:00 p.m. on; like 75-ish degrees, clear skies, the whole shebang of the words 'beautiful day.' There were mini gusts of wind, but still... I saw that the typhoon did actually cause damage across other area of Japan though - my grandmother apparently carried a chest up to the 2nd floor by herself? I don't know... But she, like Japan, did not take mother nature lightly. I guess I didn't think twice about what 'could' have happened because I was so used to hurricane season back home. But like COME ON Tokyo - I SO did not need to make all of that effort and walk around Shinjuku looking like a hot mess for 4 hours.

And this was the next day... can you SEE how sunny it was? Chyea.... and Keio still managed to be 10 minutes late. Whatevs... That day has infamously been dubbed 'typhoon day' by everyone and I will hopefully never have to experience another mass-chaos with the trains.

But then I went out that night and found these people =) I think they were recruiters for a manga-cafe? I don't know... I just felt bad that they had to wear those for their uniforms hahah. But I'm not going to lie... I kind of, sort of, really want to buy one before I come back home. I have a picture in the 1st album with a whole rack of costume-onesies. I see a girl in the dorm wearing a Cheshire Cat one as her pajamas from time to time. I don't know which one I'll get, but I am SO going to rock one around my apartment when I get back to Philly <3

trains... the rumors are true

I know, like WHATTTT? another post the next day? Well I am super excited to announce that for the FIRST time in the history of me being a college student: I HAVE A DAY OFF. Ahh, omg like seriously I didn't think it was true at first. And it just HAPPENED like that - Jochi just GAVE it to me. I have my RPH251 (religion) class Mondays and Thursdays, IBE316 (economic policy), HST251 (history) on Tuesdays and Fridays, and Japanese 3 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. MASS-EXCITEMENT (as if you couldn't tell by the all-CAPS parts). But yea, I'm pretty pumped. 


Anywho, the point of this post is for the train commute I take to school in the mornings. Like I'm sure you've heard of the hired 'pushers' and 'pullers' on the platforms... Well they legit exist. They have their little while gloves on and are prepared to DO WORK. My neighbor Naoko posted this video and I laughed so hard I started tearing up, but it's no joke. 

I get pushed and squished and shoved every morning. There is NO meaning to the term 'personal space' during the morning rush hours - like I was all up in some dude's armpit for 10 minutes this morning. I also got elbowed in the nose on Monday, but that guy actually said he was sorry for that. Yea... awesome... I like pray to myself that no one gets on at the next and that people will get off, but of course that's just my wishful thinking...


But another thing I wanted to note is my actual commute. My commute usually takes like 45 minutes total, which isn't bad in my opinion. I had originally only posted the Tokyo Metro (subway) map, like thinking I'd take that or something. But I actually take a private line called Keio and then transfer to the JR (Japan Railway) system. So my commute is this: 


Musashinodai -- take local to --> Chofu -- transfer to express --> Shinjuku --> transfer from Keio to JR line in the station --> go to next stop, Yotsuya, which is where school is. 


The ride between Chofu and Shinjuku is always the worst. I always wait for the express because the 'rapid' is SO not a 'rapid;'  it only skips like 4 local stations along the way... But yea, that whole notion of politeness and modesty STOPS with the trains. Old people and housewives with shopping bags will run you down at any time with no regrets so they can get a seat. And like I've found out that wearing heels is a strategical move. Because I am like normal height here ( <3 ), I can face my head up towards the ceiling of the train and like kind of, sort of, but not really breathe IF I wear heels that day. So it's either wear heels, or look down the entire time to try and find a pocket of air to claim for myself. 


I think this is where the trains are the reason for the majority of my mystery bruises... not that I doubt I got some while just trying to function normally, but I think I can target the commute as one of the many possibilities. And as much as I've like freaked out within this post about the commute, it really is only the mornings that suck. And Keio. They've been late for the past couple of days due to the rain and upcoming typhoon. It's like SUPER ridiculous for trains to be late in Japan and station masters even have notices to give to people so they can prove that the trains WERE actually late. Keio needs to step their shit up. 


But besides the mornings and Keio, I can honestly say I LOVE the public transportation here in Japan. It is so easy to travel anywhere within or outside of the city because people rely on it so much. And the morning rush hours do have like 1 advantage; it's that the trains run so often that if you miss it, another one will come within 3~5 minutes. Ooh Japan... your dichotomy between politeness and respect in society and the insolent attitude towards morning commutes will forever puzzle me... Maybe I'll be super on top of things and have another post up again soon <3 

oh yea... I came here for school...

So I know I’ve done a sucky job at keeping this updated… But orientation is FINALLY over and I’ve started classes!! Well yay for the orientation part being over… ugh, classes. I’m taking 4 classes for the semester, which is weird because they’re 14 week terms – not the usual 10 like I’m used to. Whatevs, I’m happy with all of my classes =) I’m taking a religion class (I know, like WHAT?) titled ‘Religion, Culture, and Society,’ an international business class titled ‘Economic Policy, and a history class titled ‘Development of Japanese Civilization.’ The one I’m most surprised about is the religion class. It’s more or less about how religion is interpreted in society, especially within the context of Japanese culture. It’s interesting taking classes with both other exchange/international transfer students, and Japanese people.

The classes are all taught in English, besides my Japanese language course of course, but it’s been pretty cool to see the different teaching styles and such. Today was only my 3^rd day of class, but yea fml for my Japanese… Thursday was our 1^st day and we had a quiz on Friday. And I had another one today. Oh, and btw’s I have another one tomorrow. I guess I’d rather have like little mini-quizzes than one HUGE test that counts for a large percentage of my grade, but ugh…

I got placed into Japanese 3 though… I seriously thought I had failed the placement test though. Like I couldn’t get a couple of the kanji in the ‘beginners’ section and my mini-essay for the writing portion was SO dumb. They asked to write about the difficulties of learning a foreign language and how you have learned to deal with them. I knew I couldn’t compose something like I would be able to in English, but I got a good like 2-ish paragraphs out. The person reading it must have been like WTF though, because I basically wrote this:

“I went on a summer program to Nagoya once and they made learning fun. Making learning fun is a sure way to get people to want to learn a foreign language. That program made it easy for people to learn and I had a good time.”

I stretched it out as best as I could, but yea… I can only imagine what the grader was thinking while she was reading it haha. I mean I’m happy I got placed into a good level, and class has been going well so far. The only thing I’m like intimidated by is the kanji (characters) because that is SO my weakness.

But I’ve gotten to meet new people, both Japanese and other international peoples. I joined a ‘circle’ (club) called SISEC, which is an acronym for ‘Sophia International Speaking English Club’ (I think that’s what it stands for… not sure… But yea, they had a Welcome Party last night at a restaurant and it was super fun! It was at Ninja Izakaya, which may or may not be affiliated with the Ninja restaurant in New York City, but it was pretty cool nonetheless. I wrote a blog post about ‘group culture’ for the Drexel blog, so maybe I’ll just copy and paste that entry later. So either check that out if you really really really want to read it or just be on the alert for a new post soon. I promise to try and be better about updating since orientation is over. <3 

1st week!!!

TOKYO!!! From traveling between hotels and finally settling in the dorm, this week has been nothing short of hectic. Packing the night before was interesting - I kept switching back and forth between staring at my empty suitcases and at my closet. I don’t think I started actually packing until like 11:30 p.m-ish? I was only allowed to bring 2 suitcases (no more than 50 pounds) and 1 carry-on (no more than 22 pounds). One of my bags ended up being like 3 pounds over the limit when I checked on my scale so I had to take a couple of things out. I finished around 4:00 a.m. and slept for about an hour and a half before I woke up and got ready. Then around 6:45 a.m., said my good-byes to all of my things and my room, and my dad packed my bags into the car.

We stopped at Starbucks before getting onto the Parkway and I was SUPER excited that I could actually get my coffee! No more shoobiesssssss!!!!!!! So I was happy that I got to leave on good terms with Margate =) 

I forget what time we finally reached JFK, but I think it was around 10:30 a.m.? My mom helped me push my stuff into terminal as my dad went to park the car, but I guess the lack of sleep got to me at that point. I was determined to be able to push my hard-case suitcase and balance my carry-on duffle bag through the revolving door, but the wheel got caught in the track of the door and my suitcase totally fell over. So I was standing in the space within the revolving door and my mom got squished by the revolving door as she was trying to help me stand the suitcase back up. I didn’t know what else to do so I started laughing and just stood there. My mom started yelling at me and got my suitcases through the door, but laughing seemed like the only thing I could do before I got myself together. But then I went to check in, give my bags to security, and meet back up with my parents. My flight was at 1:10 p.m. so I had a while to kill before I wanted to go sit at the gate. I had a little to eat and we talked for a while, but then it was finally time for me to go through security and wait at my gate. It was hard to hold back the tears, but I was surprised that I didn’t explode and cry so much that my make-up ran down my face.

Boarding started around 12:45 p.m. so I shuffled into the makeshift line and found me seat, 50C. I was anxious to see who I would be sitting next to… but then I found out it was 2 French Canadians (who were actually pretty cute) HELLZ YES <3 They were super funny – they said they were on a backpacking trip across Asia and Tokyo was their first stop. I thought you know, like they had a vague idea about Tokyo but no. The only 2 phrases they knew in Japanese were “Arigato” (Thank you) and “Onegai Shimasu” (Please). Another funny thing is that the only other question they asked me was if there were any gorillas in Japan… I said there were probably some in zoos, but I didn’t know if there were any native ones running around. Like really dudes? THAT is what you’re all concernicus about? It made me laugh though.

I was a little worried if I was going to be able to sleep on the plane or not because I tried taking 4 Nyquil the last time I went to Japan and it still didn’t work. I didn’t want to take more because I was afraid of like dying, but I found sleeping pills at the airport so I took a couple of those and I was good-to-go. Thank you Unisom for actually working <3 I slept for 9 hours of the 13.5 hour flight – pretty good in my book. The movie selection was also semi-decent - I watched Night at the Museum 2 and the beginning/end of Angels and Demons on the flight. I kind of dozzed off every time after I re-started the movie. I guess Tom Hanks just doesn't cut it for me anymore...

I think the time I finally got to get off of the plane was like 3:15 p.m.? So it wasn’t much to adjust to since I had slept on the plane. The only catch was, was that it was the next day, the 15th. Anywho, I walked down to baggage claim, got through Customs, and then met up with CIEE. They said I had to get myself from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1, but someone from CIEE was actually waiting for my outside of Customs. So CIEE shipped my suitcases to my dorm, and I met up with some other students on the program before we all got on the Airport bus to the hotel we were staying at for the first night.

Being at Narita (the airport) was kind of comforting though. I have been through there a handful of times, so I knew what was around there. It reassured me that I was going to be okay, and that I should look forward towards the next year. But I’m here now and things have been going well! So yay for that =)