Before I Became a Student...

As you guise probably know, I have been here in Japan for almost a month. It's crazy, I know. Now, when people go away to college, they say time goes by faster than normally. But when you are doing study abroad, it's surprising on how fast it really seems to be going by.

It doesn't seriously feel like it's been that long of a time being here. It feels as though I was stressing out on what to pack happened days ago. I guess this is what my mother feels like when I was going off to college, yet she was (probably) thinking of how it seemed like not too long ago she would be walking me to the bus stop for my first day of kindergarten.

Baby Lizzie and Baby Kelly, we were cute, weren't we?
Looking back now, it really did go by quickly. Orientation lasted two weeks and I only had two weeks of classes. This is crazy business~! From having to sit through the boring same old, same old orientation stuff. Don't get me wrong; there has been a few interesting ones (such as the sexual education seminar). In the US, it's mandatory for schools to discuss sex ed, but in some countries, they don't get "the talk." So that is why I had to attend the meeting. Now, because Americans and many other nations got that talk before, there is always someone in the audience who makes it uncomfortable by laughing. Luckily, there was no one doing that this year. After attending that seminar, it was surprising to me on how little I knew on the subject after being introduced to it in ninth grade. In this seminar, they actually showed us what each std looks like so we would be aware of it. I never knew what they looked like; we only learned about what the symptoms were. It was an interesting experience sitting through that lesson and seeing how the subject is taught in a different country. So yeah, enough on this paragraph?

Before classes started up, all the international students and new fall semester students had to attend a semi-formal Matriculation Ceremony to be introduced into the Japanese schooling society. The ceremony would have been really interesting if it wasn't so boring and hot. When my body gets too hot in a situation where I can't do anything to cool it off immediately, it tries to fall asleep to regulate the temperature, or something like that. I kept nodding off, but catching myself. I eventually did "wake up" - I never actually fell completely asleep - I was fully awake for the rest of the program. We listened to speeches and then they called our names one by one. Once they called your name, you stood up and said "yes" indicating that you were there and will be an official student of Akita International University (AIU for short). There was also a somewhat famous violinist person playing there. She was really talented! After that, we all got to eat some fancy and some casual foods in the cafeteria in our semi-formal outfits.

Yeah, we classy~! Credit: LingLing

Before I tried to sleep...
Rebecca, Ivan, and myself... UC kids representing!!
Credit: Sara Birnbaum

Look how nice we could look~ ^_^
Thomas, Sara, Rebecca, Yuzu, Kelly (me), Heather, Gustav
Credit: Keli'i Lum

With my friends Mim (from Thailand) and Amanda (from Taiwan)
Credit: Mim!!

Mim and I are so pretty, ne?
Credit: Mim~!!!
So once that was over, classes started up the following week. I am in the following courses: Business Practice in China Today, Japanese Language, Japanese Literature, and Manga Mania. Let me just tell you a bit of each course.

Business Practice in China Today - this class is very interesting. We discuss exactly what the class sounds like we would discuss: today's business in China. I really like the course and usually eager to do the homework and attend class. It's a shame that I usually have no idea what any the business terms mean though. When I told a classmate of mine (who is a business major) that, he told me "just assume that it is talking about how people are stealing money and corruption." XD In the class, only 8 full-time AIU students are business majors. Out of the 35 in the class, only 4 are foreigners.

Japanese Language - it is a continuation of my previous schooling at Ursinus. Actually, we are going over a chapter we have already covered so it is a nice review for some of us. We did learn a few new things in that course (like the stupid pitch pattern!!!). However, we are going over kanji so slowly. I prefer Mizzy-sensei's method of teaching about 5 each and being tested on it then repeat. Sure, it might not help us remember them completely, but I don't think this method would be any better than that. I would hate to say it, but a lot of students will only memorize for the test. I admit that I do this sometimes. I am trying to change that though~

Japanese Literature - where do I begin? This class is so boring. I dislike saying that about classes, I really do, but I can't help it for this one! It is dreadful. I guess dreadful is too harsh of a word to call it. Hear me out: the professor has a very thick accent and speaks in a monotone voice. Everyday to class, people bring in extremely sugary drinks and snacks just to stay awake. It is also very hot in the room so like I had mentioned before at the matriculation ceremony, everyone is trying to stay awake. This class is so bad that a person I met (who was a Japanese Literature major in his home university) had dropped it! That's how bad it is~!! >.<* But I'm trying to be positive about it... let's move on?

Manga Mania - last but not least. This is class is also very interesting. I am not a huge fan of anime or manga but I don't dislike it. I can appreciate the effort the creators put in to the making of it - from the idea to getting people to back you up on it, designing the characters, story line, getting published, getting an anime adaption, drama adaption, etc. But for the actual product, I am not so easily impressed. I took this course to figure out why there is such a hype on the anime/manga culture and why it has such a huge fanbase, which is probably larger than than the official fan base of DBSK/TVXQ/Tohoshinki (5.5 billion in 2008 with continuous rising popularity). Apparently in 2008, that band was announced to have the world's largest fan base by Guinness World Records (I couldn't find it on the actual website itself, though). And let me just say... there are a lot of manga/anime fans in my class.

But enough about classes, you are probably bored of hearing about all of this, no? Well, I don't know what else to talk about... but whatever. This will be all for now. I'll keep posting updates and everything as soon as I can! ^_^ Thanks for reading and feel free to comment here or on the facebook post that you got this from. <3

Manga Souko

Okay, so I am behind in playing catch up, but I am almost there. This even happened last Friday (September 7th). After this post, I will have one or two more posts before I will be on track and stuff.

So, I am in a class called "Manga Mania." Yes, I know what you are thinking... Kelly, you don't really like manga all that much? Why are you taking that class? Well, that is the exact reason as to why I'm taking the class, because I am natural about manga and anime. I have neither a like nor dislike for them. I figured this would be a good why to find out why people like manga so much. What appeals to the vast amount of people that would buy volume after volume for a long ongoing series? What makes them so popular? Now, I am not sure if I will ever get those answers, but this class is a good great starting point.

Anyway, one the first day of class, my Manga Mania professor tells my class that he is having a field trip on Friday and only the first 25 people to sign up can go. However, if someone doesn't show up, then someone can take their place. The trip was free, so no worries. Everyone rushed up to the desk to sign up to go. Some people in the class could not make it.

So, Friday comes and get get onto our little bus. See below! Some people were there that didn't sign up and waited until the signed up people didn't show up before getting on the bus. We get on the bus and off we go!

The bus fits exactly 26 people plus the driver

Heather was my seating companion
After about 30 minutes are so, we arrived at Manga Souko. Manga Souko is a used manga shop that also sells character goods, costumes, cds, fishing supplies, clothing, and had crane machines you can play with. All the stuff there is really cheap! :D I know where I am buying some more clothes ;D

Manga Souko store from the outside

My friends... yes, I do have some that aren't imaginary~

Totoro~ I want him <3

Posing by the SLAM DUNK crane machine for Chao <3 I would have tried to win him something, but his favorite character's uniform was not in the grabby section. It is, however, the display uniform!! #11 Rukawa Kaede!!!


The items were really cheap - especially the clothes. I bought a skirt and shorts for myself, presents for a few people who I will not name because then it ruins the surprise, a Hello Kitty charm dressed as a bear to put on my camera, and yeah.

The see-through shirt layering shirt I bought

How cute are these?!?!?!?!

The pockets are so huge! That is a regular sized Apple Fanta!

I have a bunny Hello Kitty and now a bear Hello Kitty~ I must collect them all!!!
I would highly recommend this place to anyone that wants to buy cheap - mostly in good shape - items from anime/manga or clothing or designer goods at a low price, etc. This post is technically "What to Do in Akita? [Part 3]" but I am not counting it as so.

What to Do in Akita? [Part 2]

If you noticed in the previous blog post, the title was "What to Do in Akita? [Part 1]." So obviously, there will be a follow-up. As this semester goes on and I figure out different things to do during the weekends, the number of parts will increase. So... without further ado, part 2 is now here.

Part 2 wasn't even going to exist for awhile, but then I made the mistake of hitting the "Publish" button instead of the "Save" button. TT-TT When I tried to combine the two posts, it wouldn't format right. Hence the part 2, which inspired me to do a whole series.

Anyway, if going to the mall every weekend or free days isn't your thing, then there are many different things you can do in Japan. But, wait, I'm in Akita... there's not much to do here, remember? So instead of going to the mall, I am going to focus on the adventures to the city that happened after visiting the castle in the sky city trip.

Tip number one: go with good friends or people you are just becoming friends with.

A good friend

New friends Credit: Sara Birnbaum
Tip 2: get there early, because everyone wants to go to the city on the free days... in the above picture, Rebecca and I were lucky even to get a seat on the bus instead of standing. The picture you see below is going to the city rather than going to the mall. That bus is completely full and hard to move around, let alone get a camera out of your bag.

On the weekends and free days, the city gets a swarm of non-Japanese people appearing out of nowhere. Sometimes the city folk look scared of us, but they still are (mostly) nice to us~

Look how many people are on the escalator~

Credit: Rebecca Manuel

Credit: Lingling
If there is nothing going on, you can take a short walk from the bus station to the second-hand clothing/house good store. If that's not your thing, you can head to Animate, which just so happens to be in the same location/building as the clothing/house goods shops. On the first floor of the building, seen in the picture above, is basically an arcade place, but like the ones I have seen in America. The second floor is dedicated to solely used clothing and stuffed animals and accessories and stuff like that. The third floor is more glassware and exercise and manga. The sixth floor is Animate, which you probably guessed by the name is an anime store. The fourth and fifth floors do not exist.

In the clothing store, I found a used Baby, the Stars Shine Bright dress for the cost of a lolita skirt... too bad it was still more expensive than I could afford to waste on a dress~
However, sometimes you happen to come on a good day, like when there is a music festival going on.

Gustav is looking to see if anything is worthwhile to watch/listen. Nope

A band doing their thing... I don't think they were that good
I know this was a short post which is why I wanted to combine it with the previous post but whatever. Gotta do what you gotta do? Do you know what I am saying?

What to Do in Akita? [Part 1]

Well, that is a very good question. I would like to know myself. Now, don't get me wrong... Akita is a beautiful and open place, but it's literally in the middle of nowhere in Japan. There is seriously not much to do except take the semi-free shuttle bus into the city on certain days or go to the mall/movie theater. There is a bus that can take you to Daisen City (remember the fireworks post?), but you'll have to pay for both the bus and train.

Well, our trusty go-to-guy, Phil, has the solution. Instead of just going to the mall for shopping, remember you are in Japan so anything can be found to do. Okay, so those weren't his exact words, but you get the point. This is Japan, make use of what you can. And Japan makes that easy.

This is AEON at night~
Here is the map of AEON mall nearby the campus. It looks small on the outside, but once you are inside, it is pretty huge. There are so many hallways that you can walk down. It's very easy to get lost in there or not to remember where the specific store you want is.

So, I'm going to tell you of the first official time I went to the mall. I was in a party of about 13 people including myself. The people I went with were the usual people (in alphabetical order to mix it up): Gustav, Heather, Kelly (that's me!), Rebecca, Sara, and Thomas. The unusual group we went with were in not particular order: Phil, Sae, Minami, Rena (Rebecca's roommate), Yuko, Natsumi, and some guy's name who I forgot. Sorry man!

Rebecca, me, and Heather <3

Gustav... better known as David Beckham

Sara and Thomas... the hipsters of the group
So, we all arrived at different times. Once all of us got there, we went a conveyor belt sushi place. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of that, which is kind of surprising. As you can tell I like taking pictures of everything and anything. Well, at this sushi place, all the prices you had depends on the plate that you grabbed. If you grabbed a certain place, it costs this much. If you grab the more detailed and fancier looking plate, it is most likely to be the more expensive plates. It was relatively cheap. Heather and I split two plates. On those two plates, we grabbed different types of sushi. They were the same price we we just took one each and switched one of the sushi pieces on the plate (since there were two on each one). Now, I don't normally like sushi, but these are delicious~! ^_^

So, after eating all that sushi (plus two pieces of pineapple), we went to the arcade room in the mall. Now, the arcade rooms I'm used to are small, filled with games targeted for children, and have tickets in which you use to get a prize. They usually include: a shooting game, guitar hero, crane games, and a basketball hoops thing. Those are basically the only things there that aren't just for kids. Even though the crane machine is mostly for children, I noticed a lot of girls looking at them then usually asking their boyfriend if they can win them something. See below for examples of the "arcade places."

See? They are kind of lame... still fun, but not really much to do
Now the arcade room we were in was definitely one of the most awesome ones I have ever seen. Not to say I have seen a lot of them, but from the ones I have. The games we played were a Taiko Drumming game, DDR, and a crane game. But they have so much more than that here. Here are some pictures I took while in the arcade room and pictures of people playing games.

Minami, Yuko, and Phil

Phil and Sae playing the taiko drumming game. Watch the clip below if you are curious as to what and how you play this wonderful game

Mini pachinko palor. If you don't know what Pachinko is, please click the following word: pachinko <-that word, right there. It'll link you to wikipedia. Wikipedia is a reliable source. No, seriously, it is. Did you click it yet? Good.

Adorable crane machines that are rigged to make you spend all your money and still lose in the end. >.<*

Phil and Heather had a Dance Dance Revolution Dance Battle. That's right, a DDRDB!

They were so cute~!!! <3

So after wasting some time in the arcade room, we went back down to the first floor to have some dessert. Yes, all that was to work off some sushi. :p We went to a special store that was the Japanese equivalent of Friendly's. :) Here is a display case of everything they sell~

おいしいそうです、ね？ Delicious, no?
So, because there was many of us, we ordered the house specialty, which is a meter high ice cream~!!!! One table shared the chocolate one (Gustav, Heather, Rebecca, Sae, and Thomas) and my table shared the fruit one (Yuko, Sara, Phil, and myself). Both groups gave the other 4 people (Minami, Natsumi, Rena, and the guy) some of the deliciousness. :9

The chocolate one

While waiting for ours...

Our fruit one~ :9

Excited to eat it!!! Credit: Rebecca ManuelSara Birnbaum!!

Fruit one~ <3 :9 Credit: Rebecca Manuel

Credit: Rebecca Manuel

When we reached the bottom, no one wanted to eat the cubes. So, what were we suppose to do in a place that you have to finish everything on your plate? You have a Man vs. Food challenge! And we literally mean a MAN versus Food match. Only the guys had participated in the match.

It started between Phil (fruit) and Thomas (chocolate)~

Phil was chugging the small flavorless jelly cubes as fast as one can chug little flavorless jelly cubes. Thomas, on the the other hand, was chugging bigger sized but fewer in count coffee-flavored jelly cubes. Good luck, boys!

Phil switched to Gustav won brought home the gold in the chugging. Fruit team won!!!

The Japanese dude (whose name I cannot remember... sorry!!) finished off the coffee-flavored ones.
We felt bad for them because they tasted so bad!! >.<* You did your countries proud, men~!! :D