Willy Goes to Japan... Again?

The Final Moments

2008-12-29T14:22:00.003-06:00

The very day I was leaving, Sho offered to drive me to make the trip a lot easier. Well, Sho had a party the night before my departure and was completely incapacitated. Nervously, Mayu agreed to take the wheel, since she was the only one with a driver's license.

Mayu at the wheel as we pull away from Makino Train Station.

Hide in his apartment as we picked him up.

Everyone in the car. You can't really tell, but it's Mayu, Me, Mami, Shiho, Sho, Hide, and Taka.

We arrived at Itami Airport and were walking toward the check-in counter from the Parking Lot.

Later on Ai, Ryu, Yuki, Michiko, and Shota showed up to see me off.

After this last picture I failed to take more pictures, because my camera died. I said bye to everyone and got on the plane. As the plane was pulling out, I looked out my window and could see everyone at the Observation Deck waving... unfortunately they couldn't see me. I was very happy that everyone came to see me off. Those that couldn't make it called and said bye.

Over all, I had an extremely wonderful time in Gaidai, and miss everyone tremendously. I didn't feel ready to come home, but I have to graduate. haha This definitely isn't my last trip to Japan... Be ready for another Blog... I have plans in the future to study in Okinawa for a year... we'll see. Thanks for those who followed the blog and I hope it may have helped in answering some questions about Japan. If you've been dancing around the idea of Studying Abroad, I hope my blog has helped in your decision making.

Thanks again and if I go back, there'll be another blog...

Ishikawa Japan

2008-12-29T13:26:00.006-06:00

Japan has a total of 47 Prefectures. The map below gives you an idea of where they are. The last week of my stay in Japan I went to my girlfriend's home prefecture in Ishikawa. Mayu's Grandmother made reservations in a "Ryokan," or a resort hotel with hot-baths and other accommodations, and we stayed there for three days. We took a bus from Kyoto through Fukui and into Ishikawa. The following are pictures of my stay.

Check out the map to get an Idea of where I went. I stayed in the Kansai area and stayed mostly in Osaka. I visited Kyoto, Nara, Okinawa, and Ishikawa.

Map of Japan. Click to get a bigger picture.

The first night I was there we went to Mayu's classmate's bar.... and Yes Jack Sparrow showed up. Yes people... Jack Sparrow is also Japanese. I spoke english to him and he became extremely tongue tied and said in Japanese that he doesn't speak english.

Yes, he has a gun.... and instead of a sword he carries around a Japanese Umbrella. His gun is a lighter. Jack Sparrow is a smoker.

He does like his rum though.

Mayu and Jack Sparrow.

Mayu and her friends. This is where I spent my Christmas.

We moved to Karaoke and was there till about 7:00am.

More friends.

Back at the Ryokan, we spent the day in our Yukata.

Me, Mayu, Mayu's mother, and Mayu's Grandmother.

We had crab for dinner... it was delicious.

This was the scene from outside my window. Mayu lives in Kaga city, in Ishikawa... and there really isn't anything there. The weather wasn't too nice, but way in the background in the picture are some mountains.

On our ride back home it began to snow... so I was lucky enough to see some snow.

More snow.

More Snow.

The trip to Ishikawa was really nice. It was very relaxing and the food was delicious. Mayu's grandmother and mother were very nice and Mayu's Grandmother paid for EVERYTHING... I was very grateful and couldn't thank her enough. I really hope to go back again someday.

Kyoto Trip Part DUCE

2008-12-29T12:58:00.005-06:00

Me, Mayu, Sho, and Shiho decided to take a trip back to Kyoto to check out Arashi Yama... A place I went to once before, but when it was raining. This time it was nice out and they were going to be lighting up the mountains. The following are from that trip.

From left to right. Me, Mayu, Sho, and Shiho. We stopped at a Takoyaki restaurant and ate some lunch before we headed off to Arashi Yama.

The bridge in the background heads to the mountains. There were lots of people here, but not as many people from the time we went to Kiyomizutera.

The four of us on walking down the bridge pictured above.

They lit up the Bridge once night fell and this is the picture of the bridge.

The mountains lit up.

Once again.

We took a bit more of a walk and were able to check out the bamboo forests.

At Arashi Yama train station there was a christmas tree made of apples... Sho took a bite out of one and it was not tasty.

After Arashi Yama we were able to stop by Ichikotsu and eat some wonderfully delicious food. I got a chance to turn the Tako Yaki... I wasn't very good.

Mayu took a try as well.

The Log Cabin

2008-12-29T12:30:00.002-06:00

Near the end of exam week, my friends and I got together and rented out a log cabin for a night. It was cold... and we didn't sleep... luckily I didn't have class the next day until 1:00pm. The following are pictures of that night.

Down in the bottom left hand corner is Mayu, in the center is Mami, and in the top is Ai. The cabin was really awesome. We step into the room and it opens up to the living room and to the right is the ladder pictured above. Across from the front door is the sliding glass door to the balcony. This is the first room. This room was connected to another room designed in the exact same way. One problem... we had to pay to use the heater. 100 yen for two hours... We payed up.

We're starting our "Nabe" party. Nabe is just a pot with water and we add some flavoring then throw in vegetables, meat, and tofu.

The group waiting for the food to get ready.

Sho finally showed up and brought about 5 pounds of meat.

Sho and Masato.

The cabin was a fun time and the next morning we had to check out by 9:00am. This was the reason we stayed up all night.

The final days of Class

2008-12-29T12:08:00.004-06:00

As the last days of class drew near, things were getting much busier... lots more studying. During the busy time we were able to squeeze time for pictures in class. I never took any pictures of my other two classes, but the following pictures are of my Japanese Spoken lvl. 6 class and Japanese Reading and Writing lvl. 4 class.

The girl in the left is Yan san, and the guy on the right is Matt san.
Two class mates of mine in my Spoken class. Yan is from Korea and Matt is from Utah.

This is Vicky. She is in both my Spoken class and Reading and writing class.
Vicky is from California.

My entire class for Spoken Japanese. Top row left to right is Matt, Brittney, Yan, Christina, Lauren, and Towa. Front Row left to right is Me, Okawa Sensei, and Vicky. I probably butchered the spelling. Okawa Sensei was really good and an extremely friendly teacher. Brittney, Lauren, and Towa were from Australia. Christina was from Brazil.

This is me and my Reading Writing teacher Miyauchi Sensei. Also a really great teacher.

A picture of mos my class mates in the Reading and Writing class... I unfortunately do not know most of their names. But I had a great time in class.

The Japanese classes in Gaidai were really good. Most everyone I spoke with would say the same thing about their teachers. I found out in the middle of the Semester that an extremely well used book in Japanese classes called "Genki," was made at Gaidai. I personally never used the book, but many of the exchange students in Gaidai had used "Genki."

The Kyoto Trip

2008-11-29T09:32:00.006-06:00

In Japan when the leaves change it's a BIG DEAL. I'm serious. On the news they talk about the status of the leaves in different areas of Japan and when the best time to view the leaves are. Kyoto happens to be one of the more famous places to check out this beautiful time of year. The following is my experience in Kyoto checking out the changing of the leaves and the Temples.

This is an example of ENGRISH... Japanese clothes designers will often throw anything on clothing if it has english... well poor Saya didn't realize what this meant in English... We had fun teasing her about it.

All of us gathering to decide where to go first.

Us having fun walking down the back roads to our first place... Keep in mind how narrow the road is... just remember that for a bit.

Our first stop was this temple. We didn't go in, but it was very pretty and cool to take a picture of this Pagoda. We weren't too keen on paying to enter any of the temples we went to... for many reasons, but it was still very beautiful.

Reason 1 for why I asked you to keep in mind the picture of the road in the last picture... This is a picture of one of the roads we went through to get to another temple... The day we went to Kyoto happened to be a very popular day...

The same pagoda pictured above.

A temple with a huge buddha... Many of you may know that I'm buddhist, but none of these temples have anything to do with my school of buddhism... i'm sure you didn't care.

Another temple with a bunch of people... and the tree in the background is the main attraction... rather many trees like it. This theme of "bunch of people" is a theme to keep in mind.

Me, Sho and Hide taking a picture together of that tree above.

Another beautiful tree.

Mayu and Saya 100 yard dash... Mayu won by a bunch... Saya just can't run well.

The tree in the background is really pretty...

This has nothing to do with trees or temples... but it was a cool car.

Reason 2 for keeping in mind the picture of the road and "bunch of people." This was on our way to Kiyomizu Dera a famous temple in Kyoto and a World Historical Site. It's hard to see from this picture, but we are crammed in the road like sardines. I have never been in a crowd this large, this packed, and this determined to to get to the same destination. Hide was surprised too.

Finally Kiyomizu Dera. This was the main gate and the whole temple ground was roped off so people had to enter through the main gate. There was a huge line and we all tried to do our best to avoid paying, but unfortunately we had to pay to check it out... so we sucked it up and paid.

The large crowd is what we had to hike through in order to get to the Temple... and most of the crowd in the background is actually the line to enter the temple and buy your ticket... We kinda cheated and sent Mayu and Hide to sneak through the line, buy all our tickets, and then hand them to us through the gate... it worked.

A beautiful picture of the gate on the Temple Grounds.

This light could be seen for miles and was shining at the top of the Temple... once we arrived at the top of the Temple we took a break and began to make jokes about the beam of light... Sho said it's a huge Marlboro cigarette....

It was a wonderful trip and we had a great time visiting the historical sites and seeing the beautiful trees. Afterwards we hit up some "Yaki Niku," or barbecue I guess... We ate a ton and it was delicious. I highly recommend that you experience this event in Kyoto if you're ever in Japan.

Okinawa... I'm back FINALLY

2008-11-29T07:41:00.010-06:00

A couple days before I left for Okinawa Obama's election update was shown at Kansai Gaidai. In the morning we were able to watch the race in real time. Here are some pictures of my friends watching the election.

Left to Right (Bill, Joe, and Vicky)

The moment Obama was announced to have won the election.

I left for Okinawa on a thursday and I was going to spend 6 days in Okinawa.

It's a little blurry, but its a picture of the city scape from my Grandmother's apartment. A view that is very nostalgic to me.

The night I arrived in japan, many of my extended family gathered at my grandmother's.

There's a very famous street in Naha City, Okinawa called "Kokusai Douri" and next to that street is an out-door mall called "Heiwa Douri." I used to go there quite a bit with my grandmother when I was younger. The above are fruits found in Okinawa that could be bought in Heiwa Douri. (dragon fruit, start fruit, pomegranates, pineapples, are some of the fruits.) The following are some more items found in the mall.

Sea Snake

Pig's Head

I left the mall and decided to go check out one of Okinawa's more famous sites, Shuri Castle. Here's some pictures of my hike to find the castle. Don't get me wrong, it's well marked, but I went by the monorail which runs throughout the city of Naha. Once I exited at the Shuri Castle Exit, I had to figure out the way to the Castle and this is what I encountered...

Aparently this is part of Shuri castle, and is a small park at the top of a hill near the Castle grounds. From the monorail station I just began walking towards the general direction of Shuri Castle.

A great view of the landscape from the Park I mentioned in the above picture... and then I turned to my left and saw this sign...

The sign in Japanese reads "Habu ni Chui," which as you could imagine means "snake caution." Okinawa is well known for a very poisonous snake and I grew up always being warned of the snake, so I was surprised to see the picture.

Once I entered the Castle Grounds, they were show casing Okinawa's traditional dances.

The Okinawan Dance mentioned above.

Finally Shuri Castle.
Just to add, this was a friday and Mayu was going to be flying in later that night so I had plenty of time to kill... I happened to be wearing Jeans and a T-shirt and I was BURNING UP!!! It felt like summer in NOVEMBER... a little strange... and some say there is no Global Warming... yeah right.

The next day Mayu and I went to "Kokusai Douri" and then had plans to go to the Okinawan caves called "Gyokusendou."

A cat that was hanging out at shop on "Kokusai Douri." Mayu was attacked... I failed to mention that a couple minutes before she decided to pet the cat a little brat was teasing the cat and was swatted at. Well, as we can imagine Mayu was bitten, but the cat didn't even hiss, it just attacked.

From Left to right (Minako, Mayu, and Ruriko) Mayu with my cousin and my aunt at the place to visit the caves... i think the place is called "Ryukyu Mura."

Note, the date in the picture has changed but this is the same day as the Kittty Cat attack... my camera is set on Central Time Zone not Japan's...

Mayu and I took a picture with the huge snake... Mayu somehow ended up with the dangerous end and was freaking out. In Okinawan culture a white snake is supposed to bring lots of good luck.

I have a bunch of pictures of the cave, but their all just stalagtites and stalagmites, but this is the prettiest picture. The sign in the picture reads, Blue Spring.

Mayu and I in traditional Okinawan clothing at "Ryukyu Village."

The next day we had plans to visit Okinawa's famous aquarium, Churaumi. The Following are pictures from that trip.

My second Cousin Nana and her daughter Miyu.

The view at the top of the hill on our way towards Churaumi Aquarium. The day was a little cloudy, and ended up raining but we still had a wonderful time.

My cousins on our way down to the aquarium.

The massive Fish Tank in the Aquarium which holds three Whale Sharks. The glass is a Meter Thick...

Mayu doing her best to look like a sea turtle.

I had no idea what these Manatees were doing, but the top one I believe is going number 2... we can imagine what the bottom one is doing... As I was taking this picture two teenage girls ran up screaming "Kawaii!!," which means cute... I don't see what's cute in this scene... haha

We checked out the Dolphin show and it was really fun... until it began to rain at which point the audience all dashed for shelter.

After the Dolphin show we went back into the Aquarium to check some stuff out. In the shark research area Mayu is standing in the replica of a Megalodon Shark Mouth... Don't worry it's an extinct shark so swim with ease.

This happened to be Mayu's Favorite fish... and yes the fish is truly ugly... Mayu is doing her best impression of the unfortunate looking fish.

Me being stupid at the entrance to the Aquarium.

The next day Mayu and I once again returned to "Kokusai Douri" to purchase gifts from our friends.

Mayu's new favorite pet. One of the stores in "Heiwa Douri" kept an Owl as a pet. At first we didn't realize it was real until we looked a little more carefully... Mayu kept saying how cute it was until she read the sign that said that Owl's eat frozen mice...

My aunt's and grandmother seeing us off at Naha airport... I'll be back in Okinawa, I promise.

It was really great to be back in Okinawa and spend time with my family. It was only a short time, but it was still great. I do plan on going back. After I graduate from UWF, I hope to study abroad for a year in Okinawa through a scholarship offered by the Okinawan Prefectural Government.

Kansai Gaidai Culture Fest

2008-11-29T05:53:00.010-06:00

In Japan, every November the schools around the country celebrate what they call the "Culture Fest." Specifically for Kansai Gadai, the students operate stores, events, and participate in Dance competitions. Normally, students involved in clubs (i.e. baseball team, basketball team) and circles (i.e. what we call clubs in UWF.)

This is my experience doing a Tako Yaki Store with all my friends. Just to add, it was three days of waking up at 7am and ending at 8pm and doing nothing but selling Tako Yaki.

^ Tako Yaki

Hide and Taka working the extra Tako Yaki burners.

The girls were given the job of wearing costumes (i.e. japanese school girl uniforms, nurses, and stitch...) and attracting customers. This is Mayu dancing in front of the store in a Stitch costume.

Hide messing around with Sho, Akiyo, and Risa cooking the Tako Yaki.

Ryu doing his DJ Ozma "Spider Man" dance... this probably scared the customers away...

Honami in her Nurse outfit bringing in the customers.

I just got pied, so Sho and I took a picture together.

A bunch of the members in front of the store. There were all together bout 18 of us that participated in the three day event.

Ryu was pied by all of these kids at least twice.

Honami getting pied. I think she was hit by about 4 or 5 pies.

Honami, after the pieing.

Mayu wasn't able to escape the pieing. In the end Saya, Honami, and Mayu were the only girls that didn't escape getting pied throughout the three days.

Once the three days were up we decided to celebrate our work and went out to a restaurant. Only one place was open, because everyone else apparently had the same idea in mind.

From Left to right (Hide, Taka, Me, Mayu, Honami, and Emi) About a third of the group at the restaurant after the Culture festival.

The group waiting outside the restaurant.

Ryu and Mami.

Mami and Noriko.

Hide, me, and Ryu- We sang a ton of songs and ate the crappy food they put in front of us. It came out in servings, but the food really wasn't that great. It didn't stop us from having fun.

The three days of the festival was really fun and I was really happy I could be a part of the event. There were all sorts of stands and 10 Tako Yaki stands throughout the Festival. We had a lot of competition, but with the pie throwing, the costumes, and the dancing, our store was the only one that had lines regularly.

Some videos from the three day festival. Please Enjoy.

Ryu Getting Pied

Sho Getting Pied

Taka getting pied

It's a Bike!!!

2008-10-20T00:43:00.005-05:00

In Japan, especially here in Osaka, bicycles and motor bikes are a main source of transportation, other than bus or train... Well, my friend Sho has a motor bike and it's absolutely one of the more fun forms of transportation there is... here are some videos. Please enjoy.

Oh, by the way, in Japan you're able to drive between lanes if you're on a bike and often times I find that Sho and I are riding on the wrong side of the road just to get around all the cars in front of us, so that we can take the head of the line at the light...

I'm going to Okinawa!!!

2008-10-14T02:58:00.004-05:00

Finally, after 4 years I'm returning to what I consider to be my home... Okinawa. Of course this means it's been 4 years since I've seen my grandmother, aunts, and cousins. Needless to say I'm extremely excited. I've still got to wait about a month and it's only a short 5 days, but it's better than nothing. I leave after my morning classes on November 6th and return on one of our holidays on Tuesday November 11th.

My friends heard of my decision and decided they wanted to join me. They'll be arriving in Okinawa on Friday and leave the same day as me.

This weekend we once again went to Ichikotsu, the tako yaki restaurant in Kyoto. The only thing is every time we go, not only does the chef, who we call Master, make us his famous Takoyaki, but he always makes a special dish especially for us for an extremely cheap price... it's wonderful. The following is a picture of us enjoying the meal.

The food was delicious as always and we'll be going back again some time soon. We've been having talks of a trip to another prefecture this weekend just to eat some Udon... right now it's still under discussion, but if we go you will soon know via... this blog.

Thanks for readin!!!

I'm a Farmer!!!!

2008-10-14T02:23:00.004-05:00

Last week was a very busy week. I had an exam every day of the week, and it was quite exhausting. So, what did I do to prepare for the extremely busy week? Well, the saturday before that week began I became a farmer for a day.

My friend Sho's family owns about an acre of farmland where they grow their own....(drum roll please)... Rice. What else would they grow? It was a very interesting experience. Me, Hide, and Sho went to Sho's home after a night of bowling and didn't go to bed till about 5am and we knew we'd be woken up at 8:30am... Not too bright, but what can I say. 8:30 rolled around and Sho's father, a stout, elderly man about mid 50's with a quiet and kind demeanor, that seems to exude a sense of wisdom, quietly sneaks into the room and wake up sho. I, in my half a sleep state, see Sho go from absolute lights-out asleep to beaming, ready to go consciousness in about half a second... it was amazing. Me and Hide on the other hand remained quietly asleep. As I began drifting back into full REM sleep, Sho bounds back into the room and screams, "Lets go Man!!! We've got to carry rice!!!" Hide and I spring awake and are ready in about the same time Sho was.

We ran down stairs and began carrying 30Kgm or 66 lbs bags of rice one by one to Sho's huge fridge where they keep their year's supply of rice. We carried approximately 24 bags. After that we ate a bit of breakfast then went to the fields. About a 5 minute walk in perfect weather, with the sun beaming and a cool breeze on our backs, we arrived ready to do whatever it was we were supposed to do. As we got closer to the fields, we could see Sho's father in the distance with another man who was riding what looked like an over sided riding lawn mower. What the man was riding on was an automatic rice shaker thingy... I unfortunately in my one day of being a farmer I was not able to gain the lingo that goes along with the title. Our job was to gather the bags filled with rice that the machine filled, and put the bags on the back of the truck. I suddenly began feeling a burning, itching feeling on my fore arms, at which point Sho says, "You should have worn long sleeves..." At which point I thought, "Helpful information at this point." The individual rice pebbles are covered in a flaky shell and this shell breaks off into very fine flakes and digs into the skin and becomes almost like fiber glass. After hauling about 16 bags of rice, we took the truck to a machine that dehydrates the rice and removes the flakes.

The one day of being a farmer was a wonderful experience. I learned a lot about farming rice and about how it doesn't use much ground nutrients, so there is no need for crop rotation and such, so the land lasts for quite a long time. I've now gained a better respect for those that provide us our food.

Whoops

2008-09-25T07:01:00.003-05:00

I'm sorry I haven't posted anything the past couple weeks, but since classes have started there really hasn't been much going on. I'll give a quick synopsis of the past couple weeks.

After the chaos of orientation, classes began and I finally got to meet my teachers. I'm taking a total of four classes, Spoken Japanese 6, Reading and Writing 4, and two economics classes. My Spoken Teacher, Mr. Okawa, is a wonderful teacher and can speak impeccable english, just not during class... no english allowed in Japanese classes. My Reading and Writing teacher, Mr. Miyauchi, is also a wonderful teacher and keeps a pretty fun class. This brings me to my economics classes, which are both taught by... Dr. Campbell... and for the Woodberry guys, it's obviously not the same Dr. C. I have a very hard time calling my economics teacher Dr. Campbell... so I keep it simple with Mr. Campbell, which he is absolutely fine with. Well, my class schedule is quite crazy and not really what I expected... a little less organized than I would normally prefer.

Other than classes, we've had tons of holidays... this coming week will be the first full week of classes since school began. During these numerous Japanese holidays I've not really done much other than hanging out with all my friends. We did however go to a place called Arashiyama in Kyoto. This place is famous for keeping it's historical Japanese appeal. The day we arrived, it was rainy and I had a blinding headache, but I pushed on and wanted to experience everything. Arashiyama is located at the foot of a valley and is cut in half by a beautiful river, which wasn't so beautiful the day I went... in fact it was brown and quite ominous from all the rain water. We attempted to go check out the mountain Monkeys, but that trail was closed to the weather and we ended up just walking about 2km up the river to a dead end... This was about the peak of my headache, it was about here that we decided to try and check out some Temples around the area, but we ended up bailing on that idea as well. The constant, drizzling rain, the cold, and the ever darkening night canceled our plan to check out the temple fairly quick. The pain in my head was calling for some medicine, while everyone's empty stomachs were ready for food at the restaurant we made reservations at.

After downing some medicine, the 8 of us went to our tiny Takoyaki restaurant. (takoyaki is a fried ball of breading and vegetable with octopus inside) As we walked in to the "V" shaped restaurant that was built feet from the train tracks, the smell of fresh Takoyaki filled the air. Our party of 8 took over about half of the restaurant, and our 3 hour face stuffing began. Although the restaurant is a Takoyaki restaurant, the chef specially prepared a few other meals that he only does for special customers... Thanks to my friend Sho, we became "special customers."

That was about five days ago, and we're planning another trip to the restaurant. I apologize for the lack of pictures, but my camera died at Arashiyama, and I was unable to take pictures. I've got pictures of other things we've done, but I'm sure we'd all get tired of pictures of me hanging out with my friends. I'll be sure to do something interesting soon, so I can have some interesting pictures for you guys.

Thanks for the long wait!!!

Orientation

2008-09-04T23:44:00.007-05:00

For the past few days I've been participating in the Exchange Student Orientation. The first day of orientation all 435 exchange students had to gather at the "Multi Media Hall" (a lecture Hall) and listen to a bit of a speech, which I have at the current time forgotten. I then had to stay in the hall to take my placement exam. I ended up doing pretty well and had to go schedule an interview for 2:00pm later that day.

After the placement exam I went to the "SHOMU" building, which I'll refer to as Student Accounts, and fork up 26000Yen (260$). I then went to draw my number for the Registration Lottery. Kansai Gaidai uses a lottery system for students to choose their class. If you unfortunately pull a high number, you'll have a higher chance of not getting the classes you wanted, if those classes are popular. I was fortunate enough to pull a number right in the middle, 241. The girl directly after me was not, she pulled 436. This was out of 438. We were then advised to bring our lottery number at the time specified on the ticket and our receipts from the Student Accounts building tomorrow, to actually register for classes.

It was then that 2:00pm rolled around and I had to head to my interview with Komura Sensei. A wonderfully nice man, of average height and dark hair. He spoke english very well, but made sure the interview was strictly Japanese. I entered his office and sat across from him. I noticed he had my placement exam, a voice recorder, and a file, but despite the somewhat intimidating atmosphere I felt completely fine. He began and just wanted to get an idea of my Japanese academic background, at which point I shared with him that I haven't really had any college level courses other than my first semester at UWF. The more I explained the more he realized that my Japanese reading and writing level was far lower than my Japanese Spoken. It was at this point that he explained that normally those students who are in Level 6 Spoken normally take a reading and writing course at the same level. This became the main topic of our interview where to place me for my classes. At this point I'm still unsure of what level they've placed me, but I should be finding out in about two hours.

Once my interview ended I filled out my Alien Registration Form and rode my bicycle to the Hirakata City Hall, to receive my card. About half way there, the dark clouds above opened up and spilled water all over me. I arrived to the City Hall drenched and dripping. The wonderfully nice man at the desk offered his umbrella, but at that point it was far too late. He took my form, pass port, and I think some money, and after a few minutes of waiting he handed me a sheet of paper that said I needed to return between 9/24 and 9/30 to retrieve my card. This I believed was essential for me to purchase a cell phone, so I was fairly bummed.

The next day I had to rush to my registration time and went through the system without a problem. I then hurried to the on campus cell phone store, where I learned that there was another form that substituted as the alien registration card, until you actually receive it. Once again I had to take the time to make a trip to the City Hall, but this time I rode the bus. At the City Hall I coughed up 300yen (3$) and received a piece of paper with a bunch of Japanese on it. I then took all my paper work to the cell phone store and was able to purchase my pre-paid cell phone, but I had to wait a few hours for them to set it up for me.

Around 3:00pm our opening ceremony began at the Multi Media Hall and I snuck my friend Honami in with me. After a speech from the President, U.S. consulate general, Australian consulate general, and two student reps. all 435 student were ushered to the lawn for a commemorative photograph, which my friend Honami (a regular student) gladly joined in.

Later on that night I eventually was able to receive my phone and spent a good hour and half entering my friend's e-mails and phone numbers into my cell phone.

Below are some pictures of the campus and my dorm, Seminar House 4.

Exchange Student's Commemorative Photo, I took this one... I'm in the back with Honami

U.S. Consulate General

Australian Consulate General

Faculty Member... He was very funny

Exchange Student Rep.

Kansai Gaidai Student Rep.

Me and Kohei, (a student assistant and my old resident)

A wonderufl atrium, where students gather and do shows... pretty cool

Inside the Multi Media Hall for the Opening Ceremony

The Japanese Man in the Blue Suit, sitting down is Tanimoto Sensei, the president to his right is his wife and to her right is their son Tanimoto Sensei, the acting president... I was confused too.

El Presidente giving his speech

A really sweet activity court on campus, with astroturf and about 5 basketball goals

Part of our Campus near the East Side

The Multi Media Hall... has classrooms and the Library

SHOMBU... administrative offices and all that stuff

Me and mami another one of my old residents.

The Kitchen in my dorm...

I will soon have pictures of the actual Seminar House that I'm living in... but until then please keep reading THANK YOU!!!!!

My Adventure!!!

2008-08-30T09:40:00.033-05:00

The day after my last post I woke up to a very hot day. Having no plans for the day, I really wasn't sure what to do. There was one thing that nagged at me, and that was to ride the train and get lost by myself. My girlfriend had work that night and all my friends were busy, so after about 6:00pm I'd be completely on my own.

Around 7:00pm I gathered my things and took a step out the door and decided that I would do this adventure on my own. The previous day I boarded the trains once with Mayu and went to a mall, so I had a good idea how things worked, so I wasn't too worried. Luckily the train station is literally a block away from Mayu's apartment, so I was there in no time. I got to the ticket machine and stared at it for a few minutes as I tried to decipher the Kanji, which I've always had trouble reading... I eventually gave up and went with the, I'll just do what we did last time, plan. I put in the 150Yen and one of the buttons lit up with exactly that amount of money, so I pressed the button and out came my ticket. Having succesfully overcome my first obstacle I felt confident that I could really do this.

My first stop was Hirakata Train Station. I got off the train and followed everyone else, which lead me to the exit. As I walked into the ticket gate I slid my ticket in the slot and suddenly the gate slammed shut in front of me, not allowing me to pass through. At that moment I realized that there was no way I was going to be able to go anywhere on 150Yen. This knocked me off my high horse, but I got right back up and started trying to figure out how I was going to get out of this place. I eventually saw another ticket machine that read, "fee adjustment." Using this machine I was able to change my ticket to the right price and exit the station.

I got to the actual station and exited the building, which opened up to a road that formed a half circle filled with taxis and busses. There were people everywhere and so I chose the largest crowd and started to follow. This ended up getting me no where, at which point I decided to take a picture. The rest of the post will be pictures of my adventure the past few nights there will be captions.

Me Walking around Hirakata Station

Me, back on the train to a new and fun place

A Picture of the City right outside of Kyobashi Station, about a 30 minute train ride from Mayu's.

A Picture of the streets as I walked outside the Station.

24 hour Television. I walked into a building with tons of people and ended up walking around this yellow thing without knowing what it was. I got to the front where those banners are and realized it was a donation station so I handed over 300 yen (3$) and received a paper fan... Yes they were filming as I went through

Osaka Castle Hall is the big building

Osaka Castle, from a distance... I was determined to get closer.

I'm getting closer... and there's a bridge that will get me even closer!!!

Osaka Castle

On the Bridge seen in the last picture.

A picture of the entrance to toward the Castle... these walls were very high.

Osaka Castle

My dinner after the Castle at a Ramen Restaurant near Kyobashi Station

THE NEXT DAY

After my night's adventure, Mayu and I decided to head back to the same area, but further away to visit our friend Ai. The following are more pictures and captions of our trip. This was fun as well.

Doutonbori (shopping and bunch of other stuff) Tons of people

More of the Same (famous Sign of the Gurico Man)

Can you eat that by yourself?

Right outside Ai's work place... beautiful view

Ai working Hard

Mayu, me, Hide, and Ai at her work about to take leave

Me in the street infront of the Tsutenkaku (the tower I'm kinda pointing at.)

The from at the top of the Tsutenkaku

Mayu, Ai, Rui at the Korean Restaraunt after our trip up the Tsutenkaku

Me and Hide at the Korean Restaraunt

Remen and Bibinbop... I think I'm spelling something wrong, but It was delicious!!!

THE NEXT DAY ...

The next day my friend Josh was scheduled to arrive at Kansai International Airport and as a surprise me, Hide, Sho, Honami were going to pick him up with Taka. (Josh will be studying abroad at Daito Bunka near Tokyo, Japan, his blog is linked on the right hand side of my page.) Josh thought that only Taka was going to be getting him. I do have some pictures of our trip to Kansai International, but right as Josh met up with Taka, my camera died and I was unable to take any pictures of Josh's arrival.

We ended up taking the very tired, very sleep, and very annoyed Josh (they lost his bags) to a ramen restraunt. We really wanted to go to Muteppo, but on our way there we realized they were closed on MONDAY!!! and went to another place instead called Mario's... Once again it was delicious and excellent and Josh's first taste of Japanese Rmaen went well. After that we headed to Donki Hote (a place that sells pretty much anything... not the same place I spoke up before) and Josh bought some underwear, while I purchased some shampoo and other things. The airline told Josh he would be receiving his bags in the morning so we took him to Taka's where he'll be staying for the next few days.

This morning I found out from Sho that Josh's bags ended up in Amsterdam hahahaha. Both of us died laughing, but did feel bad for Josh considering he's supposed to be leaving for a Ryokan (Hot baths resort) tomorrow morning.

On my next post I'll have some pictures of the dorm and my room, maybe my roommate as well. I hope you enjoyed the pictures and video!!!

Three Days of FUN - this is a long one

2008-08-29T22:19:00.027-05:00

-DAY ONE-

I arrived at the airport at the crack of dawn ready and had plenty of time to kill. I was able to have a bite to eat before boarding the plane and I'm very happy my mother, father, and best friend were able to see me off. Thank you!!

The parents

Me and Jesse

The flight from Pensacola to Atlanta, was short and uneventful as usual. Unfortunately I didn't feel compelled to snap any photos for the chance that I might anger the other passengers. After all it was still dark outside.

As I settled in, I noticed that the couple next to me seemed to be wide awake. I soon became aware that the male, (who I'll call John since I've forgotten his name), was very nervous and had never flown before. The flight became quite enjoyable at 5:45 in the morning. As the flight progressed, I noticed the ominous clouds (remnants of tropical storm Fay) began to lose it's dark intentions as the sun's morning rays illuminated the sky.

We landed in Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson Airport approximately 10 minutes late. Having plenty of time till my next flight I took my time to the gate. After about an hour of people watching, the Flight attendants called for the first group to board the plane. I thought to myself, "Japan is only 14 HOURS!!!! away."

The 14 hour flight was very boring filled with pretty much the same routine. I'd play some games on the monitor, watch a movie, watch a t.v. episode, sleep about an hour, and get woken up by the flight attendants for food or snacks. This seemed to be the theme through out the flight, so as we began to approach Tokyo Narita Airport I was very happy to see land and break out of that very boring cycle.

As I exited the plane and walked into the concourse, I began to feel very excited and rush of energy kicked in an spurred me on to do some exploring. Only one thing was holding me back, Customs. I thought this might be a pain, but it really wasn't too bad. I made it safely through customs and all the airport attendants who insisted on speaking english to me regardless of how much Japanese I replied with. I guess I look too American. I started lugging all my luggage all over the airport looking for the departure desk for my airline, which I conveniently forgot. After about 20 minutes of toting around my things, I began feeling a buzzing sensation coming from inside my suitcase. It then hit me, those stairs I just dragged my stuff down must have set off my shaver. So, in front everyone I had to dig through all my clothing and search for the mysterious buzzing noise... Well, anywho, after that wonderful mess, I found the desk and the wonderfully nice lady actually spoke to me in Japanese, but told me I could not go to the gate because it would not open for another 3 hours. Since, I was able to check my bags in, I could now explore the airport freely and find that "airport mall" that I saw a sign about.

Tokyo Narita Airport

Observation Deck by the Airport Mall

The airport mall was awesome. I didn't buy anything, but that wasn't the reason I wanted to see it. I really really really wanted to see all the stuff that I remembered from when I was a kid. Unfortunately there was a McDonalds, which by the way I refuse to go to through out my trip... It soon became time for me to make it to my gate and I had one of the strangest encounters at my gate.

As I sat waiting for my plane to begin boarding, next to me was a Japanese mother doing her best to keep her two year old son and 10 month daughter entertained and under control. Then I noticed that she was speaking english and japanese to her son. This became one of my strangest encounters. I started speaking to the mother in English and then she asked me if I spoke Japanese. After that we started talking about how she looked at me and wondered if her son would end up like me and I began thinking that I must have been like that little boy. Though the encounter was strange and felt like I was literally looking at myself 20 years back, my gratitude towards my mother and father grew 10 fold. I'm really glad my mother insisted on speaking Japanese to me through out my youth.

Soon we boarded the plane and began to depart. I quickly made another new friend, Kuri-chan. Sitting next to me was what I thought to be an 18 year old Japanese girl, but it turned out she was 25 and a school nurse. She was returning home from Brazil and lived in Osaka, where I was heading. While we started talking I noticed out the fuselage window a snow capped mountain protruding through the canopy of clouds. I soon realized that it was Mount Fuji and we would literally be passing right by it.

Mount Fuji, from afar

Mount Fuji from... not afar

After only about an hour, that seemed to fly by, since I got to carry on a wonderful conversation with my new friend, we arrived to Osaka Itami Airport. I knew that my friends would be coming to pick me up, but I really didn't know who or how many. I knew that my girl friend Mayu would be there and my friend Sho. I expected an awkward moment with my girlfriend since I haven't seen her in 8 months and I fully expected Sho to egg on the moment.

After 24 hours, I've arrived in Osaka Itami Airport

Honami (right) Sho (left)

from left to right Hide, Ai, and Taka

These are all the friends that came to get me from the airport. They were all my residence in Florida and I was really happy to see them again. There's just one thing from the last two pictures... you can completely tell the sense of awkwardness between me and my girlfriend considering I don't have a single picture of her from when they picked me up hahaha. Just to inform, it's not awkward anymore and it's completely like we have been together the whole time. Also not pictured is my friend Shota who came with the group.

From here we drove all over Osaka and ended up eating at a Kaiten Zushi. A Sushi restraunt that has a conveyor belt with a bunch of sushi on it.

Driving around Osaka

Us at Kaiten Zushi. Left to right, Ai, Taka, Shota, Hide, Sho, Honami, and Mayu

The sushi was delicious and Sho, would not stop ordering Pineapples... eventually the manager came out and apologized for not having anymore Pineapples. Sho, then decides it'd be a wonderful idea to order Pineapple Bar (frozen Pineapple on a stick)... Oddly enough they had that and it came slowly around on the Conveyor Belt.

-DAY TWO-

The second day was filled with a lot of stuff. While my girlfriend went to a Job interview I went with Sho, to a place just outside Kyoto to pick up Shota. We then went to Sho's house where I met his very sweet and kind grandparents.

Sho and I on our drive

After hours of driving, we were all able to get together again and ended up going for dinner to one of Sho's favorite Ramen restraunts called Muteppo. It was truly DELICIOUS, I seriously can't describe how good the soup was. It was really thick and probably not good for anyone with high cholesterol, but it was irresistibly good. You could order the level of flavor for the soup and the toughness of the noodles. All of this was only 700yen or $6.85. Oh, and if you finished all the noodles but still had soup left you could order more noodles for 100yen or $.85. You can always tell how good a place is by the number of people that wait outside. We arrived and there were about 8 people in front of us. By the time we were able go in there were about 20 people lined up behind us. So, while we waited for our turn we killed some time here's pictures of Muteppo...

Sho, Hide on the swing

Me and Hide on the swing

Sho and Hide in the kid's play house

Hide and Ai enjoying Tonkotsu Ramen

Ai, Honami, and Shota doing the same

Seriously the Best Ramen I've ever Had, Tonkotsu Ramen

We then left and went to a temple in the middle of the night. That was pretty cool. It was a beautiful building, but I wish I was able to learn more about the history behind the building... or even the name.

The temple

After I midnight jaunt here at the temple we took a detour to a store called Bandai Shoten. And they literally sell EVERYTHING. Clothes... dreamcasts.. super nintendo games.. x-box games.. PS1-2-3 games.. Sega Saturn.. stuffed animals.. manga.. videos.. dvds.. bee bee guns.. fishing rods.. guitars.. cards.. models.. and they had Pachinko machines (slot machines pretty much)... And I seriously do not think that was it.

BUT we did find this...

the purple afro

We headed out and decided that it'd be fun to go bowling. We then ended the nigh bowling and headed home. Oh... and I suck at bowling, but believe me I had a blast. Especially when Sho would launch his ball seriously 2/3 of the lane in the air before it hit the ground... and not once did the workers tell us to stop... it was a blast.

Shota, and Sho in the background

Me and Hide's Game Face

Mayu and Ai's Game Face...

That was Day two.

-DAY THREE-

Sorry, but I don't have pictures for day three. I woke up and my girlfriend ended up having work, so when she went off for work I spent most the day with Taka riding bikes around Osaka. Which was fun, though it was raining, I really enjoyed it. Eventually Sho, called to see if we wanted to eat some Curry Rice with him and Honami. The curry was absolutely delicious. After that I took a ride on a scooter motor bike. We went to the local Tsutaya... or rather Sho and I went to about three of the local Tsutayas. We did this all in the rain, weaving in out of traffic and through the tiniest roads on earth... and, yes, I loved every heart jumping second of it.

I hope to have lots more to write about next time thanks for reading!!!!

Less than 8 Hours.

2008-08-25T22:22:00.002-05:00

It is approximately less than 8 hours till my departure. A few days ago as Fay (hurricane) made her jaunt across the entire state of Florida, I started to think she would effect my scheduled departure time. At the current moment in time, my flight does not seem to be delayed, but I've still got a connection flight out of Atlanta to worry about. We'll just have to see how things go.

Since the last time I wrote, I've finished getting all my things together including my health insurance. I packed five days early. I said bye to most of my friends. I tied up all my loose ends. I think I'm ready to go.

In order to prepare myself for the fourteen hour jet lag I took a nap for a bout three hours around five o'clock. Considering my normal sleep schedule consists of sleep time starting anywhere between 2:00am and 4:00am, I feel that I should be decently prepared. I could sleep during the fourteen hour plane flight across the contiguous states and the Pacific Ocean to Japan, but that would just be silly. I hope to take a few pictures as I depart and while I'm miles above the earth's crust.

Real quick update on my arrival situation to Itami Airport in Osaka. My friend's will be picking me up, but there seems to be some kind of "secret." What to expect? Well, my friend Sho may have some horrible gag planned. I may get pied, and people who've met my friends before know what I'm alluding to. I plan to do a lot of introduction as the trip progresses, so please be patient as I will try to provide pictures with every introduction of my friends.

I plan on my next post to be about seven hours from now while I wait in Pensacola Regional. Maybe some pictures too

I'm Linked!!!

2008-07-31T01:45:00.003-05:00

For the past few weeks I've been waiting for the International Department to link my Blog to their website and now I'm linked. Maybe, just maybe this means I'll have many many many more readers!!!!! right...

Well, the trip is coming fast. Approximately twenty seven more days and I shall be on a journey to Japan.

Visa - Check
Registration - kinda check? (I have to go through some lottery thing. Once I arrive for orientation, I've got to provide proof of health insurance coverage and then I'll be entered into a Lottery to choose my classes... I hope I don't get stoned to death in this lottery.)
Health insurance - not quite
Plane Ticket - Check
Finances - pretty much Check!!!

I am truly excited to experience as much as possible over seas. It's hard to imagine that only five months ago I was running around like crazy trying to gather the paper work necessary to apply for the program. Then there was the wait. When it seemed like I would not get accepted, I was accepted. When it seemed like I couldn't gather the money for my plane ticket, I did gather the money. When it seemed like I couldn't gather the money for the trip, I did gather the money. Everything has seemed to fall in place quite nicely... I never gave up and always believed I would accomplish my goal to FINALLY study abroad. Now, it's only a few weeks away and I've taken care of all the hard work.

I fully expect my next post to be a couple days before the trip and hopefully a post right before I board the plane... Till then.

Mandatory Study Abroad Meeting

2008-07-25T04:27:00.002-05:00

Earlier in the day we were gathered for our Mandatory Study Abroad Orientation... by we I mean all the students going on exchange for the semester. We learned all sorts of interesting things like:
1- Passport renewal
2- Reissue of a Passport
3- What to do if you're a victim of a crime
4- What your rights are if you committed a crime
5- What to carry on you for Identification
6- What will happen if you don't hold on to these items
(which apparently they can detain you if you do not have a copy of your passport, ID, and host contact info. They will hold you until you can obtain those items... I thought that would be kind of an adventure.)
7- Don't travel far from Host area by your self... This completely nullified my plan to take a bullet train in any random direction, get off after about three hours, then attempt to find my way back by way of my own two feet... I'll still try and do this anyway... maybe.
8- Don't do drugs.

Tis all for now... will add more soon.

What you need to know about Loans

2008-07-25T04:09:00.004-05:00

Before I get into Loans, I would like to make a quick note about my previous two posts. I would like to apologize for the horrible grammar and all the errors in the past two posts. I fully expect errors to appear and all my posts. I don't see myself as a writer and have always believed that I was horrible with grammar. I just wanted to add that as a result of the pain medication and the intense pain the previous two posts were especially atrocious and I fully expect that level of error to not persist... I just wanted to leave it the way it was and not correct it because it adds to the imagination the amount of physical pain I was in and the dangerous power of prescription medication.

Alright, about Loans... Don't get them! Well, if you can avoid them I highly suggest you find an alternative means, but I'm certain that just isn't an option for everyone including myself. To be a little more fair for everyone, let me provide you with a few tips regarding Loans.

Before I go any further I'd like to add one thing. Though I am a Finance major, I am not an expert on Loans nor do I have the intention of becoming an expert on Loans.

1- If your credit can not qualify you for a loan, try a co-borrower with a good credit score. (obvious tip)

2- READ THE TERMS!!! Many Loans will not give you all the terms until you've applied for the loan. It is at this point that you're given the Promissory Note. READ IT. I can not stress this enough. In order to fund my living expenses I needed to apply for a Loan. I was approved and for the lowest interest rate of the Loan, I also requested a deferment period. (I wouldn't begin payments until a specific amount of time after I graduate) Sounds good right? This was an online Study Abroad Loan. After I received notification that I was approved, not even twenty four hours later I receive a phone call from the company wondering if I've printed out the Promissory Note, signed the paper work, and when would I have the entire packet submitted. This obviously unnerved me. I began reading more deeply into the Loan.

The Terms for this particular loan was a 7.8% APR (adjustable) and on top of that you add LIBOR, which is the "London Interbank Offered Rate." It's like a Federal interest rate. I think currently LIBOR is at about 3.25%. This would make the total interest rate above 10%. Since the interest rate was adjustable it very well could have gone well beyond 10% depending on LIBOR and other factors.

Well, I hope this saves someone in the future. Though it sounded wonderful at first, the more I read the terms the more I realized I was signing up for something I truly did not want. I plan to have more interesting posts soon.

I had to write about this

2008-07-16T19:16:00.002-05:00

This has nothing to do with studying abroad... directly.

Over the past few days, my mouth has been hurting me quite a bit. It got so bad I couldn't open my mouth wide enough to eat. I wasn't sure what it was, so I went to the E.R. and they sent me to dental. After filling some paper work out I was put in a room while the assistant started putting the bib thingy on me and getting other instruments out. Next thing I know three dentists walk in to look at my wonderfully exciting mouth. Then unexpectedly I hear, "OK, let prep Oral surgery. We're pulling it out." Apparently I've got to remove all of my wisdom teeth, especially the top two.

With this situation moving so fast, I didn't know how to react other than to start laughing. I've never enjoyed going to the dentists and ever since the last time they stabbed my mouth a bunch to numb things up I've always hated going to them. I'll admit this time wasn't too bad. He stabbed me a bunch with some local anesthetics, covered my eyes up, and clamped something on to my tooth. I feel and hear that horrible grinding noise and a few minutes later it was all over. So, I left the hospital with gauze sticking out of my mouth and instructions to eat as much ice cream as I'd like.

Alright, thats that.

Visa and Money!!!

2008-07-16T12:43:00.002-05:00

The last time I wrote to my multitude of readers... I just got my plane ticket. The next order of business after that was to obtain my student visa and secure the finances for the four months in Japan... We'll start with the less stressful one.

Visa- Like I said, for this I needed to call the local Japanese embassy and gather some information. Which, by the way, the local Japanese embassy happens to be in MIAMI and despite what you may think with me living in Florida, it is surprisingly far away... let me put it this way. It takes only two more hours for me to drive to my dear friend Mike's house in Burlington, North Carolina than it would for me to drive to Miami. Any who, I had to print off a Visa application, fill it out, attach a passport photo (I have a story for this), and then send it off with return postage. Oh yeah, I did all that on express mail so it was a total of $33.

Yes, you do have to take another passport photo for the visa application. I can't speak for other exchange programs, but seriously!!!! I had to take... about 13 freaking passport photos... well, I had them make copies. When I was first completing the initial application for the program they asked for 10!!! passport pictures. Oh, and they can't be the normal 2x2 inch picture. So, what did I have to do? I had to cut them to the appropriate size, which I messed up one so I had to go back and take another picture... yeah that was a pain. I've been getting mine at Wallgreens and have had no trouble since they print out two copies at a time, but they're about $8 a pop. That would make the 10 photos plus the retake about $48. THEN I had to take another one for the ISIC Card... which is a International Student ID card, it has a bunch of cool little perks including insurance. Well, that makes the total at $56. NOW, I add the money I spent for the latest close up I took and the total rounds up to a nice $64. Yay!!!!

MONEY- This is coming together surprisingly smoothly... kind of. After paying the $1500 for my plane ticket I was at a complete loss for how I would come up with the approximately $5000 I would need. Well, to make an already long blog shorter, I exhausted all my resources with financial aid at UWF, which will disperse about $6000 for the Fall semester. I'm estimating about $3400 of that will go toward tuition and housing. This will leave me with $2600 plus a stipend I applied for through the College of Business. Well... the point is my financial situation for my trip to Japan is coming together nicely.

That's it for now... and I promise that I will have pictures and videos in the future, but there's just nothing interesting to take pictures of right now.

Sooner than I expected

2008-07-09T16:07:00.004-05:00

I honestly was not expecting to get my ticket hours after my last post, but I did. I was able to purchase my ticket from IACE travel located in Atlanta 1888-280-4223. I purchased my ticket for the grand total of $1513. I now officially am going to Japan.

Now, if you recall from my last post you may be asking yourself, "didn't your account only have $1200?" Well, you're not mistaken, I was able to receive some help after my post and immediately purchased my ticket. Needless to say I'm very happy. Here's the schedule.

Depart Tuesday Aug 26, 2008 @ 5:45am from Pensacola, FL
Arrive " " " " @ 7:35am to Atlanta, GA
Miles: 278 Hours: 1.08

Depart Tuesday Aug 26, 2008 @ 10:15am from Atlanta, GA
Arrive Wednesday Aug 27, 2008 @ 1:25pm to Tokyo- Narita Airport, Japan
Miles: 6885 Hours: 14.10

Depart Wednesday Aug 27, 2008 @ 5:55pm from Tokyo- Narita Airport
Arrive " " " " @ 7:10pm to Osaka- Itami Airport
Miles: 251 Hours: 1.15

So, as you can tell the total hours of time spent in an Airport or Airline establishment is about 24 hours!!! Oh, and I can't sleep on planes...

Also, real quick. I wanted to tell all of you about my friend Josh, who is also going to be studying abroad. He'll be studying in Tokyo at Daito Bunka. Check his blog out too. I have a link to his blog located to the right ---->

VISA Application

2008-07-09T13:32:00.002-05:00

OK, today I spent my morning calling multiple travel agencies to get quotes on tickets... here are the prices I've received.

$1597 Depart Pensacola -IACE travel agency

$1639 Depart Pensacola -IACE travel agency

$1531 Depart New Orleans - STA travel

$1513 Depart Pensacola -IACE travel agency

The amount in my bank account currently?

$1253

I would say I'm a little short of the price... future updates on the air line situation to come.

VISA application. OK, for those that will be studying abroad let me say one thing. DO NOT WORRY... trust me... after receiving my acceptance I was told that I would receive a "Certificate of Eligibility" from Japan. This lovely little certificate took about two months to arrive, after receiving notice of my acceptance into the program. Oh, did I get worried... I'm the type that likes to get things done right then and there, and this completely prevented that, so I was calling, e-mailing, and calling some more to get an idea as to when it'd arrive. Eventually I just gave into having to just sit and wait. Well, I literally just received my certificate yesterday. It doesn't end there. You must call your closest Japanese Consulate and ask how to apply for a visa. They will tell you to download a visa application, fill it out, and send your passport, Certificate of Eligibility, and the application to your consulate. THEN you can get your student visa. How long will that take? I think the man on the phone I spoke to said about 6 days... I'm not sure. Oh, don't freak out if you call any of the travel agencies I've spoken of and the first thing you hear is a nice japanese lady speaking to you in Japanese. The same goes with the Japanese Consulate. No worries they can speak english fairly well.

Until next time.

update

2008-07-08T15:33:00.002-05:00

Let me quickly update my multitude of readers as to my situation with my journey abroad... Since my last post in April, I have yet to purchase my plane ticket, but never fear, I placed one on reserve last week for the wonderful price of ::drum roll:: $1300ish. The very next day I received a phone call from the wonderfully nice lady at Sankei Travel and she informed me that American Airlines would be raising the price of my ticket by $170, which shot my ticket price to $1500ish.

I was also informed that I needed to have my itinerary sent to Kansai Gaidai, to schedule pickup service by July 10th. You might be saying, "wait isn't it July 8th right now." Yes, indeed it is and no, I still have not purchased my plane ticket due to financial difficulties. I do, however, have all the intention in the world to purchase my ticket by next week. The next question that comes to my mind is, how much has the ticket increased since my wonderful phone call last week about the increase in price? The answer... well, I don't know that, but I will be sure to update you all once I've purchased my ticket.

One quick note. I should be fine with the whole deadline thingy. It's only to take advantage of the pickup service. Luckily, I have friends in Japan who'd probably love to come pick me up from the air port... the only thing is they don't know that yet. hahahaha

will write back soon.

It Begins... Sort of

2008-04-26T21:16:00.003-05:00

It's official. I'm finally going to Japan!!! Those of you who know me understand that studying abroad in Japan has been something I've wanted to do for a long time. I made my decision the beginning of this semester and had about a month to get my application in for the early deadline. For about two weeks I scrambled for letters of recommendations, passport photos... 10 to be exact, and other random things for the application. After turning in the application the worst part of the process began... the wait.

During this time I had a realization that I probably should have had before I applied... How was I going to pay for this trip??? I figured if it really came down to it I would just take out a loan. Before it had to come to that I decided to try my hand at a couple of scholarships. I've applied for two study abroad scholarships and I'm currently waiting... again.

I sent my application off to Kansai Gaidai in Osaka, Japan around the end of February. This was about a week before the early deadline. Early applicants were supposed to find out their status by April 15th... When April 15th finally rolled around I checked my e-mail only to find absolutely nothing new. This concerned me, so I called the International Department here at the University of West Florida. Their access to Kansai Gaidai's enrollment site gives them wonderful ability to find out if a student is accepted before the student receives the news. My phone call only ended up with me even more worried. Though my status on the site said, "under review," I was still concerned. The week went on with no change in my status. The following week rolled around and still no news. At this point I had already convinced myself it was over. I figured I should just forget about it and prepare myself for exam week with a clear mind. Then at precisely 3:20pm Saturday, April 26, 2008 I got an e-mail from the nice lady at the International Department here at UWF and this is what it said.

Willy,

I just received notice that you have been accepted for exchange to Kansai Gaidai. They have taken so long to review your application due to your high level of Japanese proficiency. They may waive your requirement for Spoken Japanese and have you take a high level of reading and writing. I will let you know what they decide.

Congratulations!

****

**** * ****
Office of Diversity and International
Education and Programs
University of West Florida
(850) ***-****

I'll keep the nice lady anonymous, but she helped me out through out the process and I can't thank her enough. Needless to say I was very surprised. Before I received the e-mail I thought I was done, I thought I wasn't going. The only positive thing I could think about was that I would be the Resident Assistant for the next group of Japanese exchange students, ironically enough from the school I applied to study at. With this one little e-mail all those thoughts went out the window and the only thing I could do was run to my courtyard and scream, "I'M GOING TO JAPAN!!!" followed by a fury of phone calls.

Next step... airplane tickets... visa... and money...

This is going to be an awesome trip.