November Rain

Argh, it's been so long - sorry everyone! To be honest, not a lot was happening until recently, so I didn't have a lot to talk about... and then when things started going on I was too busy to blog! Sad times. So now I've forgotten the majority of what's been going on, but I'll give you some vague details - it'll be a long one, sorry!

First quarter is over! Classes last quarter were mostly okay. My favourite was Intercultural Communication, the one where I was pretty much the only Westerner in the class. Everyone was so nice and the teacher was really friendly. The work was pretty easy (I got 100% for the midterm, not sure about the final yet) but was still really interesting.
Traditions and Societies of the Asia Pacific was pretty good - the classes were sometimes a little annoying (he'd spend a lot of time asking for people's opinions, rather than actually teaching us), but the lecturer was really fun and a little crazy, which made up for it!

Steam over Beppu

Virtual Worlds... Ugh. The lecturer was such an idiot, to be honest. One of those people who uses a lecturing position to broadcast his opinion as fact, and nothing else. Although I loved Neuromancer, everything else was a pain... especially the fact that he only told us details about the essay we had to write the week before it was due, and even when it was due in there wasn't actually anywhere to upload it. Needless to say, I left it til the last minute!
Japanese is tough. If I had the choice I probably wouldn't be carrying on with it; the reason I am is because when people visit I know I'll be relied on to talk and sort stuff out, so it'd be good to know how to do that. So that's keeping me going a little bit. The teacher is so lovely, though, and the class is pretty nice (even though two of the lessons are at 8:45 in the morning)!
A lot of people complain about the fact that you only take most modules (except Japanese) for just a quarter - or around 8 weeks - but I actually quite like it, it's a good way to sample lots of little bits. Yes, it's harder to take things in properly and remember them, but to be honest I struggle with that anyway so it doesn't bother me much anyway!

A few weeks ago, towards the end of last quarter, we took a day trip organised by AP House to the Hells of Beppu, followed by a bamboo light festival in a nearby town. It was lovely! The Hells are hot springs that are too hot to go in, and they're all funky colours because of different minerals. So very very pretty! We also made our own lunch by buying food and cooking it in the steam created by the underground springs. It was weird but fun!

The bamboo festival was so beautiful. They light these lamps made of bamboo, and the town is literally covered with them, it's amazing. Some of them are carved in different ways, or patterned, or have different colours. We had a few hours to just wander round there; there was also a procession, food and gift stalls, and some shows of people playing instruments and so on.

During quarter break, which was last weekend, my friends and I arranged to go to Osaka! I went with Sarah and Scott (the two from UH), Bill (from America), and Scott's Japanese girlfriend, Haruka. It was really fun! But incredibly tiring. We left on the Friday night, and took the overnight ferry from Beppu to Osaka, which takes 13 or so hours, I think. We spent the first part of the night hanging out, playing cards and eating expensive ferry food. Everyone except me and Scott went to sleep but I didn't even want to try - we paid for the most basic tickets, so the rooms were these corridor-like things, with allocated spaces with futons. But everyone was so crammed in together, like sardines, and it was so hot, that I decided I'd rather not bother. So I stayed up and attempted to watch the sunrise, except it was too cloudy! Sad times.

Osaka Castle

Then we arrived in Osaka at about 7am! We found our hostel (with some help from a local friend who was on the same ferry), left our stuff and headed straight back out again. We went to Osaka Castle first, it was absolutely incredible! Really stunning. The grounds are beautiful, then suddenly you spot this white, green and gold building above you. The outside is beautiful, and inside is an interesting museum - I was sleepy by this point so couldn't take in very much, but it was nice all the same.



After that we went to the Sky building - there was a German Christmas market going on at the bottom, it was nice! We ate sweets and drank mulled wine.
Then we went to the top of the Sky building - the views were amazing! Really beautiful. Afterwards we went back to the hostel so I could relax for a bit, while the others went and explored the area. The hostel was... cheap, to say the least! I was in the single room upstairs, which was small but fine - the only problem was it smelled really strongly of green tea! Not so nice. In the evening we went to Universal Studios City and ate at Hard Rock Cafe! It was amazing - expensive, but fun being tourists! And then went back and slept at last ^^

On Sunday, we got up pretty early, and went and visited some shrines! They're beautiful, and I love the way they're just randomly tucked between big buildings all over the city. After seeing the dragon shrine above, we found an Indian restaurant for lunch, it was sooooo good! Then did some more shrines, then went to the shopping district bit - it was very cool, busy but there were a lot of Western shops - H&M, Claire's, Zara... it was fun! In the evening we went back to Universal Studios - we wanted to go into the theme park itself, but decided we didn't have enough time for how much it cost to get in. So we just looked around the shops and things. Then headed back, and hung out and played cards for a bit before bed!

On the Monday, we had to check out by nine, so another early start! We looked at some more shrines, and went back to the shopping place and got pizza - REAL pizza - for lunch! Woo! Then we headed towards Osaka tower and had a look round there (we decided not to go up the tower, as it was pouring with rain by this point). Then found an amazingly huge Buddhist Temple complex, and looked round there for a bit, before heading back to pick up our stuff and make our way to the port.
The ferry ride on the way back was so much nicer! We were randomly given a free upgrade, so had a cabin room between us instead of the big open rooms. So we sat and played cards and warmed up, then actually slept! We arrived back in Beppu at around eight in the morning, got the bus up to campus, and crawled straight back into bed ^^


Yesterday, a few friends and I went on a day trip to a nearby town called Yufuin - it was so beautiful! It took about 50 minutes to get there from Beppu station, but was actually a really nice bus ride - we went up through the mountains then down into the valley. The town itself was a little touristy and busy, but so pretty! All the leaves were red and gold, and there's a really pretty lake. We mostly looked at shops and stalls (and I befriended many animals), and explored a little. Afterwards we came back to Beppu and ate sushi, very tasty!

A shrine in the lake at Yufuin

This week second quarter started, I'm still deciding on modules. I'm definitely taking Japanese and Japanese Culture, which seems fun (the teacher is Japanese but speaks perfect English, and a lot of my friends are in the same class), then I'm planning on swapping Visual Culture (which is with the same lecturer that took us for Virtual Worlds, and who I refuse to deal with again) for Peoples and Religions of the Asia Pacific which sounds really good! The teacher is friendly, and although I will have done a lot of the work before, some of it will be new and interesting - stuff on Shintoism and Taoism, for instance. Should be pretty easy, anyway! Then the last one I'm meant to be taking is Societies in East Asia, but I want to swap it to do Tea Ceremony instead but it depends on whether or not there are spaces left - there probably won't be, it's really popular. But the East Asia one doesn't really interest me - it's a little too historical and political, and not cultural enough for my tastes. But if all else fails I'm sure I'll live; I can always take Tea Ceremony next semester.

I guess that's all for now, I'm so sorry for the essay today! I hope you're all well and I'll be sure to update again soon ^^ Byeee!