Kylie in Japan!

Hi everyone!
So I've been living in Gifu, Japan for a week. And it has been quite a interesting and challenging experience.

I often feel like Im living in a sbs foreign documentary and there are no subtitles. But my japanese is improving every day and its quite fun in some respect to be a little lost. The Japanese people are really nice and helpful and I have some reprimand with the fellow english speaking foreigners I've become friends with.

Anyway so I live in building A of Gifu University's International House. Im pretty lucky living in building A as I am living with most of the english speaking international kids and I have my own bathroom complete with shower. The other Uts kid, Jo lives in building B and there, she has to share a bathroom and run up 5 levels to get to her room- and Im on the 2nd so its greeeeeat. I really like my building. Im one of the two girls out of 8 guys on my floor and my mates Chrystian (from the US) and David (from sweeden) are just down the hall so its great if i have any problems or if we all cant sleep and want to stay up-company is great!.

In the international house, the room aren't too big but they are pretty damn comfortable for someone my height and size :)

I have one glass cabinet, one desk, one wardrobe, one fridge, one kitchen cabinet and one shoe cabinet (yes which I have already filled to the max)

The rooms also come with a tiny balcony which lets in the nice warm sun in the morning. Its covered by nets so birds cant come in but it provides a certain je ne sais quois. My bed is actually pretty good too. Nice and firm and clean! Though I was told before I left sydney that my bed would be a king single size, but being Japan its really just a single which suits me fine- though I do miss my nice queen back in Sydney. The bathroom is pretty funny however. Its like a little space shuttle complete with a toilet and a basin that links into the shower. So sometimes, if im not careful in turning the knob to point to the 'basin' function, I find I get sprayed with water all over my head and wall rather than in the sink as Im trying to brush my teeth.

Anyway, so about Gifu itself.... Well when I first came here I didn't like Gifu. It was probably because I was missing home (and still am) like crazy and it was really quiet. But as I've been exploring Gifu for the past few days I think I will start to love this place.

Gifu is very picturesque, and my uni is surrounded by mountains and wildlife. Heck, we even have little lakes running through the university with native ducks waddling through. And because Gifu Unviersity's main specialisation is medicine, science and education, we have our own hospital, farms and huge education centres on campus. Gifu University is also pretty big. I'd say its 1.5 times bigger than UNSW so I need to use a bike to get around easily as its a good ten minute walk if i want to go into the uni centre.


Which brings me to another point- biking. That was another reason why I didn't like Gifu at first. Because as you are all aware, I have never mastered the art of biking and here, it is absolutely essential. So from the very first day I had to learn to ride (and Im getting pretty good at bikingnow on my 8th day! In fact, I haven't fallen down for the past 2 days though my legs are very bruised.

But here here is my current tally of biking mishaps:
-2 bridges
-4 shrubs
- 1 person
- 1 pot?

So fingers crossed!! We are going to the giant shopping mall in Gifu in the next few days which is 40 minutes bike ride away so I will report back. Thank god the closest supermarket, Kanasue is only 5 minutes bike ride away.

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