FruitsPunchoSamurai

Greetings! I hereby declare myself to be a horrible blogger in the sense that the frequency of my publications is as low as my mother's ability to sit still. And now that I've annoyed at least one reader I shall proceed to more important matters. The last few weekends I have experienced a great deal of things and learned some lessons. One of these is to always get a new glass at an all-night karaoke bar if yours gets broken by a stray american. But I'll get back to that in a moment. The night in question was some time ago, three weeks if my memory cells haven't been completely eradicated by the occasional...ANYWAY, the night started off with a somewhat late welcoming party for the international students where there was food, merrymaking, a lack of ... read more

Good afternoon! I know, I've been slacking off when it comes to blogging but I have a perfectly good excuse! I've been lazy. Last weekend I finally found the BAL building, after first going a kilometre in the wrong direction. And after exiting the building I found that it was right opposite the Soba/Ramen/Tsukemen restaurant that I had visited a month earlier. My ego took a serious hit in the nuts upon learning this, but it was soon cured with a delicious bowl of ramen from said restaurant. Another thing that also made my day a little brighter was the fact that I had finally "found" the BAL building, in which the biggest foreign books department in Kyoto is located. I also discovered a really fancy tea-shop where I spent, from a student's perspective, too much ... read more

Hi there, individuals with too much free time! Today is going to be special since I've had a request from a certain panda to write in swedish because "it adds more character" apparently. Klart som fan att jag ska uppfylla ett sådant attraktivt önskemål. Mitt huvud känns för tillfället ganska överbelastat med hiragana och katakana, två av tre japanska alfabet som också är fonetiska. Seminarierna känns just nu som näskrokar i ultrarapid när man sitter och desperat försöker skriva symbolen för "te" eller "ke" men inte för sitt liv kan komma ihåg hur den ser ut utan fuskpappret. Känner den dömande blicken från den japanska studentskan som hjälper oss under lektionerna och blir alltmer förtvivlad över att jag bara kommer halvvägs genom symbolen. Till slut förbarmar hon sig över mig och visar hur den ska se ... read more

Good day! Although it kind of feels like morning since I didn't get up until 12 due to some intoxication last night at the Omiya-so dormitories. I also managed the biggest failure of the year by mixing what I thought was a white russian but was really kahlua, vodka and yoghurt, not the kind that tastes good. I only realised my mistake after several attempts to neutralize what I thought was just too much kahlua, using even more yoghurt. Sadly enough, Zach was also a casualty in this catastrophe and has probably lost all faith in my drink mixing capabilities. The last few days have been filled with classes and studying japanese, which has not been the easiest task in the world. It almost feels like I'm expected to learn two different sets of the japanese ... read more

I haven't written in a couple of days, since I have been busy as well as lazy when I haven't been busy. But right now I'm waiting for my morning rice bowl to finish cooking so I can spare a few moments. Also, today is a national holiday, which means that stores are, or should be, closed and thus there isn't much to do. Friday was my birthday, but I didn't really feel like going to the drinking party on the other side of town, at the Omiya-so dormitories. Instead, me and a few others stayed at my place, drinking and watching the extraordinarily funny Hard Gay, a japanese comedian and former wrestler. There was one moment when three people were gathered round the computer, desperately trying to find the final episode out of four parts. ... read more

Well, today was exhausting but very rewarding. Guided by the strange, but wonderful, Mr. Zachary Priddy we made our way to Kinkaku-ji ("Temple of the Golden Pavilion"). It was an extraordinary sight, one of the most majestic of my life, yet it was a very calm place, despite all the other tourists. Pictures will be provided for those too lazy to search the internet for them. My eyes constantly found new things to photograph, making me feel like a real tourist but, since I was surrounded by them, this did not bother me as much as I would have thought. After that we made our way to one of the shopping districts, again led by the fearless Priddy-sempai. His knowledge of the surroundings was only overshadowed by his complete disregard for the hunger of certain swedish ... read more

For those who know me, sorry that I haven't started writing earlier, haven't been at my best these last few days. When I arrived after approximately 12 hours of flying(including the flight from Stockholm to Helsinki) the first thing that struck me was that everyone looked very.....japanese. Shocking observation, I know, but jetlag does crazy things to you. The second thing was the wall of heat as I and my fellow JAS students dragged our baggage out of the airport. "Wasn't it supposed to be almost autumn?", was one thought out of thousands that zoomed around behind beneath my hair roots, colliding and honking angrily at "Crap, I didn't bring any shorts!" and shouting obscene words at "Why didn't I bring a water bottle?!". I won't bore you with all the details of the next few ... read more