happy valentines day from japan! so i've learned that valentine's day here is a bit different than in the US. on valentine's day, the girls are supposed to give the guys chocolate, which shows that they like that guy. at first i thought that was a horrible practice...at least in the US both guys and girls are expected to do something. but no, not in japan. the guys don't have to do anything on valentine's day except get chocolate!! but then i found out that it actually is kinda fair because there's another holiday in march when the guys are supposed to give something to the girls in return for their valentine's day chocolate! so if i were a guy i might be hoping not to get a lot of chocolate...and as a girl i would ... read more

after our exciting day in kobe, i was up early again on sunday to go to osaka with leilani. we wanted to get some shopping done before all the sales were over and also go to america-mura. but once again, things didn't go as we planned! not that it's a bad thing, cause it turned out to be a really fun day...but in dotonbori instead of america-mura. we met at around 1 and walked to makino station. it was a nice walk, the sun was actually shining and all the snow from the day before had melted. i was really happy cause i'm so ready for spring to come! it was such a pretty day that i took a few pictures of the city on the way to the station. like i've said many times before, ... read more

hey everyone! last night a bunch of us went to osaka again! but we went to a different area, not shinsaibashi, this time. we went to umeda and the 8-story yodobashi camera store. we decided to go there because some people needed to buy things for their camera, and ben actually needed to buy a camera! so we walked to makino station and took the train to umeda from there...we also got to ride the subway again but it was sooo crowded! we were packed in there like sardines. i didn't have anything to hold on to, but i wasn't going to be moving anway cause it was so full. when we finally got to umeda everyone was starving. so we're looking around trying to find a CHEAP place to eat. lately yasui has become my ... read more

IT SNOWED TODAY!! i was sitting in my history class this afternoon around 2:30 when our professor pointed out that it was snowing outside! i was so excited...now i can say that i got to see snow in japan lol. i was tempted to get my camera out right then and take a picture right in the middle of class but i didn't. wish i did though... it snowed for maybe 15 mins and it was pretty heavy, although it didn't stick cause it hasn't been cold enough. well at least not cold enough for snow to stick....but it is FREEZING here. the temperature's usually somewhere in the 40s, but the air is so dry it feels so much colder. especially when i ride my bike and the wind is blowing in my face...brrrr!! but getting ... read more

hello! i'm sure i've told everyone this already, but kansai gaidai is such a beautiful campus! coming from MC where you can walk anywhere on campus within 5 mins and there's only like 1200 students, this is definitely a change. the campus is HUGE! there's so many different buildings i haven't even been in them all yet. there's also a mcdonald's, a convenient store, a book store, and 2 banks on campus. not to mention the garden in front of the library and media hall and the huge fountain at the entrance. it's pretty much amazing! the building where i usually am at is called the CIE (center for international exchange). in this 4-story building there's just about everything the international students need. you really don't have to leave the building all day! all of our ... read more

konnichiwa! i'm done with my first day of classes! it was an easy first day. i only had my spoken japanese and reading &writing japanese classes. my professors seem really nice and i think i got placed into the right level for me, so hopefully they won't be too difficult! then tomorrow i get to go to my lecture classes. i'm taking intro to japanese history and this other class called peace, development, and democratization: the asia challenge. i'm really excited about this one cause we get to go on field trips to hiroshima and visit the osaka peace museum. i heard it's a really good class and that the professor is really good. i also heard that about my other professor. but it must be true cause all the professors here seem really good. i ... read more

hey everyone! i arrived in japan last night. my flight actually arrived about 30 mins early, which was nice! and the kansai gaidai staff were waiting when we arrived, so i didn't have any problems. but then we had a 90 minute bus ride to the bus stop in hirakata, then we had to walk about 10 mins to get to the dorms. so i was pretty exhausted after all that! i just took a shower and went to sleep. then this morning i was on campus cause we have a ton of orientation stuff to do. meetings, registration, more meetings...it's crazy! but i am loving it. i'll admit that i was a bit depressed when i got here last night...i was just really tired and this was so different than maryville. but today i've had ... read more