Blogs from Chiba, Japan, Asia - page 18

Backing up a bit... A few weekends ago I went to Ueno Park with some of the girls. It is an enormous park located at a major Tokyo metropolitain train stop only 10 or 15 minutes away from Horikiri-Shobuen (my train station). The park is famous for the zoo, for all of the museums (it's kind of comprable to the Washington DC square in this regard), the homeless people all over the place, and the generally parkish mood. There were a lot of couples holding hands and old people walking around enjoying the outdoors. Maybe Ueno Park could be compared to a big huge Central Park... a pause for nature in the middle of a huge crazy city. When we got to the Ueno Station, we walked around an arcade (streets with tons of shops and ... read more

So the dorm is a pretty cool. There are seven of us who live here, Charissa, Katherine, Thuc, Tiana, Carrie, Becca and I. We have gotten to spend a lot of time together because it is convenient and easy to travel since we are all based out of the same place. The dorm is located near the Ayase station (our local station is called Horikiri Shobuen, but it is not very big) and we are really kind of in the middle of nowhere. We are still in an urban setting (Tokyo's urban landscape seems to spread to endless places), but we are in a smaller, more quiet neighborhood. The dorm is all girls and there are mostly students and young professionals. It's entirely different from living and sharing a hall with boys (and I have to ... read more

Transportation here is way different than in the United States and the infrastructure that has been built to support all of the systems is so incredible! In some ways I don't think the Japanese really planned out all of the systems, often it looks like things were just built weaving up and around and over and through what was existing. It's all very incredible and it all works very well. There are four main ways of getting places, and often going from point A to point B involves using several different modes.... TRAIN: Trains are probably the most frequently used kind of transportation. They go everywhere and they extremely accessible. There are also three kinds of trains and each kind requires a different schedule and a different payment. There is the JR (Japan Rail) which basically ... read more

Ok Here is an abridged version of this first week... Sorry to all who would rather a personal email, but I am just trying to catch up on everything before I sit down and write to each of you. Everything has been overwhelming, to say the least. There is just so much stimuli at every moment of every day. The first night that I got here seemed so unfamiliar. Granted I was exhausted and disoriented from the 13 hour plane ride, but everything was just so different and hard to understand. I met a few of the other IES (acronym for the study abroad program) students at the airport and most of the IES staff was there to meet us. Only after having been here for a week and a few days do I realize how ... read more

Friday, 22 July 2005 - IES Sayonara Party September 20, 2005 I will update longer, when I'm not in class... For now though, I just want to say that Japan truly was the best time of my life, thus far. The number of great people met, whom I hope to see again, far exceeded my expactations. Just... everything was good. I am just going to try to start uploading the pictures now, so you can start viewing them. There are a lot, so check back once in a while. I hope I captured some of the emotion better than I can explain... Good times. September 24, 2005 That's it for the pictures... I'm going to figure out a way to put some videos up so you can see. After that, I guess it's finally time to ... read more