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Published: October 31st 2008
The Golden Pavillion
Me in front of the Golden Thus far life in Japan couldn't be better. I have made many new friends, memorized my bike ride to school, and celebrated my 22nd birthday. The past month since school started have been great! The past couple of weeks have been even better. Two weeks ago I visited one of Japan's most famous temples. Kinkakuji Temple (Golden Pavillion) is a picturesque site that is quite stunning to anyone who sees it. I am not sure about the history behind this temple but I know that it is lined with golden leaf. I visited the temple with my New Zealand friend Lu Lu and another American by the name of Eric, both of which are my good friends here in Kyoto and fellow international students at Rits University. After that me and Lu Lu went to a temple near school (I am not sure of the name but I see it everyday on my bike ride to campus) and later on we all headed down to Kyoto Station and people watched on the top level of the station while we talked American politics and other issues regarding the world. It was pretty surreal to be there on top of the station in
Golden Pavillion
Me, Lu Lu, and Eric Kyoto with my new friends 7,000 miles away from home talking about my country's election....hahaha...go Barack!
So the next week after Kyoto had the largest Fall festival in Japan on Wednesday (Oct 22) and it was pretty interesting to see what Japanese people wore nearly 200 years ago! Me and a couple of my friends from school attended but it was short lived because it began to rain so we left and I was of course late to class because of that. The next day was school as usual but it was my birthday (Thursday, Oct 23rd). I got a warm reception at school and I had been inviting everyone I saw to a party that I was having in downtown Kyoto. We went out to eat on my actual birthday but I actually forgot my camera so I will post those pictures later. : ( Friday I spent some time on campus on my day off and later on in the night me and my dorm mates, some other students from campus, and many random people that I had not yet met but heard about my event converged on the Kamo Riverside for drinks and conversation. It was
pretty exciting to be celebrating my birthday in a new city and country to me! I didn't expect such a big turnout! : ) After hanging out at the river it was on to Sam and Dave (a club) where we all partied and had fun........later on......Ramen in the wee hours of the morning and a mini English lesson to one of the workers there who remembered me from my last visit...hahaha....I was so surprised that she remembered me but I guess it is pretty easy to remember an African-American in Kyoto.
Saturday (10/25) I awoke and headed to Osaka to hang out with my friend Kengo who is Japanese. We spent the day at USJ (Universal Studios Japan) which made me feel like I was in back in the States.....but I quickly forgot about that with a quick glance around realizing that I was almost the only foreigner there! I wouldn't say that is was a great experience because we had to wait in line quite a long time for all the rides in we went on. I got to experience Spider Man the ride, E.T., and a ride about a movie that probably came out before I
was born...(sorry I am not sure of the title).
I spent Sunday (10/26) winding down from my birthday weekend and hanging out with my Japanese friend Yuhey who helped me study my Hirigana which is the first alphabet of the Japanese language (there are 3 alphabets for Japanese) since I had a test coming up the following Thursday (10/30). There was some progress with my memorization but I think I still have to work on my memorization skills. The test itself was not so bad anyway. So I know it seems like I DON'T goto school but BELIEVE me I do! LOL....also attached in the pictures section are a couple of pictures of campus and my friends during the first and other weeks of school!
Soyonarra!
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