Honshu Trip

Woooooooooo!

Alright, let's see. Where shall I begin, dear reader? I suppose I can tell you, at least, where I am. Right now, I'm sitting in an incredibly quaint cafe, called "Cafe Coen" Koen means park, and it's a nice casual setting. So far I've had Earl Grey tea, the chicken meal (with a surprisingly delicious salad) and a mango/cranberry mix drink, which is also pretty 'dern good. I am finally back in Sapporo, which is in Hokkaido, the northern part of Japan. Currently, I'm downloading the software needed to upload all my pictures. But let's go to the beginning, shall we?


After saying goodbye to my parents I made my way through the Ohare security, and without much trouble, found my way to the gate. From there I wandered around to look for a money changer (highway robbery, by the way). Having exchanged my money, I went on to Jamba Juice, aka Nectar of the Gods. I really like Jamba Juice, and now you know this about me.

After that I found a seat and read my book until the plane boarded. I met a youngish guy who said he was doing something with aviation. I caught a glimpse of two BCA tags ( bright yellow baggage ties) and had my first look at Patrick and John, two fellow BCA goers. Turns out they (and everyone in this program) are pretty freakin' cool, if I may say so. The trip over there was your average 13 hour ish plane ride. I'm used to such lengths so I wasn't overly bothered by it. I had a window seat, which was nice, and next to me was a Japanese man, and next to him was an American going to Tokyo for an internship. He was pretty cool. Didn't get his name though, we could have totally facebooked.

Side note, I need to break that addiction!!

End side note.

After the plane ride I took yet another, but shorter ride from Tokyo to Sapporo. There we were met with the rest of the group. Everyone has been awesome so far, as I've said. Jason Barrows, our BCA director and chaperone for the trip...and tour guide...and translator...and etiquette teacher....is a great man. I'm really glad I get to take my two classes with him.

My couple days in Sapporo are a bit of a blur, but I met some Japanese students, Kotoro, Rise, Satomi, Mame, and Nori. Everyone has been really helpful and I can tell we're all going to get along very well. Satomi and Mame came with us on the Honshu trip, and I like to call them the Secretary Force, because they would run around buying the tickets everywhere we went.

The trip itself was phenomenal. As I've said the food was fantastic. I can't even remember all the shrines and temples we went too, which is dumb of me, but I'll figure it out when I put on the pictures. A stand out experience in Kyoto was that shrine/mountain, Inari. The entire place scaled up, with orange Tori-gates and most shrines were protected by Fox Statues. It was incredibly strenuous in my out-of-shape state. I think overall I gained some endurance on the trip.

In Nagoya we went Karaoking, and it was amaaaaazing. Lots of fun. Also, underground areas are a major part of the areas around train stations in Japan, from what I've seen. Underground shopping spanned for a pretty big distance. It's pretty fascinating.

I feel there was soooo much that went on. It was an informational trip. I learned more about Japanese culture and etiquette and more about my new BCA friends. We all get along pretty well. My favorite place was Tokyo. I didn't make it to the Sanno (sorry mom) But I did get into Akihabara and ended up seeing many Totoro stores. Uh oh. I need to make a trip back.

I met up with Nariya, who is studying in Tokyo, and we spent a good day together (on my free day) and I even got to see Miki, my conversation partner last semester.

After Toyko ( and by the way, we stayed at the Hotel Pacific, which was quite the upgrade from the traveler hotels we had been staying at, and it was faaaaantastic) we flew back to Sapporo, wait for it, ON THE POKEMON PLAAAAAAAANE!!! I kid you not, how lucky is that? I'm in Japan -and- got to ride the pokemon plane.

Anyway, we are back in Kirari, the guest house for Hokusei (my university) yesterday was orientation, today we took a placement test( ew ew ew) and tomorrow I go to move in with my host family!! Hopefully they'll have internet, then again, I do like this place right here.

Have I mentioned clubs yet? If so, forgive me! Here they have clubs you can join, ranging from Fashion club, to Aikido club, Judo club, Archery, music, dance, etc, anything really! I want to join one but I'm a little worried about the language barrier...



Well that brings us back to me sitting in this cafe. Tonight we're going to do some karaoke, I'm excited. So far, so good, guys, thanks for sticking with the long read, hopefully it was coherent...

Take care all, I'll come back to update soon!