Week 2

Sunday:

       Sunday was Easter and after a week of traveling and trying to adjust to jet lag, it was nice to start a routine by going to church. The closest church to my apartment is a Catholic Church, so a friend and I attended Easter Morning Mass. This church was significantly larger than the Anglican Church I attended while living in Hikone. It also offers Mass in several languages. I heard the Bible read in Japanese (of course), English, and a few others. I think my friend and I may look around a bit more, since there are some churches that are Protestant (though they are about a 45 minute walk from the apartment). Since Catholic Churches do not allow non-Catholics to participate in Communion, my friend (Jena) and I stopped by the convenience store on our way home and picked up grape juice and bread and did our own communion in our apartment.

Monday:

     On Monday, a group of American students decided to go to Tokyo for the day. It's only about an hour to Tokyo from Oyama, so it's a perfect opportunity for a day trip. While there, we visited Akihabara (or "Akiba"). This Tokyo neighborhood is best known for manga/anime and technology shops. We spent most of the day wandering through the multi-story manga/anime stores, which sell everything from figurines to fan made comics (doujinshi). Then, we went to Shibuya and ate lunch at Taco Bell! After that, we wandered through some cosmetic shops in by Shibuya station (I stocked up on bath bombs at Japanese LUSH!).

Tuesday:

    Tuesday was a busy day. We had our University sanctioned "physical checkups." They checked eyesight, blood pressure, weight, and took X-rays of our chest. After that we also had a surprise Japanese test. This was the first time Hakuoh gave the International Students a Japanese test. They said it was to better support us (rather than a placement test), which is good! After that we went to secondhand manga stores (I'm looking for a specific novel that's in Japanese...so far no luck).

Wednesday and Thursday:

    On Wednesday and Thursday, the International students participated in Hakuoh Freshman Orientation! We all went to an Onsen resort in Shiobara (about 2 hours north from Oyama). There we gave self-introductions, soaked in the hot bath (Japanese hot baths are heavenly!), and went to talks given by the faculty. It was a lot of deja vu because it had the vibe of "Entering College for The First Time." The area around the hotel was beautiful with lots of mountains and rivers.

Friday and Saturday:

      Since school starts on Monday, I used Friday and Saturday as preparation: going to the grocery, laundry, cleaning, etc. I'm planning to make my own bento lunches so I planned that out for this coming week. I also relaxed and soaked in the last few days of freedom.

Reflections:
   
    One of the most interesting things about this trip (especially compared to my experience in Hikone), is that there are a lot more opportunities to actually speak Japanese. While many of the international students can speak English, it's actually easier to communicate in Japanese with them. I'm really excited for classes to start and to challenge myself to join one or two clubs here at Hakuoh! Once my schedule is set in stone, I'll make an entry describing that. Until next time...