I found the place that I will be spending the rest of my life...
I know, I know, with an entry title as extreme as "I found the place that I will be spending the rest of my life..." you think that I would have updated sooner! However, this past week and weekend have been dedicated to papers and midterm reviews. But it was the weekend before this one, 7th & 8th, we had a 4 day weekend due to Sports Day. During that weekend I did a ton of different activities. I attended an International MTV press confrence with Pasha. It was here that all of MTV's Graphic Design departments internationally gathered to discuss new and old projects. Michel Gondry's brother, who is now into music video direction, was a guest speaker.
Jason's sister was visiting for the week, so we tried to expose her to as many great spots that Tokyo has to offer. We went to Meji gardens, a place that I went by myself the first day in Japan, strolled in the park, and went shopping in Harajuku. It was my first Harajuku shopping experience and the only way to describe it is : INTENSE! So many people, so many deals, so many stores...... ahh heaven- but still over whelming.
It was then on Sunday that Jason, his sister, Pasha, Laura and Myself jumped on a train to travel to Kamakura. Kamaura is a vaction desitination for a lot of Tokyo residence. It is only about an hour and a half away from the city, and even if the journey was longer, it would still be worth it. The day we choose to go there were the blue-est skies, only make all the greens even greener. When we got to the town of Kamakura we did a little window shopping on the main street and then hopped on a bus to go see Japan's largest bronze Buddha. As the name suggest, it was a large bronze Buddha, but it was stillvery breath taking and beautiful, especially with the back ground of the beautiful day. From the Buddha we walked through more of the town and found our selves at the beach, which was my only destination. By the time we reached the shore, the sun was at its lowest point and just waiting for us to come to the ocean before it set. It was ....ah..... amazing! The ocean was filled with wind surfers and surfboarders. The coastline was lit pretty with all of its buildings, and I spent the next hour jsut collecting shells. It was just a very peaceful state for me. So if you are ever looking for me 10 years from now, try looking on the shores of Kamakura first. I guess all you can do now is enjoy the pictures!
3 Days, 2 Nights and Transportation Included!
So at some point last week I guess i must have said subconsciencly that I have not experience Japan completly... what more can I do to get a real experience....Oh I knew what I hadn't done, and what no one else has done yet on our semester abroad: Get rushed to the hospital in an ambulance! (Before we get too deep in to this jounral entry, I am A-Ok now! No worries)
It started at 6AM last Tuesday morning, I woke with stomach cramps, maybe indigestion? I did not. But I did know that I couldn't walk, sit, sleep or talk with out having to vomit. I stayed home from school, but when it only got worse and it was 12 hours later, I called a hotline to find english speaking clinics, when I told the lady what was wrong she said I needed to be picked up by an ambulance. Being from America, I didn't want an ambulance, but I was informed that it was no cost (Oh how wonderful japan is!). It came and got me, and my friend Leanne joined in for the ride along with her camera. The ER was empty, I had all of their attention. I had a bed, tests done and doctors spoken to all with great speed. However, the language barriar proved to be a problem. But the higher up the doctor it seemed the more english her or she spoke. I was admitted for 3 days, visited by friends and workers for TUJ. Temple was amazing and was in contact with my family and teachers. It was possible food posioning and maybe an infection of my intestines and appendeix. Whatever it was, I was let go because I was feeling better and my blood test showed my infection had passed due to my count of white blood cells lower. The hospital and all of its workers were amazing. Everything was orgainized and it was so impressive. When checking out, I only had to pay 30% of my bill due to the fact that I got Japan National health insurance for about 8 dollars a month, amazing, I know. But, I didn't have any money on me, and they let me leave and when I came back the next day they had everything right there (regardless of the fact that no one at the check out counter spoke english)! My goodness, another check for loving Japan. Now here are Leanne's pictures (disregard my smile, I was truly in pain, I just couldn't help but love that she was documenting everything). Enjoy!
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Hakone- Exploring Mountain Side
So this past weekend 25 of us from Temple University traveled to Hakone. Hakone is a mountainous region 2 hours outside of Tokyo and near Mt. Fuji. The bus ride to Hakone took off at 8 AM Saturday morning, so that meant I slept the whole way there, that is until we stoped for lunch at a Sobe Noodle house. Yum. We then stopped at one of the coolest museums I have experienced. It is called the Hakone Open Air Museum, and the name can tell you about it for the most part. There are sculptures and displays outside, most of them modern pieces and some were even interactive. Imagine: Beautiful, fun, interesting, extoic pieces of art on the side of the mountain. The landscape contrasted these exotic pieces of art with endless hills and mountains and trees of green. There were pieces you could slide down, climb, and go under ground with. There was a stained glass tower you could climb, and a giant plastic sculpture you could go inside and crawl (it reminded me of Leaps and Bounds from elementry school birthday parties!). In addition to the outside pieces, they had a Picasso Collection! My favorite. It was a lot of pieces I haven't seen much of, like is pottery, and it was exciting and new. From the Open Air Museum we headed to the base of the mountain and took a rope-way car up (like some ski mountains have, but so you can sit and stand take in the view). We climbed up and up and passed over beautiful green landscape and saw Mt. Fuji in the distance (it truly is a BIG BIG mountain!), and then when we passed over the other side of the mountain we crossed natural sulfur gases. (Stinky!) We got out around this point, and climbed farther up. On this mountain they boilded egss in the natural springs, which would turn the egg shells black. So when in Japan, you eat black eggs! They were wonderful, and we all said they tasted different, but maybe the sulfer was getting to us. After these adventures we headed to our wonderful wonderful hotel room. We had two rooms, a balcolny (views only of the mountain, we woke to a woman doing taichi in the morning on the mountain side, oh japan!), tatami (reed mat floors), legless chairs, futons,a nd of course tea. We changed in to our robes and sandals and headed to our traditional meal with oshibori (hot towels that are give to you before the meal at most places you eat at) gohan (rice), sushimi (raw fish), vegtables and meats we cook ourslves with our personal flame, and more and more! And of course during the meal we had sake and ashai beers. After the meal, still in our robes, we Karaoke-ed until we had enough blackmail for everyone. After our embarassment we headed to the onsen, natural hot springs, that were apart of our hotel. Beautiful and relaxing after a day of sightseeing and fun, it was truly an amazing day. The next morning we left the hotel and headed to a Castle, which was exciting, but it was also all rebuilt with in the last century, but was orginally built during the Edo period. However, it was still amazing, and I got my picture taken with samerai as well as went through the zoo that belonged to the castle. And then we headed to Daiyuzansaijyoji, a buddhist village that was huge and deeply embedded into the mountain. Many temples and stairs and places of worship. I found out later you could even spend the night with the monks and follow their every move. The village was createdin the 600s and is still active. it was beautiful. After a second day of sightseeing, we headed back on the bus to Tokyo (everyone wanted to stay longer in the peaceful beautiful place of Hakone). Ah, another weekend for the books!
