#classtrip2k14

[forgivingwonderland]

Field Trip 1: Harajiku

While I will make a different post detailing what daily life in Hachioji is like, I’ll take this post to detail our first field trip—Harajiku. I for one love the heck out of Harajiku and always have, but seeing my classmates enjoy the new place was a treat for me (some more than others—I was pretty shocked in some cases just how excited people were to be there).

However, first thing was first—before any of the bright and shiny streets, we needed to go to Meiji Shrine. (Terribly close to Yoyogi Park, which at the time was on the alert for Denbu Fever, or ‘Bone Breaking Fever’ for how badly it hurt—holy moly).

Us posing in front of the Jingu Gate—just how many cameras were we posing for?

And the gate itself. A rainy day!

We walked around inside a bit, but there were some parts restricted due to the mosquito outbreak. Not much to say for this part—it was beautiful in the rain, but most of us were bouncing to get to our next stop.

Some shots of the shrine—this is as far as we got before we had to head back.

Next stop was the big old favorite—Harajiku! Ashley and I teamed up for this one, and while she showed me the wonder of Takeshtadori she showed me the wonder of Lolita fashion.

Awww heck yeah, the Takeshtatori walk. So many good shops—and random mini-mini malls! When did those get there?

Highlight of the day: Found the place Avril Lavinge shot her Hello Kitty music video! It was adorable as heck.

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Some sweet lolitas  we met at Closet Child!

Hey! It's me and Ashley!

Classmates gathering at the end. Looks like everyone is getting friendly!

[forgivingwonderland]

Blog Entry--The Arrival

Blog Entry 1-The Arrival Part 1

I’ve done this pattern before more times than I can remember—arrive, feel the press of the new atmosphere, move through customs, claim bags, move on. This time however, there’s a distinct newness to the proceedings. Instead of standing with my mother and waiting for my Dad to come through foreign customs, I’m watching my bleary classmates file out of the line one by one and begin searching for their bags on the carousel. One student waves around a bag of beef jerky that seems to have appeared from nowhere—“Do I have to check this in?”

Since the timing is different, even the main hallways is familiar yet different. No Christmas decorations or cold weather wait for us, and my mother does not hustle over to get us tickets for a bus to my grandmother’s house. Instead, we are given ten minutes to refresh ourselves, get herded together for an impromptu group photo, and are led like jet-lagged ducklings to an already waiting bus just for us.

 Our first photo in Japan. The suffering is thick enough to cut with a knife.

The bus trip passes in a blur of half-sleep and city lights, and soon enough we are fully roused and brought onto the campus proper. Campus mates have come to greet us in the humid heat of the night, and I’m immediately grateful to them. They are our sherpas up the enormous dotted hill that lead to our place of stay for the night, the student house. I’m more than a little winded on the walk, but I appreciate that we are able to get rooms with tatami and bedmats—they look very much what I’m used to, and seeing the other students get excited about it makes me pretty happy. The sleep, despite the humidity, is surprisingly comfortable thanks to the tatami and the ambiance of the room.

The next day is an informational one, but a little embarrassing since our quarters mean that aside from showering I have done very little personal upkeep since the plane and probably look like a right mess to our new campus mates. We get some interest and excited girls coming up to us, so that’s a good sign. The real highlight, however, comes from getting into the cafeteria and trying some of the food. Cheap, incredibly delicious, and convenient—any discontent we had experienced till then was remedied completely by the food.

Nothing like a hearty meal to fix you up!

Finally, the moment we were waiting for—the apartments. The girls managed to get a very new, very nice and very small apartment that was only about ten minutes away walking from the school. The boys, reportedly, were not so lucky and got older (but still sturdy!) apartments with pretty names like ‘River Alley’ and ‘Garden House’. We at Sun Primrose are pretty happy with our place.

On the way to our lovely house—a lovely river! A perfect set up worthy of the movies, it left us speechless for a little.

The cutest neighborhoods too. This is one of our close neighbors!

 A different post will be used to show the house, but there were several things of note for when we got there:

-While our campus mates helped us with some stuff, we still had only a basic idea of how to use the laundry, microwave and heat/cooling system

-The house is small, there’s only one real bedroom—the other ‘bedroom’ is probably supposed to be a living room or dining room, a narrow hallway to get to the door, and only one sink with a mirror on it. Fine enough, except for how there are three girls getting ready at close to the same time living under one roof.

-There is a family living above us with at least 1 small child and 1 newborn infant. A good lesson in why, if we were the top floor, one should not stomp or scream in a Japanese apartment.

-We are Americans, used to conveniences like excess water and electricity consumption, Wifi and dryers. We have none of these things here, unless we get them ourselves.

-Despite the care pack that the campus has given us, we do not have enough things to live even basically. The futon are on hardwood so sleeping on just that is pretty much impossible, the toilet paper is scarce, the towels practically only good for repelling water, and no way to clean the house or dry laundry. While we were aware that we would be doing shopping over the weekend, I was not prepared for just how much would be needed…

-The comforter was feather, and at first I thought it could not be unzipped. I knew I would need to buy a new comforter the next day, since I have an allergy, but until then I had nothing to cover me and barely anything below me. I slept under my clothing that night, and piled clothing under myself to sleep on too.

The next day we all woke up sore and freezing, and new immediately what we needed to do. A list later and we were off to head into Hachioji proper, the downtown section.

To be continued…

[forgivingwonderland]

Can This Count As A Post?

It is 11:00 pm and after many technological hurdles I have finally mastered importing my pictures from my phone! I am obligated to have a single blog post prepared and ready today, so I will do a little rumination after this announcement, but I will really update my blog in earnest as soon as my pictures are all properly ordered up and ready to post. I can't wait to fully fill out this blog the way it was meant to be! (Might go back and delete my reblogs as well...)

This trip has been nice place to self-reflect in a way probably impossible with the place and company at home. As good as it is to be surrounded by support and familiarity on all sides, it's good to get out and get into unfamiliar situations that both test my ability to make judgement for myself as well as give me some blunt critical looks at myself.

Look forward to lengthier posts with details about my trip coming soon!

[forgivingwonderland]

Opening Notes

It is almost one in the morning and the panic has settled to the dull ache of resignation about my state tomorrow morning. Even after forsaking homework for this long, an incredible amount remains to be done—clothing must be tested for mold and stiffness before being folded, new dishes must be cleaned before molding, floor that constantly fill up with hair must be  swept, and more than likely another money-draining trip to the downtown Daiso must be made to find tools and storage that can assist in the basic daily needs of three sleep-deprived college girls.

All in all, this is not my usual Japan experience. I never realized after all those times staying at my grandmother’s apartment that maintaining a normal day to day could be so mind-bendingly stressful. Horror stories of cockroaches, mosquitos and bedbugs haunt my every waking hour as I obsessively sweep, wipe and organize. With this much worrying to do, who even has time to visit Japan proper?

Me, as it turns out. Class field trips mean I will be seeing Japan on a wider scale than I have ever seen it before, thanks to how my previous trips have been tied mainly to visiting family and friends. While I am looking forward to these trips, I can’t help but stay anxious. Social fumbling in America is awkward—social fumbling in Japan is dire, especially when one looks like they should already know the ropes (thanks to my Asian genetics). This anxiety kills any sense of positive anticipation I have, sadly. I am hoping that by seeing Japan through my classmate’s eyes, I can regain the sense of wonder I used to have for Japan myself. Seeing my classmates awed and overwhelmed by Takeshite Dori street and snagging snacks near Meiji Jingu might be enough to start bringing back the magic. More to tell once I’ve settled into my blog.