Day 5 (8/31): Shibuya, Harajuku, Okebukuro, and more DRANKS

I'll get back to this later.
Shibuya - tried to get our cellphones but sold out ,YU-NI-KU-RO (uniqlo), $1 Sushi places
Harajuku - creepy looking people. a guy with a middrift and short shorts filming himself, loud ladies with crazy makeup, tons of stores with some things to buy
Okebukuro - SUNSHINE BUILDING and ramen dinner.

Afterwards - bought a Asahi beer at a konbini and drank it in PUBLIC. then had more with the housemates and played some games.

Day 4 (8/30): The never ending orientation, shopping downtown, and DRANKS.

Hello family and friends and those who are curious about what I'm doing in Japan!

So basically today was a pretty busy day from about 9:15am to 3:00pm. During this time, we had a mandatory orientation about the school, and basically the code of conduct, and how this program will work, how we should act in certain situations, etc. (basically culture stuff and school stuff, and safety/health stuff). All in all, this took about 4-6 hours or so and it was basically a marathon.

Anyways, after that we went to the city office to register our residency and get our national health insurance card. Of course, just like all other days, it was extremely hot and humid. It was hard to handle, but everyone in our study abroad group were becoming closer and becoming even better friends. After the city registration thing ended at around 3, we pretty much relaxed at the dorms for a bit until leaving to the downtown area to a thrift store called "Hardoff". Yes, it's a weird name I know, but basically it's just your regualr thrift store with a whole bunch of knick-knacks. For those who play videogames, there were tons of sega, nintendo 64, gamecube etc. game consoles available, as well as coin purses, DVD players, digital camera parts, video games, CDs, DVDs, Kimono, toys, etc. We stayed there for a fair amount of time, but the only thing I ended up giving money to was this set of 7 shot glasses of a character named Chopper from One Piece. I bought one of the shot glasses basically for $0.25 (it was 25 YEN) and it was actually glass! after that we went to A grocery store called gourmet city which was basiclaly a supermarket with tons different food.

I bought Banans, a 5-pack of instant ramen, two types of dinner rolls, and a big bottle of Milk Tea and it didn't cost too much.

this other Home Depot-like store which had puppies. Me and my friend Derek were able to carry a baby Shiba-Inu and it was freakin' adorable. before we held it it looked through its glass cage straight into our eyes and souls and we pretty much melted. Once we were able to hold it though, we melted even more. We took videos, pictures then moved on with our lives.

Once we met up with everyone else, we went to this Ramen place downtown called Gutara and they were really nice. We came in with all our groceries and alcohol for tonight but they still seated us and were really enthusiasitc. It seemd that they wanted to practice their english becuase they were speaking english to us. They were also pretty young. I'd say they were in their young 20s just like us, or maybe a bit older.

(((((

Just FYI. The way that Ramen places have worked so far is that we would walk up to this machine, and insert money (just like a vending machine). Then we would press a button and you would then get your change as well as a ticket which had the item you selected written on it. You would then give the ticket to the man working there behind the coutner and then simply wait at a table for your foot. I really think that this is an extremely efficient process, and I feel like a vending machine-type food ordering proces would me much more efficient then the way we have it now. Japanese people also don't have you wait for very long before getting your food so that too is a plus.

))))))

After we got our ramen(which i didn't photograph at all) we went hoem and talked with a friend who didn't live in our dorm building. Unfortunately, he wasn't allowed in any floor other than the lobby because he didn't live there and our dorm has really strict rules against visitors. After talking our plan for tomorrow (buying cellphones in shibuya / poss. going to skytree) he left and we proceeded upstairs to the girls floor (3rd floor) for King's Cup! The drinks we had.... were.... I don't remember (despite being only about 1.5 hours ago) but it was basically a lemon fflavored carbonated alocohlic drink. It was more or less a HARD Mike's Hard Lemonade because it was 8% Alcohol by Volume. As I write this I think I still am a bit buzzed because I feel dizzy when I spin my head, but it was really fun. It was some good bonding experience since we played about 2-3 games of king's cup, as well as a game of 10 fingers, in which me and another guy had a flawless victory (trying to look at the positive, lol).

After we finished the games, we talked more about our plan tomorrow and I proceeded to post on Facebook about our plan.

Our plan is to meet up at like 9:50-10am and leave to Musashisakai Station by foot to arrive at around 11am to meet Derek, and then take the train to Shibuya to order phones. The people who came but didn't want to order phones would probably juts walk around and go shopping. After that we were planning to go to Skytree, but we may or may not do that since it is really out of the way and there are more cheaper and less crowded alternatives.

Anyways, now I'm here. After talking about our plans I went to the 4th floor, chilled for about 3-5 minuets watching some Brazilian movie with the people on the 4th floor and went into my room to writhe the blog.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT, THIS IS ME TRYING TO BE QUICK. It was quite the busy day with orientation and walking, but it was definitely a fun one. I am getting to know my neighbors better and better and we are all becoming friends. ALL IS WELL HERE IN JAPAN. Please let me know if you're down to Skype because I'd love to setup a time where we could Skype. I hope everyone's having a great time back in the USA / Ireland / wherever you are.

Love,

-Slightly Buzzed of alcoholic lemony-tasting soda Andrew.

OYASUMINASAI!

Day 3 (8/29): Goodbye Nui, Hello ICU!

Hopefully I can catch up. Like I mentioned in the last blog post, I started the day by packing up at Nui. and having two croissants and a chocolate one for breakfast along with a bento from a konbini (convenient store) since the bread didn't fill me.

I said goodbye to Lauren with Kyle because she was going to Kyoto for a few days, while we were heading towards ICU.

On our way to the Kuramae Station we actually saw two toy stores. One had masks and small wooden knick-knacks, and the other had REAL toys like Gundam, and gibbily (or w/e the Miyazaki studio thing is called) character key chains. We browsed but didn't buy anything. However, I did see a mask that reminded me of the Blue Spirit from Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Stop after stop we got closer to Mitaka station, and after about an hour, we were there. Mitaka is all the way on the other side of "Tokyo". In reality, it's not even really part of Tokyo, it's one of the outlying cities though I guess. We took a short 20 minute bus ride and finally got to campus.

THE CAMPUS IS BEAUTIFUL. The staff was incredibly nice too. We were given a tour of our dorms in Dialogue House by Arianna, a New Yorker raised half Korean american who was studying at ICU as a regular student. My bag that I gave at the airport to be delivered was waiting for me just inside the building and I basically checked out my apartment and tried figuring out all the hi-tech toys. 

At around 1-2ish Kyle, Me, and another guy on our floor that we met went to get Ramen at the local favorite place. IT was pretty good and they gave a free bowl of rice with meat, as well as a complimentary free refill when you shout "KAEDAMA!"

After that, we took a 10-15 minute walk to 7/11 for some stuff we needed. I picked up a Kiwi-Soda, Laundry Detergent (OUR LAUNDRY MACHINES ARE FREE!!!!!!!!!!!), and hand lotion because it's still getting dry sometimes. While walking back an Obaachan (Grandma) said, "Kami---" something. I think it was the Japanese word for lightning, but anyways we just said "Wakaranai" (I don't understand) and continued back to the campus.

by about 5pm, my roommate checked in. He is a 23 year old dude from ENGLAND (Sussex) named Ben. I was surprised b/c I thought I was just staying with UCEAP people, but it was a nice surprise. It's cool to meet people from around the world, as always.

At night, everyone decided to go to this place called Gyukaku which was a Shabu Shabu / Yakiniku place back in town. It was really good and we got to introduce ourselves with the other UCEAP students as well. the food was a bit salty but good. It was also quite pricey. My bill was 1910 Yen, granted this was really the first "nice" meal I've had, so I think it was about time ESPECIALLY considering that this was my first day meeting all my UCEAP-mates and they are ALL really really cool. They're great. We invited my roommate Ben, and his friend Robin as well (both from Sussex) so in total we had a part of 18.

After dinner we took photos, came home, and now here I am...

Just by the way, I felt sticky, gross, sweaty and ALL TYPES OF NASTY because it's quite humid, and quite hot as well. Just to inform you on how the weather's been...

ALSO, I got about 6 mosquito bites today. It's a death trap on campus, I swear.... 4 were on JUST MY LEFT LEG, and two were on my upper body. One one my chest (weird right?) and one on my arm. I have bug spray, but it feels so grimy on your skin, so I don't want to use it. We had this problem yesterday sort of at the gardens, but in the city where there's like no grass, this problem really doesn't exist.

JAA MATA -- tomorrow I have to wake up at 8AM for a meeting at 9:15am SHARP and it's already 1:26am.

Oyasuminasai

Oh. last quick side note...the toilet has a butt washer. Just thoguht I'd mention that.

GOODNIGHT.

Day 2 (8/28): Imperial Garden, Sumida, and drunkards

WILL GET BACK TO THIS...
Before going to the imperial gardens we stopped by Burger King where I had a Melon Fanta Soda. I got a nice view of the skytree on our way to the station.

basicallly, me Kyle, Lauren went to the Imperial Gardens and walked around. Prior to getting there though, we went to a drug store because ppl b feeling sick, yo. There were tons TONS of Cicadas and it was incredibly loud. We saw a Japanese Tea Pavilion, an old guard tower, the gates to the imperial palace, a Japanese garden, Bamboo trees, more trees, and more trees. We saw tons of Cicadas, a lizard, TONS of ants, got bit by some mosquitos, a few dragonflys, etc. BASICALLY all of Tokyo's wildlife seemed to be packed into this Garden. Hah, I kid...

Afterwards our feet were tired. Lauren left early because she was getting sick and felt bad, and we just jumped into our bunks, pretty damn exhausted. We lounged around, regained our energy then went down for some drinks. This is where it gets interesting.

I went down with Kyle at about 11:30 or so (i think) and we both ordered a Lemon Sour. After that I got a Black Russian and asked for tsuyoi no hitotsu which means "A strong one" since Kyle said the drinks they made were real weak. As a result the drink was indeed quite strong, but it was delicious. While ordering our drinks, a japanese girl turns to Kyle who ordered in Japanese and smiled and was really impressed. She talked to him and I casually, and it seemed to us that she was trying to flirt, but she later introduced her boyfriend.. so that was a funny experience, haha. She was also introducing her friend, but she was too drunk out of her mind and bumbly to even be coherent. After her, this korean dude who's in our room comes up to Kyle again saying, "Handsome." Kyle responded with a "What?" so this guy rebuts with a "You ah very handsamu" then turns to me saying "You ah handsamu too". after thath e walked away back to his friends. Then, the guy came back and just awkwardly stared at Kyle straight in the eyes for a good 10 seconds. Kyle looks at him, then looks in another direction because it was pretty weird. After we didn't really aknowledge his presence when he was trying to stare into our souls, he left. I heard he didnt get back into the room until 4:30am.... he was also drunk out of his mind I think.

With that and with finishing my White Russian, I went to bed. The next morning was check-out so I woke up early, had breakfast, said goodbye to Lauren with Kyle, and left with Kyle to ICU!

Day 1 (8/26-8/27): Chaos, Excitement, and Lost (with a little more excitement)

did not proof-read, did not make tl;dr, did not post pictures yet, did not spell check. have fun!

Helllo family and friends! Today was the official first day of my 3 month trip to Japan. So many emotions were felt in this single day, and so many awesome things were going on. Well... I thought they were awesome... I tend to blow things out of proportion when it comes to excitement.

To start the day off, (August 26th)  during the previous night I had pulled an allnighter so I was basically sleep deprived. The excitement, nervousness and stress from packing and going almost halfway around the world, however, sort of kept me awake. Despite having zero sleep -- I WAS PUMPED.

Anyways halfway through the night (circa 4-5am and day of my departure) I decided thati t was finally time to finish packing! I had spent the time earlier hanging out with freinds and family before having to leave for the great beyond, and I knew packing wouldn't take that much time once I figured what I was going to bring (Thank god for being a guy). At some random point in the night, It dawned on me how much of this I'll have to do alone! I started becoming nervous about the customs, security check in, luggage, documentations, utilizing the Tokyo subway system, and finding my way around the airport(s).

When the time came, however, I felt rushed and stressed (with a tad bit of excitement) due to the fact that we were leaving with 1hr45min left before my flight departed (and it was luckily delayed). Annie was talking about how, depending on the line, the luggage check-in and security could take +2hours which rightfully made me hella crazy nervous.

I spent the delayed time from the flight talking to Brendon before I had to go on my flight. Surprise, surprise, once I got on the flight, I knocked out so freakin' fast.... speaking of which, I am falling asleep right now -_- ANYWAYS the SFO to LAX flight was a piece of cake. It was a 2 hour flight and I don't remember much of it because like I said, I was asleep.The LAX to NRT flight however was a doozie. It was a whopping ~11 hour flight!! Annie was right when she said there was no legroom... and that it was a bad idea to take window seet, but I definitely enjoyed the view of ocean, clouds and the melding of the ocean and sky and 21 hours of sun.

During the flight I watch Iron man 3 (twice b/c I fell asleep the first time), Epic (Pretty cool), and the Croods (GOOD). The quality of video, however, was really inonsistent and the stewardesses weren't very enthusiastic.

The Japanese women making announcements sounded like a robot when making speeches in English, and the video quality would go from normal to black and white to spazzing screen. It seemed like I was the only one so lucky however. I would give AA a 5.5/10. They did their job, it was cheap, but it wasn't great. Then again, I have nothing to compare it to. (FALLING ASLEEP AGAIN).

Anyways, here comes the intensity part of the trip. Upon arriving at Narita Airport in "Tokyo," I realized that the wifi on my phone didn't work, and that it had about 6% left... Also -- I didn't have the address to Nui. so I was kind of SOL

. I did know however that I needed a courier service to transport my baGs, and needed to exchange currencym and had to get to Nui one way or another. Trouble with that, though, was I DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO DO IT. In the end it was easy to do, but I automatically assumed that I was going to just keep walking forever looking for a bag delivery service and my hostel. The information desk helped tons and even asked "Would you mind me asking what your nationality is"  (Prob b/c of my height, but I thought it was flattering) In time, however, I found the bag delivery person (they didn't speak English at all... I had to use my broken Japanese on them... just 1 word answers and questions...) and I also found the money exchange machine. 

The last hurdle was honestly the train ride / locating my Hostel. The Information table gave me specific insructions on which train to take, but this STRANGER who defitely made my day helped me locate where it was. While waiting for the train, he asked if I was thirsty and even bought me a drink from the vending machine. HONESTLY I WAS AWE STRUCK. I mean, I heard from freinds who visisted Japan before that they were crazy generous and helpful, but this was just rediculous. He was taking the same train, so he walked with me through the whole thing, got me through buying a ticket, and brought me to the right train. While talking to him, I accidentally stopped talking suddenly while looking out the window just because of the sheer AWE and realization that I...ME.... ANDREW LUDWIG was in JAPAN. many thousands of miles from home. by myself. SO INTENSE. 

He got off at the 1st stop, but I knew the name of the station I (think) I had to get off at (since I didn't see the address since I had no internet and no battary and no time and I WAS STRUGGLING) and the time that it was going to reach that destination so I thought I was fine. Turns out -- my memory held out, but I just couldn't remember where in this area the Hostel was. By the time I got off at my stop in Kuramae, Taito, Tokyo, it was 7:20PM, but I didn't find my Hostel until about 8:30 and after asking / speaking broken Japanese to a store-clerk. This is ALL besides the fact that it was literally 3 blocks from the station, but in a brand new environment, and already a poor disposition with homework, I'm sure you'll find it.(<-- was falling asleep)

After the 1hr5min trying to find the Hostel, and asking 3 diff people, I finally found it. I felt so releaved b/c my phone was just about to die, and my computer had no juice, so yeah, was pretty intense.

Anyways, The hostel is really nice. the ground-level is a bar lounge and the 2nd 3rd 4th 5th are all rooms for hostels.

I'm in a 8-person mixed dorimitory and My bed comes clad with a lamp, and outlet, one hanger, (luckily) the fan for AC right to my bed, and bed sheets with Japanese futon and a super comfy pillow.

Upon arriving they showed me that there was WIFI here so I was ecstatic. My Iphone's wifi, however, didn't work (OF COURSE) There were so many things I wanted to do after setting my luggage down... Ironically it wasn't anything touristy -- I just wanted to shower, sleep, and eat. After setting my sheets up and stuff, I got some food from a convience store (Pork over rice, Green Tea kit-kat, Milk tea in a plastic bottle all costing a little less than $6.75 USD.

After that I took a shower and now I'm writing the blog, falling asleep.... I'll post pictures. Maybe i'll insert them in this blog post at the appropriate point...

Anyways I think that's it. I met my dorm mates. 3 of them are korean and don't talk much, and one was ironically a person that was in the same program as I am, and was one of the people I have been facebooking about pre-departure stuff. Another one is chill and then i'm not sure about the last spot. I'm tired anyways. My computer says it's 7:21AM on 8/27/2013, but in Japan it's 11:21PM on 8/27/2013. CRAZY RIGHT? stupid International Date Line. Anyways, congratulations to you if you read through all of this... It's pretty much stream of consciousness... MAYBE ill add a tl;dr and photos to help you little kids out. Anyways until next time.

さようなら !