Thursday, September 20, 2012
11:22 PM
Hi, everyone!
I just wanted to post the link to my latest YouTube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0z8FCiOyP8
I don't have a lot of time to write right now, because I'm going to study, read, and go to bed soon, but here are a few exciting things that have happened recently...
1. I experienced an earthquake! It wasn't very big (a lot of people who live in Japan told me that they didn't even feel it), but it woke me up around 2:30 AM one morning! It was louder than I thought an earthquake would be. I think the sound of it woke me up, but my bed was shaking, too! I heard my two roommates, Alex and Sammy, talking about what was happening across the room (my third roomie, Kia, slept through it!), but I thought I was dreaming the entire thing until everyone started talking about it in the morning. Crazy!!!
2. I went to a real, live, professional Sumo wrestling tournament! This was something I really wanted to do during my semester in Japan, so I'm so happy that I was able to go! We bought the cheapest seats (over 3,000 Yen...not actually that cheap!), so we didn't have the best seats, but it was still such a fun time! I never thought I would learn so much from watching two men in diaper thongs wrestle each other :) It was a super interesting cultural experience, and I got some great videos! (Posted in the YouTube video). Who knew that the bout preparation was way longer than the actual bout (wrestling period)? I also imaged Sumo as I had seen it in movies and on tv: man against man trying to push each other out of the ring. I never realized that so much preparation through rituals came before the actual wrestling. It was cool to see the wrestlers in their own corner of the ring, drinking a ladleful of water, the chikara-mizu ("power water"), then stepping back into the ring while tossing a handful of salt into it to purify the area.
3. I finally finished learning all of the characters in Hirigana! (The first of the three Japanese alphabets). I still don't know them perfectly by memory, and the characters definitely don't look very pretty when I write them, but at least I've learned how to write all of them! We were given an assignment to write a few sentences about our family- our parents occupations, how many siblings we have, where our families live, etc., and I wrote the entire thing completely in Hirigana! Yatta!
Tomorrow's Friday which means three classes until the weekend! I can't wait to hang out with my CSBSJU friends, hang out with my Japanese friends, sleep in for three days, hopefully talk to my parents, and hopefully skype my friends back home! I finally get to hang out with my host sister, Megumi, too! She suggested going to a Japanese izakaya (bar) tomorrow night after our classes. My homestay weekend is coming up- the first weekend in October, and I'm sooo excited! I'll update more soon!
Love,
Abby
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Monday, September 17, 2012
Getting Into The Swing Of Things
Monday, September 17, 2012
4:39 AM
Ohayo gozaimasu! (Good morning!) It's super early right now. I had a fun but exhausting day, so I'm not sure why I'm not tired. I've been meaning to update my blog for the longest time, but it seems like activities, school, socializing, eating, friends, and pretty much anything else gets in the way of doing so! As of today, I've been in Japan for nineteen days. I can't believe the end of September is already approaching!
Two Saturdays ago, we drove three hours away to a city called Karuizawa for a short weekend trip- Saturday through Monday. Karuizawa was absolutely beautiful. There are mountains, trees, flowers, lakes, and waterfalls everywhere! I had the best time meeting new Bunkyo Gakuin University students, spending some much needed time with my close friends (also BGU students) whom I met last Spring when they came to St. Ben's/St. John's for three weeks, hanging out with the rest of our study abroad group, sight seeing in gorgeous nature parks, experiencing a Japanese onsen for the first time, eating delicious Japanese food, and shopping at a huge outlet mall! The weekend trip came and went so quickly, but it became one of my favorite parts of the semester thus far, and I am really happy I got to spend it with so many wonderful, funny, and kind people. We returned to Bunkyo-ku Monday night and for the rest of the week, I had class.
Throughout the semester, I'm taking various classes: Japanese, Japanese Politics, Shinto & Buddhism In Japan, Japan & International Community, Life In Japan, Japanese Business, "Cool" Japan, Social Development In Japan, Japanese Traditional Arts, and Study Abroad Seminar (with our CSBSJU program Director, Jeff). I have Japanese language class every day, otherwise, the classes rotate weekly. I have two to four 90-minute classes Tuesday through Friday (no school on Monday!!!), and sometimes we have a field visit to a nearby location, too. Japanese language is definitely the most difficult class for me since I've never studied Japanese before and it's taught in Japanese, however, I think that I've already learned a lot, and I'm really enjoying the class! It's so fun being able to recognize certain words and sometimes somewhat understand what people say to me when I'm out and about in Tokyo.
Yesterday (Sunday), our group participated in the Nezu Shrine Festival. We previously visited a Shinto shrine that's only a few minutes from our house, and this weekend, there were numerous food, drink, and game booths set up around the shrine. We tried out the food a few times throughout the weekend, and on Sunday, we shouldered a shrine. The boys wore loin clothes (essentially, thongs... ha ha) and traditional robes (which happened to be very short... ha ha again) and the girls wore traditional robes. We put a super heavy shrine on our shoulders and walked around Bunkyo-ku in a parade type thing. There were people lined up on the sides of the streets cheering and chanting. We shook and bounced the shrine off of our shoulders, because the action is believed to intensify the power of the kami (Spirits/Gods) that are seated in the shrines and helps to bestow good luck. We shouldered the shrine for about 2.5 hours. It was such a unique, fun, cultural, and exciting experience, but it was so exhausting! Everyone was dead and had bruised, red, and swollen shoulders by the time we returned to the shrine, and I don't know how many people are going to be able to move in the morning!
Today's Monday, so we don't have school. I have another small Japanese test on Hiragana (the first of the three alphabets) on Tuesday, so I'll be spending part of the day studying for that!
I made two new videos:
1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-HZQSixetw&feature=g-upl
2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vqTUQ_WXPw&feature=channel&list=UL
And I put a lot of new pictures up on Facebook!:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4347762893487.2175729.1270010880&type=3&l=72820a1e46
ENJOY!
Aishiteru 愛してる (I LOVE YOU!)
XOXO, Abby
4:39 AM
Ohayo gozaimasu! (Good morning!) It's super early right now. I had a fun but exhausting day, so I'm not sure why I'm not tired. I've been meaning to update my blog for the longest time, but it seems like activities, school, socializing, eating, friends, and pretty much anything else gets in the way of doing so! As of today, I've been in Japan for nineteen days. I can't believe the end of September is already approaching!
Two Saturdays ago, we drove three hours away to a city called Karuizawa for a short weekend trip- Saturday through Monday. Karuizawa was absolutely beautiful. There are mountains, trees, flowers, lakes, and waterfalls everywhere! I had the best time meeting new Bunkyo Gakuin University students, spending some much needed time with my close friends (also BGU students) whom I met last Spring when they came to St. Ben's/St. John's for three weeks, hanging out with the rest of our study abroad group, sight seeing in gorgeous nature parks, experiencing a Japanese onsen for the first time, eating delicious Japanese food, and shopping at a huge outlet mall! The weekend trip came and went so quickly, but it became one of my favorite parts of the semester thus far, and I am really happy I got to spend it with so many wonderful, funny, and kind people. We returned to Bunkyo-ku Monday night and for the rest of the week, I had class.
Throughout the semester, I'm taking various classes: Japanese, Japanese Politics, Shinto & Buddhism In Japan, Japan & International Community, Life In Japan, Japanese Business, "Cool" Japan, Social Development In Japan, Japanese Traditional Arts, and Study Abroad Seminar (with our CSBSJU program Director, Jeff). I have Japanese language class every day, otherwise, the classes rotate weekly. I have two to four 90-minute classes Tuesday through Friday (no school on Monday!!!), and sometimes we have a field visit to a nearby location, too. Japanese language is definitely the most difficult class for me since I've never studied Japanese before and it's taught in Japanese, however, I think that I've already learned a lot, and I'm really enjoying the class! It's so fun being able to recognize certain words and sometimes somewhat understand what people say to me when I'm out and about in Tokyo.
Yesterday (Sunday), our group participated in the Nezu Shrine Festival. We previously visited a Shinto shrine that's only a few minutes from our house, and this weekend, there were numerous food, drink, and game booths set up around the shrine. We tried out the food a few times throughout the weekend, and on Sunday, we shouldered a shrine. The boys wore loin clothes (essentially, thongs... ha ha) and traditional robes (which happened to be very short... ha ha again) and the girls wore traditional robes. We put a super heavy shrine on our shoulders and walked around Bunkyo-ku in a parade type thing. There were people lined up on the sides of the streets cheering and chanting. We shook and bounced the shrine off of our shoulders, because the action is believed to intensify the power of the kami (Spirits/Gods) that are seated in the shrines and helps to bestow good luck. We shouldered the shrine for about 2.5 hours. It was such a unique, fun, cultural, and exciting experience, but it was so exhausting! Everyone was dead and had bruised, red, and swollen shoulders by the time we returned to the shrine, and I don't know how many people are going to be able to move in the morning!
Today's Monday, so we don't have school. I have another small Japanese test on Hiragana (the first of the three alphabets) on Tuesday, so I'll be spending part of the day studying for that!
I made two new videos:
1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-HZQSixetw&feature=g-upl
2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vqTUQ_WXPw&feature=channel&list=UL
And I put a lot of new pictures up on Facebook!:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4347762893487.2175729.1270010880&type=3&l=72820a1e46
ENJOY!
Aishiteru 愛してる (I LOVE YOU!)
XOXO, Abby
Monday, September 3, 2012
Finally In Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan!
Monday, September 3, 2012
1:04 AM
Hello everyone!
I arrived at Narita airport last Thursday afternoon around 230 pm (1230 am Wednesday night in the States!). Since then, I've been enjoying every minute of Japan! I've been exploring the huge city of Tokyo with the study abroad group, as well as students from Bunkyo Gakuin Univeristy. Things are VERY different here, but it's really exciting. The days are flying by, because I'm always busy experiencing new things! I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to be with in Japan. They've made these first few days so great!
Here is another video so that you can see a little bit of what I have been up to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ao5jFGscmk&feature=channel&list=UL
I also posted some new pictures of Japan on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4347762893487.2175729.1270010880&type=1&l=72820a1e46
And here is my address for the next 4 months:
Abby Schmidt
Bunkyo Gakuin University
International Programs Office
1-19-1 Mukogaoka,
Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-8668
Japan
I'm still missing you all! Check back for updates soon!
XOXO, Abby
1:04 AM
Hello everyone!
I arrived at Narita airport last Thursday afternoon around 230 pm (1230 am Wednesday night in the States!). Since then, I've been enjoying every minute of Japan! I've been exploring the huge city of Tokyo with the study abroad group, as well as students from Bunkyo Gakuin Univeristy. Things are VERY different here, but it's really exciting. The days are flying by, because I'm always busy experiencing new things! I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to be with in Japan. They've made these first few days so great!
Here is another video so that you can see a little bit of what I have been up to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ao5jFGscmk&feature=channel&list=UL
I also posted some new pictures of Japan on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4347762893487.2175729.1270010880&type=1&l=72820a1e46
And here is my address for the next 4 months:
Abby Schmidt
Bunkyo Gakuin University
International Programs Office
1-19-1 Mukogaoka,
Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-8668
Japan
I'm still missing you all! Check back for updates soon!
XOXO, Abby
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