I am finally back from my year abroad at Okayama. I think I did okay these last two quarters in my classes. It is sad that I was unable to go to the EPOK closing ceremony but I know they will send me the certificate when I return to school. I am going to miss all the new people I met from Japan, America, and other countries. I hope I will be able to meet them again in the future.
I now have to think about my last year back at CSUMB. It is my final year so I will have to start working on my Capstone and Service Learning. I have already decided my classes and look forward to seeing all of the other returning study abroad students, as well as meeting the new students that may have entered the major while we were away.
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During Spring break I completed another one of my short term travel goals. At the end of February I went to Tokyo with one of the people studying abroad with me in Okayama. Not only did we go to Disneyland and DisneySea, we also were able to meet up with another two study abroad students from our school that are in Tokyo. It was nice visiting with friends that we haven't seen in a while as well as have a great experience seeing the two Disney parks. It was interesting to see the similarities and differences from the two in California that I usually visit.
It is also almost time for the sakura to bloom in Japan. I have visited the Korakuen a few times, anticipating their arrival, but nothing yet, although the other flowers have started. I hope to be able to time my next visit to see them in full bloom and have a nice picnic, either there, in a botanical garden nearby, or on a trip the L-cafe has planned somewhere else. Since the break is almost over some of my roommates have moved out and I am waiting for the next set, which should come any day now. I don't feel as if I quite connected with the two that left so I hope I am able to talk more with my new ones. I especially hope to speak more in Japanese with them, the previous roommates mainly spoke English once they knew that I was from America. Another thing I am anticipating is the new classes for this next semester. The university released a new set of classes recently that I have looked over. Sadly, since many of them are different from what I planned for I may have to submit another academic approval form to CSUMB to get the new classes approved. Once I pick them out and consult with my advisor here I will have to probably send that in as soon as possible. Speaking of CSUMB I am already starting to worry about next year there. They have already put out next year's housing and classes, so not only am I worrying about classes here for this semester, but for the next one back home as well. Hopefully all goes well, once I figure them out and apply I will only have to worry about being here. The semester has just ended. I feel as if I have done quite a bit this semester, especially from my short term goals list for studying abroad. One major goal was to travel and thanks to my culture classes, the L-cafe, and friends I have been able to do quite a bit of it. So far I have visited Universal Studios when I went to Osaka, some shrines when I was in Kyoto, and the Atomic Bomb Dome and Itsukushima Shrine in Hiroshima. These plus many smaller and closer places such as Kurashiki, Korakuen, and even some local shrines. Another short term goal of mine was to try more foods while in Japan. Some things I have tried before, such as sushi, but I wanted to try different things while in Japan. So far I have had some generic things such as sushi, tempura, ramen, and udon. I have also been able to try things that I haven't really eaten as much or even tried before like natto, takoyaki, or shabu shabu. However, the foods that I feel most accomplished this goal were ones that had a bit of cultural background to them. One of these was the special okonomiyaki that Hiroshima is famous for. The "Hiroshimayaki," as my teacher called it, is known for having noodles in it. Another food that I believed carried culture in it was toshiko soba, which is special for the new year in Japan. I had this and some osechi, that everyone helped make, in class. I enjoyed the whole experience, not just the food.
On the days leading up to Christmas I did some things with my friends. We made stocking and little styrofoam Christmas trees as we watched the movie Elf. Also saw the Christmas tree at Okayama Station and did a puzzle from the movie Elf that my friend got from her parents.
On Christmas Eve my friends got together to make gingerbread houses together. Some of them were quite interesting too. I can safely say none of them lasted that long after, we ate them too fast. We even had candy from America, that a friend's family sent over, that we were able to use. Was such a long time since having some of them. After that those who didn't make trees before made some then. One person even made a tree with a face and called it 木さま and even made him another tree girlfriend. I didn't really do much on actual Christmas day. I did Skype call my family a little, but we didn't talk for long. Apparently I did get gifts, but they wouldn't mail them to me, they did saw there was a package in the mail though that ended up being a ton of candy. On New Year's Eve and day I didn't do anything again. Didn't want to go out into the cold late at night. In classes we also celebrated New Years a bit. For my language class we played a New Years game where you put on a blindfold and people try to help you make a face. Then in one of my culture classes we made end of year soba before the break. After the break everyone made おせち for the class. My group made a anchovies and walnut dish. One group even made おぞに during class so we could eat it after we finished the other osechi. We even had New Year's sake in class. I did eventually make a shrine visit when in Kurashiki. We visited the Achi Shrine to pray for the new year. There I also bought an omikuji, daruma, and year of the boar souvenir. My fortune, lucky by the way. Lastly, I got a post card from my home stay family. It was very cute and had a picture of us together on it as if they had designed it themselves. So I sent the postcard I bought form the aquarium to them as a thank you and to wish them: 明けましておめでとうございます Went to Osaka with some friends for a winter break trip. We bought a package at the Okayama Station office for a trip to and from Osaka by shinkansen and a ticket to Universal Studios Japan.
We left December 27 and checked into our hotel. Since we didn't want to waste the day we headed over to Tempozan Marketplace, which is near the Osaka Aquarium. We hung out there for a bit, exploring, taking pictures, and even riding the giant ferris wheel. The next day was solely for USJ. One of our group member's friend met up with us at our hotel and we all went together. Our group started off together, but eventually split up into smaller groups to do the things we wanted to. Jordyn and I went off together. We went to the Three Broomsticks to eat lunch and then went on the Hogwarts ride. We went on maybe three rides altogether, cus just standing in line for some was upwards of 1-2 hours. We saw some shows as well and looked in many shops for souvenirs. I bought many food related souvenirs, such as a butter beer mug, and a jacket. Overall the day was long and fun, didn't stay around for the parade though, it was freezing, packed, and we were exhausted. The next and last day we went to the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan. We walked around for quite a while looking at all the fish. The two highlights were probably the whale shark, which you can't see in a lot of places, and the famously fat seal Yuki. So cute. I did love the jellyfish though. For souvenirs I bought pins related to the whale shark and jellyfish. I even bought a postcard and food omiyage for others. After the aquarium we had lunch at the Tempozan Marketplace and then headed home. It was a very good trip. I have to say that the icouca card to I had bought earlier was a great help in this trip. It made traveling between all of the places so much easier since they were all a few stops away from each other. |
Lauren TorresI am a Japanese Language and Culture Major Student at CSUMB. I will be studying abroad at Okayama University in Okayama, Japan for the 2018-2019 academic year. Archives
August 2019
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