(These past two days have been a whirlwind; here's part 1 of 2).
After spending the night in the original Sayama apartment, I took a train to my old high school. I surprised myself by remembering the twenty-minute route from Tanashi station to the high school itself. I guess things like that get ingrained in your body when you do them everyday for six months. Either way, I didn't get lost like my host mother feared.
When I arrived I met up with some of my old teachers, and we went to the cafeteria together to eat lunch. Everyone was surprised that I'd A. bothered to return, and B. could still speak Japanese with some degree of proficiency. I was again oggled at by the students, who also seem to assume I don't understand them when they say "look at that girl over there etc etc etc". But it does wonders for my ego.
Then in the afternoon I went with my host mom to see Ryo's university, Sophia University. It specializes in international relations, so it has a lot of exchange programs with universities around the globe. I also got to see someone who was at my high school but a year younger than me, so she's a first year uni student.
From Sophia my host family and I walked to the okonomiyaki (think fried cabbage pancake with yummy stuffs on top) restaurant that Ryo has a part-time job at. We deferred to his ordering judgement, and had a large, delicious meal.
Then Ryo and I took a night bus from Tokyo to Kanazawa. So we left from downtown Tokyo at midnight and arrived at Kanazawa at 7am. It was a bus that put all airlines to shame with cozy blankets, complete darkness, wi-fi, and seats that reclined most of the way back. I surprised myself by actually sleeping. (And that leaves part 2 (castles! gardens!) for a another post...)
After spending the night in the original Sayama apartment, I took a train to my old high school. I surprised myself by remembering the twenty-minute route from Tanashi station to the high school itself. I guess things like that get ingrained in your body when you do them everyday for six months. Either way, I didn't get lost like my host mother feared.
When I arrived I met up with some of my old teachers, and we went to the cafeteria together to eat lunch. Everyone was surprised that I'd A. bothered to return, and B. could still speak Japanese with some degree of proficiency. I was again oggled at by the students, who also seem to assume I don't understand them when they say "look at that girl over there etc etc etc". But it does wonders for my ego.
Then in the afternoon I went with my host mom to see Ryo's university, Sophia University. It specializes in international relations, so it has a lot of exchange programs with universities around the globe. I also got to see someone who was at my high school but a year younger than me, so she's a first year uni student.
From Sophia my host family and I walked to the okonomiyaki (think fried cabbage pancake with yummy stuffs on top) restaurant that Ryo has a part-time job at. We deferred to his ordering judgement, and had a large, delicious meal.
Then Ryo and I took a night bus from Tokyo to Kanazawa. So we left from downtown Tokyo at midnight and arrived at Kanazawa at 7am. It was a bus that put all airlines to shame with cozy blankets, complete darkness, wi-fi, and seats that reclined most of the way back. I surprised myself by actually sleeping. (And that leaves part 2 (castles! gardens!) for a another post...)
Hello Claire, my name is Ashleigh from Malaysia. I'll be going to the same high school as you did during your exchange year in 2011. I'll be going with AFS in March 2015! I was just wondering if I could ask you any questions regarding Musashino Joshi Gakuin? If you don't mind answering my questions, that is. :D Do you think I could email you? If its not okay with you, then its fine too. :)
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