Also, I have finally uploaded edited videos of the seminar houses/dorms so here are the goodies to make up for it:
LINKS!!
LINKS!!
Kansai Gaidai Seminar House 4 Tourhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDNuz315zzQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQWBQco3BIU&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
Monday - August 29
Took a campus tour that consisted of way too much walking. The tour guide lady made us walk up all the way to the 3rd floor of the library, and when we got to the 3rd floor, all she had to say was, “This is the 3rd floor. We have more books here.” Then she had us walk back down ALL THOSE STAIRS. Now, you may think I’m complaining about walking too much, but that 3rd floor tour was completely unnecessary, and you have to remember that I’ve been living in Florida for the past five years or so where walking is at the bottom of the transportation totem pole. Floridians mostly drive everywhere or take escalators. Yeah…I know…I’m a lazy butt now. That will change in Japan though.
That afternoon I also took my placement test. OMG, don’t even get me started on that mess.
That afternoon I also took my placement test. OMG, don’t even get me started on that mess.
Tuesday - August 30 to Friday – September 2
The rest of orientation week was full of more official things to do like opening a bank account, paying for my housing arrangements (homestay fees and a deposit), liability fees, tours of where everything we need is, safety workshops, and just asking questions about things I thought up randomly. Liiiiiiiiike, “How do I join a club?” “Can my parents mail me boxes to my mailbox on campus?” “If a creeper guy touches me on the street, can I punch him in self-defense?” and so on.
I can expand on the answers to these questions and the processes mentioned above in later posts if peeps are interested. Just message me. Really…..anytime. I’m lonely and bored and would like something to do and people to interact with.
AAaaaaanyways….
I went karaoking during orientation week, and it was so awesome!! We went to this place called Jankara, and it was kinda pricey, but the atmosphere was really nice. We went with an old friend from our university who had done the JET programme and continued to live in Japan with her boyfriend afterwards. Jankara is located on the fourth floor of a building near Hirakata city’s train station. You take a sketchy, tiny elevator up, and then you’re brought into a bright and boldly colored room with drink dispensers and a front desk. You pay for whatever karaoke package you want (how many hours, alcoholic drinks or not, etc.), and then you get assigned a room, which could range from a small room the size of a small public restroom with a table and two couches that line the walls on two sides to a super big room with couches that line most of the walls and one to two tables.
Most asian karaoke place in America (from my experiences karaoking in New York and Florida) usually use a typical family home-style karaoke machine in which you enter codes for what songs you want to sing, and the codes are usually in large phonebook-like tomes. However, the nicer karaoke places in Japan like Jankara just have a touch screen device that you can type in the artist name or song. The thing will search for what it thinks you want, and then you can enter it into a queue.
I highly recommend doing karaoke, either in Japan or asian karaoke places in America. It’s a great stress reliever, super fun, and just a great bonding experience with your friends because you definitely embarrass yourself as you sing and discover the awesome let-loose ridiculousness you and your friends have inside as you drink and belt out songs you know you can’t sing well….heh heh.
From now on, posts will either be RECAP EPISODES since so much has happened that I have not written about yet, or they will just be normally titled posts for more recent events. There you go~!
