Gifu, Japan

And arrival in Gifu!! Please forgive me for the gap in updates/arriving photos...I was too excited to take pictures haha ^^ When I arrived at Nagoya Station I saw my host family right away! I immediately introduced myself and we then boarded a normal train. After about 10 minutes or so, we arrived in Gifu, Japan! :)

Gifu is 田舎 or countryside. In other words, some of the things I wanted to do (like go to Akihabara and what-not) are likely not gonna happen. That said, I still am doing plenty of fun things here and am learning new things everyday!

Here are some photos~ 

 

 There is a really big mall nearby where I live. Inside it there are various stores/places, including...

ROUND 1

This place is godly. It has karaoke, arcade machines, gambling, purikura, and bowling! It's a blast. The above is virtual horse racing gambling.

 Purikura! Eventually I'll have to share the purikura pics we did :)

 My host sisters! I <3 THEM! :)

One Piece UFO machine. One Piece is unbelievably popular in Japan...I see it everywhere

 Taiko drum aracde machine! (yes I forgot the name of it somehow...-__-;) It is INCREDIBLY fun to play! I'll have to upload the video of me playing it later ♪

 Boba drinks in Japan! For the life of me, I could not find Thai Boba tea! Still, Caramel Golden Milk Boba will do for now!~

 Ads (広告） on elevators :O

 A Mexican goods store in Japan?? I worry for its well-being...Although it was really cool to me :)

 I LOVE the way Gifu looks! There are rivers running through the town everywhere. Everything is a bit mossy from the cold weather, and there are power cables strewn about on dangerously narrow streets. To me, it's so different from what I'm used to...I really like it...:) Every day in the morning and after-work time (5:30) there is a PM that the whole town can hear. It's endearing haha (挨拶＋曲）That is, a greeting and a song

 About a three minute walk away from my house is a shrine!

 You wash your hands here..

 The town's 神様 is a horse

 Yup, it's that big..

 A bajillion handmade paper cranes...

A snack in Japan...A small piece of waffle with syrup in it already...Delicious! I have a ton more to share but I'm gonna end it for now! Next time...Karaoke pics/more arcade and pics of my school :D

I miss you guys! <3

Orientation and Shinkansen

So once I arrived at Narita Airport I wasn't entirely sure what to do. Lucky for me, it turns out I was sitting near another exchange student that was also with Greenheart Travel. So we teamed up and somehow managed to find baggage claim. I also met a Japanese exchange student who had just studied abroad for three months. He was extremely kind and he was the first person I spoke Japanese to...in Japan anyway haha. Anyway, I've always been so afraid to speak Japanese. Chiefly because I'm afraid of making mistakes and sounding stupid. But his kindness reminded me I'm here to learn...and to learn one simply can not avoid mistakes.

After baggage claim I found someone with the sign JFIE: Japanese Foreign Intercultural Exchange...I think...Then we took a bus to Orientation.

 

Orientation lasted around 2 and a half days. It consisted of warnings and rules and...well to say the least, while I was IN Japan, it didn't really felt like it. I felt like I was in a classroom. The one fun thing about Orientation was a trip to the mall. The first 自動販売機 (vending machine) I spotted was here!

 The mall was in Chiba, Japan (near Tokyo) and was huge!

 Plenty of cute things to be had~!

 As far as fashion goes, it varies a lot. One fashion is the above: a sort of old, classic and very cute style filled with ribbons and frills....my favorite. I wanted to buy everything!

 Despite being in Japan, you see English everywhere. Everywhere. I repeat. Everywhere. It doesn't always make sense though....This shop is called Mister Donut haha!

 One method of ordering food in Japan. You put in coins (coins come in larger value in Japan. For example, 100Yen and 500Yen coins...roughly USD $1 and $6..I think..) It then prints out your ticket, and you hand the ticket to the 店員...shop assistant. Then you wait with one of those things that make noise when your food is ready.

 Yummy!

 Found and arcade :D

 An example of strange English....A children's clothing store...named STARVATIONS

 My Shinkansen ticket from Tokyo to Nagoya... It cost over USD $100 :O

It was raining a lot, so most of the pictures I took came out poorly.

Day No.1

My cat cheezeburger is trying to eat my luggage! What the lump :I

Korean Air!

 The inside of Korean Air planes is insane!! Seriously huge... There were three bathrooms, and a million middle seats to boot.

 In-flight entrainment was spectacular! I watched A Dangerous Method and Memoirs of a Geisha.

On top of that, the remote turns into a game controller!! Needless to say, Tetris was had :D

I also listened to J-pop

 The coke was tall and skinny and had Korean on it.

I could not beat the first guy. This game is HARD.

Famous Korean dish...too bad I can't remember it haha

After some 11 odd hours, in Japan at last!

 

The hotel even has Yukata. Awesome!

And random outside of hotel room! More to come :)

Departure

I'm leaving in a couple of days for Japan. A COUPLE OF DAYS. I'm incredibly nervous, and at the same time, obviously very excited! To be honest, I'm not even sure if I'll have time/be able to update this blog...but in the event that I can, you guys know where to find me :)

It's kind of hard to focus on Japan right now (what with all the college decisions that are coming out). Once again I find myself worrying about my college future, but some of the acceptance letters I've been receiving have been more relieving than anything else.

As for Japan, I'm very excited for the experience.

My school:
A small, private all girl's Catholic High School/Middle School

My family:
Parents and two sisters (15, 17)

My location:
Gifu, Japan

Most of all, I am ready to meet new people, shop, and learn!