Adventure Time
Today/tonight was quite the adventure.
Today I got up and got ready to go to the last day of orientation. We toured the library and the campus. The library was all in japanese and I didn't get much of what the lady was saying since it was really hot and she was talking too fast, but i'm sure most of it is self-explanatory. And then after that we had the welcoming party to Hosei. We met with Hosei students and teachers. I think i'm going to try to get into the international club to meet some more people. I also met a lot of people who gave me their cell phone numbers and email. And told me I have to call them. So all is well.
After the party, Rachel and I ventured off to get cell phones. Most all the exchange students haev either gotten them or were getting them today. The plan is actually not very expensive and I will be able to stay in touch with people in Tokyo, unlike before where I had no idea what was going on. So I signed up for the plan and got a free phone . It was pretty harmless. The paperwork you had to fill out was no where near the american cell phone company equivalent. And don't worry dad, there are no strings attached. I checked. So I am now the owner of an ultra hip phone with video, pictures, fm radio and a lot more I can't figure out. And all incoming calls are free. +81 (08065576059) is my number for anyone to try and call. Unlike land lines, cell phones don't charge you for incoming calls, so feel free to call.
After the cell phone expirience Rachel and I looked liked typical exchange students with out cell phones trying to figure them out. We finally figured out how to make them into english so we could actually figure out what was going on.
We then went to Shibuya-ku. The trendy ward of Tokyo where most of the young people hang out. I hadn't been there at night before. It is certanily a sight to behold. It seriously feels like daylight there because of all the lights. And people were dressed up quite interesting. One of the big passing fads is ガングロ(ganguro), which are japanese girls who dye their hair blonde and tan like crazy. It makes them look like they came straight from the KFC fryer, but whatever floats their boat.
So the exchange students plus a few Japanese students all went to this little resturaunt on the 8th floor of some building called the "Asian Resturaunt", which was Thai food. Since we had a large group they offered us a discount and let us eat and drink as much as we wanted for the night. The food and drinks were all good except they would only offer us the cheap japanese beer that tasted like water.
After that some of the people went home and the rest of us went to a karaoke bar for about 5 hours. In Japan you rent out little rooms and you have karaoke in there. So it was like a private party. They had lots of western music since on one really knew slash wanted to sing japanese songs. It was really funny because you can hear all the rooms next to you and they can hear you. And I cannot sing, but that didn't stop me from belting out "Like a Prayer" and "Faith".
The rental of the room ran out at 5 am. So we left and when we got out of the karaoke shop even though it was 5 am you couldn't tell. There were still tons of japanese people everywhere. And most shops were still open. Right as we lef the sun was rising so it was a funny and neat expirience to get to expirience the rising sun in the land of the rising sun. I was so surprised how many people were up at 5-6am. It was almost like it was a normal time in Tokyo. So we boarded the train and got back here at about 6:30am.
Overall a good night slash morning that you definately don't get to expirience anywhere else in the world.
Today I got up and got ready to go to the last day of orientation. We toured the library and the campus. The library was all in japanese and I didn't get much of what the lady was saying since it was really hot and she was talking too fast, but i'm sure most of it is self-explanatory. And then after that we had the welcoming party to Hosei. We met with Hosei students and teachers. I think i'm going to try to get into the international club to meet some more people. I also met a lot of people who gave me their cell phone numbers and email. And told me I have to call them. So all is well.
After the party, Rachel and I ventured off to get cell phones. Most all the exchange students haev either gotten them or were getting them today. The plan is actually not very expensive and I will be able to stay in touch with people in Tokyo, unlike before where I had no idea what was going on. So I signed up for the plan and got a free phone . It was pretty harmless. The paperwork you had to fill out was no where near the american cell phone company equivalent. And don't worry dad, there are no strings attached. I checked. So I am now the owner of an ultra hip phone with video, pictures, fm radio and a lot more I can't figure out. And all incoming calls are free. +81 (08065576059) is my number for anyone to try and call. Unlike land lines, cell phones don't charge you for incoming calls, so feel free to call.
After the cell phone expirience Rachel and I looked liked typical exchange students with out cell phones trying to figure them out. We finally figured out how to make them into english so we could actually figure out what was going on.
We then went to Shibuya-ku. The trendy ward of Tokyo where most of the young people hang out. I hadn't been there at night before. It is certanily a sight to behold. It seriously feels like daylight there because of all the lights. And people were dressed up quite interesting. One of the big passing fads is ガングロ(ganguro), which are japanese girls who dye their hair blonde and tan like crazy. It makes them look like they came straight from the KFC fryer, but whatever floats their boat.
So the exchange students plus a few Japanese students all went to this little resturaunt on the 8th floor of some building called the "Asian Resturaunt", which was Thai food. Since we had a large group they offered us a discount and let us eat and drink as much as we wanted for the night. The food and drinks were all good except they would only offer us the cheap japanese beer that tasted like water.
After that some of the people went home and the rest of us went to a karaoke bar for about 5 hours. In Japan you rent out little rooms and you have karaoke in there. So it was like a private party. They had lots of western music since on one really knew slash wanted to sing japanese songs. It was really funny because you can hear all the rooms next to you and they can hear you. And I cannot sing, but that didn't stop me from belting out "Like a Prayer" and "Faith".
The rental of the room ran out at 5 am. So we left and when we got out of the karaoke shop even though it was 5 am you couldn't tell. There were still tons of japanese people everywhere. And most shops were still open. Right as we lef the sun was rising so it was a funny and neat expirience to get to expirience the rising sun in the land of the rising sun. I was so surprised how many people were up at 5-6am. It was almost like it was a normal time in Tokyo. So we boarded the train and got back here at about 6:30am.
Overall a good night slash morning that you definately don't get to expirience anywhere else in the world.
posted by Scot @ 06:34
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