Elle's Adventures

Just had a nice conversation via Facebook chat with one of my best friends :) Even though we lived with 15 minutes drive from one another back home, we didn't get to see each other very often. Every couple of weeks we would get together and have a dinner and movie night. I really miss that! So right now I'm feeling pretty happy, but today was a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions. It's hard being far away from home. But today, we were finally able to explore my town, Fukushima. So I have some lovely pictures for you all! Yet another surprise on my desk :) Continuing with my exploration of Japanese wines...I only had two glasses, instead of the whole bottom. That should tell you something :) Seven Eleven has so many yummy looking treats! But they don't taste half as good as they look, unfortunately. Main road The leaves are quickly changing Side street I've been meaning to go down for a while. We discovered an Izakaya and a ryokan ...

Today was Showa Day; a day to commemorate Emperor Showa`s birthday, who reigned before, during, and after World War Two. So this day also doubles as a day to recognise the war and how bad it was, etc, or something like that. So for us exchange students, it`s a great excuse for a day trip! Me, Go, Tei, Natalia and Shannon first set out for Kakuozan to see Nittaiji Temple, as Nasu-san had suggested a few days ago to Shannon and I. Kakuozan turned out to be a really, really nice neighbourhood. The street was lined with lovely little stores built in traditional Japanese style, and private houses that looked modern, large and very lovely. I thought I`d include the photos I took in the morning to see whether my clothes looked okay. And because you all said for me to stay crazy. It`s annoying more than ever to not have a full length mirror! Every morning turns into such a chore. At the time I thought my shoes looked okay. But now...not so much... The top left photo is of tomb st...

Yesterday I went to the Sugiyama Jogakuen travel agent to book tickets to Kyoto in Golden Week. I`m going to stay with my good friend Fumi, who was an exchange student at Utas, Semester One last year. I understood pretty much everything the lady said, made my own enquiries about the difference between the bus and shikansen...ended up going by shinkansen because it`s a lot less hassle than having ten different bus changes. It`s going to be expensive though! I was so proud of myself; I can actually do things on my own - and in another language too! And then there were some not so nice things that happened soon after... For now, let`s just enjoy these random photos: Sugiyama`s CIEP toilets. They aren`t so interesting to me anymore, as I experienced them three years ago, but for those that have never seen them... Some photos I took after going to the post office, buying stamps (yay, I used new grammar...then I didn`t understand the lady. I`ve noticed when I don`t understa...