Elle's Adventures

Thought I should put up some of the photos that others have added of me on Facebook: I think I look about 10 years old in this one! Terrible photo of me! I never realised my hair colour was so light Welcoming Party...oh yes I love photos. Especially when they stand there for ages and I know it's about to happen. You're bound to get a lovely photo out of it. Pfft. The colour of my skin looks weird, and something is not quite right with my face! It's weird, I can't work it out... On a side note, 売買, pronounced baibai means buying and selling. Easy as! I'll have no trouble forgetting that one! Okay, back to study :D

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...

...it was not a `party`. Today was rainy :( I still haven`t bought myself an umbrella. So when we left, I took one out of the stand. I hoped that whoever owned it wouldn`t be wanting to go out. I`ve noticed Japanese rain is remarkably different to when it rains in Tasmania. In Tasmania, the winds blow, so it`s impossible to use an umbrella anyway. It Japan there is very little, so the rain falls straight down. I actually prefer Tasmanian rain. You`ll hear why later. Sugiyama`s Sunday bus...I guess they don`t expect many people to be going to University. I couldn`t believe how much space there was! So, at 9.20am we arrived at Sugiyama, and I jumped immediately onto the computers. Still no news. There has been no news for a few days now, which is extremely disappointing. When there`s no news, it makes me feel isolated. Once inside CIEP (Center for International Exchange Programs) we became aware that today was going to begin on a formal note. In one of the classroom...

Today we all had to have another health check at Sugiyama. I think all the first year students have a health check...the line was really long, but being exchange students, we got to jump each line! First of all, we had an X-Ray that took literally one second. Next was height, weight (46kg!! Our scales at home are definitely wrong...how could I lose 3kg in under two weeks?), blood pressure, then a blood test. I was lucky; I said to Nasu-san that once I got a panic attack, so she made sure the people knew I wasn`t going to have it done :) I tagged along with Natalia and Nicole to meet two of Natalia`s Japanese friends in Nagoya City. On the way, we stopped off in Sakae; I bought an egg sandwich for lunch, it was great. I miss sandwiches! We had a look at the shops in the station building; there were two floors of awesome, awesome clothes and shoes, like the one in Passe, Nagoya City. When my scholarship comes through, I can`t wait to go on a shopping spree...with my budget in mind of c...

Today was the day of Placement Tests, which were a little, but not too bad. The speaking test was the most daunting, but then again, they always are. Afterwards, we had our photos taken under the sakura. A while later,we had two separate meetings with the President and Dean; it was really scary and uncomfortable! The exchange students...I look so little! View from Sugiyama Me in my room! We got back at about 3.3opm, which was quite early. I didn`t know what to do with myself! Couldn`t get through to my family or boyfriend at the public pay phone, so I came back and had some dinner. As there was nothing to do, I looked through old photos and got a little sad. That`s what happens when you`re bored and your mind wanders too much, I guess. So, I got onto the internet for about the fourth time today!