Elle's Adventures

Nothing terribly exciting happened today, other than getting caught in the rain. A nice girl offered to shield me from the rain with her umbrella as I was waiting for the bus. It was kind of her, I wish I had actually talked to her though. Next time I will be brave!! The weather has been a nice change though. It has been 25 degrees for the past week or so, apparently such a quick and early change in weather is unusual for this time of year. I`ve been finding it a little hard to decide on what to wear. Most of the dresses I wear in Australia I consider to be quite modest; I hate clothes that are low cut on the top half. However here, I think I would be stared at (even more than I already do) if I wore my dresses, since you can see my shoulders. I`ve noticed most girls keep well covered up top, although their skirts can get quite short. I think if I were right in the middle of the city I would be okay. So, today was good because I could wear jeans and a long sleeved top and not worry a...

Yesterday I went to Osu Kannon (a temple) with Natalia. My breakfast. Don`t eat Japanese oranges. I swear, they smell like lemons and just taste really bitter and horrible. I could only eat one piece :( Was so looking forward to it too... A tiny car parked next to Osu Kannon! The pigeons attacked quite a few people as I was walking past, looking for food. I don`t really feel like writing anything else. Sorry everyone, maybe I`ll update this post when I`m feeling a little better. x Lorelle EDIT: I`m feeling awesome today, hehe. Okay, more about Osu Kannon. It`s not the best temple I`ve been to, but I think if it were someone`s first time, they would be pretty amazed by the whole structure. The shopping in the area is really good too. I found a shop that sells second hand kimono with prices mostly around 3000 - 5000 yen, which is incredibly cheap. I found a beautiful pink kimono for 3,600 yen, and it was pure silk. It would`ve loo...

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...

Classes at the moment are still easy, and apparently will be for a few weeks. In the mean time, I`m going to spend my time taking lots of photos of anything :) In other news, yesterday a few of us got onto the wrong bus, and ended up going from our campus to another, rather than our campus to the dormitory. Nevetheless, it meant that I went on the internet later than I would have if we had got home earlier, and I got to talk to Dede. Thank you, whoever is looking after me! At the moment, everything is working out for me... My Japanese mobile...at the moment I can only ring landlines in Australia (I have no idea why). I must figure out how to ring mobiles in Australia. It`s getting to a critical stage! Last night`s meal; I have no idea what it is called, but it`s really spicy and had a few dried vegetables in it. I`m going to have to buy fresh vegetables and mix it together I think :) Otherwise meals are going to become very boring... Really, *really* yummy chocolate bis...

Yesterday we had our first classes, which were faaar too easy. We also had homework which I completed in a few minutes. Other than that, there`s not really any more exciting news. Here`s the microwave Mum, on top of the fridge. And me, hehe. This heats up water...I guess you could call it a kettle/jug/whatever, but it looks a bit strange. It took me forever to figure out how it works! A concrete house...

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!

Today the other exchange students and I went to Nagoya City with the exchange volunteers (I think thaｔ`s what they are, anyway). We were assigned two partners each to show us around. Unfortunately, this only showed that my Japanese is worse than I had thought, so I was a little sad. We went to a large store called Pesse (something like that) with so many floors of nice clothes and shoes! It was a little scary, there were girls wearing layer upon layer of make-up, high heels and skirts that were just a bit short for my liking. Afterwards, we went to Nagoya Castle, which was a little dissappointing. The castle was rebuilt so that the insides was more like a museum than a castle. It was really hot inside too. Unfortunately, my camera battery died, so I couldn`t take any pictures. It was a pity too, because there are still sakura trees in bloom. That was the extent of my day, doesn`t sound like much but I am so tired! x Lorelle