So yes, I got into level 3. But actually quite meh lah, 'cause there are so many levels after this after all; 4, advanced 1-3 and so on. Shan't get complacent and work hard. At least I'd have Wednesday off if I manage to get the other modules I want.

Okay actually I don't really know what to blog about.

We went to Tokyo Station but no nice scenery 'cause the chio part of it was under construction. So ended up walking around the shops and stuff and had dinner; pasta omg but it had a Japanese flavour and the dessert was sexy.

I banged my elbow against the wall while walking up the stairs and now it has a minor swelling. My right shoulder is aching too. And it rained ):

My first phone call was from the electronics store where Yifen and Tina got their phones lol.

Got spare battery and memory card.
Ate awesome dashi chazuke.
Got free stuff from the electronics store although I hadn't gotten anything hah.

JPT results tomorrow.

Oh I realized that during long trains, there are various ways to make it seem as though the time is passing faster.
1. Observe an insect crawling on the walls and ceiling of the carriage you're in.
2. The usual, SMS-ing (or in Japan's case, emailing) on your cell phone.
3. Look at your closest fellow commuter and observe and count how many moles he/she has on his/her neck, arms etc. (discreetly lah)
4. Pretend to sleep and daydream lol.
5. Listen to music and pretend to know all the lyrics to a song in a foreign language by mouthing them. Fellow commuters will look at you and you can pretend to be a pro 'cause you know something that they don't ha!
6. Just stare at random hot people on the train and think about things you'd like to do/with (to) them.
7. Remember to wear heels so you can elevate yourself and look over everyone's heads :D
8. DON'T READ!

I heard JAM Project's music at Akiba today and I think I'm liking their songs. Anime-ish though, what the heck.

I finally got my super sexy Japanese keitai today.
But I'm already having trouble trying to figure out which function is for what and so forth.

Went to Yasukuni Shrine and bypassed the Budokan ): no purpose there but would really like to attend a concert there or something.

Tokyo Dome City; some amusement park and stadium which resembled Rod Laver Arena. If footie is Aussie's favourite sport, baseball is the ultimate here. I'd rather watch baseball any day; at least I understand the rules and I know nada about footie.

I watched a group of young handsome girls performing while the others went to sit on the rollercoaster. So okay I've been condemning teenybopper music alot for ages because they're mere clone copies with no substance and only appearances. Fine, listening and watching to such music live is actually quite fun and uplifting, especially when the acts are so enthusiastic.

Really simple food today.
Conveyor belt sushi for lunch and 'standing-up' soba for dinner. As in eating while standing up, not that the noodles were ere- I mean positioned vertically.

Okay I need to continue fiddling with the phone to get it working for me comfortably.
Oh by the way, the awesome salesguy gave me a free memory card hah yay.

Okay I'm so frigging exhausted now.

It was basically a fail day.
We missed out on Yifen's junior, Chih Feng, 'cause a couple of us had to do our commuter's pass and that took ages. We were supposed to meet him at 1pm at Ikebukuro train station but we only arrived at 1.45pm. So yeah ): Joseph's friend joined us later on and for the rest of the day.

Phone-hunting failed. Yifen and Tina couldn't find the pre-paid phone they wanted by Softbank and I left my Alien Registration copy behind (dumbass I was 'cause I had taken it out while reorganzing my wallet last night and didn't put it back in). So no phone.

Didn't manage to meet Edward either 'cause the fella' was still at school and we went to eat dinner and the observatory tower at Shinjuku.

The packages from my mother arrived this morning (thanks Ma) and she had used the recycled boxes we had gotten from Ikea. Very smart hah. She practically packed all my shirts and now I don't think I'd ever need to do my laundry until the end of next month. Okay fine I do; I have to wash my undergarments right.

Oh yeah.
It was okonomiyaki for lunch and super awesome ramen for dinner.
Come to Japan and I'd bring you there! (if I can remember)

Orientation.

The day pretty much started on a bad sprained foot 'cause yeah well, my period started. I literally felt like a sluggish pile of mud dragging itself the entire day. We went to buy lunch bentos at the Tokyo station and immediately proceeded to Sophia.

Easily three-quarters of the exchange students for this term come from North America, a handful from Europe and even fewer from Asia. The dude hadn't mentioned Australia though; unless he meant that Oz was part of Asia. They wouldn't like that. So the talks and speeches dragged on and on and basically not that helpful, given that they were struggling with their English speech as well, except the Caucasian professor but it was irrelevant to most of us 'cause he teaches the graduate students.

Split into two groups for us to be grouped with our Japanese student guides (why are they called monitoring students?); I was one of the last ones left in the first group. And wtf, DK House people are EVERYWHERE HAHAHA. Anyway, my group's guide, Mei, was really friendly. Her English is pretty good too 'cause her major is English. She told us her mother named her after the character in Tonari no Totoro (LOL) and that she was born in the month of May. Damn, my name could have been January. How cool is that?! January Lee Yi Ching lawl.

Actually, the Yotsuya campus is pretty small; it's probably even smaller than the Parkville campus back in Melbourne and that's saying something. All of us could run into each other; the DK people that is hah! So we went off for dinner after that and went home. I was a rotting pile of compost by that night.


Placement Test and Welcoming Reception

Due to the pretty-early timing of the test and the distant nature between DK and Sophia (lol sounds like two lovers), I had to wake up at 7ish to shower before heading out with Tina. Even so, we were nearly late and just arrived at 10am but the test started at 10.15am anyway so what the heck. Yifen had to take the test too, but in the 'native speakers' room and ended earlier than we did.

So okay, the test. Luckily they are measuring what we know rather than what we do not know. I mean c'mon, if it were a real test with marks and all, I think everyone would either have mugged like crazy, or wouldn't even be there in the first place (I think the latter is more plausible). I didn't even bother to read Part 3 for the advanced level (wtf li jie wen da!!! how to do lah!) and scribbled some nonsense for the composition before handing it all in 45minutes ahead.

We went to find banks willing to open accounts for us and got Mitsui bank. Even so, that took ages and our nice German friend (I think her name is Marlene. Sorry!) translated for us. Poor Tina (the German) was too tired and went home first. Anyway, yay, got that done and our card will arrive in a week. Most people are opening so that they can get the money from their JASSO scholarship. 80,000yen/month wtf unfair, but I couldn't qualify 'cause I'm an int'l student in Melbourne meh.

The reception was pretty fun. Met the usual people and some new ones. The Japanese organizing students tried to get us to play some game, which some of us didn't, myself included. Sorry! Nevertheless, it was pretty enjoyable. There was also some karate demonstration by the karate club. Went for dinner with a couple of new friends. I kept saying that Ji Eun, an exchange student from Korea was cute and Joseph thought that it could be a first sign to finding out that I could be bi. But she was really friendly and approachable; how could anyone resist?! HAHA. okay she's not a tasty cookie wth.

A new day today.
Should be getting our cellphones and commuters' passes and meeting Edward in the evening. Omg haven't seen that fella' since the Ikoma days, which was...February last year.

Oh, it's Saturday.
By the way, I actually don't proof-read what I type here. So if there's some grammatical error or another, whatever, okay?

Lazier day.

Akabane with Tina and Joseph.
Sukiya for dinner.

Lol.

That's it?

It's orientation tomorrow. We'd see what happens.

Third entry.

Tuesday 22nd Sept! Still Silver Week here in Japan.

Went to Asakusa and Ueno.

Religious place and it was super crowded with locals and tourists. Did all the water, incense burning and praying rituals. Witnessed another Shinto wedding. Got a lucky lot! GOOD FORTUNE OKAY :D

Ate some awesome sushi and awesome ramen for lunch and dinner respectively. Flavours bursting in your mouth and the sensation...okay fine you don't see fireworks in your eyes.

I got a little freaked handling a salesgirl in GAP on my own today hahaha. Quite funny 'cause she was only trying to be helpful and all and almost every local here speaks Japanese to me first, except the guy at the Souvlaki shop who said 'Ni Hao' when Tina turned to look. Anyway, at least I understood her and she must have understood my half-baked Japanese. No communication breakdown. Yay. Japanese salespeople are so nice. Even though you end up saying you'd think about it (buying whatever you were trying on), salespeople know you usually won't and have crabby expressions on their faces. That usually happens in Singapore. Not here. They're like "okay no problem!" :D but then again, maybe they're thinking in their heads: "knn don't buy say don't buy lah!" hahaha okay I think too much.

But that jacket was so tempting ): (lol food). But 16800yen is way too much lo, and it's not like I don't have a winter jacket here already. And KAIKAI (if you read this), I SAW A BAG YOU'D LIKE! I miss my shopping buddy...

I get a good workout every day, walking for goodness knows how long a distance. But I still eat too much to get any weight off lah so what the heck.

What to do tomorrow!
Maybe I should just stay at 'home'. Revise my Japanese. Read something. Upload photographs. Watch videos online. Talk to people.

Okay sounds good.
See ya!

Hi again.

I got the dates mixed up in yesterday's entry and yes, today is the 21st! Got it right this time.

So Yifen and I went to find the Sophia campus today and it was pretty grim, to say the least. The campus I mean, not the journey. The Melbourne campus is so much more chio-er. We walked and we walked, and took the train back to Akiba, short for Akihabara. Otaku hometurf.

Yifen loves her manga, so we spent awhile looking through manga and doujinshi and what not at various shops. Tried to find an electronic dictionary but decided to wait till class has started to determine to the extent to which I would use one. Friggin' expensive okay, and I don't have much money with me at this point of time.

Oh before that, we had an awesome lunch back at Warabi, near the library. Okay next.

I felt super out of place at the interior of many of the Akiba stores. I mean, I don't really watch this sort of anime; I only used to watch the mainstream ones. I don't read manga. I don't read doujinshi. I don't collect figurines. I don't MAKE figurines (coughshyhhorng&justincough). And so on and so forth. But yeah, I was pretty much there as a fascinated spectator. At one point, we entered the wrong section twice, which was meant for the guys. And yes, there were plenty of untrendy bespectacled men but there were many "normal" youths as well.

So Yifen bought her manga and doujinshi and I found some cheap CDs on sale. I bought 4 under 1000yen. It's a steal yo.

Took the train back and walked home as usual. Meh if only they could send cars to pick girls up who return home late at night or something. Okay not necessarily late at night, but when the sky is already dark.

Tomorrow is Asakusa day!

Actually my entries sound damn sien hor.

First entry.

Weird URL? I couldn't think of anything else but I had to get the blog started so yeah, whatever.

So I had a heck of a plane ride from Singapore to Tokyo. Before that, big thanks to Timo, Regi and Nura for sending me off, and most of all my parents. Anyway, it was the new A380 with awesome seats (second deck yo). There were a couple of children on board too but they got quiet after midnight. Tired so must sleep lo. I fell asleep myself until the meal was served which I didn't finish. The new seat and the features were more than enough to make up for pathetic plane food.

Arrived half an hour in advance and waited at the meeting point till 9 for the Sophia University representative to pick me up. The fella' was actually standing right in front of me the entire time, holding up a sign with my name on it and I hadn't realized until I stood up and wanted to move my trolley directly outside the arrival area. I can't recall how he looks like and better still, his sole picture on fb is obscured by his hands or something. He was rather tall though. Anyway, got my luggage to be delivered by this delivery service which cost 5100yen (it sucked. More on that later).

So we took a couple of trains down to Nippori then to Nishikawa-guchi and walked down to the dormitory which took a grand total of 2 and a half hours. Reached the dorm before noon and my luggage hadn't arrived yet. Got my room key and entrance card key and went to my room to rot. Room's on the third floor. So I got the bedding provided out and set up my bed and fell asleep for a couple of hours before heading downstairs to check whether my luggage had arrived. Nope. So went out and walked around before heading back again. No luggage. Went upstairs and ended up dozing off again. No luggage. Went out to get a photocopy of my passport. Went back. No luggage. Finally...FINALLY. At around 8.30pm, it came. So I lugged my 50kg worth of clothes, plugs and other shit up three flights of stairs and dragged them to my room. I began unpacking immediately and finished that night. Am I awesome or what. Then again, there wasn't much to begin with.

And no, I hadn't eaten that entire day. Pictures of my room another day.

The first and fourth floors are for the guys and the second and third for the girls. Showers on the first floor; one for the guys and one for the girls. Two toilets and two laundry areas on each floor. Two kitchens. And yes, all close at certain times. No curfew. Bicycles available for rental. Meals not provided.

So basically my dorm isn't even in Tokyo itself; it's in Saitama. And it's really quiet here, despite it being in the middle of the residential district. There're a couple of elementary schools nearby, with one directly opposite the dorm. I must say, kids here seriously get good workouts every single day, morning and afternoon. No wonder they're so fit and tanned while the obesity rate for children in Singapore is getting higher, because the already limited P.E. lessons end up being replaced with "important" classes.

I hadn't tried travelling to the campus yet, but it roughly takes an hour, including walking because the trains are actually pretty fast. I won't even bother explaning the lines and the train names. And...it's expensive ):

The first day sucked and honestly, I cried because I didn't know what I had gotten myself into. The second day was better. I woke up early to shower and went down to the tatami room for orientation. Seriously alot of American, British and German students. There were about 4 actual Asians, including myself. As in, Asian Asians, not American-born/bred Asians, where there were easily half a dozen in the room then, and that was only the first orientation. Filled up some forms, submitted them and went for a brief tour around the dorm. Went with around twenty others to register for our alien thing. Because we're foreigners staying here for more than 90 days. That was when I met another Singaporean here. And he studies in Australia too. What were the odds. Speaking Singlish was awesome, but he's hardly ever around here because he has his local friends and local girlfriend so too bad. As in too bad that the other Singaporean isn't around to speak Singlish to, not any other reason. The walk to the city office took more than a hour and registering took another 2 hours; the journey back was shorter though and then, it was already 4ish so the 4 Asian Asians (a Hong Kong girl who has only studied Japanese for 30 hours but can speak fluent English, and a Taiwanese girl who has studied Japanese for 5 years but doesn't speak English wtf) decided to eat together. Ramen at this small shop we found. It was pretty cheap. Then went exploring to buy toiletries and some food before heading back. END.

The third day. Saturday. 18th Sept. Second day of orientation (more ABAs) and Welcome Party. Fun to meet more people who live on the same floor (Jessica lives next to me yay). Cooked our own lunch; Japanese curry rice and salad. I cut the meat with several other people. Can't imagine 30odd people in the kitchen. Met a Californian girl who is a pescatarian, like Sue-mae. After the meal, Miss Hong Kong (Tina), Miss Chinese Taipei (Yifen) and little ol' me went bike-riding to find, would you believe it, the library. Borrowed Coraline at the children's section (don't laugh). I totally found it by accident 'cause I was picking through random books without reading the titles and that one happened to fall out. Fate lo. So I only managed to read the first page, but hey, that's an achievement. Hah. Then Yifen and I went to Belc Supermarket, went back and went out again with Tina for Okinawan food at this small place next to the ramen shop from the previous night.

The fourth day. Today. Sunday. 19th Sept. First day heading out to the city itself.
Woke up early to take the train down to Harajuku to meet Yifen's airport escort, Aoki. We arrived early and walked around abit. Ate awesome udon at yet another small place. Even though my speaking is crap, I was so glad I at least remembered some basic vocab hah. Aoki was great. He speaks Japanese, English and some Mandarin, in addition to Spanish which he is currently majoring in Sophia. And he was really patient throughout the day. It was rather amusing though. There isn't a language which all 4 of us could communicate fluently with; if it was Japanese, only Yifen and Aoki; Mandarin, Yifen, Tina and myself; English, Tina, Aoki and myself. Regardless, it was thoroughly enjoyable, except the crazy crowds.

This small street at Harajuku kind of reminded me of Bugis Street in certain ways, except that the former was cleaner and more atas. Went down to the Meiji Shrine and witnessed the beginning part of a Shinto wedding. Got an amulet. Victory yo. Then went down to Yoyogi Park and saw groups of Elvis-impersonating dancers. Milled around at the Vietnam Festival (would Singapore Festival ever come here, or maybe there isn't a big enough population in Tokyo). Went down to Shibuya to get some electronics. Failed to get any cellphone, for now. Witnessed, as Yifen described, some Japanese New Year thing with hordes of people dressed in blue garb carrying these huge miniature (the oxymoron) golden carriages. I know I should really be the one researching on this, so more on that another time. Stopped for tea and desserts at a Shibuya mall (Shibuya Mark City I think) and explored it. Then went to Shinjuku in an attempt to find a shower basket at Tokyu Hands (omg that place I totally loved back in 2006) but failed so we toured the floors. Went for ramen at a not-big-yet-not-small alley, with the vending machines to choose your food and get a ticket to pass to the waitresses. There was a small family sitting next to us, whom I suspect the father and grandmother are from Singapore. The kid was making irritable noises, to which the father said he wanted to take him for a walk outside, to the pachinko parlour to which the mother got irritated and absolutely refused to let the father do so. When I mentioned this to the others, none of them seemed to have realized it. Meh, I too kaypoh for my own good.

Speaking of kids, why are Japanese children just so cute. Even the junior high school boys are. For real. Fudge.

Anyway, we headed back the dorm after that, in which the walk back seemed never-ending.

Tomorrow's gonna be a new day. An even better day. Relaxed morning. And probably heading down to Akiba in the afternoon. This is going great. Life is great. Was great. Until I saw the fucking cockroach in the toilet earlier when I was going to wash up. I swear, it was staring at me through the mirror and edged behind the taps in an attempt to fly at me once I turned back. But I was too quick and escaped before it could carry out its masterplan. Muahaha.

Sorry for the long post without any visual aid. Pictures should be up on fb soon for reference, that is, if you had even bothered to read this in the first place.

By the way, Japan is one hour ahead of Singapore, which currently puts it one hour behind Melbourne, until daylight savings start again.

Okay. Love you everybody!
Good night!