After the Storm

Well the typhoon has passed and now I can say I've been in a typhoon. I wasn't sure what to expect but I think if I would of been closer to the coast it would have been a little more scary. It was projected to hit Tokyo around 6 AM but I believe it actually hit between 3-4:00 AM. It poured for hours and I watched the streets and parking lots fill up with water until I fell asleep. By the time I woke up around 9:30, the water was gone and replaced by hind winds like I've never seen before. Regardless of the winds though, it was actually the first beautiful day we've had in a while. It was so sunny outside and the sky was an amazing shade of blue. I stayed inside all day and enjoyed the weather while working on my homework when around 12:00 I found out that all classes for today had been cancelled. Yes, I was excited.

I've spent all day just enjoying my time off and finishing up the Japanese drama "Hana Yori Dango" after starting it over the summer. Now I will prepare for tomorrow. I have two classes and then for dinner, I'm meeting my friends to celebrate my friend Mayu coming to Tokyo to visit from Kyoto. I'm so excited to see her. She's a really sweet girl and I haven't seen her since the beginning of the year.

Making friends has been a little difficult unfortunately. Some Japanese students have been really outgoing and we've exchanged numbers but I can only say I've really spent more than one occasion with one girl, Saori. In terms of the international students, a lot of them split into groups immediately it seemed but I'm trying to be more outgoing and less shy. Everyone seems really interesting and I do want to get to know them. Speaking of being more outgoing, I've also been trying to be more independent. Of course it was very nerve wracking to come to a new country knowing only a handful of people so naturally I glued myself to Kaitlin and Desiree. I love spending time with them but lately I've been trying to be more independent and go out on my own. In general, I am more of a independent person, just shy at first so I'm afraid that maybe I seem like I'm closing myself off from people but I'm not. It's been very annoying being so exhausted all the time and getting used to Tokyo when it's such a busy and overwhelming city is the main cause of it but I will be fine soon. Also, it's VERY expensive to go out all the time and I would rather save my money for other things like going to Korea or Thailand during my break. I've been here for a month and I'm figuring things out I'm happy to say. I hope that everyone else is figuring there stuff out as well. While some people are joining clubs or "circles", I'm content to just explore things on my own this semester. I don't really know which circle I'd join anyways and I want to get used to things here before I tie myself down to something.

Have a good night everyone!

Another photo of Melor

Hello Melor

I just woke up from a short nap and now I need to finish the rest of my homework! Here are some shots of what  Typhoon Melor looks like:

Somewhere in that lies Japan and me. I don't think it'll be that bad for us but then again I've never been IN a typhoon so I kind of don't know what to expect. I expect lots of rain though. It's all we've been getting for a week and a half  now.

Oh look, homework.

Super Typhoons & Massive Amounts of Reading

Well Michigan may have snow storms but Japan has typhoons. Nice trade off for me, right? I guess I'll find out how bad it'll be within the next 48 hours but I'm not even sure how concerned I should be about it. For the past week or so, the weather has been dismal. When it rains, it usually rains all day and even when it isn't raining it's been kind of cold. Well today was no exception except I decided to check the weather and found out the typhoon that's been affection southeast Asia is what's causing it. When I checked this morning they predicted that by the time it reached Tokyo it would have weakened. After school though, I checked my e-mail to find a warning from the American Embassy about super typhoon Melor and from what I understand it won't be getting better. After talking to my friend Greg, I still can't really predict how this will affect the area I'm living in but I guess all I can do is watch the reports and just go about my normal life here. So wish me luck! (Also--someone tell me why regardless of the fact that it's been raining a lot, I still haven't bought an umbrella!)

My classes this week are going well so far except I forgot to do some homework that my Japanese class is supposed to do online. Ugh. But I've been doing everything else and I think I'll be okay. They don't take late homework so there's no reason for me to get too upset about it. I just need to make sure to write down everything on the calendar that they gave us. (Shakes head in frustration and disappointment)

Other than that, most of my homework is just reading and preparing for lectures in class. I'm not very outgoing so I haven't spoken up yet but I'm trying to be more outgoing in general because that's the only way I'll get anywhere while I'm here. I need to make friends, I need to do well in classes, I need to improve my Japanese, and all of that demands me to be outgoing and speak up. So...wish me luck with that too!

It may be strange to say but I consider eye drops to be a beauty product that I've worked into my daily regimen when it comes to getting ready in the morning. No matter how much sleep I get or how much coffee I drink, I never look as awake as I'd like (or as white-eyed) as when I put eye drops in. They make my eyes look bright and they also wake my eyes up. It's like...caffeine for them! Strange ne? When I told this to Shawna last year she just laughed at me and said they weren't but I still consider them a beauty product, at least for me! (^_^)

For a while I've been obsessed with the fashion of Daisy Lowe. Also~I'd like to imitate her hair style because there really is NO point in my straightening my hair when the rain and weather has just been ruining it. Her hair style is more what mine is really textured like. I just need to find the right products to keep it looking like that and NOT a fuzzball all day.

Korea Battles the Twentieth Century

I've spent most of the day doing my homework yet I found myself distracted by how nice today was. I actually enjoy Sundays now, whereas before they were just the day before what would be a long and painful week. The weather was beautiful today. During this last week, it's been rainy or at least dark and somewhat cold. So it was nice to wake up this morning with the sun shining and the warmth rushing in through my windows.

Last year I watched a movie called " All About Lily Chou Chou ". I know a lot of my friends really didn't care for it. It was long and strange compared to the movies most people usually watch but I thought it was beautiful and sad and it still leaves me with this indescribable feeling after seeing it.  I especially love the music from this film. Most of the soundtrack is done by Japanese artist Salyu. My friend Matt gave me all of her music and I still love listening to it till this day (actually~when I took a nap earlier I played her music). So for anyone interested, here are a few links of some of the songs from the movie. Arabesque , Glide , Tobenai Tsubasa . I hope someone else enjoys this too.

I'm very proud of how much I accomplished this weekend. My room is very clean and organized, all my Japanese homework for the week is done, I'm prepared for my other classes and ready to begin the week. Tomorrow I have a follow up dentist appointment. Last week I had to go in because something was wrong with my mouth and I was in a lot of pain. It turned out that the root of my wisdom tooth was pressing into the nerve that runs through my jaw so I was given pain killers and was told a number of things I could do about getting the tooth out. Honestly though, since then the pain has been a lot better and I haven't even taken a single pill today. So hopefully it's moved away from my nerve and maybe I won't need to get my wisdom teeth taken out until it's necessary, regardless of what anyone else may say. I don't see the point in having them taken out until they are physically hurting me. So wish me luck!

Good luck to everyone else for the rest of the week. By the way, how are my friends back home? I hope everything is going well for everyone and I hope to talk soon! Let me know how things are at Western!

おやすみ　みんな！
Goodnight!

By the way~ the reason I titled my post what I did is because that's what my history class is discussing. I just shortened it.

Tokyo Life

One of my friends asked me recently what living in Tokyo was like. Tokyo is...a lot of things. 

Tokyo is always full of energy. I probably pass by thousands of people going to and from class. I really do love it but I'm still getting used to it because I come home so exhausted every day. I lived in Chicago and it's not the same. They're both cities but they don't compare. Tokyo is a lot more advanced. The transportation system is amazing and you can get to just about anywhere you want to go by it. Everything is ridiculously convenient and I don't think things are as expensive as people think they are here but then again you really have to do some exploring. I really love the 7/11's here. They're actually nice stores and the food is the same quality as a diner or cafe (well, in my opinion). Apparently yesterday, instead of suffering the rain without an umbrella, I could of bought one at the 7/11 for 100 yen (~$1.00). Instead, I was wet and all the effort I took to make myself look nice was wasted. I really love city life and how everything is at my fingertips. I hope that my friends can visit soon! I've seen so much but at the same time, not that much at all. Tokyo is such a huge city that I can't even explain it to someone, it's something you'd have to see for yourself. I remember the first night I arrived. I was so exhausted and I just wanted to sleep on the bus ride to the hotel but I forced myself to stay awake so I could see the city. It was everything I thought it would be and even more. 

October

So I've almost been in Japan for a month now. I'm so happy to have school starting up because I was getting kind of bored and I need to be busy 24/7 or I go stir crazy.

I've taken today as a day to clean up my place (really clean it) and work on school work. But everyone deserves a break right? I came across some beautiful rings by Alex Monroe that I fell in love with.

 ~love ring~

~blue topaz twig ring~

I want, I want, I want.

Change in plans: staying in tonight due to massive amounts of reading. Ew.