I have not been updating this thing.
Lots of fun things to talk about... went to a lot of places and took a LOT of pictures (and jacked some from Stephen since he is the best photographer)
There will be a crapton of pictures this time so be READY!
First of all, its almost the end of January now. End of January means lots of finals and reports due. From my understanding, this is how my college works: The first 90% of the semester is cake. You barely study, barely have HW, and kinda just screw around and play with your cellphone.
Then finals come. Finals basically means a long, long essay for each class. The only final where it was an EXAM was for my Japanese classes. Other than that, I have a 10 page paper for International Business, 7 page paper for Asian Politics, 2 page paper in Japanese for Mobile Culture, and a 2 page paper for Korean Culture. I just recently finished my 10 pager... it was pretty tiring. But I did learn a lot about Japanese Health Care, immigration, China as a risk to our world, and nuclear weapons.
It's not a bad trade off, really. I only wish the academic system in this college was a little more strict. I feel as if I did not learn much from the actual class, but from my own personal study. Study of the culture, language, and other aspects of studying abroad. Most of my exchange buddies agree with me. We all feel like we are screwed when we go back to our home university (What the hell is this? Homework? What the hell is that? A pencil?)
But Japanese College doesn't let you off that easy. NO SIREE. After spending 90% of your semester doing nothing and 10% actually trying, they force you to take a 2 month vacation. Yup, my Spring Vacation is from Feb. to April. Life is sweet.
So far, my plans for Spring Break are relax relax relax and visit KOREA (south)
I'll be in Seoul from Feb 16~19, so if anyone wants to meet up, let me know!
Alright, lets see. What have I done in the past 2 months. CHECK IT OUT
This is a temple in the Western part of Japan...where the capital used to be
Some exotic and extremely sexy scenery from the temple
The famous "Gold Temple" was one of the sickest things I've seen in a while
There were tens of thousands of these orange gates. It took me and Ken about
3 hours to complete the entire trail with all these damn things. I was so
sick of seeing orange after that. Most of these orange gates have
advertisements on them - the companies donate a few thousand
dollars and they get an ad for it!
One of the guys painting the next ad
Everyone was praying to this guy I think. I really don't know.
He didn't even turn around when I said cheese so I don't really care for him too much
Some fancy architectural design... Love it
This picture is not mine, but it shows a burning festival in Kyoto.
I wasn't able to witness this though...
Here is some artwork of that burning festival. Pretty coooooooooo
If you go to Osaka, you will see this guy EVERYWHERE
NO COMMENT
I got Santa's approval =)
If you go to Osaka, you will be asked to do this pose NO MATTER WHAT
Glicooooo!
I found my cat LILY
Osaka Temple... Beautiful place to visit
Picture of a picture of the Osaka Temple
Me, Ken, and Eunna. WHATS GOOD?
The Kernallllllll!
Cute Japanese bears AWWW
Forest of bamboo trees... very trippy but very neat
Hard as hell...
Random guy yawning... it sure set the mood, though
I forgot the name of this place but it was supposed to be super peaceful
More oldschool Japanese buildings
This is NOT the sign you want to see when you walk in a stall, especially
after an 8 hour bus ride
Meditating in 0 c degree weather
These fishes had some pretty bad ass colors
This was apparently one of the most ancient shrines in Japan.
But wait a second...
..BEER!!!!
BIG ASS CHRISTMAS TREE. Japan really does have a crapload more
lights during xmas than the states
This tree stub has remained in that location since ancient Japan. It has also
remained the most secured treasure in the entire nation due to it's significant historical
impact. Actually, I'm just bs'ing you.
Another pretty looking temple
Beauty
PRAY
This guy was known to kick serious ass back in the day. His name is
Musashi Miyamoto, and he was a bad ass... google him.
Sanjusangendo, 1001 statues lined up, all showing different expressions.
Apparently, one of them has YOUR expression
Had to take these pics 007 style... no pics allowed in here
Every one of those statues had a SLIGHTLY different facial expression
Each one had so many damn hands
These guys were special...
This guy was my least favorite
THIS GUY IS MY HERO
What Japan thinks about America
Ken thought it was weird of me to take a picture of this random person, but please...
answer me this.. is this a MAN or a WOMAN?
Cool little WAR figurines
Reunion with OLD SD people. Shoko, Kouichi, Kaz and Sayu
Just fill in the blank for me
Spent new years in Sakuragicho, a really pretty part of Yokohama
The famous ferris wheel
8 minutes til 2010!
Well, these were most of the good and random ones. I should have another post when I come back from Korea as well
HAPPY NEW YEARS and I hope everyone is doing well!
CHRIS
