Classes in Japan....this is the life!!
[WARNING] Um, this is kinda long...sorry ^^ Picture overload x_X;
I think next year when I go back to McMaster, the workload is going to be a huge reality check!! Whereas middle and high school in Japan are really serious, and you need to pass crazy exams to get into both a good high school and university, once you get past the university exam hurdle, it's the time for students to relax and enjoy life!!! Classes have less/no homework, so most Japanese students have part-time jobs to make money on the side for themselves. In Japan I think it's pretty much expected that parents pay for their children's education, so all their part-time job money goes toward recreational use....thus you end up with a group of stylishly (crazily?!?!) dressed students who look like they're headed for clubbing or something...geez, those girls and their skirts/boots!!! ^_^;; Anyways, so the international student classes are kind of the same, there is a lot less homework, and most marks depend entirely on final papers and exams. (I say most...Japanese grammar and kanji classes still have plenty of homework :P ) The Natural World of Japan class is awesome cause it consists of lots of field trips!!!!!!! My parents came to visit me and the Nakanishi's in Japan, which I will get into later, but that weekend we went on a trip to climb volcanos!!
Like I said, this gets long, mostly because of all the pictures! If you're intimidated you don't have to click em all anyways :P Right? ;D
Well......
DAY 1
We sorta wandered this disgusting, sulfur-smelling spring area for a while, and then went to the first volcano, Mt.Unzen!! The drive up was kinda scary, windy roads close to the edge of a mountain!! Eeeek!!! And the climb was hardcore. x__X Kento and I were really trying to climb as fast as we could manage without tripping and dying or something, but we still ended up dead last by about half an hour!!!!!! Aaarg! Oops ;___; *sniff* But the view from the top was awesome, was pleased I at least made it!!!! The weather was also awesome and warm, some of the climbing was pretty vigorous (to me at least....i don't exercise, ok), so it became t-shirt weather!!! :D Hehehe, Kento's in most of the pics cause that's who I was climbing with, everyone else got ahead!! =__= After that we took a ferry ride across the nearby bay so we could drive even more to the area of the 2nd volcano!! Got lost a few times, which made for kinda of a boring car ride, but we made it in the end!!! The scenery was pretty cool at least, mountains everywhere!!! We got to stay in this cool "western-style" ryokan called Nonbiri Papa, which was fun!! :) I roomed with Meg and April. I think some people partied later that night, but since I was so dead from that climb I took a blissfull nap ^__-
(1) First break stop, Caelan and Letty!! (2) Too much fun in the back seat (3) Caelan suffers in a sulfur cloud (4) Spring (5) Group pic!! Sorry it's tilted. In my defence, i didn't take it...(see, i'm in there!! ;)
(1) Arrival at Mt.Unzen!! (2) We have to climb up there?!? (3) Those bad boys... (4) Look out for rocks!!! (5) Look out for branches!!!
(1) Path starts out nicely, clear rock steps (2) Getting a little rockier... (3) Now looking more like a pile of rocks (4) Worst ever.
(5) I'm climbing!!! (6) The mountain gets a big THUMBS DOWN (really tired by this point) (7) I rule!! This proves I really made it to the top. (8) Troy and Kento (9) Looong way down (10) GyAaaaaaaahhHH!!!! I'm falliiiiiiiing!! Actually I'm just standing on a rock. (11) Cutie!! ;P (12) A well deserved desert (13) Mwah!!!
DAY 2
The next day we got a pretty early start, and went to a natural spring!!! That was fun, and even though it was raining, our prof Dr.Johnson got us all umbrellas that made for a colourful set of pics! But as for the volcano, bad news -- Fog!!!! The fog on the drive up to Mt.Aso was so foggy that even the headlights of a car right in front of us were hard to see!! I was feeling pretty nervous...fog is bad enough when driving, but made worse when it's on a mountain-side road and you can't see anything over the railing...eek!! Plus, some scary moments where a giant tour bus just materialized out of nowhere right in front of us...GAAAAH!!! @___@ In the end we went to see the little tram hut with all the souvenirs and then had to turn back without going up the mountain...too dangerous!! :\ Too bad, but I can't really do much about the weather! After that everyone just decided to head right back cause we were all still pretty tired. Stopped at a delicious restaurant on the way back, and Kento and Meg tried some basashi...yum, horse sashimi!! o__O I couldn't make myself try a piece, as I have fond memories of horse obsessions from my youth...plus my horse-loving friends might just kill me. ^^ All in all, a very fun trip!!!!
(1) Umbrellas!!! (2) Natural spring river (3) Ume and a teeny spider (4) Crazy fog o__O (5) Horse sashimi (6) Brownies!!!
Here are a few pics from my classes this week -- trip to the beach to see some small remaining earthquake damage left from last year, and then a trip Friday to enjoy the sakura and write haiku!! Good times :D
PHEEEEEEEEW!!! Oooooook that was WAY longer than I planned. It's easy to blab about what happened, but uploading the pictures and putting the addresses in here took a while!! Gah =__= Maybe less pictures next time...? .....Naaaaaah....
Today is giant blog update day I think, cause I have lots of stories to tell and have to get them all down before I forget!! So expect another update soon....XD
I think next year when I go back to McMaster, the workload is going to be a huge reality check!! Whereas middle and high school in Japan are really serious, and you need to pass crazy exams to get into both a good high school and university, once you get past the university exam hurdle, it's the time for students to relax and enjoy life!!! Classes have less/no homework, so most Japanese students have part-time jobs to make money on the side for themselves. In Japan I think it's pretty much expected that parents pay for their children's education, so all their part-time job money goes toward recreational use....thus you end up with a group of stylishly (crazily?!?!) dressed students who look like they're headed for clubbing or something...geez, those girls and their skirts/boots!!! ^_^;; Anyways, so the international student classes are kind of the same, there is a lot less homework, and most marks depend entirely on final papers and exams. (I say most...Japanese grammar and kanji classes still have plenty of homework :P ) The Natural World of Japan class is awesome cause it consists of lots of field trips!!!!!!! My parents came to visit me and the Nakanishi's in Japan, which I will get into later, but that weekend we went on a trip to climb volcanos!!
Like I said, this gets long, mostly because of all the pictures! If you're intimidated you don't have to click em all anyways :P Right? ;D
Well......
DAY 1
We sorta wandered this disgusting, sulfur-smelling spring area for a while, and then went to the first volcano, Mt.Unzen!! The drive up was kinda scary, windy roads close to the edge of a mountain!! Eeeek!!! And the climb was hardcore. x__X Kento and I were really trying to climb as fast as we could manage without tripping and dying or something, but we still ended up dead last by about half an hour!!!!!! Aaarg! Oops ;___; *sniff* But the view from the top was awesome, was pleased I at least made it!!!! The weather was also awesome and warm, some of the climbing was pretty vigorous (to me at least....i don't exercise, ok), so it became t-shirt weather!!! :D Hehehe, Kento's in most of the pics cause that's who I was climbing with, everyone else got ahead!! =__= After that we took a ferry ride across the nearby bay so we could drive even more to the area of the 2nd volcano!! Got lost a few times, which made for kinda of a boring car ride, but we made it in the end!!! The scenery was pretty cool at least, mountains everywhere!!! We got to stay in this cool "western-style" ryokan called Nonbiri Papa, which was fun!! :) I roomed with Meg and April. I think some people partied later that night, but since I was so dead from that climb I took a blissfull nap ^__-
(1) First break stop, Caelan and Letty!! (2) Too much fun in the back seat (3) Caelan suffers in a sulfur cloud (4) Spring (5) Group pic!! Sorry it's tilted. In my defence, i didn't take it...(see, i'm in there!! ;)
(1) Arrival at Mt.Unzen!! (2) We have to climb up there?!? (3) Those bad boys... (4) Look out for rocks!!! (5) Look out for branches!!!
(1) Path starts out nicely, clear rock steps (2) Getting a little rockier... (3) Now looking more like a pile of rocks (4) Worst ever.
(5) I'm climbing!!! (6) The mountain gets a big THUMBS DOWN (really tired by this point) (7) I rule!! This proves I really made it to the top. (8) Troy and Kento (9) Looong way down (10) GyAaaaaaaahhHH!!!! I'm falliiiiiiiing!! Actually I'm just standing on a rock. (11) Cutie!! ;P (12) A well deserved desert (13) Mwah!!!
DAY 2
The next day we got a pretty early start, and went to a natural spring!!! That was fun, and even though it was raining, our prof Dr.Johnson got us all umbrellas that made for a colourful set of pics! But as for the volcano, bad news -- Fog!!!! The fog on the drive up to Mt.Aso was so foggy that even the headlights of a car right in front of us were hard to see!! I was feeling pretty nervous...fog is bad enough when driving, but made worse when it's on a mountain-side road and you can't see anything over the railing...eek!! Plus, some scary moments where a giant tour bus just materialized out of nowhere right in front of us...GAAAAH!!! @___@ In the end we went to see the little tram hut with all the souvenirs and then had to turn back without going up the mountain...too dangerous!! :\ Too bad, but I can't really do much about the weather! After that everyone just decided to head right back cause we were all still pretty tired. Stopped at a delicious restaurant on the way back, and Kento and Meg tried some basashi...yum, horse sashimi!! o__O I couldn't make myself try a piece, as I have fond memories of horse obsessions from my youth...plus my horse-loving friends might just kill me. ^^ All in all, a very fun trip!!!!
(1) Umbrellas!!! (2) Natural spring river (3) Ume and a teeny spider (4) Crazy fog o__O (5) Horse sashimi (6) Brownies!!!
Here are a few pics from my classes this week -- trip to the beach to see some small remaining earthquake damage left from last year, and then a trip Friday to enjoy the sakura and write haiku!! Good times :D
PHEEEEEEEEW!!! Oooooook that was WAY longer than I planned. It's easy to blab about what happened, but uploading the pictures and putting the addresses in here took a while!! Gah =__= Maybe less pictures next time...? .....Naaaaaah....
Today is giant blog update day I think, cause I have lots of stories to tell and have to get them all down before I forget!! So expect another update soon....XD