I am down to less than a week and it is starting to feel like it.  I have been progressively trying to clean my room a bit more every day so I don't spend my last hours here inside packing.  This semester, I took a class on Literature of Reminiscence (i have typed that word over 100 times in the last three days so I can finally spell it...more on that later), which involved weekly one or two page papers, and then a ten page final on which I am currently working.  However, because of the months or short papers I wrote the day they were due in 20 minutes, I had forgotten how to write real papers.  Eight pages into my final, I remembered.  I write papers between 11:00pm and 2:30am.  That is it.  it’s weird but I don't make the rules.  For some reason, my ability to craft words goes super saiyan (or bankai, or sharingan, or [insert Jump! reference here]) and magically I can write.  If i write any other time, I tend to rewrite it later between 11:00pm and 2:30 pm anyway.  However, I did not want to have to write 10 pages in one night, so I wrote yesterday and today during the day.  I was not that disappointed with the result, and after minor editing, was satisfied.  Oh yea, also, I just found out how to get internet at my house.  Just last week.  I am both happy and bitter about this.  It’s really spotty though so it can be annoying, but at least its internet.

Anyway, After that minor digression, I can get on to the point of this post.  I was strolling along the river on a peaceful Kyoto spring evening three night ago when I found myself reminiscing (see how often it comes up?) about my time spent in Japan.  I don't know how many of you know this, but aside from immortality and world domination, studying abroad in Japan has been my only major ambition thus far in my life.  As to be expected, it was nothing like I expected it to be, but despite that i had an amazing time.  If I had to do one thing differently, I would have chosen a different program.  KCJS was solid, but it was isolated.  Other programs enrolled their students directly in Kyoto University, whereas KCJS pussy-footed around it and we were only "partial-students", all though I am currently a full Kyoto University Alumni.  Imagine how that will look when I put it on my job application with n further elaboration.  I also would have lived closer to the city.  My outlook on life has kinda 360'd while I was here, and while the pre-Japan me would have, and did, prefer living away from the city near the beautiful, serene mountains of Arashiyama, the current me would have preferred more ready access to the city and its awesomeness.  It takes me 35 minutes to get to the main street of Kyoto, and while that doesn't seem so bad, it is very inconvenient when I get a text announcing a party in an hour, meaning that if I wanted to go I would have to leave right away, and probably only be able to stay out for 2-3 hours before the last train, at 11:30, beckoned me home. And yes, it does beckon.  I can get home by cab for 3000 yen, but it’s not worth it unless I am already out having too much fun to care.  Also, had we been more involved in Kyodai, it would have been easier to make Japanese friends.  While I, as well as many of the students, made a plethora of Japanese friends, most of our time was spent together.  All the people I met at KCJS (save 3) were amazing and I am so glad to have spent his time with them.  Than being said, I had imagined spending more time with the Japanese, and more fully experiencing what it is to be a Japanese college student.  instead, I had to work.  Those two things aside, which truly were minor issues that only occurred in retrospect, all went very well and I grew a lot as an individual. 

So I decided to bullet point some of the most interesting things that happened to me.  This is not a planned list, so much will inevitably get left off and it not in order of interesting-ness.  Also, it will raise interest in you, the 8 or so people who read this journal, and give you things to ask me when I get back since you will be too in awe of me to think for yourselves.  Just kidding.  You will retain some rational thought.

1.  Tabehoudai (all you can eat.  Also, Nomihoudai, (all you can drink)) - for between 2000-3000yen, you can eat and drink all you want of rare foods like meat.  It is great.  I can't believe I lost weight here eating as much as I did.  The Japanese are not as irreverently obese as we are, and so for them, tabehoudai means like 5-6 boxes of meat for a table of 4.  For us, it is 8-10 boxes per person.  Vonderbar.

2.  The only people I saw in Kimono carry swords were gaijin.  Myself included.  I did see some old people and gorgeous women in kimono however, but it was out of place.  If you wear a kimono, you get free bus rides and 10% off cab fare.

3.  Sleeping on the floor.  No, not a futon, the floor.  i have a futon at home, nothing new.  here, I sleep in a bed. The Japanese don't heat their houses, so to stay warm in the winter they sit under low tables with a blanket over them on heated rugs.  this is called a kodatsu (the table is, the rug is just a rug.  no Aladdin magic here.  He wasn't even one of the original 1001 Arabian Nights tales.  Ask Scheherazade.)  While watching things n my computer, I would sometimes be overtaken with comfort and fall asleep with my legs crossed but otherwise laying on my back on the floor.  felt great.

4.  Other gaijin don't like you.  I don’t know what it is (Actually I do.  they are afraid of being pegged as gaijin so they try not to interact with others of their kind), but all other gaijin will not acknowledge you on the street or in cafes.  That is why I went out f my way to say hi to them and make it real obvious they didn't fit in.  Sounds like a dick thing to do, and it was.  But i made a friend doing it so no harm there, right?

5.  A sketchy black guy in Rippongi trying to sell my cocaine in a bathroom.  No joke. 

6.  getting lost on my way to school for three weeks straight.  My god.  I finally got it, and now have a commanding grasp on the layout of Kyoto, but it really sucked when I didn't know where the hell I was.  There are like 37 exits to the train station I got off at, so it was hard to keep it straight.

7.  the Sakura.  No words can capture their beauty.  The quintessential ephemorality.

8.  Concerts and movies being silent during the movie/songs.   So nice, 

That’s it for now...it’s almost essay time.  After this I am done.  yay.  More to come later

Wow...so much had happened since I last post that I feel to post about all of them is somewhat impossible.  I will go through a quick list of things now, and then come back to elaborate on them later since I should be writing and essay right now.

-Ski Trip in Nagano
-Spring Break

...that actually doesn't seem like very much at all...but a lot happened concerning each of them.  I am tired and I am pretty sure I am leaving out something from the extensive list above, but that will just have to be for now. 

Wow I have not been good about updating this thing :P  Sorry.  Well, as all, none, or some of you may know, I have recently undertaken the effort to catch up on two seasons of Lost.  I was addicted to this show around the end of high school, when it was brand new, and got much farther than I had recalled into the second season after departing for my freshman year of college, but somehow lost (haha) interest.  While I admit the second season is not as compelling as the first, I was surprised at how much I got into it.  I am using the past tense despite the fact I have not seen the whole thing…just bear with me.  I hear that, instead of both season 2 and 3, its just seasons 3 that’s completely irrelevant/bad.  But I will suffer through that as well (unless they kill a bunch more characters I like and such…in that case I will just read a spoiler) and then get ready for the allegedly awesome seasons 4,5 and 6 (which is the last one).  That is a ramble but whatever I don’t want to go to bed yet.  I am also psyched for Seasons two and three of Afro Samurai, which I just watched again (third time total, first since summer) which is amazing and has actually gotten more amazing since I last saw it.  I think I have a version with deleted scenes because there were some parts in this version I don’t remember being in the other that really added something to the series.  Very nice.  Also this week I finish season two of heroes, which was also not as compelling as the first but was still good. 

How about Japan?  It is starting to feel like fall here, which is good because its actually winter.  Well, technically not since winter doesn’t start until December 21^st, but let’s just say it feels like October.  The leaves are changing colors so the mountain I live next to is a big colorful mosaic.  I will really try to remember to take pictures and put them on facebook, but no promises.  I went down to this weekend festival-like set-up near my house with a friend today and ate yakitori, also known as chicken-kabob but flavored differently.  It’s basically a bunch of small food stands in a park, but there are a lot of people and its really pretty right now (see above reference to trees).  Along with my economics class,  I went to a sweet factory where they make traditional Kyoto-style sweets and, surprise surprise, made sweets and ate them.  They were good.  Talking with all of you really helped me feel still connected with you all…thanks a bunch I really appreciate it.  Still miss you guys!

Can’t really think of much more to say…its weird how I will do something and it will seem really momentous but when I go to record it on LJ it seems like nothing too special, and so I don’t write about it.  I can’t think of any examples right now, but it will be something like a food I ate or a place I saw.  Well, time for bed so I can get up on time and not be late!  For about to weeks I was late everyday by about 5 minutes, which is not good.  I started out the semester getting up around 7am, then getting on a train between 7:55 and 8:13, but something went very wrong and I started waking up around 8am and getting on the 8:47 train, which guaranteed lateness.  Last week I was on time every day, waking around 7:45 and making the 8:34 train.  This week I am trying to get back to my original schedule…plus there are fun shows on at 7:30 that I like to eat breakfast while watching with my host family…drama’s that usually last about 3 months and are 15 minutes long and perfect for breakfasting to.  Just a side note but I can write much more coherently than this but I feel LJ is a place where stream of consciousness writing is appropriate so forgive my incoherent/random musings.  Speaking of which I need to get two pairs of pants hemmed and I’m not sure where to do it….my friend found me a place that she thinks is a tailor but I have yet to investigate.  MaybeTuesday.  And I still need to get my aline registration card…really REALLY late in picking that up….worries me.  Oh well, nothing I can do about it now.  By all…have fun till next time!

Well, I have finally stopped sweating like a waterfall.  I can’t tell whether the weather has gotten slightly milder or if I have finally adapted, though I suspect the former.  So what is new?  The routine has been much the same.  Classes are Monday through Thursday from 9:15 until 11:40, and then class again on Monday and Wednesday from 1:00-4:15.  Recently, we have had the morning portion of classes (Japanese language) on Monday cancelled due to a string of holidays.  That rocks.  So basically I have had class three days a week for the past two weeks.  It is so true that classes in Japan are frequently cancelled for no apparent reason.  My economics class is also amazing; today our teacher taught us was great, and, of course, hilarious. 

I have a fairly well established group of friends now, consisting of four or five people I regularly hang out with and about ten others that I occasionally hang out with.  I do karaoke about once or twice a week, mostly in the afternoons when 30 min costs only 140yen (that’s like 1.25$).  This way, I can go in small groups and practice so when I sing in front of a group I don’t know very well I won’t make them leave in disgust.  Weekends are usually eating and drinking in the city.  Also included in weekly activities is a healthy amount of cloths shopping.  The cloths here not only fit me better than the ones in America but they look cooler too.  I bought a rail pass that my dad is paying for, so I get to keep the 30,000 (300$) yen monthly lunch and transit allowance for spending money.  That helps a lot because, as you may or may not remember, I did not work this summer. 

After a three week transition period, I have settled into a fairly consistent workout routine involving weightless exercises and Bagua.  I have not looked in to finding a gym but am considering, along with several of my closer friends, of joining some sort of fighting group at Kyodai,  either kickboxing/shuuto or maybe a more traditional martial art (assuming that the schedule is not too demanding).  We also plan to run/do pull-ups in random playgrounds twice a week once the weather gets cooler. 

So I went on a date last Saturday with this Japanese girl one of my friends set me up with.  She’s pretty cute but speaks no English, which on one hand, would be very helpful in forcing me to get better at Japanese, but also makes it hard to get to know a person.  I dunno.  I plan on asking her out again either late this week or next week (because the entire KCJS group is going to Okayama this weekend on a vacation, which, ironically, is this girl’s home town).  Either way she would make a good friend; one can never be surrounded with enough attractive women ;)

Anything else?  I got the Dethclock album and found two other avid Hero fans, so tomorrow we are going to watch the first episode of the second season.  Man that show kicks ass.  Half of it is in Japanese too since one of the two main characters is Japanese.  I’m psyched.  I think that is all I have to say for now, so until next time, have a good one.  But probably not as good of a one as I am having here in Kyoto.  But if you are, more power to you.  Though I would doubt such a statement.     

Well, I have been here for eight days, but with all I’ve been doing it seems like I’ve been here for at least a month.  I have not internet access at my house, and thus I can’t check what I’ve already posted about, so forgive me if I cover some experiences twice.  I feel much more at home now in my host family house.  Still not as comfortable as in my own, but perhaps that is for the better.  I wouldn’t want to do anything rude.  My host parents are very nice and personable people; they are both retired, but the host father still does volunteer work for his business and his community.  They have three children, all in the late twenties or thirties, and some of whom have children.  I am not sure on the numbers, but I think one of their children has two children.  Every morning and night they make me fairly elaborate meals by Western standards.   Breakfast usually consists of either bread or rice, several cherry tomatoes, a salad, cucumber, and some form of meat, either turkey slices or sausage, etc.  Sometimes some of the uneaten side-dish from the previous night will be included.  It’s a lot of food, especially when they make me four pieces of toast, but I eat it all.  I don’t want to be rude.  I just hope I don’t get fat.  I eat lunch on my own with friends from the university.  We go either to a local restaurant or to the Kyodai cafeteria, which is akin in quality to a Japanese restaurant in America.  Fuck East Quad Cafeteria (no offense to Hannah or Jesse or Matt or Norah or the other Matt if he is reading too).  I get either katsu curry or some form of noodle soup, my favorite of which is called “karaage ramen”, which is ramen with friend chicken in it.  Oh yes.

  While I have made some Japanese friends, seeing that I don’t have a cell phone yet, I have no way to contact them.  I have to get an alien registration card in order to get a cell phone, and every time I plan to do that I end up never having the time.  I plan to do it tomorrow, and then go to Tea Time, where we can hang out with KIXS (now sure what it stands for, but it is a Japanese student association that helps accommodate exchange students). I figure, since my classes are over at noon, I can go get the Shomeisho (alien registration proof) and then come back and get the phone numbers of all the people I’ve met so far.  Speaking of phone numbers, I am pleasantly surprised with the female portion of the exchange program I am in.  I hadn’t even considered the possibility that any of them would be attractive, but there are in fact no fewer than five girls in my class that I find attractive.  So much for my stereotypical typecasting of female Japanese students (no offence to you Sarah).  Back to food.  Dinner is so far some sort of meat, rice, and around three side dishes, none of which I have tasted before.  There’s one that is just an assortment of what seems to be Japanese vegetables, carrots, chicken and scrambled eggs.  I don’t know how that sounds, but it tastes very good.  Another one is like potato salad, only I like it.  Oh..there was this scallion salad with a sesame based dressing that was amazing.  Main courses included sukiyaki (which was the dinner in full minus rice), tempura shrimp and other fish, chicken and onions, etc.  All very good.  I feel spoiled.

My schedule is fairly interesting.  I go to bed around 10 or 10:30 and get up between 6:45 and 7:30, depending on whether my alarm fully waked me up.  So far the homework has been very light, but this week is class shopping so I have no idea how the work load will be in future weeks.  My professor for Japanese Business and Economics is HILARIOUS.  His English is good but still broken, and he makes a lot of bad jokes which really helps pass the 3 hours over which the class is taught.  He told me I should get a bike.  I probably will.  Well, that’s is for now.  Please post so I can maintain contact with my West side homies (that is, if you still want to be my friends after that J)