Testing, Testing, 123

I downloaded a Blogger app for my iPhone so I can write posts when I'm not at home, so this is me using it now!

Anyway, I'm off to Soup & Nem with Ash now for some more Vietnamese food! Check out my blog post later today about Erasmus!

Until then,

James 

Leipzig

As I'm sure you're aware, I'm living in Leipzig. Located in the state of Sachsen (Saxony), it's pretty close to Dresden and Chemnitz, near the German border with Poland and the Czech Republic. Deep in the former communist East Germany, it's still a fair way behind catching up with the West, as is the vast majority of the East of the country.

That said, whilst Leipzig isn't internationally-renowned for its beauty, the city centre itself is pretty nice, with a fair few huge, old buildings. Outside the centre is a different story, it would seem that a good proportion of the buildings are derelict and covered in graffiti. 

Anyhow, particularly nice buildings are the old town hall, the new town hall and the newly-built Paulinum, shown below in that order. 

The Paulinum was a church until 1968, when it was demolished by the communist government, and has only just finished being rebuilt. It's now used as another of the university buildings.

Leipzig has loads of options for eating out. One of my favourites is Schnitzel Culture which, predictably, is a schnitzel restaurant. What I like about it is that they have an absolutely massive menu with loads of choices of sides and toppings, as well as a choice of meat for the schnitzel itself; you can choose from pork, turkey and veal, as well as cauliflower, tofu, aubergine, celery, cheese, and oyster. I'm not really sure how anything other than meat would work, but it must do! Anyway, my favourite schnitzel is the "Strammer Max", which I usually have with pork, and comes with chunky chips, salad, boiled ham and two fried eggs. It's good!

Besides that, there are a lot of Asian restaurants in Leipzig. There's the Vietnamese restaurant, Soup & Nem, which is cheap and you get huge portions. Somewhere I'm looking forward to going back to is Sushi & Nem, where there's an all-you-can-eat offer (anyone remember my blog post about 食べ放題?) for €10 every weekday afternoon from 2 until 4:30. Needless to say, when I went with Ash and Natasha, we got stuck in.

There's another Japanese restaurant I like, called Umai, which specialises in Ramen and Onigiri. This is a bit more expensive, but when I'm really hungry and in a particularly nostalgic mood about Japan, it's a good place to go.

There are a lot of curry places too, but I'm yet to go to one. That said, over the past few days I've been really fancying a good curry, so I might go out sometime soon.

With regard to drinking, there are so many places. One place I really like is Spizz, which I only just went to for the first time last night. It's a jazz and music club, although I didn't see any jazz on when I went (which for me is a good thing). The upstairs bit is a bar and restaurant, whilst the downstairs bit is a club. Outside they have a load of tables and chairs. When it's mild, which it was last night, you can sit and watch everything happening around you. Spizz is located on the central Markt, or market place. There are loads of bars and clubs everywhere, and people milling around, so it's a nice place to sit and have a drink. There's also a HUB-style British pub, The King's Head, which is nice to pop into occasionally for a taste of home.

A little distance outside of the city centre is the Red Bull Arena, a 45,000 seater football stadium. When we first got to Leipzig, the university gave us free tickets to see an RB Leipzig match, against FC Plauen. I haven't been to a football match since I saw Spurs beat Chelsea in the League Cup final (hehehe) at Wembley over 5 years ago, so it was great to see another match. Although the football wasn't quite of the same calibre, it was definitely a lot of fun to watch. Add to that cheap lager and plenty of good sausage-based food, and you're onto a winner.

There are some good museums too. The two I have been to so far were a museum of Germany since 1945, focusing on East Germany, and the Stasi Museum. I recommend both. I especially liked the Stasi Museum, set in the old headquarters of the Leipzig Stasi. There are untouched offices and cells to look at, as well as loads of artefacts. I particularly liked all of the examples of Stasi surveillance gadgets; cameras built into suitcases etc.

There's plenty of stuff in Leipzig which I've yet to do. When my parents come to visit me in a month I'll write a post about some of the more cultured things in the city! One place I really look forward to going to is Auerbachs Keller, an old beer hall and restaurant, which Goethe used to visit often. Several scenes from Faust are set there. It looks fantastic, and I can't wait to go there! 

I hope this post was comprehensive enough...I could go on for ages talking all about Leipzig but I think the things I've written about today are my personal highlights so far. Anyway, tomorrow I shall be posting about the Erasmus grant, which will hopefully be a useful guide (sort of guide, anyway) for anyone planning on studying abroad in Europe as part of a degree.

See you tomorrow!

James

My Flat & Grünau (Part 1)

Hello hello! As promised, here is my post about my new home. 

I didn't get to choose where I lived when I applied to the university. All I could do was select some criteria from a list to show what sort of place I wanted. I can't remember exactly what I put, but I just said that I wanted somewhere fairly cheap in student halls, and to be living with Ash.

A couple of months later, we received an email to tell us where we'd be living. Both Ash and I would be living together in a two-person flat (2er WG) in the student halls on Mannheimer Straße, in Grünau. We're on the second floor, and Natasha Clancey is in a 2er WG upstairs.

Grünau is a suburb of Leipzig roughly 25 minutes on the tram west from the city centre, and is...fairly run down. I don't have any pictures (I'll try get that done for another post, My Flat & Grünau Part 2), but it was originally built as a council estate when Leipzig was in the former East Germany. Hm. So it's not particularly pretty. Below is a photo of the view from my window.

So you get the idea. The local amenities aren't too bad, though. There's a Lidl supermarket about 2 or 3 minutes away on foot, and over the other side of the estate there's a shopping centre, with supermarkets, cafés, electronics shops, a post office, a pharmacy, and much more. The nearest tram stop, Stuttgarter Allee, is right next to the Lidl, and trams are regular.

The downside to where I live (besides the fact that it's an East German council estate), is the fact that there are no bars or restaurants, so we have to go into the city centre for any sort of socialising. That said, there's a small student-run bar, Die Oase, actually within the student halls themselves. It's only open on Monday and Wednesday evenings, but the drinks are super cheap (€1-€2, and on Mondays all beers are €1 for a 500ml bottle), and it's a good opportunity to practice German and make some friends. They do occasional film nights as well, but I haven't gone to any of those yet.

Anyway, my flat. Other than my room it's pretty messy at the moment and needs a good tidy, so when that's been done I'll put some pictures in the second part of this post in a few days' time.

My room is quite small, maybe a bit bigger than the one I had in Japan but certainly smaller than anything I had in Leeds. That said, I'm not complaining when it's €160 (£135) per month. Ash's is bigger than mine and costs €185 a month (I think). I'll go into more detail about the rest of the flat when I upload pictures of it, but we get a kitchen/dining room and a bathroom, besides the two bedrooms. We were annoyed with a lot of things upon moving in (as with too many aspects of this university), but again, I shall go into that in the second part of this post.

My walls are pretty bare as you can see, but I don't really see much point in spending a load of money on decorations as I'm only here for another two and a half months. Despite the bare walls, it feels homely enough! 

In that €160 per month, all of the utilities are covered, including internet. Ah, the internet. I was really happy when I finally got it set up (the set up instructions were so convoluted and the procedure so pointlessly complicated, not to mention the fact that there weren't any instructions for Macs, that I think you needed to be a computer hacker to do it). The internet speeds were very fast, and there was no downtime every two hours like in my room in Japan. BUT it turns out that you're only given 40GB of usage per month. If you go over that limit, they cut your speed to 256kbps, meaning that you can barely do anything online, and certainly not watch videos. 40GB sounds like a lot, but if you think that a film streamed online is roughly 600mb-1GB, and you're doing things like watching stuff on YouTube and Skyping as well, 40GB can go really quickly.

Anyway, I'm happy enough here. The important thing is that I feel settled and it's a nice place to come back to after class or whatever. It's the first time I've had my own flat, so it's a good few months of practice before I move into a flat with Ash for my fourth and final year in Leeds.

That's all I really have to say! Check my blog over the next few days as I'll be doing a post a day (as I said yesterday). Tomorrow I'll be writing about Leipzig itself, and then about Erasmus and the university on the following days. At some point next week I'll do part two of this post, as well. Anyway, as always I shall put links on Twitter as and when I write each post. 

See you soon!

James 

Germany

Well hello, and yes, I know I said I would be posting in a couple of days last time and yes, I know that was two months ago, but I'm here now, alright?!

I'm writing this blog post in my flat in Leipzig, which I'm sharing with Ash, looking out over Grünau, the suburb in which I live. It's fair to say that Grünau is the grimmest place I've ever lived. Just watch any episode of Shameless (which is nearly over for good now, wahh) and you'll get a good idea of my area. Just add East German communist buildings. I'll give a proper run down of my flat and area (with photos) in a later blog post, but I'll say now that although this isn't the nicest area, and although I have to get a tram for 25 minutes to get to university every day, the fact that this place only costs €160 (£135) per month, as well as there being some great people living in the same block, definitely makes up for it.

Today is the day that I receive the first part of my Erasmus grant. As with my flat, I'll do a proper blog post about this soon. As this blog was originally designed to be helpful for people wanting to study abroad, and the process is pretty complicated (too complicated actually...), I think Erasmus deserves its own post.

Moreover, soon I'll do a proper post about the university too. I like it now that I've settled in and everything has worked out fine, but believe me, there's plenty to moan about regarding the whole registration and orientation process. Trust me, this does need its own post.

I know these days I only ever seem to publish posts promising more posts, but I really am going to be doing one a day for the next few days. I've been meaning to get back into this blog for a while, and I've had a fair few people asking me to start again (I never realised you lot cared!), and due to the fact that I'll have plenty of time, with me only having one class tomorrow, and then Thursday and Friday off, I'm going to do one a day! Here's the list:

Wednesday 8th: My Flat & Grünau

Thursday 9th: Leipzig

Friday 10th: Erasmus

Saturday 11th: Universität Leipzig

I look forward! I've not really posted any decent posts since the Autumn of 2011, when I was settling into life in Tokyo (crikey that seems a long time ago now), but watch this space!!

James

Getting Back into Blogging

Crikey, it's been a while since I've been here.

So yes, my hectic life in Japan got the better of me and my blog towards the end of the last term at ICU, but as I'm going to Germany to study for a term at the University of Leipzig in just over three weeks, I thought I ought to get back into the habit of writing this!

In the next few days I'll write a sort of summary post for my year abroad in Japan, and then after that I'll get cracking with all things German...stay tuned!

James

Leeds Exam

Goodness, it's been a while since my last post...sorry! I've been really really busy recently, and to be honest will be busy until I leave Japan (which is in three and a half weeks...blimey!)

Something definitely of note to blog about is the Leeds exam, which I sat on Monday, 7th of May. It's the biggest assessment of our year abroad in Japan, and it was compulsory that we pass it if we were to go onto the third year at the University of Leeds.

For the exam, we had to learn hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of kanji compounds (words made from various combinations of Chinese characters), as well as a fair bit of grammar. The exam itself was pretty hellish. For the first section we had to write the kanji for various readings, and then write the readings for different kanji compounds in the second section. Each of those was worth 20%. After that, we had to translate ten Japanese sentences into English; worth 30% overall. The final section, also worth 30%, was an essay which we had to write in Japanese (we could choose from three titles).

If I'm honest, I left the revision a little late, but after a few weeks of intensive cramming, I managed to scrape a pass. Most people seem to have passed, but a few didn't quite make it. They'll have to study pretty hard over the summer, and then they'll have one more opportunity to pass it in the resit in September. If they don't pass it then, they won't be able to progress to the third year, and will have to drop out. I was really worried about not passing, so it was such a relief to find out that I had made the grade. Even so, as I  didn't exactly do spectacularly well, I'm going to have to study a fair bit over summer anyway, just to make sure I stay on top of everything. But anyway, my resounding thought after the whole Leeds exam ordeal is just....phew!

In other news, this Sunday my friend Rachel, with whom I used to live during the first year of university, will be flying out to visit me in Tokyo! I'm almost wetting myself with excitement (this is hyperbole; my actual bladder control remains uncompromised). She'll be staying with me for nine days...and only leaving Japan a week and a half before I do...the end is very much in sight!

James

P.S. I'm aware that my comment on bladder control sounds extremely Alan Partridge-esque. I can only apologise.

Money Problems

Er, yeah, I don't have any of it. And I'm ill. Oh dear.

James

ふぐを食べた! - I Ate Fugu!

First of all, I know the formatting and fonts are weird in this post, but it won't let me fix it for some reason, so I'm sorry about that...

Last week my friend Matt and I were in the pub in Kichijoji, and we thought it would be an excellent idea to get some drunken munch on the way out. Not in the mood for a kebab, ramen or gyoza, we headed up the street to a fugu restaurant.

For those of you who don't know what fugu is, it's a fish. But not just any fish; it's notorious for being fatally poisonous when not prepared properly, and known as Pufferfish in English. For a brief overview of the consequences of a chef incorrectly preparing it, I've taken this delightful extract from fugu's Wikipedia page: Fugu contains lethal amounts of the poison tetrodotoxin in the organs, especially the liver, the ovaries, and the skin. The poison, a sodium channel blocker, paralyzes the muscles while the victim stays fully conscious along with causing paralysis. The victim is unable to breathe, and eventually dies from asphyxiation. There is no known antidote.

Lovely.

Waiting for the fugu to arrive

After being seated at our table, we waited anxiously for our first course to come. Whilst generally the only people who die from eating fugu are untrained fishermen who catch and eat it without realising what is, and we knew that really we'd be fine as fugu chefs have to go through several years of tough training to be allowed to prepare it, we couldn't help but be a bit nervous, what with it having such a reputation. 

The first thing to arrive was a large plate of fugu sashimi (thin raw strips). I didn't take a photo of it as we'd already devoured most of it before I even thought to, but I did get a couple of photos of Matt and I  about to tentatively take our first bites.

It was really really delicious. I definitely recommend it! It's hard to describe the taste, though. The texture is like most fish, maybe a bit tougher, and the taste was light at first, but strong in the aftertaste (but not like mackerel). See how it's hard to describe? That's not helpful at all, is it. Moving on...

The second course was some more fugu meat (some of which was still twitching on the plate...), fugu skin (remember how apparently that has poison in it..?) and lots of vegetables and mushrooms to put into a hot pot which had been placed on a heater in the centre of the table, as well as other salad-y bits on the side. Along with that we got some different dipping sauces, and even deep-fried fugu!

Eating the skin made my lips tingle a little bit, which was a worry as I'd heard that that was one of the first effects of poisoning, but it turns out that apparently that's the intended effect. Yay. Everything was really delicious, and not as expensive as I'd heard. Matt and I split all of that, and it was under 2,000 yen each. I really do recommend it. If anyone's interested in going there, I don't remember the name of the restaurant, but if you leave from the Park Exit of Kichijoji Station and turn right, it's a couple of hundred metres up that street, on the left. You can't miss it; there's a huge tank of fugu swimming around on display outside. Even if you don't live near Kichijoji, there's bound to be somewhere selling fugu near to you. If you're reading this from the UK, sorry but fugu is completely banned in the EU!

Next time I eat something strange and delightful I'll be sure to write another blog post! The next one will be about my travels this Spring break, I'll hopefully get it done soon, but I'm very busy with revision at the moment; my big Leeds exam is in three weeks today!! D:

James

Registration for my Third and Final Term at ICU & Cherry Blossom Viewing

Yesterday I cycled into ICU for the first time in what felt like ages to register for my spring term classes. Having taken Japanese level 4 last term, I took level 5 for this one. I was originally planning to take Intensive 3, which combines levels 5 and 6, and takes up twice the amount of time, but as I need as much time as possible to study for my upcoming Leeds exam on May 7th, I opted to take level 5 instead. This also has the advantage of meaning that I'll be able to resume my job after the Leeds exam, as I would have finished too late every day to have made it to Shibuya in time for work, had I picked Intensive 3.

I had to take another course in order to have the required number of credits for my student visa, so I decided to study Middle English! This was the language spoken in England between roughly 1100 and 1500, and the precursor to early Modern English. It's something I've had an interest in for a while now, so it's great to finally get a chance to study it properly! It looks really interesting in its grammar and structure, and you can definitely see more Anglo-Saxon and Norse influences than are left in the language now. Below is a sample of Middle English, from Wikipedia.

Forrþrihht anan se time comm
  þatt ure Drihhtin wollde
ben borenn i þiss middellærd
  forr all mannkinne nede
he chæs himm sone kinnessmenn
  all swillke summ he wollde
and whær he wollde borenn ben
  he chæs all att hiss wille.

So I should have some fun with that! Another thing worth mentioning about going into ICU to register for courses yesterday is that we are currently slap bang in the middle of the cherry blossom season, so yesterday was a great opportunity to take loads of photos on campus, as there are hundreds of sakura trees on ICU's grounds. I've put the best ones below. Today I start my last term at ICU...wish me luck!

James

5 Things I Miss, and 5 Things I Will Miss

It's dawned on me recently that I really don't have all that much time left in Japan. I don't have an exact date in mind yet, but I'll be returning home at the end of June or the beginning of July. That's only about three and a half months. I've been here six and a half months already, but it really doesn't feel like it's been that long. This got me thinking about the things I appreciate or even take for granted in Japan, which we don't have in the UK, and that I imagine I'll miss once I've left. Whilst considering these I started thinking about the things I miss back home, and because it's been a while since I last blogged, I thought I'd turn this into a post.

Things I Miss

1. People

I suppose this is an obvious one, but I really do miss lots of people back home; my parents, friends and relatives. I also miss my dogs a lot, too! I know that they'll all be there when I get back though, so I don't really get down about it. Thank goodness for Skype, though! And going back at Christmas to see everyone really did work a tonic.

2. Yorkshire Grub

Oh dear. Whilst Japan's culinary peculiarities are varied and delicious, there are times when I could positively murder some roast potatoes and yorkshire pudding. However, I think giving up the diet of northern stodge for that of the Japanese is a big reason for me having lost so much weight since coming here, so I'll have to be careful not to indulge too much when I'm back home!

3. Being Able to Understand Everyone

Don't get me wrong; my Japanese has definitely improved a lot since coming to Japan, and I'm perfectly capable of holding down a conversation, but it's just not the same as a mother tongue. I've had to make a fair few phone calls in Japan, for things such as post redelivery or sorting out my (sometimes astronomically high) mobile bills. The fast-paced, high-level honorific language used by the people on the other end of the line makes such calls virtually impossible for anyone who's not Japanese. These calls are naturally much easier in the UK, even if everyone I speak to seems to be from Belfast, Newcastle or Mumbai.

4. Cheap Drinks

£2 doubles, £1 bottles, £2.30 pints, £15 cases. Oh Japan, why is 500 yen a cheap pint?!

5. Not Being Racially Profiled by the Police

Just because I am riding a bike does not mean I stole it.

Things I Will Miss

1. Konbinis

Ah, anything you would ever need right outside your front door. They're sort of like Spar, One Stop, or the shops you get attached to petrol stations back home - only much better. In the UK I'm a fan of shopping locally at independent shops, but I certainly wouldn't mind the odd konbini knocking around for emergencies.

2. Trains That Run on Time

To the minute. Except when someone's decided to throw themselves in front of one of them.

3. People (again)

I've made many, many friends at ICU and in Tokyo generally, from all corners of the world, and I'm dealing with the fact that it's extremely likely that I won't see the vast majority of them ever again after this year's up. Come to the UK, yeah?

4. Clean Streets

I hadn't thought that the streets of the UK were particularly bad until I came back to Leeds over Christmas; all I could see were thousands of pieces of gum, fag ends and dropped litter...come on, England!! In Japan every street seems to be spotless, despite the fact that there are hardly any litter bins anywhere. Japanese people take pride in the appearance of their country and cities, something which we're sorely lacking in back home; it's quite depressing.

5. Just Living in Tokyo

I will miss being here full stop. Tokyo is the most amazing, interesting and unique city I have ever been to. I'll miss all the different places you can go to, the things you can see and the people you can meet. It has an amazing vibe which is totally different to anything I've experienced before, and I'll really miss it. I can't see myself living here in the future, but I look forward to coming back as often as I can afford.

James

End of Term Two & Studio Ghibli Museum

Okay, I'm not going to write about the rest of my Christmas break as the memory has been somewhat bittered by subsequent events...I'll just say that it was really lovely, and seeing everyone was amazing.

Righty, I've just finished my second term at ICU! This one seems to have gone much quicker than the first...and it was a lot harder too! Last week I had my exams and I had to turn in a long paper for my other module, but now I have no class until April! I do have to study lots of Kanji for Leeds though, ugh...

I have no concrete plans for the Spring break as of now, but I'd like to go out of Tokyo. I'm thinking of going up north to Nikko, a really nice-looking mountainous city with lots of shrines and temples, and a stunning national park. It's also the home of the famous Three Wise Monkeys! A couple of friends have been there already, and said it was really good. It'd be nice to see some of traditional Japan!  Other than that I'd like to go southwest to the Kansai region, to Osaka and Kyoto. Naturally I'll keep up with anything I get up to on here! It's been a while since I've blogged isn't it...in fact I haven't really kept it properly since September...hopefully that'll change from now on!

Something I've wanted to blog about for a while was my trip to the Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka at the end of January. I'm not a fan of anime, but I do like the Ghibli films, such as Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Spirited Away and My Neighbour Totoro. 

I went there with my friend Amii, and I really do recommend it. To get there you take a train to Mitaka Station, and from there you can either get a short bus trip or walk along the side of the canal for about 10 or 15 minutes. You need to get tickets in advance, which can be bought from the Lawson chain of konbinis for 1,000 yen (£7.80).

You couldn't take photos inside (something that was very strictly enforced), so I guess you'll all just have to visit it to have a look! It's really, really nice. Very hard to describe though...nice and old fashioned, with a big iron spiral staircase, 1930s style lift, and about half of it was a mockup of a studio, with all the different paints and pencils and so forth set out. I'm not doing a very good job of describing it, am I? If only they'd let us take photos! There were little scenes from the different films dotted around, such as the food stall from Spirited Away where Chihiro's parents gorge themselves on food and turn into pigs, and a life-sized Catbus from My Neighbour Totoro! There was also a smaller Catbus for kids to play on, which I wanted to jump on as well but alas, it turns out I'm about ten years too old :(

After having a look around inside we went up to the roof garden, which was small but very, very peaceful and nice (apart from the large group of Chinese tourists getting in the way of almost EVERY photo I tried to take). 

Up on the roof was one of the robots from Laputa! It's my favourite Ghibli film, and the robot was just about my favourite character, so it was an unmissable photo opportunity!

After the roof garden we went down to the inhouse cinema to watch an unreleased mini Studio Ghibli film, about some Sumo mice...which was very entertaining and charming. It was also nice to see how my Japanese ability is just about at the level of a six year old, heh.

Following that we went down into the courtyard area, and I got just a little carried away on the water pump.

As we were leaving the museum we had to stop off at the big Totoro for a photo! He's pretty much the mascot of Studio Ghibli. It's a shame he was behind glass, I imagine squeezing him would make anyone happy.

And thus concludes my trip to the Mitaka Studio Ghibli Museum. I had a really, really fun time and heartily recommend it to anyone. Be careful of the gift shop though, it's insanely expensive, but lots of the things they sell are beautiful. A fun day out, all in all, especially with the subsequent walk through Inokashira Park to Kichijoji for gin and fish & chips.

Goodness, I never thought I'd speak so enthusiastically about anything anime related!

James

Christmas & New Year Back in the UK (Part 1)

Goodness, it's been a while since I've posted here. I had started to write a blog post whilst in the UK, but I was so busy and, to be honest, having far too good a time to really do it properly. Below is what I wrote!

Wow, I'm writing this blog post on my sofa in my front room, there's a log fire burning in front of me, and Come Dine With Me is on the telly! This certainly feels a lot different to how I spent my evenings in Tokyo...

I haven't blogged since the day before I set off to come back home nine days ago, so I'll resume where I stopped last time!

I got up at 5am on Wednesday the 21st, before packing the last couple of things into my suitcase and popping to the Konbini to get a sandwich for breakfast. I left my guesthouse at 5:45 to take the train to Kichijoji, arriving there just after 6, and then getting on my Odakyu bus to take me to Narita airport at half past.

Um, so yeah, shall I continue where I left off? I got to the airport in just over an hour, and went through check-in and security far quicker than I had anticipated, so it turned out I had almost three hours to kill at Narita. It didn't go too slowly though; I just read some more of 1Q84 (Haruki Murakami's latest book) and listened to music on my iPod. At 11:45 we took off and started the twelve-hour flight back to London Heathrow. Unlike the time at the airport, however, this certainly didn't go quickly. I am really, really bad at sleeping on planes; there's not enough leg room at all and I can't curl up in any way. So instead I thought I'd just watch lots of films and hope the time went quickly, but it turned out that JAL has a pretty poor selection...I did watch Mrs Doubtfire though, which I hadn't watched for years! So aside from that I listened to plenty of music, enjoyed the unlimited supply of free lager and eventually got sozzled enough to doze for a couple of hours. 

After what seemed about a week and a half, we landed in London. I was relieved to get off that plane, but I still had plenty of travelling to do. I had to go to a different terminal to get my connecting flight up to Manchester, and for some reason had to go through security twice to get there. Eventually I got through to the waiting lounge, and had to wait three hours to get my next flight. I passed the time by chatting to Ayu and Mum on the phone, and I did a lot of people watching. One thing that really surprised me was how relatively fat British people are compared to the Japanese! I mean I always knew that we have a bit of a national weight problem, but it doesn't startle you until you've lived in a country where a 32 inch waist for men is L size.

Finally, I was able to get on the bmi flight up to Manchester. The plane itself was tiny! The cabin had 18 rows of three seats; one on the left, then the aisle, then two on the right. I was at the very back on the left of the aisle. Now this flight was quick, only about 45 minutes. We landed in a fair bit of turbulence, and then I went to pick up my bags. But the journey still wasn't over! After getting my bag I had to transfer over to the Manchester Airport railway station, and then wait another half an hour to get the Transpennine Express to Leeds. After an hour and a half on that train, I had to leave Leeds Station and get a taxi back to Otley. But then, finally, I was back home!!

I think that's quite enough for now, I hope you can see how exhausting the whole journey was, it's tired me out just writing about it. I'll write about my actual holiday soon :)

James

私の東京にある部屋

Have a look round my room :)

In other news, I've just finished packing up everything ready to come back to the UK! Tomorrow at 5am I'll get up, before going to Narita and flying home...so my next blog post will be from England!! It doesn't feel real that tomorrow evening I'll be back in my house..! Looking forward :)

James

A Busy Day of Pre-Flight Preparation

What a busy day it's been!

After having morning classes, I took the train to Tachikawa Station, before hopping on a bus to the Immigration Bureau to get my re-entry permit. I was going to write a step-by-step guide to acquiring the re-entry permit for anyone else who needs to go for one, but I really can't top Miles Davies' blog post which helped me no end when I was planning my trip. One thing I will add is that the Sunkus konbini right by the 多摩車検場前 bus stop sells the special stamp you need in order to get re-entry permit. Oh, and Miles said he had a two hour wait before being dealt with, but my wait was only about five minutes! I didn't even have time to complete my form before I was called up to the desk!

I was with Ashley, an Australian girl in my class (well, she was in my class last term), who went to get her work permit from the same bureau, but she only found out when she got there that she needed to have her passport with her in order to get it! Oops....

After sorting out my re-entry permit stuff, I got the bus back to Tachikawa Station, from which I went straight to Kichijoji Station and bought my ticket for the Limousine Bus, which will take me to Narita Airport from Kichijoji at 6:30am on Wednesday!

I got back home at about 5pm, and then had lots of work to do for uni! As I'm missing the last two days of classes, I'm getting all my deadlines sorted and ready to hand in tomorrow. After doing my work, I put some of the clothes I'm taking back in the wash, and started packing my main suitcase. It's now 3/4 full of other clothes I washed yesterday, and Christmas presents for everyone! 

Two more sleeps! Looking so so SO forward to coming home :)

James

JASSO Scholarship!

Whooop so I found out today that I have been awarded the JASSO Scholarship between January and March next year! It's such a relief, what with the ridiculous price of everything around here!

I'll receive 80,000 yen each month, automatically deposited into my Japanese bank account (Mitsubishi UFJ), so over the three months I'll be given around £2,000! I'm going to have to work hard and get good grades this year though, as it's a scholarship, not simply a grant! But of course, I was going to work hard and get good grades anyway ;)

Now that I have the money to do so, I'm hoping to travel outside of Tokyo during the Easter break in March and April. I'd love to go down to Osaka and Kyoto; that sort of region. It would be lovely to see some of the Leeds people during the year! And Kyoto in particular looks amazing; it oozes with traditional culture.

Happy days!

James

I'm Going Home for Christmas!

Finally, after wrangling with various booking companies and airlines, I've managed to book some tickets back to the UK! It's such a relief! Quite possibly the best Christmas present from my parents ever...

I'm going to fly with JAL (Japan Airlines), leaving from Tokyo Narita Airport at 11:45am on Wednesday 21st December (2 weeks from the day I'm writing this, eeee :D), arriving at London Heathrow at 3:25pm, before switching to a BMI flight to Manchester, leaving at 6:40pm, and arriving at 7:45pm! I'm then going to get the Transpennine Express train to Leeds, so I should arrive there between 9:30 and 10pm. From there I'll get picked up by my parents and Ayu and go back to Otley :)

I can't properly express just how excited I am to be going home! As much as I'm enjoying Japan, I still feel like I need a couple of weeks back in Blighty as a little respite from this crazy, crazy country! It'll be so amazing to see everybody again, too. I don't have loads of plans crammed into every day, I just want a nice, quiet Christmas with the people who mean the most to me :)

I'm flying back to Japan on Sunday the 8th of January, leaving Manchester at 4pm, and eventually arriving in Tokyo at 4pm the next day (it's not a 24 hour flight; time difference...).

うれしい〜!

James

Back at ICU

So today was my first day of the Winter term! And goodness was it cold...about a week ago or so the temperature suddenly plummeted from pleasantly mild (for late November, at least) to bloody freezing! It was about 6 degrees and windy, but for some reason it felt so much colder than I remember that sort of weather feeling back in the UK...maybe it's because I'd got used to the humid subtropical climate here since Summer.  Whatever the reason for it seeming so cold, I still can't feel my fingers after the bike ride back from university.

I had my first J4 class this morning, and the level has stepped up from J3 considerably. We went over the first kanji (Chinese characters) to learn, and there are so many! I will be spending a lot more time at my desk this term I imagine. After 35 minutes of lunchtime, I had my first Japan: History, Art and Literature lecture. The professor said that the name was misleading, and we'd be studying more the modernity and relevance of Japan from an anthropological viewpoint, and using history, art and literature to see how those aspects were founded, which to be honest interests me more than I had expected the course to do so, based on it's title.

So that was my first day, and now it's the weekend! I've not really been blogging as much recently, but I'm going to make an effort to do it more from now on, starting with a proper post about Kichijoji, as well as a proper one about ICU, too. These are the two places where I spend pretty much all of my time when I'm not in my room, yet I've only mentioned them in passing so far in this blog, so I thought it was about time to write some dedicated posts. The Autumnal colours on campus at ICU are beautiful at the moment, so I'll take my camera in on Monday. I'll be doing the Kichijoji one very soon as I am in fact going there tonight! Stay tuned :)

James

Photo of the Day

People have been asking me what I cook in Japan so there you go; my standard meal

Another Term, Another Course Registration

Wow, December already!

This morning I cycled into ICU to register for this term's modules.  Having passed Japanese level 3 last term, I enrolled in J4 (I'm now officially an intermediate!), as well as Japan Studies: History, Art and Literature, which should be really good.  I've got the same hours as last term; Japanese for periods 2 and 3 (10:10-12:40) every morning, and then my other module takes up a super 4th period (1:15-3:00) on Wednesdays and Fridays.  This means that I can keep the shifts my job exactly the same!

Speaking of my job, I FINALLY opened a bank account with Mitsubishi UFJ in Musashi Sakai today, with the help of Ayaka.  I'm looking forward to getting paid within the next two weeks!  

Tomorrow I start my Winter term!  A blog post will be sure to follow over the weekend.

James

Picture of the Day

Me working hard in my new job

A Quiet Autumn Holiday

As I said in my previous post, I'm currently on my two-week Autumn holiday between the first and second term at ICU. I also said I was hoping to do lots of travelling around Tokyo and see some places I haven't been before.  Unfortunately, with my increasingly precarious financial situation (I'm already into my overdraft...) that's not really been possible at all. I'm going to have to live very frugally for the rest of the calendar year. The wages from my new job will come in during the second half of December, and I'm also waiting on the results of the JASSO scholarship which I recently applied for (80,000 yen a month, £670, which would be nice!), as well as applying for grant from Student Finance England. Even if I don't get the scholarship or qualify for the grant, with my wages from the babysitting job and the next instalment of my maintenance, I should be alright...things are just going to be a bit tight for a while!

So unfortunately my travel plans for this couple of weeks have had to be put on hold until the new year or Springtime. I've not really done anything noteworthy instead, besides rediscovering Age of Empires and The Sims! At least the virtual me has a good job and a nice income! 

A lot of friends I've made in ICU and in my guesthouse are only here for the Autumn term, and a lot of them have already left to go back to their various countries, which is pretty sad. Last night I had a final drink in Kichijoji with my American friend T.J.  In fact, as I write this, he'll be somewhere over the Pacific en route to North Carolina. A lot of other friends are leaving in the next couple of weeks; I just hope I have enough money for a last drink with all of them!

James

My first ever glimpse of Mt. Fuji

Exams & End of Term 1

Blimey, that went quickly!  It's strange to think I'm already a third of the way through my time in Japan (sort of)!  

Although the exam period doesn't officially end until tomorrow, my last exam was yesterday, meaning that I've now got two weeks of holiday before going back to start the Winter term on December the 1st.  I've now finished J3, too.  The course consisted of a fair bit of grammar that we covered in the second half of last year at Leeds, but there was some new stuff too, and going over the old stuff has really helped me; I wasn't comfortable using a lot of the grammar structures we learned towards the end of the first year at Leeds in any situation outside of a written context (where I had time to think about how to structure sentences) but now I'm happy using even the harder forms when speaking.  My Japanese has improved a lot already, but I think that's mainly from living here, to be honest.  Next term I'll start J4, which apparently is a huge step-up from J3...bring it on!

So I had my end-of-term exams over the past week, and they went well!  There were a couple of hiccups, though.  My main Japanese exam was scheduled for 8:50 on Thursday morning, so I set my alarm for 7:45.  For whatever reason, my alarm just didn't go off, and I was woken at 8:48 by my friend T.J. phoning to ask which room the exam was in.  Oh dear.  I fell out of bed into some clothes, brushed my teeth (forgive me for not giving them the recommended 2 minutes of attention on this occasion), and cycled into uni in the fastest time I've ever managed.  I got into the room at just after 9:05, at the end of the first section.  Unfortunately, the first section was Listening, so I couldn't exactly go back and quickly catch up on what I'd missed.  At ten past nine the Listening sections were taken off us and we were given the next part, and from then onwards the exam went really well!  I've done well in all my other tests and things over the term, so the consequences shouldn't be too bad.  

The grades and marks we get at ICU aren't transferred over to Leeds, so technically we just need to pass everything, and then Leeds set us assessed things at the end of the year.  This helped in the case of my English as an International Language module.  Let's just say I passed that (with not-so flying colours) so there are no worries there and it can be left at that!!

Being the lucky fellow that I am, I have just come down with horrible flu the day after my last exam.  So I've been staying in bed, drinking lots, and watching lots of Qi and Have I Got News For You online (no change from when I was well then, really).  Hopefully I can get well soon, because I'd like to see lots of Tokyo whilst I'm on holiday!  I'll do a blog post about each interesting place I go to, like what I did with my Akihabara post.  I'm planning to go to Koenji (again, to have a proper look this time), Ikebukuro, Ueno, Harajuku, Yoyogi, Shimbashi and Shimokitazawa.  If anyone knows of anywhere else in Tokyo worth going then please let me know!

James

Photo of the Day

I can't fit all of this onto a caption, so I'll explain it here.  T.J. and I went for a drink in the Hub British Pub in Kichijoji a few days ago, and they usually play good music, but absolutely nothing special was coming out of the speakers that night.  After a few gin and tonics I went to the bar and asked if they had any Libertines, hoping for maybe a song or two.  Two minutes later, the music went off, and all of the many TV screens around the pub, usually used for showing sport, came on.  We were then treated to the entire hour and a half-long Libs' set from Reading Festival in 2010!  And all I was expecting was Don't Look Back Into The Sun or something!  So I grabbed a little photo on my mobile as a memento.