Today I got out of my first class (Spoken Japanese) and stopped by Seattle's Best for a nice croissant to munch on and then after about 30 minutes I got a McDonald's hamburger and a vanilla shake while sitting and chatting with my friends Amanda and Matt.
After a bit I had to decide what to do. Matt was going off somewhere and Amanda had to go to her next class. I was sitting there at a little after 13:00 with nothing to do. I decided to explore a little on my own. Up until this point I have been beyond nervous about trying to go anywhere on my own though I plan trying to go up to Kyoto and then possibly Tokyo on my own by the end of October. I went to the main gate, crossed the street and waited at the bus stop thinking to myself I have already done this twice, the only difference is now I am totally on my own.
The bus came and I got on carrying my trusty travel guide the school put in out seminar house booklets showing which stops led to and from the school. The ride to the station was probably less than 10 minutes, or at least didn't feel all that long if it was longer.
Up on arriving at the station I took out my 220 yen and dropped it in the little coin acceptor on the bus and departed for a little wandering in the actual main part of Hirakata. It mostly consisted of me staring up at the tall buildings in amazement of the fact that I am truly in Japan, even if it is the college town equivalent in Japan.
I wandered into a store called Kiddieland where I was able to find some really cute gifts for friends back home and a neat Totoro planner for myself (doesn't start til this December but it beats any planner I could find back home by a long shot, plus its freaking Totoro by Miyazaki).
I wandered out and decided to check out the Japanese KFC down the street. It wasn't real KFC by a long shot. I mean the chicken was the same pretty much but no mashed potatoes and gravy, instead they had french fries. I mean french fries to chicken just doesn't seem right. They had this thing that looked like mashed potatoes but I found out it was some ice cream thing with caramel sauce or something else on it. This was actually interesting on its own because the cashier spoke no english so I had to order all my food by pointing, nodding, shaking my head and saying hi (yes) or iie (no).
I then made my way across the street again to Tatsuya; a book, dvd, cd, manga, etc entertainment store; where I wandered aimlessly for awhile and ended up buying a Japanese copy of "The Hungry Caterpillar", which I'm sure many people can remember reading as a child.
I had to depart shortly afterwards to head back to campus for my second class at around 15:20. I wandered back over to the station and made my way to the departing side where my bus would arrive. I was even able to figure out the bus schedule posted to see when my bus would arrive, reminding myself that 12 or 13 would get me back to the campus.
My bus got there around 15:25 - 15:30 and I boarded again and headed back to campus. I was proud of myself. It may not seem like much but for me this first trip out by myself let me know that I am ready to try to go further on my own. I plan on going to Kyoto by myself probably the week after next when we have one of our long weekends.
Oh and for those of you curious my second/last class of the day today was my Anime: Method and Meaning class. In this class I found out if I just tell my teacher what I want to look for to visit he can help me find it and figure out how to get there. He even told us how to go to Tokyo for 5,000 yen (a lil more than $50) round trip. This is actually really damn good considering a trip to Tokyo can cost you over $80 one way if you take the speed rail. Yea the 5000 yen way may be a lil slower, but you save enough money that you can actually do something once you get there rather than using all your money on traveling to and from.
Anyhow after my last class I attended an orientation for a friend festival being held this saturday and yesterday I signed up to go bowling with some students this friday so I have a busy week/weekend ahead of me this week, which is just how I love it. After all I am not just here to sit in my dorm all day.
No comments:
Post a Comment