Getting used to life in Japan: Say whuttt

DAAAAAY SIXTEEEN IN THE BIG BROTHER INTERNATIONAL HOUSE II

..and the housemates are gettin iraaate playing unooooooo.

So just been playing Uno, and (typically) I have won... a big fat ZERO times. (Guys, if you're reading get lost.)

Anyways, 2 years ago today (well technically yesterday as in Japan its now early morning) I started at UEA! Can't believe time's gone so fast and I'm already on my year abroad..I've been here for just over 2 weeks and had my ups and downs but loving getting used to life in Japan. The University I'm at here is called Ritsumeikan (or just Ritsumei for all us that find it so much effort to add the extra little 'kan' on the end...) and although I've not started classes, I've been on campus to look around and it's beaut. Here is a picture:

pwettyy!!

Japan is SO. COOL. Guys if you haven't been, go. (And to you lucky people visiting - you know who you are - it's gonna be siiiick.) 

BUT Japan can also be kinda crazy. In a good way (well mostly!). Here are some examples of different things I've come across!

• So...they drive on the same side of the road as we do in the UK. Good. Well I do NOT understand the rules of the road in Japan. Green man on crossing = cars stop, people walk. Right? Wrong. In Japan, while you're crossing, cars from certain directions can still go. What is that, man? Does that not defeat the point of the little green man?? (mmm I could go for a Little Green Man at Mambos right now) 
• Fashion over here is quite different sometimes, it's so cool seeing all the different things people wear (I wanna go Tokyo now THAT will be something)
• Bikes are so cute, they pretty much all have little baskets on the front (this isn't 'crazy' but something I like about it here.)
• Something I've found difficult to grasp is the general rule of no eating while walking - I do this all the time at home and admit I did it today when eating a brownie and I did actually notice some people looking at me (oops, sorry) 
• Also no eating on buses, which is easier to understand/abide by.
• You have to take off your shoes before you enter a house in Japan. At first it was hard to remember that I'd left my shoes in the little box by the front door..."where are my black pumps...??"
• Also, I'm sure most of you have heard about my Mukade incident....if not, good, Japan has some scary bugs!! 

So, hopefully.. things will become second nature, but for now it's good getting to understand what it's like here and trying my best! 頑張りまーす！People are sooooo nice here anyway. For example, the other day my friend knocked over loads of bikes when parking his, and a guy parked his car, got out and helped us pick them all up. I did not expect it at all.. I think back home, bikes are more likely to get nicked to be honest!

There's a lot I could write about but I'm just gonna leave you with a picture of me and my friend Beth from home (UEA RULES) when we got together and did some sightseeing. This day was awesome, Japan is so beautiful. 

Kinkakuji :)

IM HERE!

So...I'm here! After a loooong time flying, I've managed to get myself to a hostel for two nights and then moved in to my dorm (which you may already know about...funny story I'll get to it).

The flight to Doha was pretty awesome - made a friend and spent the hours chatting, drinking free alcohol and watching movies. YEY. (Divergent was a good watch...as was The Other Woman). So by the time I had to change, I was feeling pretty good. Then came the second flight,  the longer one...9 hours sat on my todd unable to get to sleep, and eventually putting on The Fault in Our Stars...bloody hell bad choice for my state of mind (though the film was really good)! Eventually the time came and we landed at Kansai International! Phew.

As soon as I was off that plane and making my way to the hostel, I was buzzing to use my Japanese and see Japan. Got a little chat in with the taxi driver which was cool (I was just happy I was being understood). Having never been to a hostel before, at first it was a bit daunting but I met another friend there in my room and managed to Skype a few people from home! Jet lag has not been as big of an issue as I thought it would. From other people's stories, I was expecting to be randomly falling asleep during the day and have a complete lack of energy - which would have made sense considering just how little I slept on the plane. BUT, it was not too bad at all.

However, that does now mean that I cannot blame jet lag for my stupidity and goofiness. Damn.

Which brings me onto my taxi incident, going back to before - basically I moved into my hostel during the night, therefore did not manage to take in my surroundings whilst in the taxi....bear this in mind before judging me haha! So I get there and at one point I try to ring a taxi for the next day to my Uni dorm (the only thing I hadn't sorted beforehand). ..Turns out the dorm is literally opposite the youth hostel I was at. Imagine if I had been successful with the taxi and it turned up...there's me asking to go to my dorm and he would have driven out the hostel's drive, across the road and onto another drive. The embarrassment. Luckily, I got nowhere with the taxi over the phone as you had to book it on the day (which took me a while to work out that's actually what the lady was trying to tell me...). In my defence, she didn't explain in the clearest way. "Call me once more."  I'm thinking....You want me to call you back? But she was lovely and helpful and..we got there in the end.

So here I am! First night in my dorm and already met lots of cool people. みんなはやさしいーー！
More to follow :)

I'll leave you with this picture I took in the youth hostel, just chillin in the lobby.

またね！