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8. So many things happening and a severe lack of updates...

Let's see what have I been doing over the last while or so... Firstly, a couple weeks ago, I went to Churaumi Aquarium which to say in the least was a wonderful experience. This particular aquarium is the second largest in the world, which houses a myriad of interesting fish. The one featured in the photograph is called a whale shark, they are absolutely huge to say the least, a great thing in the aquarium is that their cafe is right beside this particular tank so you can enjoy the scenery whilst having a cup of coffee. Personally, my favourite thing to see at the aquarium were the seahorses - they were absolutely adorable.

Earlier on in that week, there was a large party at the Great Castle Hotel in Naha for all the international students in Okinawa to have the opportunity to meet others from different institutes. It was a fun and interesting experience.

Last week my university had their annual festival, where I work, LLC [Language Learning Centre] we hosted a cinema and sold food. When I was not helping out there I went around to visit other stalls had some delicious food made by my Korean friends called tteokbokki and hottoku. I would highly recommend them to be tried at least once. And on the Sunday, some of my fellow students and I were student representatives for some visiting international students from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology [Also, known as OIST].

Yesterday, I went to the Orion beer factory with some friends, met some new people as well. There is no entrance charge for going to the factory, and at the end of the tour you are given two classes of beer. Afterwards, we went to an izakaya [a kind of Japanese pub] and then afterwards we went on to karaoke for further merriment.

Today, I did not really do all that much, I mainly just wanted to relax and chill for a while. Some Indonesian exchange students arrived today and are going to be staying for a couple weeks so a group of us welcomed them when they arrived. I have been made the made the main representative for their lunch time party. I'm entirely sure in what that entails, however I will try my best to make it a success. Not only that but I am going to be the host for an English speech content next Saturday, so I will try my best to be good for that.

Finally, I have booked my flight to China to go visit my parents for Christmas. I have never been before so I am pretty excited. Yay!

Well... that's all for now. Until next time! :)

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7. Friendships and Cultures

Here is a picture of me and a few of my friends all wearing the red shirts from the Special Olympics events which was at the Kadena Air Base where we worked as volunteer translators for the day. The night before I also got to stay at my friend's house with some other mutual friends, where her mum made some absolutely lovely food, and the stay there was most pleasant and enjoyable. I personally felt this to be a wonderful experience, we got to help bring joy to those who are less mentally able and their families, and help hone our language abilities as well. I would definitely recommend this experience to others.

Today, over the last few days I have been mainly just studying. However, I attended a lecturer by a lady who works with National Geographic, some of her experiences and the work she does were really inspiring.

My next job is working at a conference at my university which is about Okinawan culture and how the people in the past's experiences in China affected the development of this language, which is something I have an interest in. I also have a presentation on my home country tomorrow for one of my Japanese classes. Hopefully that will go well.

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6. Living Life Like A Pro

So as of late I have mainly just been studying, going to classes, tutoring and hanging out with friends. Nothing particularly abnormal or strange has happened as of late, until yesterday when I was helping out a teacher with an English class. The students were put into five different groups, where I was mainly asked the following: "Do you have a boyfriend?", "Which one of us guys do you think is the sexiest?" "And what type of men do you like?" [All very good questions, alas I was not entirely sure on how to answer them]. But the question which really through me for a loop was, "Are you half Japanese?" This is not a question I would have ever thought to be directed at me, mainly due to the fact that I am not half Japanese/Asian at all, and I do not look Asian in the slightest. Oh well, at least it made for an interesting and unique experience.

Yesterday, I went grocery shopping and out for a nice meal with some friends. I also went to Chatan on Sunday, I did not really manage to do much shopping [I only bought a pair of shoes], but I did have a really delicious dish of chilli con carne plastered in Tabasco sauces whilst Bob Marley was playing in the background, it gave me a kind of nostalgic feeling. There was something about that shopping trip which did make me feel somewhat blue though. And that was my experience at a pet shop, the boxes/cages in which the cats and dogs were in absolutely sickened me, a few of the dogs were too big for their cages and were hunched over. There was also an owl for sale, where a little girl [around ten] keep poking and scaring it. It was mainly conditions of cats and dogs were living in which were saddening. Aside from that, there was an array of tropical fish, and it was nice seeing ferrets happily rolling around in their sleep and some baby albino hedgehogs drinking milk. I also had a really enjoyable Starbucks experience, casual drink of a Matcha Latte. [YAY!]

Tomorrow, I have my first proper test since coming here, I have been preparing myself for this test over the weekend. Therefore, I do not think that will be much in the way of problems. I have managed to obtain information about travelling around and outside of Japan. As I plan on going to China in during my Spring holidays and possibly Osaka and Tokyo at some other point. All of the above mentioned trips are things which I am looking forward to. I think that is all for now. :)

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5. Settling like a Sandstorm

So over the last week or so, I have done a lots of classes, picked up some more jobs, a couple more conferences/meetings I am planning on going to, went out for a Halloween party, and had an interview and dinner with the president of my university. All in all, a lot has been going on. I have finally come realise that I really badly need some kind of normalised relaxation and/or sleep routine. Despite that, I have been having really good fun shopping and going for karaoke with my friends. Lots of chit-chat in the good old nihongo.

In other news we had a LLC/MSLC meeting-party event today which was a meeting between the different subject tutors - we were told to only spend 300 yen per present, either my "secret santa"-esque person has amazing contacts, or he did not adhere to the rule, as I ended up with a bottle of awamori from the local Pineapple Park. It is very much appreciated. The company was good, and everyone seemed to be having fun.

Now, I am going to have a really chill night in with some tea and some "Rich Man. Poor Woman". :)

Here is a section from my interview with the president of the university, personally I am quite happy about how the event played out and what the photograph looked like [the photograph is the top picture of this post].

セントラルランカシャー大学から5人の交換留学生を受け入れました

　本学では平成24年9月から、国際交流協定を結ぶセントラルランカシャー大学（イギリス）から、ワシントン ジェイクさん、スウィーティング ジェームスさん、ハッチングス ジョシュさん、アシメナイテ ビクトリアさん、イミリア スティーブンソンさんの5人を交換留学生として受け入れました。　 　平成24年10月23日（火）、留学生たちは瀬名波学長を表敬し、歓迎を受けました。留学生たちは一人ずつ、日本語で自己紹介を行った後、瀬名波学長から沖縄での生活やキャンパスライフ等について、質問を受けながら歓談しました。　 　5人は平成25年9月までの1年間本学で過ごします。

 留学生の声

 通訳者を目指し日本語を学びにきた。うちなーぐち※1も習いたい（ジェームス）  琉球・沖縄の歴史に興味がある。留学期間中に、幼少時から憧れた札幌まで足を運びたい（ジェイク）  イギリスでアジア太平洋学を専攻していたので、日米関係に関心がある。また沖縄の動植物にも興味があるため、やんばるの森を散策したい（ジョシュ）  日本社会事情や、イギリスと日本の文化の違いを学びたい（ビクトリア）  沖縄の人は皆優しくて温かい。沖縄の歴史を学ぶためにも、平和祈念公園へ行きたい（イミリア）

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4. Of Clubs and Conferences

Since coming to Japan I have concluded that I do not really have free time, ever. After a long week of classes, a few of us attended a JALT/ALT conference at the university where we met some of the local ALTs in the area and learnt about their experiences and how they became ALTs. I found this particularly interesting as this is how I initially came to Japan when I was a child [my father was a JET you see]. Also, from this experience I managed to get another paid job for November. Not only this but I believe that there are quite a few parties organised and/or in the process of being organised. [The next party is happening close to Halloween] Seriously, there are so many opportunities to do things here in Japan. The only thing I am slightly miffed about not being able to see is the "Miss International" beauty pageant which is happening this Thursday morning, as I have a class. But I am sure I will be able to encounter many more exciting things in the near future. Tomorrow, I am meeting the president of my university for a newspaper report with my fellow British international students - I still have not chosen what I want to wear as of yet. Aside from that, I plan on studying hard and planning on going to some wonderful places nearby, like the Churaumi Aquarium and the 21st Century Beach. I intend on taking my friends who plan on visiting to these places. :)

Finally, I leave you on this note. I am not a huge fan of sweets normally but I definitely recommend the above sweets. ぷっちょミラクル, Pocky - Panda Version and Meltykiss [the strawberry flavoured ones]

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Until my next update, I leave you this video. :)

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3. Winds of Change

So... quite a lot of stuff happened since I last posted. Let's well, we had a big party where we met other international students, the staff, and quite a lot of Japanese students. A tremendous amount of fun was had, met lots of people and made friends. Not only this, but we had a large amount of food and drink available at this party, which was greatly appreciated. There was also a lot of dancing done such as salsa, and of course some Gangnam Style. :P

As well as having a fun party, I have also gotten a paid job at my university as a tutor. I personally feel that this is a good experience to have, not only because I'm paid, but because I get to meet a variety of people and I also get a qualification as well. My advise to others if they plan on going abroad [especially to study] would be to try out as many things as possible and to throw yourself at a multitude of activities, because at the end of the day you are giving something back and you can get an awarding experience out of it.

I know I have been saying that new experiences are good and all that jazz. Something I definitely would not recommend would be pig's leg [they taste absolutely disgusting]. But hey, at least I tried it. Another thing I tried was a drink by the make-up brand "Shiseido" which apparently makes your eyes appear brighter because of the collagen in it [I'm not entirely sure if it actually made any difference, but I was curious about the drink.

Today was the start of a typhoon hitting us in Okinawa. Unfortunately I was slightly unprepared for this as this morning the weather was actually quite mild so I went to class in a shirt sans clothes or umbrella - so I had to walk about in crazy wind and rain. An official warning was broadcast after my classes today, therefore my tutoring session had to be cut short. :( On a more positive note, a group of us had a nice meal together in the halls' tatami room where we had enjoyable discussions about a myriad of things whilst watching various Japanese TV programme [E.g. a quiz show, some Korean dramas, a political discussion between South Korea and Japan]. Well, that's all from me for now. Hopefully the typhoon will clear up soon. :)

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2. The journey east

So my journey started on a cold winter-like morning from Dublin airport where my grandparents kindly dropped me off and said farewell for my long journey to Japan. From there I travelled from Dublin -> Paris -> Hong Kong and then finally arriving in Nago, Japan where I now reside. Not really much of interest happened in Dublin to be honest, also since it was rather early when I arrived quite a few shops were still closed or they were just opening up.

Paris, I have just positive things to say about this airport. The staff here are very helpful and friendly, and there are many shops to check out. Unfortunately, being a university student means that I generally cannot purchase items from the myriad of designer shops [E.g. Hermes, Dior, Burbury etc]. The people who work at the Cathay Pacific section of the airport I have found were particularly helpful, they sorted out all my ticket details from here to Japan, so I have less hassle to worry about in Hong Kong. I definitely recommend this airline to those who are thinking of flying out to Japan.

The image above is showing my longest flight [Paris to Hong Kong], it took around eleven hours and travelled over nine thousand kilometres to get there. I arrived in Hong Kong around 7am local time, where I went to Starbucks for a salted mocha frappuccino, which was absolutely delicious and definite recommend to those who like their drinks not so sweet, or just want to try something new.

Finally, I am now in Okinawa where I have met some absolutely lovely people where I was warmly welcomed. I was given some lovely Okinawan orchids by one of the lecturers here and picked up from the airport by another. The picture above was from a trip to a local bar where we had some of the local food and drink which was really lovely, but ridiculously filling in my opinion. Apologises for looking a little bit out of it in the photograph, I was feeling somewhat under the weather the night previous and I was just coming to terms with my jet lag. I am all good now. Now for my first proper week of classes. 

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1. Hello, and welcome! [Getting ready to fly]

The final preparations for my journey to Japan are in motion, strangely a month later than one might have expected due to some unfortunate circumstance. Which was mainly my dislocating my right patella five days before I was supposed to fly out to Nagoya. After an extra month of staying in the UK I have been able to recover a lot faster than predicted, I have been given the opportunity to study at Meio University in Okinawa. Something of which I am very grateful about. The support of my family, friends, and the university personnel has been absolutely amazing.

Yesterday, I was in Dublin where I was at the Japanese embassy sorting out some final details in relation to my heading out to Japan. I felt that on this particular day it was appropriate that I was in the Irish capital as it was the anniversary of Guinness - which is one Ireland's international renowned products. As well as sorting out some business which I had, I enjoyed myself going around Dublin. On the off-chance, you need to get a Japanese visa whilst in Ireland - if you own a British passport the price of a single-entry visa is €23, and a multiple-entry visa is €57. Otherwise, you can get a visa from the embassy in London which is very close to Green Park tube station for a similar amount of money.

Until arrive in Japan next Thursday, I am going just take things easy by packing, making sure I have everything I need, studying, and just generally enjoying my last few days over here. Hopefully I will also get better at blogging too. :)