Cherry Blossoms & TiTech Start

Hey everyone!
Hope all is well back in OZ. Currently here it has decided to rain for the past few days...and yes those crowds you saw in the pictures still exist but now with umbrellas. Though I must say my new long umbrella makes for a great weapon in the train crowds. HAHA. Just a poke here and a poke there and people generally move out of your way. But last Saturday saw our first dorm party. You would have seen the sushi dinner pictures on facebook. That was great fun and I also learnt how to make real sushi. Its a damn long process and one that was well worth it.

On Sunday we went to the park down the road for Hanami. Thats bascially the great excuse the Japanese came up with to eat drink and passout cold in the park (well i saw plenty of that). Its suppose to be the veiwing of the cherry blossom trees in their last days. You would have seen in the photos there were many people at the park. Our dorm residents took us down and we also got to try all these Japanese snack foods and beers, which was mmm mmm.

Oh and I forgot to mention on the Friday before these parties I started my uni orientation. It was good, but WOW thats one massive uni....it makes any uni in OZ look ewwww. Plus I also saw the lab group I am in and they have the most impressive engineering facilities. Makes me not wanna come back home and finish my degree at UTS....its so dodgy. And looks like the teachers in Japan "actually" teach. Not like the hell we put up with back home (well in engineering it is that way). Also, campus food is awesome...everything is like a max $5 and its good food. And clean...not rat/cockroach infested. But, looks like my professor expects me to be doing japanese classes, UTS assignments, engineering classes as well as a full research project. God knows how I am going to do all this, but hey should be interesting.

OH and guess what? I joined the swim team. Yep believe it or not after quiting 3yrs ago I am back in the pool. Last nights training hurt but I managed to keep up...no idea how. The swimming team is also great fun. We made a deal if they teach us Japanese we will teach them english. No one there speaks much English and it makes for a funny session. But they are all welcoming and try their best to communicate with Natalie and me. We are like a novelty I think...its like ohhh what is that...pokes with stick. Haha. Coming from a multicultural country makes you realise how we are so use to so many different people. Here they are definitly not and it throws them sometimes when we just "pop up". But its great because everyone wants to make friends and we all want to improve our language skills. Who knows...maybe at the end of the year I will actually be able to communicate at some level in Japanese. Apparently it takes years of study to be fluent in Japanese...its not like english or euro languages. The goal is to be able to participate in daily convo by the end of the year and understand what people are saying. Looks like I might come back in a few years, because it would be awesome to be fluent.

I almost forgot....wanna hear the procedure about using the pools here?
Its crazy....firstly you must take your shoes off when entering the gym. Then you walk downstairs to the pool entrance. Boys have one entrance and girls another. The first door takes you to the locker room. Here you get changed (and no there are NO private cubicles) and stick all your stuff in the locker. You can only be wearing your costume and have your cap, googles, drink bottle and key in your hand. Then the next door takes you to showers, where you must wash thoroughly. After this you walk through some wading pool to disenfect your feet, which then leads to massive stairs UP. Midway up the stairs there is a platform and there you have another shower. After this you go up the next set and then you hit the pool where everyone is. Is crazy, but clean! Can't say they are not pedantic about cleanliness. Oh and they swim up the pool the WRONG way. We go up the right and come down the left...no idea why but they do the opposite. Like here the taps turn up instead of down, doors open out instead of in....BUT they drive on the same side of the road as us. Crazy stuff.

And I hit a really packed train last night with Natalie. Freaking hell....we were jammed against a wall and I mean I thought if they push any harder there goes that left lung...not that I need it or anything you know. I was standing there with Natalie and I go ..."do we get out at the other door, cause if we do we are stuffed!" But luckily it was the door on our side...even though the guy in front didn't want to move, but like I said I had an umbrella, which played nicely on his ass. Believe it or not...he MOVED! haha....gaijin...don't mess with us! Everyone who knows me, knows I do not do crowds very well....do not enter my space bubble, got it.

And on Wednesday night we went bar hoping with other students in the dorms. They took us to standing bars around Komaba first. These bars are so cute. They fit about 8 people. You stand drink...then move on. We did this till about 2am and then got hungry, so my friend Maite suggested we hit Shibuya, which I discovered is a 15min walk. Its great, we are right down the road from some of the hotttest clubs, bars and restaurants. And its a completley safe walk. We went to a restaurant there and ate at 3am, can you believe it? Everything in Shibuya, including some department stores is open 24hrs. Its great, I love it....because I am not right in it...a little bit out where it is safe and quiet, but then when ever I want the party life its right there! So this Saturday we are hitting the clubs in Shibuya up! Should be fun...apparently the clubs there are like 4 stories high and start at 10pm and go till 6-7am .....thats when the trains start again.

Well tonight I have the massive dorm welcome party. There should be about 200-300 people there, so another insane night. Free food, free drink....alcohol just next door...what more could you want. I will update you next week about this crazy weekend we have installed...and also we have the swim team welcome party next Wednesday night...much fun to be had. And yes uni starts next week officially...damn.

Take care everyone. Keep in touch and update me about home.
xoxox