My winter holidays~
Oh maaaaaan I had a fun/strange/amazing time.
I've fulfilled life dreams! Sometimes bad, sometimes GREAT, but hey, I did them!
This might need to be behind a cut... if it works.
If not then enjoy my beautiful phone-captured pictures~
NUFSの終わり、関ジャ二８、友達、東京の旅行~
So first of all, I finished my first Semester at NUFS.
I don't know if I have any pictures of this xD So I might end up stealing a few from Facebook to use as my memories here.
We had a big Christmas party (which was the start of many other little parties). People made stalls where they explained what Christmas was like in the country they represented. I helped at the British one and gave out tea lol.
It was so crowded, and when food arrived everyone turned into animals and scavenged it all as quikly as possible. It was pretty damn terrifying, I don't think I've ever seen people so desperate for food. I guess students are the same all over the world~
A much more formal party... but also very sad because all the students who arrived in March had to leave in late December :( the food was amazing though, and there were many more send-off parties after this at our Univerity's language lounge and at various student accomodation buildings.
So onwards with the Winter~
We finished all our exams and presentations. I swear I've never done so many presentations in such a short amount of time, and all in Japanese... I'm just not scared of them anymore lol.
Sakae Station's decorations :) They had been up for a long time but as soon as Christmas was over they disappeared :( quite sad really because it was all so pretty.
So yes, on 24th December I went to see my beloved Kanjani8 live at Nagoya dome!
My friends who I went with and also managed to get me a ticket despite all my trouble with the Johnny's fanclub. God I'm so thankful to them, they gave me the best day ever~
I don't have any pictures of the concert unfortunately; there was a very angry man stood near me who would delete any picture I snuck in D: plus I broke my camera so I could only use my crummy phone >.<
After saying I wouldn't get any souvenirs, I got some~ I couldn't resist this shirt! My friend was surprised at how little I got, so I assume I still did well with money LOL.
I got a Yasu uchiwa, but I'm still a little sad that I didn't get a Subaru one too :( the other uchiwa is one that my friends helped me make. Oh dear god.... it took a long time xD my kanji sucks, but we decided that the more foreign it looked the better, otherwise people would think I didn't make it and at least it could stand out...
I think it looks ok but.... if I didn't have any help I would have been screwed. Kanji is already hard without using a knife to cut it out into bubble writing.
I also have a poster but I can't use my phone right now to take a picture so it will have to wait~
The concert was the best I've ever been to. Johnny's know how to entertain, obviously xD
We were quite close to the front of the seated area so I guess we had a so so view, but it was made MUCH better when the guys came wandering round to our area. I saw a LOT of Ryo, Okura and Maru, and at one point, after realising that I wanted to do something to get a wave from Ryo, I attempted a crazy bow thing that backfired HORRENDOUSLY as I pretty much fell and jerked in some kind of retarded fashion. But, hell, he noticed, smiled and bowed back. How gentlemanly of him!
Also, might have got an eyeful of Yasu-thigh. Life complete.
Dye D was just as amazing as everyone said it would be. But I seriously loved あ by Subaru, it made a really good atmosphere and that man is so good with the crowd. It's now a close second favourite... other than Dye D... which will forever be one of my favourite songs.
(Also I was shocked by Yasu's english, he's had lessons! But his accent kinda scared me LOL)
so After that my friends came to stay with me from Osaka. I took them round Nagoya and we went out for Christmas to Izakaya and Karaoke. As expensive as it was, it was so much fun :3
We didn't do too much because we had no money xD but I had so much fun, seriously. I missed them :3
After that we took a trip to Tokyo.
I have mixed feelings about Tokyo...
In all honesty, I don't think I'll be going back any time soon. I've wanted to go since learning about Japan, obviously, but it's definitely a place to go with A LOT of money. Not only that, but the people there were not very nice, and even though I had already been warned about the cold attitude in Tokyo I was still taken aback by some of our experiences.
If you're a tourist who is in Japan for a short amount of time and have a big thing about all things otaku, anime, manga, whatever, then this is your place. But I'm not really into all that so it was a bit weird, and worst of all it seemed like because I'm foreign people assumed I'd be one of these figurine searching gaijin folk. We were often given a cold shoulder for being gaijin because I guess they thought we couldn't speak to them and would cause trouble, and some cases were much worse than others.
Asakusa, where I stayed. Very touristy especially at this time of year but I liked the area I guess, and I really wanted to see these towers!
The atmosphere of the place just was not my cup of tea. I think there are probably nicer areas to visit but because it was my first time I wanted to go to a few obvious landmarks and check them out.
We went to many places but I let my friends take more photos since I only had my phone xD there were a few things I took photos of that weren't exactly landmarks, but just amazing things imo
like holy jesus, my star sign dessert from the Milky Way star sign cafe! They used the new system of horoscopes with that new sign so I was suddenly a Taurus, but I got it anyway because it looked the best <3
So for new year we went to Tokyo Tower to try and get a balloon to write a wish on and send it off at 12:00. turns out that getting such a balloon was pretty impossible, so we just enjoyed the stalls, the atmosphere, and the CRAZY crowd at the end. I was literally holding a little girl up with my head after she fell from her dad's shoulder D:
The sky tree was all lit up when I got back too, so pretty! Asakusa has a huge temple so for a few days the roads were blocked off for people to queue and pray. There were religious groups shouting crazy crap everywhere too, which was kinda weird. I ignored them and headed straight for the food stalls every day lol.
So anyway, now I'm very very poor LOL. On my last full day in Tokyo I experienced my first big earthquake. I've experienced smaller ones since being here but this was much bigger, a little scarier, but tbh just more interesting than anything else. I feel kinda safe with them because I know that the buildings are so well built that nothing bad should happen, so I felt more intrigued by the new experience than anything else.
So yes, finally, have a picture of Nao, because I've been informed that I'm definitely going to see Alice Nine in April! When I say deifnitely, I mean nothing will stand in our way to see these guys <3
So yeap, there is my long explanation of my holidays. I'm now working as a tutor and getting ready to do a few more weeks of University before enjoying a very very long break. I don't think I'll be doing much other than working though :( I need to save money.
I might be going to Korea at the end of my trip thanks to my Asia Pacific Course, but info about that will have to wait. Plus it means I gotta learn Korean haha...
Happy New Year!