checking out night life in downtown tokyo, and preparing for school

classes still haven't started, which is awesome. so I've been traveling around Tokyo and going out as much as i can before academics kick in.

I've been back to shibuya a few times, and I went out with some other international students who go to a different university in Tokyo. we had an absolute blast of a night- which didn't end until the first train home in the morning! we went to this place where there was hiyaku en beers (100 yen/beer!) and then we went to a very small club and danced away all night. it was great to see the night life here, its pretty wild!

I had no idea coming here what alcohol was going to be like, but i was surprised when i found out that you can buy alcohol in any convenient store for very cheap, and you can drink it when you walk around! (although this is very taboo, at 3 in the morning people are partying all over the streets!) i was completely shocked, as this is so different from Canada and BC more particularly where liquor is expensive, you can't just drink it outside and you have to go to a liquor store to get it. its interesting

recently, my building started to provide meals for us (lunch and dinner), which is really nice since i was spending so much money on food during the very beginning of my trip. i couldn't help but laugh when i walked downstairs at 7:30 in the morning to find that the "western" breakfast they were serving was hamburgers! i think its because in japan, you eat the same things you would eat for dinner as you do when you eat breakfast. rice is served at every meal, and usually fish and miso soup. i guess the western concept of "breakfast foods" doesn't really translate here. needless to say I've been eating a lot of rice here (A LOT of rice...) and its really good. i am a master at chop sticks now and some of my Japanese friends even compliment me! haha its so cute. there is no juice or milk or anything like that, there is a large water dispenser which outputs cold water, hot water and of course, green tea. I've been drinking lots of tea since I've arrived and I've really developed a taste for the green tea here. its much different than the type of green tea we get in Canada, since its a power that you add to the water, not a tea bag. i found it entertaining that even the water dispensers have green tea, they love the stuff here!

i went to a museum the other day with two friends in the middle of the city. the museum is called the "Mori" museum and its absolutely spectacular. i didn't get the chance to go into the gallery, but i did go up to what they call the "Observatory" floor. the museum is a massive skyscraper in the heart of Tokyo- right near Tokyo tower, and its 53 stories high. the observatory floor is the 52nd floor, and from floor to ceiling, 360 degrees around it is windows. you can only imagine the view of the city. Naomi, Ning and I arrived at the perfect time, just before sun set! so we got the privilege of watching the sun set over the city and watch as the city lights emerged turning Tokyo into hundreds of buzzing neon lights as far as the eye can see. i have never lived in a large city, or spent much time in a city for that matter and the feeling i got when i was on that floor was indescribable. on one hand i felt on top of the world, looking down casually over the immense city, but then on the other hand i felt extremely insignificant in the larger scheme of things. there are millions of people in Tokyo, some train stations deal with more than 15 million people per day (shibuya station woo!) and trying to wrap my head around that is next to impossible. i laughed and told my friends that where i live, the trees are the size of the skyscrapers.

I'm really excited for classes to start. I'm feeling very motivated and interested in all of the classes I've picked. each student must take at least 7 courses, and being the over zealous keener i am I'm thinking of registering for 10-11 classes. there are just so many awesome classes to choose from that i couldn't decide! i had a meeting with my academic advisor while I'm here and she thought i was hilarious. she really appreciated my enthusiasm for classes, and even suggested that she introduce me to one of the head literature professors at keio so that i can do some independent study for credit! how awesome is that? i get to pick what i want to read, read it, and report back to this amazingly intelligent woman and basically discuss once a week what i think about the literature. I'm choosing to focus on 20th century American literature, so i hope to cover some novels as well as poetry. i guess I'll find out more once i start! I'm also taking Japanese literature classes (taught in English duh) and some Japanese politics classes. I'm really excited. there is a class I'm looking into on Japanese art history, and another one about Japanese Buddhism. i have to maybe try to cut down a class or two, but luckily at keio they have a "trail week" where you can attend as many classes as you want and then the following week you register for your class. this is because you have to ask the professors blessing to take their class (a respect thing) and the process can be difficult. luckily all of my classes are okay to just sign up for without discussing with the professors first, and they are all offered in English. i was also told that class sizes will be very small (around 8 people) so I'm really looking forward to it!