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I HAVE TEH INTERWEBZ! Or, in normal-speak, I now have the internet in my dorm :)

Train --> Rain --> Bus --> Tardy

This morning, Meaghan and I decided to set off on an adventure to figure out the bus system. Thing is, our dorms are farther away from our campus (Toyonaka) than the other campus (Suita). The train to Suita is only ￥150, but the train to Toyonaka is ￥280. That minor difference adds up to almost $50 USD over the course of a month. So, to conserve money and also to figure out the bus system, we decided to take the train to Suita and ride the (free) bus from there to Toyonaka. It takes more time this way, but the walk is a bit more challenging (HILLS) and good for one's health, so I figured, "Why the hell not?"

The skies outside my dorm were blue and had small fluffy clouds, so I left my umbrella AND my jacket in the dorm. The temperature outside was quite nice; cool, but not cold. We walked to Minami-Senri station and I grabbed something from the bread shop (CARBAHOLIC) for breakfast. We took the train and then walked another 15 minutes or so to Suita campus. That's when it started to rain. Then it started to pour. Then we realized we were at the wrong bus stop, so we went to a different bus stop. There was no bus there, either, and a bus schedule showing a bus coming only once every hour or so. So, we went to the International Students Assistance Center (or whatever it's called), but they didn't open until 8:30, so there was no one there to help us. So, we trudged back through the rain to the original bus stop. We saw a bus across the street, but it was letting people off so we thought if we ran to talk to the bus driver, we'd probably miss it, so we waited. And waited. The bus didn't leave, so we decided to go ask! Of course, just then, the bus pulled away. But, I thought, it might be going to the stop we were just at! So, we dashed over there. No such luck. The bus stopped near the co-op and just stayed there. We saw another bus but had similar results trying to track it down. Finally, we went to the co-op where the original (and now "out of service") bus was at, and asked the driver where the stop was for the bus that went to Toyonaka.

He gave us directions (we were WAY off) and we found the stop, now soaking wet, and caught the bus. We were over ten minutes late for class. BUT! Now we know the bus, so we can take it to-and-from with ease. Plus, I think this is the first vehicle I've been inside of in WEEKS, and they drive on the left side of the road here, so that was kind of interesting. :)

Anyway, I only have two classes on Tuesdays now after doing a bit of shifting around. The sad part is my first class is the earliest class of the day, and my second class is the second-to-last, so I have a huge gap between the two. Oh well, homework time! Then two classes wednesday, then four classes on Thursday and one on Friday. Oh, and one on Monday... It doesn't add up to seven, but it's complicated. I am taking seven classes, just trust me on that. Well, eight if you count my beloved "home room" class.

More Umeda!

Saturday, we (being M, K, & myself) went to Umeda which was kind of an adventure. The idea in my head was to go to Umeda, check out HEP 5 (a huuuuge shopping center, in fact most of Umeda is shopping) and explore a bit. Then once 8:30 rolled around, we were going to meet some people from my dorm at a specific restaurant. We had, admittedly, a poorly drawn map to help guide us to the restaurant. I wasn't really worried about it though, because getting lost in Umeda sounds like fun to me. You can't ever really get lost, because as long as you can find a train station ("eki wa doko desuka?") you can find your way back to a familiar place. We went to HEP 5 and found it relatively easily. This guy greeted us upon entry. HEP 5 has multiple stories and a ferris wheel on top. We rode the ferris wheel (which is 106 meters above the ground at the highest point) which was quite fun up until the point where Kathryn started talking about how we'd totally die if something went wrong (thanks, K!) which made us all a bit worried. Still, the view was nice for the most part (if a bit overcast); you can see Osaka Castle from up there as well as a good chunk of Osaka-shi (Osaka City).

We explored the mall and found a shop which sells some foreign stuff. I was taken in by a bag of Old El Paso chips and a jar of salsa and I almost bought it if it weren't for the fact that it was horrendously overpriced and Old El Paso isn't really that good. So, I bought a Ginger Ale (a dicey buy because some ginger ales are just awful, and this one turned out to be one) and K picked up a can of Dr Pepper. The last can, in fact. I had been tempted by it, just for the sake of nostalgia, but I don't really even like DP so it wasn't a big deal to let her have it.

We then toured the remainder of the mall in search of a perfume shop, specifically. I left all my perfume at home because I didn't want it to explode on the flight over and was just really missing having something to spritz on to freshen up my room or myself. I found a shop that sold make-up and perfume almost exclusively, and probably smelled about 60% of their stock in search of something I'd like. I found some Juicy Couture, which I remember liking, but it was ￥9,000 (over $100 USD) whereas in the states you can get JC for like $60. So, I was like "nooo thanks" and after smelling about 43,187 other perfumes finally found one that I like. It's by Britney Spears (SHUT UP) and it's called Radiance and I like it okay? Besides, it's not as if Britney Spears actually has anything at all to do with the inception, creation, marketing and even aroma of this perfume. So, I have perfume now, yay.

Then we got lost looking for the Mexican restaurant and passed an area that, while I'm not fully certain if it was a red-light district or not, featured large images of naked ladies. We were led by some helpful Japanese to the shopping district which housed the Mexican restaurant (what? I want to see how the Japanese interpret "Mexican food"), but were disappointed to find out it was not open until 5. We wanted to eat something, so we swung into a yaki niku (grilled meat) place, where they bring you a small charcoal grill to your table and you cook the raw meat yourself on the grill. I had some riceballs wrapped in meat and some chicken wings. We tried to keep it on the cheap side and not eat too much, since we were planning on meeting others later. After that we wandered around a bit more and found a little place for a couple of drinks and/or coffee. The girls had cocktails and I had a beer and we relaxed and watched the crowd for a while.

After that, it's a long drawn out tale of getting lost in Umeda trying to find the restaurant with no success. Being lost and/or not meeting our goal seemed very stressful for K. We ended up having dinner at Yodobashi Camera (which is actually a huge electronics mall that has a food court up top) and then took a long walk to the train station home. By that point, I was pretty tired. I had planned on Sunday to head to my hostel and pick up a pair of shoes I left there. The hostel is also in Umeda, so I probably should have done it on Saturday, but I didn't feel like dragging M & K all the way to the hostel. So, instead I said, "Let's go Sunday and we can explore the area around the hostel." Well, that didn't happen because I was sick as a dog on Sunday and even M didn't feel very good. I stayed in my dorm and just rested, relaxed, drank hot tea, etc. I got several "mystery" medicines from helpful dormmates which did help, but in the end I asked Yuki to write down the name of a cough medicine so I could go pick some up. I got that, along with some Vick's cough drops, from the kusuriya on Monday. They really, really helped. After our "home room" class Monday, Lindzi (an Aussie who is in K & M's dorm) and I ended up going to my hostel.

We checked out Umeda again, had some soft serve at a place called "Sweden" (a Japanese ice cream shop - I had sakura ice cream, which was delicious), I finally had my first experience with Japanese "Italian" food (it was good!) and I got my shooooes back finally. Yay. I also picked up a small gift for Yuki because she has been REALLY helpful in helping me adjust and find things I need (medicine, Takarazuka tickets, the post office), as well as she basically filled out my internet application form for me... Yeah. I picked up some cute cookies from a gift shop in Umeda. I hope they're as tasty as they are adorable. On the way home I got a couple of groceries at Minami Senri station, and then got rained on all the way home.

The weather in Japan is simple:
Does Jenn have her umbrella?

Yes ---> Blue skies, sunshine.
No ---> Dark skies, rain, really cold wind.

Well, that's pretty much my weekend. Golden Week (sort of like "spring break" I suppose) is coming up at the end of this month, and I'm sure there will be all kinds of shenanigans to be had.