Day Thirty-Seven - 072606 - Apartment Redux

Well it looks like we got pretty lucky because the center staff were able to help me find a place that was much cheaper than what we had been anticipating. The location is closer and the place is furnished so that will cut down drastically on costs. The neighborhood is pretty lively and either way we would have had to walk up an incline, so it looks like things have worked out well. Finding this place will significantly cut down on our costs.

The place has two rooms, one with tatami flooring as shown in the picture to the right. One of my classmates from last year had been staying in this place until now so I was able to meet up with her and get a look at the place. It is spacious enough and has the amenities necessary so that it should be just fine for next year. We don't exactly need luxurious living anyways, and this place is not that shabby at all.

So as mentioned before I had been able to meet up with Tseng-san who was my classmate last year. We had all suffered together during our classes but the other three classmates all continued on through the year-long program though I wasn't able to attend that year as I had hoped that I would have. But in any csae, it was good because I was able to talk to my former classmates and get some advice on how to get the most out of the year-long program in the upcoming year.

As you can imagine I am both anxious and apprehensive about the upcoming year. I've never really lived abroad before, other than these two summer programs, so actually spending a year out here will be quite an experience. I've been dreaming about this for so long and to see it be so close to reality is strange because, well, it's actually happening, and now that it's so close, it makes me pretty anxious. Most of all, I think as long as I focus on my studies I can hopefully reach my goals. Uh, actually I have to reach my goals or else!

Day Thirty-Six - 072506 - Bicycling for Hiroshima/Nagasaki

Okay so today I went to Shinjuku-eki after class to meet up with my friend May-yi and some of her friends. On the way out of the station I bumped into a lady who had a panel display that caught my eye. I stopped to check it out and had a small chat with her pictured to the left).

It turns out that she is part of a small group of people, young and old that has been bicycling around Japan in order to raise awareness about the hibakusha who had been victims of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. She was very nice and I got to learn a little bit about her group and what they are trying to do. It was very inspiring to see people do something like this especially now, some 60 years later, when many people have seemingly forgotten the horrors of the nuclear bombings. For myself, as someone descended of survivors, it was a welcome reminder of why the work that we do as historians is so important, so that "we will never forget."

Afterwards I was able to meet up with May-yi and her friends. We went to eat and talked about school and the like. Afterwards, everyone went to meet with May-yi's exchange partner Masumi, but I had work to do so I had to leave early.

On a side note, while we were going to meet up we passed by a band that was playing on the top level of the Shinjuku-eki. The lead vocalist was actually quite good. I think that this is the website of the group: http://www.minxzone.net. Free concert!

Day Thirty-Five - 072406 - No New Pics?

Okay so today I didn't really do anything but study and sleep and attend class, so I don't have anything to report for that day except that, through the help of the IUC staff I was finally able to find and lock down an apartment for next year. Whew! It's much cheaper and closer than the one which I had been thinking about so I am very relieved that we'll be able to save some money on this. More on the apartment later. . .