A Little Girl Exploring the World

Before I came to this college in Mass this August, I have been many places in the world this year. So far, I visited 5 countries including the US. Don't be fooled. I am not rich at all. I had saved money for the trips after graduation. In Japan, it is very popular to travel before graduatung college/ high school. We call it "graduation trip."


I just graduated a college (undergrad) in Japan this March. Before I graduate, I visited Bali, Indonesia and Singapore this March with my friend from my dance team. We planned to go to Bali first because we did not want to spend much money and Bali is kind of close to Japan. And then we realized that we have about 9 hours to change our flights in Singapore. So we dicided to visit Singapore as well. People in Bali value protecting their culture, tradition, and nature. I was impressed by thier lifestyle, dance, and food! Everything was amazing!! Even though I am from Japan, it is very different for me to visit another Asian country. We have different cultures. Actually, Bali is a very popular place to visit for Japanese people. I know many friends have been there this spring! Some people in Bali can speak Japanese so that Japanese people don't have to worry about language there.




On the other hand, Singapore is a modern country. There are many buildings and people in downtown. I was surprised that the color of taxies are various, such as red, blue, yellow, green... and the fare was not that expensive! Good for the travellers. Since we had only 7 hour to see around in Singapore, we went to see Marlion, and Night Safari. Marlion was underconstracted unfortunately, but we really had fun at Night Safari.


In May, I went to Ohio, US for my roommate's wedding!!! She just got married with her boyfriend and she invited me!! I was so happy that they became together and I could see their happy faces!! I spent some time at my former college in Ohio with my friends and moved to stay in Cleveland a few days. I love baseball so my friends took me to the ballpark. The game was awesome as usual, but I remember it was so cold outside. After the stay in Ohio, I headed to New York to visit my friend. She and her family are always sweet to me and I really appreciate it. I also had oppotunity to meet up with my another friends in NYC. It is always nice to catch up with my loves because they alwasy inspire me a lot.




A few weeks later, my bestie and I went to Europe!!! This trip was much needed for us because it was supposed to be our last trip before I move to the States for grad school. We tried to manage this trip cheaper because we are both student obviously, and we were kind of broken at the time. But we know that we travel together in Europe, so we worked A LOT!!! In addtion, we found the cheapest airline tickets and hotels. We visited Milan, Rome, and Paris in 10 days. It was busy trip, but we realy enjoyed it!! Sometimes we had trouble, and sometimes we felt that we might not be able to go back to Japan... But we made it safe eventually. People in Milan are so fashionable. Rome has many historic sights. I really loved there becuase I am kind of interested in history. And Paris...oh my god. I love Paris so much! Everything is pretty and adorable! The buildings, cafe, and food made me feel that I am in a movie! I know it is so expensive to eat and drink in Paris. We wanted to save money so we sometimes bought dinner at supermarket. I definately want to come back to Paris in the near future!




And then, I'm in Mass, US now. I love being the States becuase everything is exciting to me whenever I come back to the States. I really feel that any experiences are good for me and my future. I want to keep challenging anything that I want and always thinking of my country, Japan.




So this is a video about my journey in the world. I learned how to make a video in my Media class. I know the quality is not that good, but I hope you enjoy it. Thank you!

Mt. Monadnock

Yesterday, My friends and I went hiking to Mt. Monadnock in New Hampshire. This event was organized by IDCE program which is not mine. But my friends asked me to join, and the weather was really nice at that time. So I decided to go there with them. It was my first mount-climbing. Actually, we didn't expect that we climb up the mountain. We thought that we would just walk around and enjoy watching the autumn leaves.

While climbing, we faced some difficulties such as rock-climbing, slippery road, mud, and wind. We accidentaly chose the trickier trail, so we sometimes thought we might not be able to make it.

At the top of the mountain

But we made it!!! Although It was very hard and tough, we really enjoyed climbing and watching the autumn leaves!! The scenery was awesome and beautiful. I was moved that I can see with my own eyes.

     However, it was tougher when we went down the mountain compared to go up. We slipped many times and our shoes were totally messed up. We chose the eaier trail this time, so it was much better than the trickier one becuase we didn't need to go through the wall of rock.

We on the top!!!

It was an amazong experience to me. I want to prepare a pair of shoes for climbing mountain next time becuase mine was just a dance shoes. Today, when I woke up, whole my body hurt. It is very had to move my body like walking, raising my hands, and so on...I strongly feel that I also need to train my body for the next mountain climbing! 



Extra Extra!!

I am so pumped right now... becuase my team, Chunichi Dragons is now on the 1st place!!!!!! Wooooohoooo!!!




Oh my god, actually, there were 10 game differences between Dragons and Yakult Swallows. But Dragons just turned around the differeces yesterday!!! I know this team becomes better at the end of season. Last year, there was also a few games differeces between 1st and 2nd place. But they won the games again and again, and then finally they became the league champion!! I really really hope that they will win upcoming games and become the league chamipion again!!


Okay, I need to calm down becuase the game will start when I am sleeping. There is a time diffrence for 13 hours between Japan and Massachusetts. All I can do is praying for my Dragons!!


I know that I need to write something about my life in the States for my assignment. But I can't help posting about that. Hopefully, my professior will undestand me!


Chunichi Dragons have 13 more games. I don't know what will happen...but I know Dragons can do better than any other teams becuase they practiced so hard at the spring camp. Hopefully, I will be able to smile at the end of october!

(At Nagoya Dome, Summer 2010)

 

                               ( At Tokyo Dome, 08/24/2010)

What I Wanted to Do...

One of the things that I was looking forward to in the States is sports. Especially, I am a huge fan of baseball. Back home in Japan, I had been working at a baseball park for 4 years. My home area has a team called Chunichi Dragons. I have been a fan of it since I was a little. I often go see its game every year even though I need to work as a part-time worker. My boss allowed me to have off days for the games!  Now, you can tell how much I LOVE baseball. I already knew that Boston has good sports teams so I was very excited to see their games. Boston is kind of far from where I am now though.

My team, Chunichi Dragons have been doing very well over the years. Even if the batters are not good this seanson so far, they are placing on the 2nd right now! They were on the 5th a few month ago (there are 6 teams in the league, and there are 2 main leagues in Japan.) I think the pitchers are doing really well. Every season, pitchers seem much better than the batters. ERA is lower than other teams. 

                                           (This game was against HanshinTigers in July)

About MLB, my favorite teams are Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox. I have been in Ohio before so I am kinda root for anything about Ohio. I have an OSU sweat shirt and I am the only one that I wear on campus in Mass. Of course, people look at me. I try not to care about it.

I have been a fan of Red Sox since I was in Japan. I don't have any specific reason why I started to become a fun of it. But I think Red Sox used to have 3 Japanese players at one time. When I was in Ohio, I watched a game against Red Sox. It was very excited because I could see 2 Japanese players with my own eyes!!! I actually talked to them when they were at bullpen. "Okajima-san! (Okajima is a pitcher) Good luck on your pitching!!" It sounds so weird when I translate in English, but it is natural for Japanese people to say this kind of thing. I took a lot of pictures. Yes, I am so JAPANESE. But, they were really nice. They vowed at me!!!!! Since then, I was reappy supporting them, but they are no longer in Red Sox. Sad.

When I came here, I was so excited to go to Fenway Park to see Red Sox games. But I couldn't make it because they couldn't make it to playoff.... I didn't expect that it happened. So now, I need to wait till the next season which means March 2012!!! Every year when fall comes, I feel so sad because the baseball season is over. I just can't wait to start another season already! Hopefully, they will be doing well next season with a new head coach. We will see...