Meeting stranger through music (三味線 Shamisen)

Ciao tutti! How's your day? Today has been an awesome day for me :):) Nice weather, new friend, music and sushi! I mean life is just good with all that you know?

I am quite tired today because of yosakoi last night (no big deal because it's fun tired!). We had a meeting until almost 10 about our dance team and then I went out for dinner with my teammates last night. Everyone is just the nicest and the cutest when they would ask my silly little questions then all giggle together. Even though I am still not 100% with my Japanese, I already feel like part of something here!

Today is indeed the warmest and the nicest day ever since I have been here! 21 degree celsius and super sunny. It really can't be any perfecter to have such a graceful day! I even got to lay out for a little to sunbath on campus after my class but of course I got plenty of weird stares because people in Japan don't normally do that! That as if laying down and sunbathing I guess? haha

On my way walking home from the subway station, I started hearing music coming from somewhere - a park next to the apartment that I live in now. I approached to the musician and just stopped and listen to her playing her shamisen. Shamisen is a traditional Japanese instrument with 3 strings. While she had a little break between playing songs, I decided to introduce myself and asked to take a picture of her :) And there we go, we became friends! Ms. Ami is a young looking lady. I said this is because she looks like she is in her early 30s, but she is indeed already 41! Also, she did yosakoi for 9 years, so we both got excited when I told her that I am now doing yosakoi in Hokkaido.

After her little practice, she also invited me to go to a day care home with her to listen to this team of people playing shamisen and taiko for the elderly in the community. It was the cutest thing ever and going to the day care home makes me miss volunteering at Masonic Village, a similar place nearby my college. The worker there introduced me to the old people which made me kind of nervous, but then everyone was so nice there and asked me a lot of questions about my home stay here now.

At night, my super sushi chef papa made us lots of sushi for dinner! I mean I do think I am one of the luckiest girl in the world with such a loving host family and for having a cool papa like him! :) We also had dessert tonight as I bought different types of strawberry cake home! What a good day, right?

I hope yours is as happy as mine, tutti! Ciao!

Finally a cell phone!

Ciao tutti! How was everyone's weekend? My weekend was a little wild, which I will share with you in a little! Before that, I got a big news - finally have a cell phone to use in Nippon!! :)

Even though it took a while for everyone in the BCA program to get the phone, thanks to all the hard work that everyone has been putting in towards this achievement! Japan has an interesting cell phone plan and system. It is definitely not cheap to make phone calls, but thanks to the invention of unlimited texting messaging! Well maybe I should say S! Mail because in Japan people don't text but have a mail address and "email" each other! Anyway, enough of my phone haha let's get started on sharing my weekend, share we?

On Saturday, I got up at 7 and went to Riho's primary school open house, and it was the cutest scene ever! When you walked into the school, you have to first take off your shoes before entering the actual building. Riho's classroom was on the 4th floor - a classroom with 30 kids and a teacher! During our visit, the teacher was teaching everyone kanji (chinese character) and everyone in class was reacting pretty energetically. I did wonder if it is because all the parents were there to give the unspoken support!

Then from 10 to 4, I went back on campus for my Yosakoi dance practice! I know ... long but super fun! I already love everyone that I met on the team. Most people did seem a bit shy at first, but now I am able to make a lot of new friends. So the only challenge now is to put everyone's faces with a name ;)

After getting home, I was soon falling into my afternoon nap, and thank god I took a nap or else I wouldn't be able to stay up until 7:30 the next morning. That's right, you heard me! I got home at around 6:40 and was up until 7:30 in the morning. Here is my story to share - so on a fun Saturday night as a college student, I went out to hang out with everyone to meet new friend, chill and drink. So why go home in the morning? The Japanese public transportation indeed closes quite early. The bus stops running at around 9:30 pm and the subway stops running at around midnight, so if you go out to hang out for the night then you normally stay up the entire night unless you want to be nice to the taxi driver and pay them a very nice amount of money to get home! lol but no not me - I am a mean person as you all know ;)

The night was quite fun indeed not because of the places that we went to, but just because I was with a fun group of people! After going to 飲み放題 (drink all you can), we went to a club called "Booty" (What a name, right? Baha) Booty is just a super smoky and can-be-creepy places with plenty of creepers. According to my British friend's Oxford guidebook, it is also known for foreigners to pick up Japanese girls, so of course with my Asian look, I already had the disadvantage of being creep on. Anyway, I was fine (you all may not know me, but my self-defense teacher called me the tiny dangerous one) and my guy friends were there to help me. It was a fun night for the most of it, so I guess can't complain much ;) Oh and I "picked up" a Japanese girl too. I met this "sexy mess" when I was outside of the club getting some fresh air, then she pulled me back into the club and on stage to start dancing. That's right - she needs to learn how to get herself together - no kidding.

On my train ride home with Ki and Chris, I ran into Jennifer who went off with another group in the middle of the night! Well it was more like ... she heard me laughing in the subway from 4 carts away then found me lol but totally love all these seeing people around! Such a weekend!

Anyway, time to get some rest!! Ciao!

Back into the House!

Ciao tutti :) Come stai? I had another exhausting day today, but of course exhausting in a good way! I was supposed to move back to the Nishino house yesterday, instead I moved back today because I knew I would be way too tired to move home after yosakoi practice that ends at 9:30. Plus homework, I don't think it would be smart for me to move haha

Anyway, I moved back to the house today. The moving process was a bit long and tiring. The subway ride from school to home is normally pretty short, but today with all my heavy luggage, it felt like I had ages to go home.

It's so good to be home to see everyone :) I miss the crazy laugh that Riho has and my host parents' cooking! They are both awesome cook :) We had chirashi sushi for dinner tonight! Yum! To be honest, I wasn't a 100% about moving out of Kirari. I love my host family, but now I grow to love living in Kirari too. Even though I only stayed there for a short period, I enjoyed living there with everyone so much! It's a different experience than living in a dorm. On the third floor, there are a lot of korean students and 3 guys from England. So most of the time, I speak English with the boys then Japanese with my korean friends there. I can tell that it is a different bonding there that I had with everyone who is super nice to me. I guess it is different too because now that I move out, there is no way of me being there anymore. The school doesn't allow anyone on the third floor, but only people who lives there. No visitors allowed :( I guess I will just see all my friends in class! Meh! I had so much fun cooking dinner for everyone and learning the Ukulele + playing it every night. It's definitely part of my best memory here.

Another interesting thing of the day is the TV shows that I watch with my host family! We were watching a game show on TV that asks two teams of artists/singers to guess different things. The first game was to guess whether this person is a guy or a girl (very interesting, surprising and partially scary HA), then it was to guess this two little twins who is doing the actual action (for example, who is actually eating the cake / who is petting a dog), the last one was guessing which Korean girls actually got plastic surgery. Everything was just so interesting lol I am amazed by their TV shows I guess hahaha

Anyway, I will get a chance to go to Riho's primary school tomorrow to observe her class! So let's see how a Japanese classroom is tomorrow! Nighty night :)

Decided: I am doing よさこい Yosakoi :)

Ciao tutti! Sorry that I haven't been keeping you all posted. Life has been pretty crazy lately. I wonder when is it not crazy for me haha anyway, I am currently staying in the international dorm - Kirari because my host family has some personal business to deal with and can't have me for a couple days. Kirari is indeed pretty fun. I do miss living in a dorm with other people in the States, so it has been fun living with other students again! I moved in here on Sunday with nothing knowing what exactly to expect. In fact, it was an interesting move-in because the international office here kind of forgot about my move-in and didn't inform the intense Japanese security guy, so I was given a challenge - explain myself in Japanese to the old man. Everything worked out fine, but it was just a big challenge I guess haha The floor that I am on mainly hosts students from Korea and England. I am also thankful that some people in my Japanese class actually lives on my floor - Momo, Ki, Chris and Xay.

So why is my life so crazy? First of all, I finally talked to my host family about doing yosakoi and they all encouraged me to do it since it is once-a-life-time experience. They said we can just hang out  a lot in June if I am going to be busy to death in May. Plus, I can possibly learn how to do yosakoi in Japan only, so I think I am in for this!

My weekend had an awesome start too. On Friday, I went to the Hokkaido museum of modern art with Jennifer, Silda, Jae and Matt where we all got a chance to meet the artist, Ten-ei Abe, who is currently having his exhibition there. With my love to art and art museum, I was so thankful for my luck and was way too excited to meet this gentleman who created tons of art work with a taste of Hokkaido. Then we all ended our night with going to 飲み放題(drink all you can).

Saturday was the day for host family parties. We all went to 小樽 Otaru for a nice lunch in a hotel. It was fun for most of it, but I felt it a bit disappointing then we only got an hour to sightsee around the city. Plus, the bus ride there is already an hour, so two hours of traveling and only an hour of sightseeing doesn't make too much sense to me. Anyway, it was a nice time to go out with my host family and get to meet other host family :) Plus, I got to go up to もいわ山 Mt. Moiwa, the highest mountain in Sapporo, with my host family to finally see the beautiful night view of Sapporo. I wanted to cry when I was up there because I am just amazed by how pretty the night view look.

I can't imagine when I get to go to 函館 Hakodate and get to see the night view there. Interesting enough, I got to see a Japanese all male A Capella group performing up on the mountain, which makes me really miss Phalanx, the all male A Capella group from school.

Okay. After 3 hours of dancing and just played a bit of football (I mean soccer) with the boys, I think it's time for bed :) Oyasumi!

A day with sunshine finally!

These past couple days have been very interesting for me. I have been struggling a little on decision making and just adjusting into the society here. However, I definitely had a good day today!

So what is my struggle? I have been looking into what clubs to join and all that, so I decided to do ballet (how can I not do it, when I see that it is in the list?!) and yosakoi (よさこい、Japanese dance). I went to the first yosakoi practice and totally love it! Everyone who does yosakoi definitely shows their energy and makes you feel how 元気 they are. Also, Wakana, a girl who studied abroad at Etown from Hokusei, was there to help me out and introduce me to a lot of nice, fun people, so I definitely had a fun time with everyone. However, yosakoi's practice is quite intense. It is 3.5 hours every Tuesday, Thursday from 6 to 9:30 and Sunday. With that, it also means I won't get home until 10:30ish and my host family always wait up for me. Plus, practice will get more intense and goes on everyday in May as the competition in June approach. To be honest, I would love to be part of this and it will be a great experience doing this energetic Japanese dance, but I would also love to spend time with my host family and see more of the city with new friends that I made here. From everything that I am looking at now, it will be most likely that I am not gonna do it. :( Sad but then I guess we always have to make different choices in life!

Or else life is HAPPY as usual :) especially today! The sun was out, shining bright above me which I totally love. Plus class was SO MUCH FUN with countless LAUGHERS haha today we had conversational class and writing class which requires a lot of talking and class discussions. I discovered that some people in class is just hilarious. Plus, I just had my first class of contemporary history of Japan and I think I am gonna love it. My professor is from London (reminds me of my art history professor in Italy!) and he is an intelligent person with a lot to teach, so I am pumped to learn! Plus, making new friends and running into friends on campus always makes me smile too :)

I guess life is just SO GOOD! :) oh and I am going to Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art tomorrow!! Who is excited? me me meowww!

First day of class at 北星学園大学！

I finally am back on track as a student :) No more wine distributor internship for now!

First day of class is fun even though class is going to be at 8:50 everyday! It is a small class setting just the way I like it and with interaction or more like speaking practice haha The class is also pretty diverse. We have people from the states, England and Korea! Apparently, we will have different teachers too on different day, so classes should stay very interesting with all the different teachers and different teaching style.

Having been lived in Japan for a while now, I can totally tell the difference from America/Italy to this traditional, rule-oriented world - Japan. Before I came to Japan, I thought I would have no problem fitting in since I have traveled to Japan for couple of times and knew the culture a little. However, actually living here is a totally different thing. There are so many rules to follow, so if things are not perfect as the way it needs to be, sometimes it is really not acceptable. I guess my living experience in the states and Italy really doesn't help too much haha since now I just feel a little restricted. Nonetheless, this is definitely a good practice for me and a good challenge in life!

Having a host family this time is a big change for me too! When I lived in Italy in an apartment with all my flat mates, there is nothing to worry about, but just to keep clean and respectful. I was always on my own and there is no curfew or anything. Now that I am living with a very nice and loving family, I have an ka-san (host mom!) that asks me about my daily schedule all the time and just little siblings to hang out with. I am not on my own anymore and have to learn living with a family as a while! It is definitely good to know that I have some people that got my back here and someone that I can always talk to. I am thankful that they are all teaching me a lot about the culture. I totally love seeing their smiles and feeling their love.

So a little conclusion for the day: maybe I was born Italian the life before this hahaha I am such a free spirit, but I am totally stepping up to this challenge - live like a Japanese and follow the rules (for a little)!

Finally moved in with my Host Family 西野(Nishino)!!

Hello everyone :) I am back! Today I finally met my host family and moved into their house! I have a host dad, a host mom, a 13-year-old host brother (Kohei) and a 9-year-old host sister (Riho)! Everyone is so loving and caring already! My papa already told me that we are now a family! :):)

Everyone from the BCA program met with our host family for the first time at 2 in Kirari (the international dorm on campus where we stayed for a little for orientation) It was so precious when I met my host family :) Riho was so shy at the beginning but then when we went for grocery shopping, we held hands!!!!!! :):)

For dinner, my host family took me to a restaurant for 回転寿司 (Conveyor belt sushi)!! It was so delicious but I definitely got too full haha Thankfully, I got to exercise a little after dinner because I played Just Dance on wii for the first time with Riho :) It's the funniest dancing game ever haha Totally loving everything here now! I love my host family!!

Oh and let's rewind a little to what I have done for the past couple days! Life in Kirari was fun! Living with everyone from the program and all that, you know? Now I made a lot of new friends from Soka University in California, also some other people from other college! :) Everyone definitely bounded during our time in Kirari! However, the placement test that we took on Friday was definitely the not as fun part for everyone lol the listening and oral part went quite alright but the last 3 pages in the written exam was really hard. But oh well, I am sure I will get placed into the correct level!

Now I will go get some rest, have a good Sunday then classes start on Monday at 8:50!! So pumped!!