And there was wine all over the computer!

SO as some(no)one might have noticed, there has been no updates. That was because I broke my laptop, had to drag it to Apple Store where they had to order new keyboard all the way from Sweden. It took time :D

I have no idea what to write about after this long but let's start with random ATMOSPHERE photos. Later I guess I'll do themed posts.

Nagoya CENTERRR

A building.

Buildings in Japan are interesting. As I've been to Boston and New York I can see the influence or the USA. It is hard to explain, really, I have no majors in architecture. In Europe one does not need to build old looking houses because there already are a lot, but here people have kind of randomly chosen style and era, build a thing and put it next to another random building. For me it doesn't make much sense, but it sure is interesting. Japan has it's unique style. Aside of the weird, random USA type of influence, I really like the face of Japanese cities. The big city centers with skyscrapers and stuff are the same as everywhere else, but around the smaller local train stations things get interesting.  The electric lines are not underground but above, and I noticed how the majority of the houses are really small as I was surprised of the lack of big apartment buildings. Everything can be explained with earthquakes. Also as there as been no snow during the whole winter, people here don't need to worry about snow weighting the electric lines down. The thing I like most, however, is the way how there is plants growing in surprising places. I think I'll have a post just about this later.

FLOOOWERS

Kind guide-san.

Berries!

Art!!

I REALLY LIKE THE BUILDINGS HERE

Yeah, next time, there will be a nice lithe post about buildings, a trip I have made or about FOOD.

So there is food

Life continues!

...And because of that I thought about dropping some pictures of FOOD I've faced here!!

This is my normal... Idk, noodles? I buy it because it makes me smile.

Sakura Dangos (usually eaten in spring) and cider. It was good! I've gotten quite fond of dangos.

That is what I eat at home, but we go often to eat outside.

SAKE!! It's sweet!

...I DON'T REMEMBER THE NAME!! But good!

OKONOMIYAKI

SQUID! OM NOM

EBI TEMPURA!  OM NOM

JOEY'S UDON!

FISH AND MISO SOUP OM NOM

JOJO AND KUMI EATING JAPANESE FOOD IN JAPANESE FAMILY RESTAURANT

TOBI'S FOOD IN THE SAME RESTAURANT!

Yeah so those are the MAIN DISHES. But we have a lot of SWEETS too!

MACARONS! Ok, I did not buy them, but I like how the look like.

LOTTE ALMOND CHOCOLATE VERY DELICIOUS

This was actually very gourmee maccha (green tea) cake and coffee in a Tea House. Japanese people make everything out from maccha just as Finnish people of salmiakki,

ICE whatsocuteidieofsugarjustlookingatthem CREAMS

ICE CREAM ohmygoshwhenismybirthday CAKES

But menus are in Japanese! Kumi was very patient translating everything. Btw, Japanese alcohols are also quite nice, but a little bit too sweet.

Charlotte gonna eat your head. Kumi won the cutie for me from a game center!

I really like Japanese tastes. The only thing what has not been good was natto.

Eka viikko takana!

Nagoya Zokei main stairs in dramatic evening sunlight.

Haa, the first week is already behind?  A lot of stuff has happened, the school has started well and, uh, well, everything is WELL.

Imma write about what courses I attend in school! On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays me and Joey (Jojo) have Graphic Design. We're going to make a little (63 pages haHAHAh) photography book so I've been taking a lot of pictures for it. Last week we also had to search for good photography books and come up with a theme. I've been talking in front of the class twice in Japanese. It was just a few sentences but I was really nervous and forgot all the words and got everything wrong and agh, but fortunately the class is really nice so maybe I don't die.

Serii, Jojo, me and Cho! Jojo is a little bit in shadow ;_;
Cho is from China so she and Jojo use sometimes this mix of Mandarin and Cantonese to talk!

This girl is also in Graphic Design class. And that thing on her palm is a living butterfly omigad.

On Wednesdays I have Illustration class. It's really nice and the teacher seems to be talking about a lot of interesting stuff. Also he's very good at arts, he showed us some stuff he had done and I was amazed. For this class we need to make an illustration of autumn on B3. I've got a vague idea what I'm going to do. Today we went to buy the colours and papers and now I've no cash.

Aaand on Mondays we have Digital Media Design class. That's exactly what it says. We're doing designs on computer. CHARACTER DESIGNS HOLY BANANAS. Yesterday, on the first class, we just drew a superhero and his/her enemy and scanned them. BUT WE'RE GONNA MAKE THEM 3D WHICH SEEMS LIKE 2D, now how cool is that? Sensei is also really nice, he showed us the designs of latest anime characters and how it's going to be in future. The students are loud and happy, which is more than fine for me. When I got into the class, a little bit lost, a girl I barely knew jumped on me! That must be the most cheerful welcome I've ever received! <3

On weekend we went to see the Nagoya Castle. We tagged along with some helpful guides who told us a lot about the history of the castle and Japan. It was really hot and after climbing all the way up to the castle, Thuy didn't feel so well so we became familiar with the Japanese tourist aid! I also ate a green tea ice cream (interesting!). I've eaten a lot of white rice and my stomach has been a bit upset every evening. Recently I bought some eggs and weird yogurt and after eating them I felt better :'D Yay for eggs and yogurt! ANYHOW, after the castle we took a short visit to Sakae again.

Then just some pictures with an explanation below! I need to study more Japanese. Today it was finally a little bit easier to talk. I still can no more than chit chat, but that's a start.

The great Nagoya Castle omg omg!

The view from the top! Nagoya cityyy!

We being tourists.

Sakae space...ship?

Sakae is a nice place! They also have a GHIBLI SHOP!!!111+

I'd still have so much things to write about, but no can do. Until next time!

Shrine and first school day!

Monday was a holiday in Japan so we took the chance and went to Atsuta Shrine. Getting there was more difficult than I thought but fortunately Joey, Tobi and Thuy can find their way in the maze of trains and subways just fine so I just followed them. I was afraid it would be rainy and windy as the horrible typhoon in the night, but it turned out to be a very sunny day. We stopped in Sakae to eat in a noodle bar. I took these normal noodles with some pork. OM NOM NOM oh good it was and filling!

After an hour or so we found ourselves from Jingu-mae station and noticed the shrine was right next to it. As it was my first time I saw a shrine in live, I was amazed. The area was big and had many little buildings inside it. The trees were big and had thick branches. People could buy some wishing plates from the shrine mikos, write their wishes down and hang it next to the main building (somebody wished for a girl friend, aww).  There was a lot of crows around and in a little bond was some huuuge kois. We walked around in the area quite a while so I was glad there was a toilet. There are toilets everywhere and they're usually very clean. The best thing is FREE ENTRANCE so you don't need to suffer if you don't have any coins like in Finland.

As we went back we stopped at this little book store on the way. The owner was really chatty and kind and gave us candy *q*

Part of the shrine. Everything was absolutely clean, no trash anywhere.

Crowwws.

Plates for wishing and little origamis.

In the evening we cooked together again. Also tasted my first natto! It wasn't so bad. It's just not edible. The other exchange students really can cook. I feel a bit helpless without an oven. 

Today we had a meeting in NZU where we decided about our schedules and courses of the exchange period. Me and Joey share all courses which is nice. The first class was of graphic design and we went to the classroom and got our own seats from the back. The other students were really friendly and lively and even tho I didn't get much of the details the teacher was saying, I got the big picture. I can even say I learnt something! We're going to take photographs and lay out our own little photography book! So we went to the library to find some books about photographs we like and in the next class we're going to show them to the rest of the class.

So this was on the wall. I like it, especially Captains hair.

CUCUUUUTE

When I go to buy food I have no idea what I'm going to walk out with. Finally yesterday I got my first dangos ever, they were gooooood. I've also been eating a lot of onigiris.

dangooo dangoo I was happyyy happyy

First days in Japan!

Okaaay!

Now I've been in Japan for two days! Everything is so surreal. It was really fast and easy to get the foreign residence card in Nagoya Chubu so I was relieved. The flight took over nine hours and I slept only 20 mins. The plane was really cool, you could play games and watch movies from the screen in front of you so I didn't get bored. I watched Iron Man 3 in Japanese and two documentaries. When we arrived it was already morning in Japan.

So at the airport I met Saori, a staff member of Nagoya University. She took me by train and subway to Kasugai where my room is on the second floor of a student apartment building. The rent is not bad at all and they even had a coffee machine ready! A little bit later she took me shopping. I got a card for trains, subways and busses and we went to Sakae where we met the other three exchange students. Joey is from Hong Kong and her room is right above mine. Then we have Tobi and Thuy from Germany who live in the student apartment next to us. I really need to go to Sakae again. Japan is full of cute clothe, book and jewelry shops (all the shops are somehow cute). Also there is a lot of light pink colour. That evening we, the new exchange students went to Joey's room and made some rice. Then I went to sleep. I've never fallen asleep so quickly.

Next day, which is today, Nagoya Zokei University of Art and Design had an OPEN CAMPUS. It's like abipäivät in Finland, people can come and see what they do in school. We had a tour around different classes and we met with some of the teachers. We also met Taichi, funny and helpful guy who showed us around the campus and took us to a coffee where we ate pancakes and salmiakki.
It's impossible to tell everything we did and what I saw, but here's some pictures! I forgot my camera to my room (;_;) so these are taken with phone!

These are from the Ceramic course. Everything was so good!

Then we went to eat lunch. You can buy one from the school and it costs around 400 yens. You have to insert your coins to this... machine and it will spit out your lunch ticket. Then you go to the kitchen ladies with the ticket and order the food. I took some chicken and stuff I still don't know what it was.

The MACHINE

First real meal in Japan! Chicken, miso soup, cold green, rice tea aaaaand.... stuff. It was delicious!

Tobi, Taichi, Joey and Thuy!

This evening Tobi, Joey and me went to SoftBank to get prepaid phones but they were just closing. We all have bikes provided by NZU, what a nice surprise!

Tomorrow is a Japanese holiday so we have no school. Tonight there is also supposed to be a typhoon but so far outside is only been a little bit rainy and so very HOT.

Aino is funny

So I stayed overnight at Aino's place. She made some croissants for school and we ate the leftovers. Last spring I lived together here with Aino and her bf for three months and found out she's an awesome cook! I always knew she can make a good macaroni salad tho!

It's relieving I know how to move around in Helsinki so I don't need to worry about getting lost before even reaching Japan. Hahaha I'm getting excited again!

FOOD *Q*

Start!

Yes, it's the first post! The layout of this blog is still unfinished, but this may do for now.

Today I left Oulu behind me for the next five months. I don't feel sad yet - though last Saturday I had hard time when I realized I won't be getting my favourite jogurt as a breakfast anymore.
On Friday my friends threw a farewell party for me. It was a big surprise, I didn't see it coming at all (but I wondered why my boyfriend Miku was so concerned with his clothes when he left to "party with his friends" before me). Hanhan had just moved to a new apartment (she flew from home, sob) with her sister so I thought there would be a housewarming party, but no, I walked to a room full of my friends. Even the decorations were Japanese themed. It's nice to have friends. I'LL NEVER FORGET YOU.

Almost two weeks before, I met Akane, an exhange student from Nagoya Zokei University where I'm now going. She does ceramics and told me a lot about the school. I'd like to try ceramics if I have the chance! A Japanese work shop group also visited our section in Oulu University of Applied Sciences and I got to see their work whop result and attend their farewell party where they cooked for some of the Finnish teachers and students. The food was awesome, I can't wait to get to taste more in Japan! I also heard them speaking Japanese and realized I can understand a little what they're talking about. All my Japanese studies didn't go to waste! I hope I can learn how to communicate in Japanese as well at some point. I still don't know nearly enough words or kanjis to survive normally!

I'll fly to Nagoya Chubu tomorrow with the Japanese work shop group. I'll meet them at the Helsinki airport. Now I'm in a train going to stay overnight at my friend's place in Oulunkylä, Helsinki.

My luggage is so full and heavy (as well as dirty, huh, it used to be so bright and clean). It better not to explode in the plane or something.

My stuff.