I have a life

Apr 26

I’m writing this post one week later than usual, as you might’ve noticed. I got some kind of Japan superinfluenza on Sunday 20th and spent the entirety of the following week lying in bed and learning to breathe.

But now, it’s actually quite nice to go back to the previous week, because this week I already started forgetting that I’m on exchange and that my life can be exciting. That I actually do have one. Lol.

inconviniences. — I'm terribly sorry for the diley.

Travel plans, picnic and first real class

We were supposed to go bouldering with Mt on Monday (14.4.), but the gym was closed so we ended up going for a long walk and having lunch together. Turns out we get along really nicely, and we actually talked about going traveling together for the Golden week, which is a week without classes between 28.4.-4.5. Very exciting!

tree. — And this in some old rusting metal wall behind the said shrine, next to a bunch of empty beer barrels.

mt. — Future travel friend Mt checking out some prayers.

bread. — On the way back home I found something resembling real bread for the first time. I almost cried. It was in an "international" grocery store that sold stuff from India to Mexico to Nordics. Didn't get it in the end, but if it was Finnish näkkileipä, I would've.

On Tuesday, I joined an international lunch picnic. There were a bunch Japanese students who want to learn English. It was fun, they are really kind. I asked them about the university hobby clubs and got recommended a hiking club.

I also had the first “real” lecture in the Tuesday seminar course. The course seems very chill: there will just be workshops and presentations every week from us, the students. I’ll need to hold a workshop in one of the classes, and attend the others. I’ll hold mine about the silence recording project I’m working on here.

I’m really happy about this class. It seems very relaxed, which means I can focus on my project and on exploring the country.

The waterfall

What is up, comes down. At least if it’s water in a waterfall.

On Wednesday, we hiked to a waterfall called 百尋ノ滝 (Hyakuhironotaki) with も and two of her friends. Well, she had only met them once before. But they were nice and the day was beautiful.

factory. — We took a train to a little village in the western mountains to start the hike. There was a seemingly abandoned coal power plant in the village. Wish we could've gotten a closer look at it.

river. — For most of the hike, we were following a river upstream.

bridge. — There were a lot of little bridges to cross.

fall. — 百尋ノ滝. We went for a refreshing swim there, even though the water was a tad cold. When I was standing under the waterfall, I had deep thoughts regarding whether it's possible there's a stone somewhere above that is loose and it will fall on my head and kill me.

leaves. — Heading back, feels like autumn.

road. — I was teaching も to spin a stick. She learned fast. It was nice to walk with her, we chatted quite a lot about personal things and got to know each other better.

After a long day of hiking, we went together to 立川 (Tachikawa) to eat Hokkaido-style curry. In the restaurant, we also started planning a longer hiking trip with this group in May - renting a car and going somewhere further. I can’t wait!

School days

On Thursday, I went to school just to hang out on campus. I like spending time there, and there’s usually a chance to meet Japanese students by lunch.

We were also doing some dumpster diving with も, and checked out the Tamabi library for the first time. The library is beautiful, I spent an hour just walking around looking at books. No photos are allowed inside though, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

book. — Sound advice found in the library.

table. — I also found a night table in the campus dumpster, as held by も. I was looking for one for some time now.

On Friday, I tried taking a Japanese class on campus with も. The level was way too high for me, I understood perhaps one sentence during the 1.5 hours there. Apparently Tamabi doesn’t really offer any lower level courses, so I’ll have to find another way to study the language.

I also went to the Friday seminar class for the first time. As on Tuesday, this was also really chill. I gave a quick introduction and showed some of my works. In future weeks, we are expected to give short progress updates / presentations about a project we are working on. I like the consistency, it’s a nice supplement to the Tuesday seminar where I’ll just have to do the one big workshop/presentation.

I was already on the way home from class when I bumped into も and some of her classmates from sculpture. They were all Japanese/Chinese and invited me to have hotpot with them. Suure!

We ended up going shopping together and making a hotpot in a room in the sculpture department. It was a really fun evening. Everybody spoke Japanese so I had some trouble understanding when they asked me questions, but it actually gave me a confidence boost, because it didn’t feel awkward and I could still communicate basic things. One of the Japanese students knew basic words in Finnish too - I was very surprised.

spices. — I took a photo of some of the sauces the experts used. I'm sure there are non-vegan things in these, and the hotpot wasn't vegan either, but I honestly didn't care, it was 100 % worth the experience.

Rave

Continuing a very social week, on Saturday there was a free day rave in a flour factory not too far from campus. There was music on two floors and some of the DJs were really really good. We went there with も and couple of her friends and also bumped into some classmates, J and Y.

It was amazing, I danced for 6 hours straight. も and some of the others continued towards central Tokyo to spend the entire night out, but I was feeling a bit drowzy and decided to head home early. Had a nice night walk to the station with Y.

ravestairs. — The entrance was on the 3rd floor. People were hanging out and smoking in the stairs.

raveup. — A few times I clamb these stairs all the way up to the fifth floor, since there was nobody there. It was nice to breathe and observe the nightly city alone from high up, feeling the stairs shaking slightly with the music and hearing the muffled conversations below. It was one of those moments when I felt really alive and present, like I was actually in Tokyo.

ravetimes. — There were a lot of nice DJs. I loved ME:CA and Springirl.

Surprise surprise!

Wow, that was such a crazy active week! What will I do next, what adventure awaits? Maybe the mountain hike I planned on Monday?

Naa, I’ll just get sick instead. I woke up feeling feverish on Sat-Sun night, and on Sunday I was officially sick. I spend Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday at home, mostly in bed. On Friday I went to school for the first time this week, still a bit shaky.

icecream. — Once I got a bit stronger, I made some banana ice cream with fruits. It healed my spirit, if nothing else.

tea. — I'm still fixing my voice with this classic remedy.

What a week. It’s Saturday today, and I’m still taking it really easy. There is another day rave happening right now and I really wanted to go, but I realised it’s better I rest.

In the past weeks, aside from the whole virus nonsense, I have been feeling more confident about my social life here. I’ve been meeting a lot of exciting people, and also have started to slowly get to know Japanese students. I’m starting to trust my friendships more, especially with も. It always makes me happy to hang out with her, and it seems she also likes spending time with me. It feels good to have a friend like that in a strange country.

Tomorrow I might meet Shun. And on Monday it’s time to travel! It’s the golden week and we are going to Osaka, Kyoto and Hiroshima with Mt. A whole week of adventures with many trains, buses and hostels.