I have officially been in Kyoto over a month. I officially return home to Maui for Christmas break in exactly 2 months. Time is going by much quicker than I thought it would. Thus, when I don't update for over a week, don't think of it as me ignoring all of you, think of it as me being completely unaware of the time. haha.

Anyway... so what have I been up to? I'll rewind to last week. I met up with some of the other FBs in Osaka last Friday night so we could all go clubbing. Caitlin (from University of South Carolina) is researching contemporary dance and she found out that this particular club had a showcase of 20 or so dance teams performing for a couple minutes a piece. We had a really good time. But because the trains stop at around midnight, when you decide to go clubbing in Japan, you better be in for the long haul. Meaning that we were there until the club closed at 5am. Needless to say, I was a bit tired, but the five of us had a great time. We were the only foreigners in the club and were quite the spectacle for while once the performances stopped and everyone got to dance. Here's a picture of me with Bryan (from Colorago College) and Lisa (from UCLA):

After making it back home at around 7:30am, I spent the rest of the day sleeping. Go figure. When I finally managed to make it out of bed, I wandered down to Starbucks and read for several hours. Yay for my caramel macchiato tasting exactly the same in Japan.

Sunday I began my new project - going to a different temple each week. First up was Ginkakuji. I went to Kinkakuji two years ago when I came to Kyoto for a trip with my study abroad program. For those not in the know, Kin is Japanese for gold, and Gin means silver. I will inevitably go to Kinkakuji again at some point, but if you have seen my pictures before, it's this amazingly beautiful golden temple on the edge of this pond that reflects the image of the temple. Ginkakuji was built after it, but was intended to be silver. The story goes that they ran out of money to make that possible, so instead the title is a misnomer but the temple is still very pretty:

Classes have been going well though I find it difficult to be motivated at times. It's a lot class time and I'm admittedly a bit burnt out after four years at Oxy. I am gaining back my confidence with Japanese, which is a plus.

On Wednesday I was finally blessed with internet in my apartment. When the delivery guy came with my modem, I told him in Japanese he was my new friend. I don't think he understood... he basically grunted, made me stamp the form, and walked away. haha. Regardless, it feels fabulous to be reconnected with the world. And I have now caught up on Grey's Anatomy. Which has made me cry an innumerable amount of times. I'm such a sap. Currently Rachel and I are racing each other to see who can get tonight's episode quicker. I'm leading at the moment but since I have to leave soon to meet up with some international students for the evening, she will likely be watching it first. Yay for being Grey's deprived in Asia. haha. Feel free to call me on Skype: 213.985.3424. Leave me a voicemail if I don't answer and I will be sure to call you back. :)

Making friends has been a more difficult than I had expected. Because my status is such that I don't fall into any neat little program within the University, I don't have a ready-made set of friends. I'm having to be more pro-active and outgoing than I typically would be, but I suppose that's a good thing. I'm meeting up with people from my class later today, as I mentioned, so I am hopeful the friend situation will improve soon.

I'm meeting up with Amy (another FB... she went to William and Mary and is creating a cost analysis of the impact of lead-free electronics in Japan) and Regan in Osaka tomorrow. I think Regan is crashing at my place tomorrow night and will join me on my temple site-seeing adventure on Sunday. That night I am attending an FB Kyoto alumni function, which should be interesting.

That's it for now. Hope everyone is doing well!