NUFS Study Abroad: February 2013

FIFTEENTH WEEK

HIGASHIYAMA ZOO

Take the train at Hongo St. and get off at Higashiyama Koen. Then just follow the signs that lead to Higashiyama Zoo & Botanical Gardens.

It's exit #3

Once you leave the underground go to the right.

Walking that way there will be a supermarket called Food Front.

Pass the supermarket.

Keep going straight and the zoo will be at the end. Entrance is 500 yen.

I came after running some errands so by the time I got to the zoo it was close to closing time. So what I saw most was people cleaning the habitats and only a few animals.

I don't know if it was because they were cleaning the habitats or what, but the animals I did see were in really small enclosures, too small if you ask me.

That's the Sky Tower.

They really do stand up in one leg.

I really hope that the animals were in such small cages because their habitats were being cleaned.

That was the last animal I had a chance to see. The zoo was much bigger but I ran out of time and I had to leave the zoo.

SIXTEENTH WEEK

SKIING & SNOWBOARDING

Some friends took me skiing and snowboarding for the first time. I was more busy trying out snowboarding and skiing than taking photos, so I only took a few when I first got there. I managed to get the hang of skiing pretty quick, since the dynamics of turning was a little like skating for me. But snowboarding I could never got the hang of. Eventually I managed to fall hard on my tailbone when I lost control snowboarding. Didn't break it, but I did bruise it. It hurt a lot when I fell and when I kept falling afterwards, but it hurt more the next day.

Fourteenth Week

YUKI MATSURI

Technically this will be my fourteenth week. I just got back from visiting my family over the holiday break and had a few days of jet lag. Luckily, I recovered from my jet lag before my schedule departure day for Sapporo, Hokkaido. I went the week of the Snow Festival and it was really fun and with lots of snow. I'd never seen snow before so I was very excited about the snow itself.

The view from my hotel room.

That snow is almost as tall as the taxi.

My hotel room, it was smaller than hotel rooms in the states, but it was comfortable.

I went early in the morning and took a look at the ice and snow sculptures in Odori.

At first they were ice sculptures, really impressive detailing.

This was bigger, you can't really tell from the photo but it was big.

Now this one was made of snow and it was humongous. But I mean enormous, really impressive

Another snow one.

The detailing is amazing.

Back to ice.

Back to snow

I was so impressed by the big ones, and my hands were so cold, I took pictures of the big ones. But there tons of smaller snow sculptures like this one. Still pretty big, just small compared to the bigger ones.

I had a coupon and ate at a restaurant at the Kirin Beer Hall for free. I'm not entirely sure what this was, something mutton and the name in Japanese is something Kahn and it's not Genghis Kahn. At least if it is Genghis Kahn, it's a pronunciation I'd never heard before. Only thing is I had to cook it myself in the middle of the table. They also gave me some sauce, but I was totally lost. I had no idea what I was supposed to do.

The restaurant was really close to a park, and I was impressed by all the white.

I would hate for one of those to be my bike.

The snow reached up to my waist, I was really happy that I got to see so much snow.

Too bad kids, playgrounds closed.

A frozen river, it wasn't very big.

But it fed to what I'm sure was a lake. Couldn't really tell cause all of it was just snow.

I wish I could say I made, I really do, but I just found walking through the park. I did try to make one but I failed miserably. A friend from Canada tells me that it was probably hard for me because the snow was dry snow (I'm pretty sure this one was the dry one, not the wet one. She said it's good snow for skiing, not so good for trying to do a snowman.