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Kalhevki
I'm 25 year old student at UAF double majoring in English and Japanese. I'm a goofy person and I love to have fun and meet new people. I have been a closet fashionista for years and I love fashion as much as I love my games =)
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Saturday, July 10, 2010

PostHeaderIcon Sapporo, Take 2

The last few days have been AMAZING. In my previous post was the pictures from doing Bon Odori (Bon Matsuri [festival] dancing). The next day we went to Jidaimura, which is also called Edo Wonderland. Edo wonderland is a town and tourist attraction that is a Edo Period correct place. We were all put into traditional clothing (Kimono for women, and the male version for the men) and had traditional edo period class, we then got to wander the town for 3 hours. It was a LOT of fun. There were carnival horror house type things, one for ninja, another for oni (monsters/demons), and one for neko (cats). The pictures are linked below! Check them out!

Then today, our teacher met up with one of our 4th year students, Megan, who is studying at Hokudate (a private school). The 4 of us decided to do some hiking and as we got to the trolly we saw 4th ave was closed off for a bunch of matsuri (festival). There was music, trick shows, wrestling, all sorts of cool things. The best was the 4th ave shrine that houses the kami was brought out of the local shrine and taken around 4th ave!! They only do this once or twice a year! It was amazing to see! The man playing music was playing Miyazaki film music, so it was amazing to hear Mononoke Hime's theme song, it's one of my favorite pieces of music from his films!

Since the trail we wanted to take was closed, we ended up going and getting desert, which I ended up getting this AMAZING parfait that was made of green tea ice cream, mochi, and sweet beans with different sauces. It was DELICIOUS! After that it was off to do some shopping! I finally found the one thing I was looking for :D.

Saturday Sapporo
Japan Haul Photos
Jidaimura
Thursday, July 8, 2010

PostHeaderIcon Sapporo Japan, The Experiences

For the last 3 weeks I have been in Sapporo, Hokkaido Japan attending a 6 credit summer session that lasts from June 18th to July 18th. Classes are a mix of Japanese language, English lecture, and then a class held by our professor Henry-Sensei. University of Massachusetts, Portland State University, and University of Alaska Fairbanks are the 3 universities attending the program.

Almost all of us are staying with host families. Mine personally has been wonderful. I have two host sisters who are in grade school (Mi-Chan and Rena) and a host brother who is in middle school (Yoshikazu), plus my host mom and dad. We've had many many good laughs and they care a lot about me and how I am doing. They've taken me to as many awesome places as the University program has and I've taken pictures and videos along the way. Below are the pictures, links to my personal facebook photo albums. I still need to edit and upload the Miko Dance from the Shrine and the Hokudai Dance Club routine. Expect those on my you tube page by the end of the weekend =).

I hope you enjoy the pictures and if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to ask and leave them!

Exotic Botanical Gardens
Random Pictures of Sapporo
Hokudai Campus
Sumi-e
Okura Ski Jump
Bon Odori with Hokudai Dance Club
Maruyama Zoo
Ikebana (Flower Arranging)
Local shrine