Ren's Footprints

Well, it has bee a while since I last blogged to let me try to catch up. The week following the weekend of baseball I just got my stuff together. Stuff like shopping for stuff I need around the apartment, registering for the National Health Insurance, and more. I also signed up for classes, attended some welcome parties hosted by the school, and finally started school this passed Monday.
I have really scored when it comes to getting appliances and stuff for my apartment. I have been on Craigslist searching the classifieds and so far have gotten a free rice cooker and small electric oven (both bought in January). I got those from a girl moving out of an $8000 a month apartment.
On Thursday the 27th I went on a day trip to the mountains to the west. The first stop was this nice little town that used to be a rest stop for people making treks on foot and by horse a long time ago. Therefore there are lots of old hotels. Here are a few pictures:

Waiting for the bus in Tokyo:

The town:

Then we went to a famous castle. This castle is older than the USA and was primarily used back when samurai ran Japan:

I took some pictures of Tokyo at night after I got back to town:

School has been great so far. I love living so near the campus. It is a very cool environment. College life here is a little more group-oriented so you are less on your own. I like it so far, especially my Japanese classes.

Some minor, random notes from the last couple weeks: my Ikea bed is already broken, there was a mouse-sized cockroach in my bedroom and I didn't catch him, the Chinese girl living in the other bedroom moved out and a Swedish girl is moving in, I cooked lotus root for the first time in my life, I met someone from New Guinea for the first time in my life.

I can't think of anything else at the moment. Hope all is well wherever you are. Ren