Instant coffee

Listening to: Leaving on a Jet Plane cover by Chantal Kreviazuk
Currently drinking: Nescafe Instant Mocha


Since I was in such a rush yesterday, I feel like I really didn't get to share much of my experience here with you guys. The city here is definitely much bigger than Bellingham; I would equate it to maybe Chicago. It is the nation's largest industrial city and it's incredible! They have ferris wheels growing out of buildings:

The line for this was so long!

The main shopping center is amazing. A lot of the shops downtown are American like: Coach, Adidas, Apple, etc.. but the local stores are usually in the subway stations; they're generally a lot cheaper and have some pretty interesting stuff. Yesterday, some of the girls needed to get their computers fixed at Apple (they had to make appointments to get in!) so we decided to make it a girls day and walk around:

The store had clear stairs! Watch out for perverts...

The bus transport system here is truly amazing.

Being from the Seattle area, I'm not really used to cities being so bustling. Yes, there are people walking around in a rush, and yes, there are long lines of traffic, but it's on a whole new level here. It's probably amplified by the fact that I tend to be one of two blond girls in a sea of black, and shades of brown, hair. I also tend to be one of the taller people, so I definitely stand out. I really like the downtown area, but I'm also really glad that I live in the more rural part. It's still pretty busy here, being close to a lot of the universities, and there are lots of things to do, like, getting coffee:

This mocha was soooooo good!

Study session <3

I've also started night running again. Don't worry, I go with one of my guy friends and we stick to the main roads. It's funny because a lot of people around Japan actually run at night, so I don't feel too weird, but it's great to get all the strange looks from people at the "crazy foreigner" running around at night in the rain. The first day was really hard, I had to stop after ten minutes because my stomach hurt like crazy, but the second day was much, much better and I hope that I can keep going and get back up to my normal schedule. I've also been eating lots of good food:

Croissant, melon puff, lil' smoky thing, lemon ball,
 and something I haven't tried yet...

I'm sorry I have to cut this post short, I have to go get my electronic dictionary today, but here's a link to my picasa so you can check out more of my adventures!

Missing you Lattes!