Good morning lol

Hey ho. I've finally gotten myself an electric kettle! After 3 days of going without hot water, I realized that I could actually use the microwave to heat up my cup of water (albeit the microwavey taste that came with it). From today onward, I'm gonna use my 1.2L Tiger electric kettle to have hot water, milo, tea, instant noodles~ okay maybe not often for instant noodles because they're loaded with sodium.

Picture taken at the Okonomiyaki place near Shimoda

Not a flattering picture but おいしかった！

And yes, I have also been blessed by Amazon JP with a rice cooker and a room humidifier this morning. In fact, the Takyubin guy was the one who woke me up using the intercom. . . ha. . . ha. . . because I had a late night yesterday with some new friends :) I met two students from Hawaii named Jared and Alexis. They seem to be really good friends, and very used to getting high on booze. We hung out in Jeron's room (Filipino student from Brown University) where many interesting questions were asked, under the influence of alcohol. Jeron is pretty cool because he and I share similar tastes in music. I haven't come across many people who like the same genres as I do, so I'm glad.

Speaking of booze, I went to the Shimoda Welcome Party last night where I tried Chu Hai for the first time. A Swedish student, Malin, told us that Chu Hai was very light in terms of alcohol content, so I just gulped it down. Slightly after, I suddenly felt lightheaded and had to sit down. Apparently the canned version of it can contain up to 9% alcohol. . . which I didn't know until I read up on Wiki. Well, it lasted for like half an hour and slowly wore off, and it was easy to down so I think I'll have it again next time ;) the whiskey coke they served also was waay too sweet for my liking.

I'm a bit overwhelmed by everything that's going on at the same time. I have to set up and keep my room in order, plan my courses, keep my family posted, remain sane, and hang out with my new friends. It's very exciting and all, but I think I need to manage my time more diligently because once school starts, I bet it'll become even more hectic. And I haven't even started cooking/learning how to cook! Damn. Okay time to get off my butt and actually do stuff. I'll try to post more picture posts to summarize what happened during my Kyushu trip... ahhhhhhh

Laters.

Today, I finally settle into a place of my own... for the next 5 months at least. I am now residing in Motosumiyoshi Dormitory!! *hooray*

Frankly, I am quite tired right now because it has been a long day. I started out from the bus terminal at Kawasaki and walked a bit to find the dormitory. Then I unpacked some of my luggage before realizing that I had foolishly shipped my important other luggage -- which contains all my toiletries -- via Yamato to arrive the next morning. Despite feeling somewhat disappointed with myself, I went out with my friends to Hiyoshi Station for lunch and to Keio Yagami Campus to immerse ourselves in the happy air of graduating students. Afterwards, Nam and I took a train to Musashi Kosugi where we registered our address at the Nakahara Ward Office. It took two bloody long hours but once we got back our resident cards, we hurriedly made our way back to the dormitory just in time for the second hand goods picking. And that, my friends, is the highlight of the day.

Here is a list of what I managed to loot:
Magiclean Wiper
Hairdryer
Pot with lid
Plug extension with 2 ports
Several plastic bowls for washing and cooking
A bowl, plate, fork and spoon, pair of chopsticks
Two cups (one with Rilakkuma design and the other a cool ceramic(?) cup)
Good shampoo
Okay conditioner
Funky coconut flavour whitening toothpaste
Laundry basket with 10ish clips/pegs
20 hangers or so
Cooking utensils (rice scoop etc)
Two square fluffy cushions to use as a pillow instead of the given one filled with beads
Body sponge
and more...

That probably saved me quite a bit of money. There were even more awesome stuff like a cabinet with a full length mirror, a decently sized pair of speakers, keyboards, pancake pans (?), chairs... haha I think I might just go down tomorrow morning to see if there's any more treasure I missed out.

 Okay, really tired. Gonna sleep now. Tomorrow is another long day.

 Good night!

Hiya~

This is a backdated post because today I finally have some time to blog. I arrived in Kyushu on the evening of 11th March and stayed at Hotel Eclair Hakata while in Fukuoka City. It was a good place, except that the room was a bit small, but it was enough space for me and my companion. For dinner, we got discounted bento because we purchased it after 7pm or so. It was delicious.


The second day was just free roaming around the Tenjin shopping district. Nothing notable happened, except me getting overwhelmed by the number of shopping options they have. On the bright side, I saw a familiar bakery called Johan in the basement of a department store. And so much delicious bread.

Fast forward to the first official daytrip Klinsen and I went on with Dru, Ryan, Cleon and Jouta. It was to 大宰府　（Ｄａｚａｉｆｕ）, a quiet town in Fukuoka. Unfortunately, I lost all the pictures which I took there. But I definitely recommend a visit because there's lots of nice stalls lining the main street and you can see temples and do the historical route. Had lunch at a family-run udon place before continuing to a museum. In the evening, we went to Hakata for dinner. And to the Pokemon Centre!

I realized that what little free time I have in the hotel rooms is dedicated to packing, organizing, putting stuff on my face, making sure I eat fruits, recording my expenses, charging my devices, and so on. So... although I'd really love to do a travel log after each day of experiences, it is really not that feasible. Plus I've been getting less sleep than I need :'( only 5-6 hours every night.

Japan has been awesome so far. Many things are completely new to me, and being the easily distracted one, I have been darting here and there looking at things and taking pictures of them. Thankfully, I haven't splurged much... (only bought a Sumikko Gurashi towel, a cute coin pouch from Daiso, a Kumamon magnet, and a random matcha latte soy bar).

I'm very satisfied with this trip because my friends and I managed to visit various forms of attractions and most of our travels have been smooth enough. Picking up more conversational Japanese as each day passes...

Tomorrow is day 2 of Miyazaki. Hopefully in Beppu (Lepak Central) I will have some time to make posts for the first few days of my Kyushu trip (2 days in Fukuoka, 2 days in Kumamoto, 1 day in Miyazaki).

Goodnight for now!