Tokyo...

By Jessica Tamblyn, Camosun exchange student in Japan

Friday afternoon, after I finished my classes, I caught the school bus to Tokyo! It takes about the

same amount of time, but is only 6 bucks (which is about half the price! Also not having to transfer a bunch of times, and comfortable seats are always a bonus.) Like everything else at the school -including rent- to pay for it you have to put cash into a vending machine, and it poops out a little piece of paper.

 

My friend was also taking the bus, so thankfully I had company on the way to Tokyo, and she showed me where to go to get over to Shibuya, which is where I was meeting my Japanese friend from High School!

With some help of my friend, I was able to get to Shibuya from tokyo station without any difficulties, as soon as I walked out I recognized the street that is in so many photos! It was really, really busy, but mainly exciting!

Afterwards, we did the obvious thing, which was to take purikura! For some reason this one didn’t let us get a digital copy, so taking a picture of it was the best I could do. We went to some bar-type place and ordered various small dishes of food while we caught up on the past how-ever-many years!

On Saturday we went for food, and it took us a while of walking around before we could pick one place. There was just too many options!! I was kind of missing Canadian food, so we went for burgers at a small place named Whoopi goldburger.

I ordered the Kevin Bacon burger :)

After that we walked all around, looking at a ton of stores and malls, making our way towards Harajuku. Unfortunately it was raining, so we pretty much stayed indoors, and I didn’t get to see much of Harajuku before it was time to catch my train home. I will go again though for sure! A lot of the stores were really expensive (I really shouldn’t be surprised…) and I didn’t really find something that I wanted, so I didn’t buy anything this trip.

My late night journey home after taking the train home was kind of creepy since I walked through the school and it was so quiet. (Also I almost stepped on a baby frog!!)

On Sunday, I decided to stay in so that I could write my Japanese essay and catch up on some other homework, since I didn’t do any of it Friday/Saturday. Before my day of homework though, I made pancakes!!

At first I assumed that you just add water, but thankfully I read the box carefully, and noticed the kanji for egg, and looked up the kanji for milk. So they were a delicious success! And this time I was smart enough to have syrup!

I managed to finish all my homework in time, and that was the end of my weekend.

A Canadian holiday, a Vancouver Island long-weekend!

An autumn long-weekend on Vancouver Island:

You've got Monday off, making this coming weekend a LONG one! There are a tonne of things that you could do with the extra day this weekend, but I think these 5 are great ones to do now, in the fall season, and especially when trying to take advantage of the beautiful place you're in!

 

 

 

 1. Afternoon Tea
Victoria has a number of tea houses that serve afternoon tea. The most famous being the Empress, but there are more affordable options as well (James Bay Tea House or Murchie's). This is a tradition passed down by the English settlers, a proper, English afternoon tea.

 2. Go for a hike!
There are endless hikes all around Victoria and the island. If you're looking for a real rainforest experience, I suggest Cathedral Grove in MacMillan Park (http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/macmillan/) to see some HUGE, old trees!






4. Goldstream Park Hike up Mt. Finlayson (carefully), or stroll along the river to see the spawning salmon and end up at the Visitor Centre to witness a whole ecosystem of a live rainforest.Make sure to take your camera.

 

 

3. Kayak on the Gorge Rent or borrow a kayak, and head up the Gorge Waterway. There is incredible history along the Gorge, and there is a good change you'll see wildlife!

 

 

5. Surf in Tofino/Uclulet

Get some friends, and head on up to Uclulet and Tofino for the weekend. There are great surf schools to teach you the basics, and if the weather isn't great, then bundle up and watch the storm! The wild west coast at its best! 

 

 

 

 

 

More updates from Wales!

By Louise Lauzon, Camosun exchange student in Wales

Louise

Scavenger Hunt

Obviously, a lot more has happened in just the last two weeks, so I'll update some more soon!

We've won a scavenger hunt, and won Hall Wars: which included riding a mechanical sheep! We visited Dylan Thomas' boat house, and the adorable Coastal Town known as Tenby, and fought in a zombie apocalypse!

In the meantime, here's some more pictures:

 

Zombie Fight!

 

Tenby

 

Flatmates :)

 

Dylan Thomas' house (and Morgain looking very happy in the back)

 

On my way...

By Louise Lauzon, Camosun Exchange student in Wales

From September 11, 2013

T-minus 12 hours until I leave for the flight to London!

I feel like Rapunzel in Tangled when she leaves home for the first time, and she's running around elated and screaming for joy and the next second she's curled in a ball crying . . . so many emotions! Mostly excitement, of course.
 

I worked 7am – 3:30pm today, because I'm totally crazy and needed the money. But the whole shift I remembered when I was around 7, and it was my friends birthday party, and the whole morning I was bouncing around asking, “Is it time yet? How about now? Now?”

Come to think of it, the coffee and tea while working probably wasn't the best idea.

Time to repack and reorganise and take half the stuff out of my suitcase!

September 12, 2013:

 

Current Location: Ottawa Airport

Local Time: 7:00pm

Victoria Time: 4:00pm

I have my watch set to Victoria time, my laptop on Ottawa's time, and my cell phone has a dual clock on it showing both.

I've been travelling for 9 hours now, 6 and a half of which were in the plane.

I didn't bother sleeping last night, because I figured if I got myself tired enough and slept on the plane enough, I'd be fine when I got to London at 10am. (It's not working. I'm totally exhausted.)

So we left my house at 4:30am – we being an entourage who are crazy enough to get up that early. My mom, sister, best friend and two close family friends came to see me off. There are scales that you can weigh your bag at before you check in, and the lovely scale said 51.4lbs. (the limit is 50). A lady walking by working for Air Canada said she wouldn't mind if it was one or two pounds over, but I'd have to get it weighted and hope that the guy behind the counter was okay with it. Oddly enough, the scale there said 49.8lbs. The man behind the counter said “I guess air is lighter over here,” and winked. Hooray Air Canada! Unfortunately it looks like I'll be paying to take a second bag home, but $70 isn't too bad. . . security was over with quick, and I was just stuck waiting until 6:45am for the flight.

The sun was rising as we were taking off, and it was really amazing to see the difference from BC to the Prairies to Toronto.

The sun is setting here now. It's beautiful with the rain and clouds. There was a storm earlier – the flight from Toronto to Ottawa was shaky the whole way (I didn't even get the pathetic pack of peanuts. Word of advice: Apparently you are allowed food on the plane as long as it's not fruit or vegetables. Wish I had known that before I got on the long food less flight . . .)

The next flight from Ottawa to London had some decent free food on it – and a pillow and blanket that I procured for my dorm room . . .

I was on my own from Heathrow airport to our Hostel, because Shintana (the other girl on this exchange, from Camosun as well) and I had agreed to meet in London before school started. The trip to the hostel was amazingly easy – the tube map looks complicated, but is very simple to figure out, and even kind of fun.


Our original room

We stayed in Acton town, about a fifteen minute ride away from central London. The hostel was known as the Backpack Shack, but had no signs advertising it – I only found it because I knew it was above the Talbot Pub. The owner was a kind Scottish man, and he upgraded our room to a much nicer one after two nights here.

Next time, however, I think I'll stay much closer to central London. I ended up spending 35 pounds on the tube – almost $70! The first day I walked everywhereand my legs ached for days after, but it was worth it to see all of the sights. There's a couple free (tips recommended) tours of London, which were well worth it to go to. I saw most of the big sights in one day, then shopped in Convent Garden for hours. There's so manypeople it's almost overwhelming! My favourite place was probably Big Ben (yes, I know, it's technically known as the Elizabeth Tower. . . ) I spent a good hour just listening to the chimes of it. Another neat place is The Monument to the Great Fire of Britain – it's only 3 quid to climb the 311 steps to the top of this tower. The stairs are very narrow and awkward, but the view at the top is incredibly rewarding. Also, Platform 9 3/4 is in Kings Cross!! They take your picture and there's a shop where you can buy things (I got a wand and a chocolate frog, plus my train ticket to Hogwarts. I was very misinformed as I realised that I was going to the University of Wales, and not Hogwarts, but this place is almost as good :) )

An eventful time in Wales!

By Louise Lauzon, Camosun Exchange Student in Wales

So, I have been blogging, and journal writing, but have yet to post much, so here's a backlog of the last month!

Also, before I start, I just found out that I'm receiving two awards from Camosun: thank you so much to the donors and I'm sorry I won't be able to attend the award ceremony and thank you in person! So thank-you for the following:  Vic & Pam Shemilt - Island Blue Print International English Scholarship and  Vic & Pam Shemilt/Island Blue Print Associate Degree in Creative Writing Scholarship ~ Year One

The hardest part about blogging is repeating yourself – over and over.

Personally, I've got a gorgeous purple leather bound journal that I'm writing most things down in. Then, there's Facebook. The status updates, the messages to friends and family, and then you have Skype; verbally telling everyone about everything that's been going on.

So now I have to repeat myself once more, but in blog form. So, I'm cheating a bit and copying from journal entries and Facebook messages. . .

(Then, of course, there's the huge distractions. A spider the size of my hand just wandered into my flat mates room. Surprisingly, there was very little screaming, just our lovely Italian friend saying that she would start charging by weight of the spider to kill it.)

Anyway, here's some of the things I've been up to:

 

 

So, it's Sept 24^th right now. We met up with the school on the 17^th, and today is probably the first day we've had time to just breathe. The 18^th and 19^th were long orientation days, and on the 20^th we were taken to this amazing castle, then headed to a superstore to do some shopping.

On the 21^st they dragged us to Whitesands Beach and St. Paul's Cathedral:

 Both of which were amazing. We wandered into a cave on the beach and found a seal – yeah, the animal – just hanging out in there. At St. Paul's we got kicked out early so they could hold a wedding. If you were looking at this cathedral right now, you'd have the same look of shock on your face as me. How many years would you have to book in advance to have a wedding there? Maybe I'll book now for ten years down the road and hope the timing works, ha ha.

On Sunday (the 22^nd) we finally had time to settle in and unpack, put up pictures, and do some laundry. People were finally starting to arrive, and we had the first of many parties – a cops and robbers theme at the school club.

Speaking of people, let me brag about the ones I get to spend time with!

There are 10 international students (actually, I believe more have arrived since we came along, but we're the core of it.) Of those ten, nine are female. Four are from BC – crazy, I know – one is from Italy, and the rest are from America. We all completely hit it off with each other right away, all sharing the same interests in, well, almost everything. I guess that's what happens when you get a bunch of people who are crazy enough to fly half way across the world to study Humanities. Anyway, three of the girls in my dorm are international, and the other two are from England. Surprisingly, I've only met two or three Welsh people! Most are from around the UK.

 

The dorm rooms are pretty cozy – if you ignore the REALLY loud pipes that are always running. (some nights they remind me of the ocean at home, but most nights I wind up throwing a pillow at them, which doesn't do much). Most of the time (like now for example) we all just have our doors open and we'll shout to each other to talk. Everyone here is incredibly friendly and welcoming.

Tonight we've got the International Potluck (Shintana and I are bringing Poutine, yum!). Tomorrow we get to do tasters of some of the activities they have. I've already met the head of the Quidditch team (yes, you read that right) and I'm really excited for that. Also planning on looking at archery and martial arts just for fun.

For now, I guess I better go start on the Poutine.

 

A bit on bikes in Japan

By Jessica Tamblyn, Camosun exchange student at Josai International University

So having a bike here is COMPLETELY different than in Canada. Here are a few reasons why:

1. Helmets are only required for students in elementary and middle school, nobody else ever wears them...which is awesome because I hate wearing them.
2. Bikes have the right of way pretty much always, and we ride on the sidewalk. (Sometimes people will ride on the side of the road, since the sidewalk is so busy)
3. 
   Driving and biking is on the left hand side of the road. (which is opposite from Canada and I still struggle with what side I need to be on from time to time.)
4. People on bikes are not legally allowed to use their cellphones while riding, but cars can.
5. You cannot drink (alcohol) and bike.
6. It is required to have a bike light at night (I guess that's the same)
7. When you purchase a bicycle in Japan, you must pay an extra 5 dollars for insurance. Doing this requires giving them all your information, so that if you get hit while on a bike, you would be insured. Or if your bike gets stolen, you could go to the police and they would report it. (So if a policeman were to pull you over, they check your bike licence number and your name, if it doesn’t match then you most likely stole the bike.)
8. It is illegal to have someone ride on the back “seat” of your bike, the bars at the back are meant for carrying boxes.
9. Bikes here have keys to lock he bike, rather than a bike lock. The lock tightens around the wheel. Maybe I’ll take a picture or video of it later. 

We went to Cainz and looked for the cheapest possible bike, which was ¥8,900 or about $90. This was the basic grey one with the black basket that every foreigner that we saw with a bike so far had. (Naturally, since its the cheapest option) We went to the shop worker and asked him for the cheap bike. He then said a bunch of words in Japanese and pointed at two different bikes. I was kind of confused and pointed to the cheap grey one outside, so we went out there and he proceeded to explain that the bike doesn’t have gears, the light did not have a motion/sunlight sensor, etc. He then took us inside and showed us the cream/white bikes. The original sign on it said ¥19,800 but he said it was only ¥9,800 (he said this by repeating the price and also covering up the 1 with his finger). Okay, so these bikes were much better, and looked awesome, for only about $10 more! Renato got the white one and I got the cream one, we filled out our paperwork and headed home.