Since arriving in Japan there have been many amazing experiences. It definitely took us a long time to get here, but after 14 hours we made it to our dorm in Tokyo. We met a lot of amazing foreign exchange students from all over the world who are taking classes with us this semester. As soon as I arrived, we collectively decided to walk around and find a restaurant that sold ramen. It was delicious and so has all the other food we have eaten since getting here. If you are looking for something quick and easy 7-Eleven or any other convenience stores here are a safe bet!

In my first few days here, our whole group went to the Nezu Shinto Shrine. There we all observed religious practices and prayers. It was a very interesting and a once in a lifetime experience. I think we all got a deeper understanding of Shintoism and religion in Japan.

The most recent weekend I have been here I went to Karuizawa with my study abroad group. We did a lot over this weekend. The day we arrived we all went to a park where we had a BBQ , looked at flowers, and some of us participated in archery. We then went to museum about ancient Japan, here we were able to make a traditional necklace. Then we had the opportunity to go to an onsen and look at a waterfall. The final day we went to ice arena and went curling which was a lot of fun for everyone. We finished with going to a shopping strip, and a long bus ride back.

Overall Japan has been an amazing experience so far, and I can’t wait to continue to make new friends and have an awesome semester abroad.

This blog is an assignment that is going to be about my experiences in Japan while studying abroad. Mainly I will be relating these experiences to how gender plays a role and other course materials that we go over in class.

For the past few weeks I have been getting ready for my semester abroad. This involves lots of shopping and research on what to bring. Since I will be in Japan for four months I am trying my best not to forget anything. After reading our assignment, I have been thinking about gender relates to packing. Looking back on my past few weeks of packing I currently do not know how much or little gender has to do with packing. I think it really depends on the person and what things they feel is important to bring. Since I am somewhat of a germophobe, I have packed a good amount of Purell. This may seem a bit ridiculous to people of any gender who do not see the sense in wasting precious luggage space on Purell. Because of this, I feel that you could make a case that regardless of gender what you bring comes down what you believe you are going to want/need.

Thank you for reading my first blog post! I can’t wait to go to study in Japan, but now I need to finish packing!

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