One Month Anniversary (almost)

Hello friends! :) It's been a while, but right now I'm catching up on many things, including keeping you up to date. 

It has already been four weeks since I boarded the plane to Tokyo. I can't believe how fast this month flew by, while I was busy not getting lost in the big, confusing city, meeting so many amazing people, and getting started at university.

Now it’s already my second proper week of classes and so far, I enjoy it a lot. The workload may be high, but the courses are interesting, which is mostly due to our professors being very energetic and passionate about their subjects. Also, the great diversity of cultural backgrounds adds to a completely different experience. I still hope to meet more Japanese students, since my courses consist mostly of international students.

My favourite dish at the university cafeteria: Kamatama Udon *-*

The strange thing about the university itself is that it reminds me more of my high school: School-style classrooms, bells which indicate the beginning of each lesson, and weird period times. If you would like to get an impression of what I am studying, here is my schedule (I was genuinely surprised that you are able to access it online and don't get it as a print-out like everything else at Keio ;))

  

As to seeing new places, unfortunately, there was too little time and on the weekend, I got a bit sick (it's this kind of Welcome-to-Japan cold everyone here seems to get at the moment).

But nevertheless, over the week, I took the time to stroll around in Kawasaki a little and go to karaoke with Maria and many people from different dorms on Thursday. It was a Caribbean-themed place only 20 minutes away by walking, and it offered an amazingly good deal: For roughly 2800 yen, we had unlimited drinks and free ice cream all night. Not to mention lots of fun :) We even talked to a (quite drunk) Japanese guy which is always a hilarious experience :D

Just a regular street in Kawasaki

Mozart would have approved

On Sunday, Essi, Francesca and I started a super-secret project: Organising a surprise birthday party in our dorm for Laurien and Alizée, whose birthdays were both on October 3^rd. The first one each of us ever had, so we were totally excited. We spent almost all day in Harajuku and Shinjuku, buying everything we needed, while discovering new, wondrous things only Japan has to offer (like cyclists with cats on their shoulders). Look at these adorable tiny sweets from Harajuku:

              

This is Halloween :D

Everything is HUGE in Shinjuku

The party on Monday evening was a success – even though we invited people a bit too spontaneously and we had a hard time keeping it secret in the first place ;) But we had fun being hosts and made the girls very happy, which was the whole purpose of it :D

The hardest part: Picking a cake

German Baumkuchen is more popular in Japan than it is in Germany!

We had prepared for everything

Photos with people will follow as soon as I have them ;)

As there are only few exciting things to write about at the moment, next time I am going to share with you a few general observations and impressions of Japan, which I have been writing down throughout the month. Stay tuned and have an amazing week! :)