Living & breathing Japanese (literally, I was on a homestay).

I am extremely grateful to have been involved in a homestay during my time in Kyoto, which took place during my third week of the exchange. My family consisted of my host parents, and two daughters, Miki and Asuka. They also had a pet ferret called Ponta, but don't even get me started on my hatred for that thing. I'm not a fan of being targeted, constantly bitten on the ankles, and even having it break into my room and get INSIDE my pillow case.

It was obviously meant to be, as there were numerous Hello Kitty things in the house, and my room (a small guest room downstairs with a futon) came complete with Hello Kitty curtains. 

I'll always remember how the first thing my family asked me was if I got car sick, and with good reason too, I think my host father fancied himself as a bit of a boy racer down the small Kyoto side streets. My family were super cute, as they struggled with pronouncing my name, like most Japanese people do. Instead, I acquired the nickname of "keito". This was my favourite thing because whenever my host mother would run a bath, she'd shout that to get my attention from upstairs.
Somehow, through a lack of me paying proper attention, I even ended up cooking lasagne for the family one evening because they wanted to experience both my cooking, and some western food. Afterwards, Miki was feeling super sleepy so I taught her the phrase "food coma", which she absolutely loved!

Asuka was studying English for her university entrance exams, so we really helped each other develop ways to remember certain things in our other languages. She would always get confused over her left and right, so I taught her the simple trick of looking at her hands to find the “L”. It was so adorable to see how happy she was after I'd taught her such a simple thing, and needless to say, I trusted her directions a lot more from that point on.
Most evenings after dinner seemed to be the time when my host family would socialise. It often ended up with me telling them about random things they wanted to know about England. One evening, I even spent almost two hours trying to teach my host mother how to say "the earth is round" without making her r's sound like w's. It ended up with me making her practically growl to get the noise out, much to Miki and Asuka's amusement. 
Another evening, there was a discussion about my dislike of heated Japanese toilet seats, which they couldn't understand my logic of it feeling like someone has just been sat on it before you. Also note to self, never, ever try to explain the concept of a Yorkshire pudding to anyone in Japanese, it's not going to go well!

My confidence in speaking Japanese has come on leaps and bounds, proven by the fact we had to give a speech about our experiences to fellow classmates at the end of the exchange. On the first day, I was put off by just introducing myself in the language to people I knew had a greater ability, but by the end I was much more confident in my own ability. I know this is definitely down to being involved in a homestay, and even though sometimes I had no clue what my host parents were saying to me, I managed to find ways around this and be able to wing it.

In Kyoto we saw so many people dressed in kimonos and yukata, and one evening we even got a chance to wear yukata ourselves at a festival on campus. There was also a Hawaiian themed DJ night going on, which I can only describe as if the SU was more tame, had a cream carpet and closed at 8:30. What a random experience that was!
Aside from my time with my host family, I made a trip to Osaka to try the famous okonomiyaki and visit Dontonboori, where I took an obligatory photo with the iconic Glico sign. KUFS also organised us to experience a calligraphy session and a tea ceremony, which was a great insight into traditional Japanese life.
Our final day involved a ceremony and leaving party, which consisted of a lot of picture taking, goodbyes and also a nice little certificate saying I'd successfully completed the programme. We ended our final night by visiting Osaka for a firework display along the river during the Tenjin Matsuri.

I don’t think I’ve taken as many photographs as I have during these past three weeks, and yes, I have been that tourist taking pictures of trees. You could live in Kyoto all of your life and still have only just scratched the surface, and I really hope I get the opportunity to go back some day! 

Oppa Gangnam Style!

By the time we arrived in Seoul it was pretty late, so once we'd found where we were staying we went for a walk around Jongno. To say we fell in love with the place instantly is an understatement! It was so different to Hong Kong, and after getting some super duper not-made-for-foreigners spicy kimchi stew, we discovered how the back streets of Jongno were filled with food stalls with people of different age groups socialising. It was such a welcome change from the craziness of Hong Kong, so with a banana milk in hand (which is very famous over there) we headed back to come up with a plan for our time there.

The next day we headed to Chamdeongung Palace which was right by where we were staying. It was huge! We barely walked through a quarter of the entire place and the architecture was so intricate you could have taken photos all day. After leaving we roamed round a few random streets before realising that despite our early start, Seoul doesn't really open until 10:30am. This was explained on our last day when we left for the airport at 5am and the streets where still full of people at the street restaurants from the night before.

We headed to Insadong first and did some serious damage in Étude House, where I found the holy grail of liquid eyeliners. Yay for Korean makeup! I spotted a jipangyi stall which I was so happy about. It's soft serve ice cream in a corn-puff cone, the difference being its J-shaped and about a foot long. Tasty but the most awkward thing to eat when it's melting from both ends. Later we carried on towards Myeongdong which I loved. Every shop was blasting different kpop songs and it was the cheesy bright Korea I'd expected to begin with. Although I restrained my singing and dancing for Haruka's sake, I did treat myself to a SHINee album (or two) because you're only in Seoul once, right?! On that note, almost everyone under the age of 25 looked like they could be an idol, so Haruka and I were very happy "people watching", even if it was just cute guys.

We both wanted to make the most of the street food too, so when we were there we for some tteokbokki and a very random combination of a hot dog, wrapped in bread and chips that was deep fried. After that we got the cable car up to Namsam Tower, and the views of Seoul were stunning in both daylight and night. It's always shown in Korean dramas as a date place, but I swear Haruka and I were the only people there not on a date. The first of a few romantic locations we accidentally visited together during our travels!

The next day was all about the kpop! I managed to drag Haruka along to Gangnam to see the buildings of two of the biggest entertainment companies there, SM and JYP. Lots of picture taking ensued, we even chilled in a nearby Dunkin' Donuts for a bit in hope of seeing someone famous, but no luck. We ventured into SMTown Atrium which was literally heaven for me, with 5 floors of  SHINee, Girls Generation, f(x) and even a themed cafe.

Afterwards we met Haruka's friend Jay for dinner before he had to go back to the U.S. Military base. It was great having him with us because we could finally go places without English/pictures on their menus, getting to finally try Korean bbq, soju and bingsu. Since we were in Gangnam, I did have to embarrass Haruka when we got a picture at the dance stand, however I didn't dance too much...

Day 3 couldn't have been any more different to the day before. I've been wanting to visit the DMZ (De-Militarised Zone) between North and South Korea for so long, and was super disappointed that the tours weren't running due to MERS. Even though we couldn't go to the Joint Security Area and technically step foot in North Korea, tours were still running to parts of the DMZ. We went to Imjingak which was so surreal, as the barbed wire fences and flags, accompanied with the bad weather made it seem very eerie. Bombs were also being detonated as part of a military exercise in the distance too which made it seem all the more real. Afterwards we went to the unification observatory and got a chance to be within 2km of North Korean land, even seeing some housing through binoculars.

Later that evening we decided to go to the Han River, since I wanted to see the rainbow fountain show at Banpo Bridge. Turns out we majorly misjudged the size of Seoul and the chill timetable of the trains, so totally missed the show. It wasn't all bad though, we fell in love with Seoul all over again when we walked along the river and just spent time watching the world go by, filled with lots of people hanging out and doing the same as us on a Friday night.

On our final day we met up with Dongho, a guy we met at Keele last year who's now doing his military service. That was a surreal experience for all of us since we never thought we'd see eachother again after he left! We went for hotpot and got to try jeon, before Haruka and I headed to Hongdae.

Since this is the university area, there were a lot more international students around, the only thing I didn't really like about it since they were very overpowering. However, I did love the fact as soon as we arrived a group of super cute college boys were dancing kpop group dances on the street, and also playing a song that reminds Haruka, Jane and I sooooo much of first year!

After a failed attempt at finding the Hello Kitty cafe there (I found its old location, but the directions to the new one were awful), we ended up walking the streets after a few drinks rather than going to the clubs like we expected. We stumbled across two buskers who were absolutely adorable, and after dedicating songs to us in broken Englih, we got a picture with them. Sadly forgot to get any of their information, but it was a perfect end to a perfect trip.

Even though I couldn't read any Korean, I've never felt more welcomed in a country. The people were unbelievable helpful, along with even being apologetic that they couldn't speak English, or for assuming I could speak Korean after using a few phrases. Five days wasn't nearly long enough, and I know I've only just scratched the surface. Haruka and I both said the night we arrived how we could move there tomorrow, and I think Seoul will definitely be our meeting point after uni is over, even though it's not exactly in the middle! So thank you South Korea, for being more than I ever expected you to be. Not being just part of my trip to "get it out of my system", but making me want to explore you more.

The study abroad experience may have ended, but that doesn't mean it's not still with me!

In light of my impending travels, I figured I would make amends to my shocking blogging towards the last month of my semester at CSU so I am fully up to date. My trusty camera broke on the train back from San Francisco, so although there's not as many pictures, it's been fun-filled to say the least.

The last month was easily one of the best I had out there, as it was a time when we all grew closer since we knew our time left together was limited. I've mentioned "Team Commonwealth" before now, and a bunch of us from that group really bonded, As a result, we narrowed it down and began referring to ourselves as DELTA SIGMA WINE, or just Delta Sigs for short. This new 'fratority' consisted of myself, Leif, Caragh, Jack, Leni, Chrissie, Megan, Jonny, Robbie, Phil, Katy and Carly. We even took it upon ourselves to get some letters made, and we actually did convince a few Americans it was an International Sorority/Fraternity since there were that many of us with matching hoodies.
I couldn't make it to our original initiation ceremony (candle-lit and super inappropriate I might add), so mine was scheduled to be on the first night of our Winter Park ski-trip. We took the entire thing super serious, and there were "going to be punishments" if we wore our hoodies before that night...

The ski trip was an experience in itself. Day 1 started off with me, Caragh and Megan taking a lesson which seemed to go quite well. I definitely peaked too early, with my first wipe out happening when I was heading towards a ledge by a ski lift, then later in the day I got to the end of a run an had to get rescued by Leif after becoming entangled in a safety net.
Day 2 was even better. I got cocky and did my first huge flip early in the day that resulted me in smacking my head, both skis coming off and my goggles shifting to enclose my nose. At least when I fall, I fall. To top it all off, I managed to take a wrong turn and lose everyone, ended up at a dead end and my only option was to get a ski lift up another 2,000 feet. I wasn't amused since I had to make it to the bottom alone, while getting over taken by 4 year olds and almost having a mental breakdown. Never have I been so happy to see Leif's hat flapping in the breeze and getting myself onto flat ground. I mean I'm happy I went. but let's just say I would have happily had the entire weekend getting drunk in a hot tub and having a rowdy night in the hotel room like we did the night before.

The last few weeks were pretty hectic with finals coming up, but the entirety of Delta Sig spent so much time together revising, making forts and final visits to Sundance and various other food joints. That just made leaving this mad bunch so much harder, because we actually felt like a little family. We even took Christmas pictures because we're just that weird.
I couldn't have been happier to have gained such good friends, in Leif and Caragh especially. Having them back at Keele this semester helped so much with the "re-intergration" into life back at home. Even though the 12 of us have been split up for the past few months, worldwide skype dates are always on the cards, no matter how hard it is to organize. I'm so excited that during my trip this summer, I get to reunite with Chrissie, Leni and Katy when I go to Australia, and once I'm back home for third year, then entire English division of Delta Sig will be back on home soil ready for a tour of hometowns and unis. So with that, I think this proves that it didn't matter who I met or when I did, but the fact we all managed to find people equally as weird as ourselves during our time at CSU, and that made the entire experience all the more amazing. Watch out world, you never know where Delta Sig will make an appearance next!

What a way to start the week! Hospital visits and patriotic British vibes.

In my last post, I told you all how I had a little drama to write about. Apparently that drama also caused me to lose my memory for the week after, since I've just spent 20 minutes trying to remember what I did that week and am none the wiser.

Monday night I came back from my weekly Chi O meeting with the intention of an early night... that wasn't the case. I came home to find my poor roomie Liv crying, having a panic attack and struggling to breathe while lying in bed. Cue me having to call the medical team, which resulted in  three cops, three RA's and three paramedics flooding into my room and kicking me out while they checked her vitals.
Next thing I know, Liv was being taken to Poudre Valley Hospital. Thankfully, we managed to rally people together and Katie, Kate, Whitney, Ben, Adam and I all hopped in the car to join her. My first impression of a FoCo hospital was an interesting one, with a metal detector at the entrance and security asking me if I was carrying a knife. Everyone left around 11 and I stayed with Liv until she got discharged. Turns out she has a viral infection that came upon her all of a sudden, so thankfully she's okay now, nothing some roomie love couldn't fix!

Friday night was the Downtown Holiday Lighting Ceremony, so a few members of Team Commonwealth took a nice stroll up to Old Town to see the switch on. It was very picturesque, and the American vibe was amplified by the CSU Marching Band playing while cookies and cider were being passed around. Later Caragh and I went to chill with Jack, Leni, Chrissie and some of the others to watch The Inbetweeners 2. No better time to watch an English comedy set in Australia with natives. Even funnier when the Americans in the room didn't have a clue what was being said, what we were laughing at, or what was going on in general!


In other news, after Janny P searching high and low for Union Jack fabric back home, Caragh and I finally went to get our letters made. We decided we wanted matching letters for Chi Omega and Kappa Alpha Theta which are our sororities, and they actually look pretty good!

Continuing with the theme, Saturday was the World Unity Fair, which Leif had signed us up for. It was held in the LSC ballroom for the young people of Fort Collins and had stands representing various countries and cultures. We greatly misjudged how much of a big deal this was, so after a panicked meet up in the library we'd managed to figure out what we could do with what we had. That night I proceeded to cut out 17 pictures of the Queen for out games of "Spot the Queen" and "Pin The Crown on the Queen". I spent the next morning cutting out bunting online which is currently decorating my bed and proving to be more trouble than it's worth!
Considering we spent a total of around a dollar in printing to make the stand, we did pretty well. There was English money, landmarks, food, and of course Harry Potter. After the Vietnamese kindly lent us an extension cord, music was blaring too. However dodgy the taste might have been... S Club 7, 5ive and Steps mega mixes may or may not have been danced to throughout the day.
The highlight was the fact we had tea with biscuits and scones with strawberry jam next door. This caused issues for the Americans being too thick to distinguish between biscuits and cookies, but it played to our advantage since there was some left for us!
After a successful day, Leif, Jack, Jonny, Megan and I chilled out and played Cards Against Humanity for the first time. It got pretty rowdy, as can be expected for us lot, which resulted in a 4 hour breakfast/dinner recovery period in the dining hall on Sunday morning discussing DELTA SIGMA WINE, Team Commonwealth's new FRATORITY. More on that soon!

It's all fun and games until the cops arrive, apparently.

I actually wrote this last Monday intending to get something up before my midterms, but obviously that didn't happen. I've now learnt the error in my ways regarding the very unreliable CSU wifi, which is also a hassle when you're trying to watch Netflix. So here's my 'flashback' post, written while I sit in Caragh's room having a 2000's music flashback session to complete the theme.

Last weekend actually started off in a pretty chill fashion, with Caragh and I going on yet another date for froyo (that girl is obsessed). After a night of more snuggling, we woke up Saturday and decided we'd be going to the football game at Hughes Stadium that afternoon.
Off I went to the liquor store, so at 11:30am I was roaming the streets of Fort Collins with 3.5 litres of vodka smuggled into my backpack, in the hope I didn't encounter the bike police. Once I got back Leif, Caragh and I hurriedly transferred this into our new sunscreen flasks to take to the game. After all, who would question three British kids taking sunscreen to an outdoor event? Clever I know.

The game was what is known as an orange out, where people wear orange to honour the "Aggie era" of CSU. This was before the ram was adopted as an official mascot, and currently the most recognizable reference to this era is the "A" located on the mountain side above Hughes Stadium. Every year the freshman class hike to the "A" and re-paint it,but we never got the chance to go cause it clashed with plans we already had.

We met the Australians there, and in all honesty I don't think any of us paid attention to any of the game. All I know is that the Rams won, cue my loud chanting of "I said I'm proud, to be, a CSU rammm".

We headed back, raided the dining centre for scran and all headed for naps to help ourselves prepare for the night ahead. Worst idea ever. It definitely sped up whatever hangover was going to hit us the next day. We all felt very grim, but being the troopers we are, we headed to Leif's room for round 2. This was when the drama for the evening started...

We headed to a block party not too far away from campus. When we arrived the cul-de-sac was crammed with a tleast 300 students,and if I'm honest, it wasn't any fun. We tried to scout alcohol, but with no music and everyone surrounding us acting like idiots, Caragh, Leif, Jack and I decided we'd leave.
Talk about perfect timing. Once we crossed the street and reached campus, a convoy of police cars came hurtling around the corner, sirens blaring, in an attempt to control the party. As many of my friends/family know since they saw the news articles, this did result in a riot, which apparently is becoming a common thing with CSU students and parties. My favourite article the next day described how "rambunctious students wreck havoc, citizens tomato plant destroyed". Needless to say, we left with very smug grins on our faces knowing we weren't involved in the riot, and the closest claim to fame we have is we were actually there.

Ram Welcome begins!

So today my roommate Olivia moved in!! I helped her move in and her family took me to lunch at this place called Austin's in Downtown Fort Collins. Totally yummy.
We headed back and chilled out before our RA floor meeting, where we got to meet everyone living here. Turns out I'm the only foreign person on the entire floor, talk about a novelty! I've found a few people I can watch the footy with, and I've been told my "accent is so cute" by almost every girl I've spoken to so far.
I also managed to finish decorating my side of the room so it looks lived in. Olivia and I somehow managed to colour coordinate pretty well, and I really love the whole set up of our room. We both have our beds lofted high so we have nice places to chill out, and they're far enough away were we don't feel up in each others space.

Later on we went to Moby Arena where the entire freshman class of 2018 filled the place. It was scary seeing so many people and knowing that wasn't near the number of people who go here. This was a "GREEN OUT" event, so we were all wearing our t-shirts we got at orientation. School spirit was high and it was cringe-
worthy at first, but it was pretty cool getting to watch the cheerleaders and marching band do their thing.
Then there was a carnival and picnic on the intramural sports fields, but the heavens opened so we got to eat in the rain and watch the lightening in the distance. Thankfully it cleared it up and Olivia and I went to visit some of her high school friends. I got a picture with Cam the Ram too!!! We walked so much again today but it was a fun experience, and I love having someone else in my room with me now :)

The farewells begin.

The inevitable task of saying goodbye to my friends and family is finally upon me. Last week, Laura and I (a fellow Scouse Keelite who'll be going to Texas) had a joint get together with our closest friends. Needless to say, our last night of legal drinking for some time ended in a very messy way, for me at least. Having to say goodbye to all these people in my life, even just for a few months, has really made me reflect on how amazing my first year at uni has been. So on that note, the soppy and most likely cringe-worthy post begins...


The goodbyes actually began back in June, when I knew realised I'd be apart from my closest friend, Haruka, for 8 months. We'd been preparing ourselves for the separation for some time, but nothing prepared me for how I felt sat in her empty room while everyone said "see you next semester". Yes there were tears, and I did feel very pathetic afterwards, but that's understandable since we really are like a married couple, nightly snuggles included.
I've never known anyone I have as much fun with and have so many memories dating back to the first hours of freshers. She's been there for me through everything, not least helping me fix my bad English attempts at pronouncing Japanese words for my exams.

The next person to leave was my other "Asian Scouser" Janee (with two e's, don't ask). Even though it wasn't as emotional this time, it was weird knowing I'd be going for just the same amount of time without her wonderful logic, the type that makes you wonder how she even survives on a day to day basis.
Thanks to these two, I've had some of the funniest nights at the SU. Their amazing inability to hold alcohol still baffles me, and thanks to me dragging them to k-pop night, I've somehow ended up becoming the secretary for the Keele Korean International Society next year!

The next goodbyes were with the rest of my "Block E family". Even though we've been through a lot of drama, we've stuck together, and I couldn't have wished for a better group of people to live with.
I've met loads of other amazing people this year, too many to name, but I'm really happy I've had the chance to share a lot of memories with them!
There's also a lot more drunken, stupid, crazy pictures I could include, but I think I'll leave it at that. All I can hope is that I make friends in Colorado who are half as amazing as the friends I made in my first year of Keele.

Just a little introduction...

Hey guys!

I've finally decided to create a blog. Long overdue but with my upcoming adventures, I thought what better time to make one and commit myself to it.
Starting this August, I'll be studying abroad at Colorado State University for one semester, or until Christmas for all you English folk. I study criminology so I'll be "majoring in Criminal Justice" once I'm over there.

It's been such a long process to get here it's actually a little surreal. In exactly 3 weeks I'll be flying into Denver, taking a bus to Fort Collins, moving into my halls and starting my orientation. Then on August 25th classes will officially start.
I don't have an assigned room yet, and the entire process of finding a roommate is, well... an experience. I've managed to find one and she seems lovely, plus it's nice having someone in the same boat as me since we both don't know what to expect. Good considering CSU has around 30,000 students, definitely not like the 'Keele bubble' at all!

I'm spending my last few days in Liverpool packing, seeing people and feeling loved when people ask me not to go. I guess that's all left to say really. I'm not sure how often I'll post, but I'll make a promise to keep the majority of my study abroad experience here rather than annoy everyone on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. So if you've bothered to read this, I hope you enjoy hearing about my experiences now and hopefully many more places in the years to come!