Room Tour and dead tired

So it's now 7:23 PM here in Tokyo and I am so drained. I slept last night at around 2 because my sleep schedule has been messed up by the flight and bus trips and then I woke at 5. I came back to my dorm at around 5PM after coming in and out and was supposed to meet a friend at 6/6:30 and I somehow slept until 6:40... I knocked at her door and she wasn't there and I walked around outside to see if I'd run into her, which was stupid not only because there's almost no way I would actually run into her and I accrued another mosquito bite on top of my 3. I seriously have no idea how I am getting these bites and it is driving me made. I don't hear any buzzing and the only sensation I get is when they've already bitten and I'm itchy. I would think I am just getting them from outside but I had a bite near the sole of my foot. I'm trying to stay up to see if I can't apologize to my friend Joanna so I can sleep at a better time and not be up late like last night. Tomorrow is orientation as well, though I have no idea what time it is (no one has told me or anyone I know) (UPDATE!! - It's at 9:30AM).

I did promise a tour of my dorm so here are some photos.

This is the view right when you walk in. It's very spacious and I think it's a bit larger than my room back home. In other words, I'm pretty spoiled for an exchange student in Tokyo.

 My bed and the right side of the room when walking in. I tried to "personalize" as much as possible with what I had to make it feel more homey. I'm dying for some kind of posters because I'm not used to white walls anymore. Also, mini fridge! :) It's really strange and has a knob inside that I'm still unsure how to operate.... Does not get too cold, but after a night it gets cold enough.

View from my balcony

 My "other" desk and the left side of my room when walking in. I try and keep all my electronics on this side. I finally found out who's Wi-Fi I have been stealing.... my own dorm's. There's one Wi-Fi spot and it's on the 5th floor while my room is on the 4th. That's why it is spotty in my room. Though I'm lucky, on any other floor you can't get the Wi-Fi at all.

Left side balcony view

Right side balcony view

 Talking to some of the other students sounds like I really lucked out in terms of dorm placement. My AC looks brand new, I have a pretty decent balcony view, and of course I got the nice spacious South Wing.Now we wandered off to a Japanese Buddhist shrine (I believe at least) that's right on campus. It's rather spacious and ornately decorated.

The Inner Gate

I call him Happy Buddha. There's a ton of stickers (?) on the inside of the roof.

Temple entrance. There was construction to the left, not sure what they're doing.

Inside the temple

I am a bandaged tree.

I came to the temple with a couple of my fellow exchange students. One from Germany (can't remember his name... sorry!) and one from Australia (Joanna)! It was kind of funny how there's this gorgeous traditional shrine right in the middle of a heavily industrialized Tokyo. Though I suppose that is the very essence of Japan-- taking the best of the old and new.

We returned back to the dorms after the shrine visit and I decided to take some photos of the rest of the dorm building. Here we have the communal kitchen. It's pretty spacious and very well equipped with whatever you need. I forgot to take a shot of it but in the room next door there's a lounge with a TV and an entire row of those Asian electric kettles, rice cookers, microwaves, and toaster ovens. Along with a mini Japanese library.

Decided to hang out in the lounge for a while and ended up watching an NHK program where they're trying to teach native Japanese how to speak English but in the "native" style.

I want to buy a long table.

Then suddenly another NHK program came on and it was called "Bittersweet Love" or something along those lines. There was a Japanese girl speaking not in broken English (because it was scripted) but clearly speaking English like it was written completely in Katakana. Then there was some American guy and he was fluent obviously and it felt like Twilight all over again. Actors unenthusiastic about their work filming a really fake and flakey love story. Me and some of the other exchange students, Alison (America), Michael (America), and Joanna (Australia), really got a kick out of it.

Then for some reason they had two Japanese people re-enact the whole thing. Yeah this actually happened. I pretty much died. The acting was god awful and it definitely sounded like Japanese- English, but you gotta start somewhere right?

Sassy cat butt

Yeah I don't even.

 Just like you would have imagined, I have seen quite a few cats just on the streets or sleeping on roofs. I can't tell if they are strays or are owned by someone but they are adorable and I'd take them all if I wasn't allergic.... and if we were allowed pets at all in the dorms. Maybe I'll get a plant.
It's signs like the one below ("FromHandToMouth") that make life so enjoyable here. Not only do I get a kick out of it every time I pass it, it acts as a visual marker so I can remember where I am. Though I haven't quite grasped navigation of the areas around here, I at least won't get lost if I'm going out for a quick convenience store run.

LET ME LOVE YOU

Aaaaand here was my lunch today. I picked it up at Family Mart (another convenience store). The Kodawari Curry plate was 298JPY and the Salmon Onigiri was 128JPY, making my total 436JPY. So my lunch cost me about 4.50USD and I was full enough that I don't think I could have eaten any more at that point. Gotta love it! It is unusual if eating out costs you 8USD just for the meal (at least that is what I have experienced at this point). I don't mind eating food like this. It's cheap and tastes amazing. I can't attest for how healthy it is, but I doubt it's that bad. Besides, with all the sweating and walking I'm doing, I'm sure it doesn't make much of a difference.

Seaweed is in a package!

Saaaaaaalmon

I didn't realize the seaweed wasn't already attached so when I rolled it up myself it looked a bit off. I also can't read enough of the kanji on this wrapper to determine what was inside and the picture wasn't too clear. But I wanted to get a salmon one and I got it!

Everything in this photo was 100Y except for the drink.

 We were given a mini tour of how to get to Waseda's University campus and I was shown the SILS building which is probably where all of my classes are. Then we made a quick stop to a local 100Y store and I picked up some plastic bins and small towels to make my life a bit easier at the communal showers. I love how cheap and high quality this stuff is!

Qoo! Apple juice!

 And of course you can never have too many drink in your mini fridge. The cake thing on top is some kind of cheese cake or something? Curse my limited kanji recognition! Everyone I have met so far that is an exchange student has taken at least one year of Japanese. There are a few students that sound like native Japanese students (though they are graduate students) and it is rather intimidating. Pretty much everything is communicated in Japanese so if you decide to study abroad here, it would be wise to at least take one year of Japanese before coming here. People are very kind and understanding if you are unsure of what they are saying, but if you can't communicate at all you may have a rough time. My Japanese skills are probably on the lower scale if compared with everyone else here.

The amount of sufficient touch I receive from this towel was well worth the 100JPY.

Also my luggage arrived! And Oogi was mildly displeased with me, but after a good nap and some juice he was back to his puppy-eyed self. I am trying my best to keep up with these blog posts but there require a lot more work than it seems. I am hoping I don't slack off on them. I think once I get a router so I have wireless internet in my room, it will be less of a problem. It kind of sucks to have to come out to the lounge where it's impossibly hot even with the supposed "AC" running. Anyways, I may go out and grab a late dinner or something... Until next time.

Oogi: I desire cuddles.

UPDATE!!

Joanna came by my dorm after she came back and gave me this!!:

Sweet Potato Taiyaki!!

Ahhhh she's so nice to me! I had eaten most of it (as you can see) before I remember to take a picture! If I ever go there myself I'll take a photo of an uneaten one hahah.

No Pikachus were harmed in the making of this curry.

Also I forgot to post my first Pokemon get! Pokemon CURRY! It's pork and corn curry and I gotta make it for myself someday hahah. So cute! I saw it at the grocery store and couldn't resist.

And after I got out of the shower I somehow have another bite so now my left foot has a bite on each side of the heel.... Lovely. The bite (or whatever the hell it is) on my face is hard and somehow turned into a poofy line instead the normal poofy circle mosquito bite... Regardless, I have NO idea how I keep getting bitten. It's pissing me off! Eat the mosquitos Oogi! :(