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BLOG READERS..THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH JAPAN, JUST A NORMAL ENTRY ABOUT MY LIFE.. I DEDICATE THIS DETAILED ACCOUNT TO MY AWESOME FRIENDS.

Reunion and Goodbye: Week in Germany

There are about two weeks to go before Charlie, Jesse and I leave London for our three day trip to China and then back to Japanland to start our second semester at Kansai Gaidai.

This week I flew over to Germany to stay at my grandad’s place and took Max, Weasle and Raymond with me. All four of us were in school together and they are my most awesome wicked friends. Although we had an epic few days together, the thought that I wouldn’t see them again for at least seven months really struck me. I always had to kinda slap myself out of thinking how much they mean to me. So right now im lying in bed on the day that they fly away, they’re in the next room fast asleep and desperately hungover…haha. Man since we finished school together we’ve had a few reunions and for some reason they always end up completely fucked up crazy lol. This three and a half day “catch-up” was the same.^^

Weasle got here first on hursday at about 7pm. After showing him around and wishing Charlie Happy Birthday over the phone (Happy Birthday darling :D ) we shoved away all his luggage from his winter stay in Texas and took the tram into central HD. The thing with the damn trams is that you have to buy your ticket but no one actually checks it. This results in most people just not buying a ticket and hoping they won’t be the unlucky bastards that get surprise controlled. The fine ain’t that hefty but still…call me a pussy but I still hated taking the tram up to three times a day and being paranoid about not having a ticket. We walked down to the Irish pub and started ordering drink after drink while catching up. Max and Raymond were due to arrive in a few hours and we wanted to get started on a night of boozing. Ended up bringing drinks to the train station and then having more drinks on the way back after we put their luggage in a locker. Awesome seeing everyone together… We went back to the Irish pub and had more drinks..and thats where my memory starts getting fuzzy. I remember leaving the pub with the guys and walking on but then..well I have flashes ^^ I’ll fill you in what happened. We walked to the one street in the town that is filled with bars and stayed there for a while apparently before deciding to go to this party Weasle’s girlfriend was at. I ermm emptied my tummy on the way there and only remember walking in, thinking everyone here looks like 12 and leaving again. Apparently some guy hit on me and bought me a drink but fuck if I remember. I was woozy and tired and left that club thing with Raymond. Max and Weasle continued destroying their livers and being pricks to people lol. At some point in the morning I woke up through a phone call and directed my two lovely wasted friends home…no idea how I managed in the state I was in lol. And trying to keep the rowdy bastards quiet proved quite an art too :)

Friday:

For some weird reason I woke up really early. Got stick from my grandad who told me that the front door had been left wide open. Ooops. Ended up getting the guys awake at about one or two. We were all completely fucked over. I haven’t had a hangover and blackout like that since..well the last time I met these guys. I never really have hangovers ever but that day, my head weighed a ton. After swearing a lot, hitting eachother and remembering the previous night in regret, we caught a tram to find us some food. I can’t believe we went to “Nordsee” a north German frigging seafood place. I hate seafood and refused to touch the stuff while they stuffed their faces. All I had was a desert. and a gigantic glass of coke..maybe thats why my hangover got to me so much that day. Children listen up: if you’re hungover and are not likely to puke it back out again…eat as much as you can. After the restaurant we walked down the main street which just about covers all of the town. The guys entered nearly every shop in that curious sense of a five-year old and then left it again muttering disses. Inside the shopping centre they had a carnival costume section and I think we must have been in there for at least an hour. Imagine them walking around the place in cow, chicken and parrot costumes, trying on wigs and burping into masks. I’m surprised the shop keepers were so lenient with them, maybe it was the tourists taking pictures of my guys that kept them buttered up. We were absolutely knackered after that trek and went home to sleep at about 5pm. Man I felt bad.. Obviously it

was impossible to get to sleep in eachother’s company so we just talked and talked about the most random and dirty topics imaginable. We covered everything among more laughter and insults.

Max was whinging about getting our arses in gear to go out and get wasted again, but us three others weren’t convinced. At about 11pm we just couldn’t take it anymore and caved in to his demands. And what an awesome night it was too. The whole town had been covered in a whole new layer of snow while we had been powernapping and it was still snowing. Quickly found a place called Jinx and chucked our coats into the corner. Started drinking again lol. I’ve never been a fan of tequila sunrise even though I really like tequila. The cocktails in this place were amazing though and they did proper golden tequila with orange and cinnamon (how the heck to you spell cinnemon??) Anyway we all hit the dancefloor and Raymond (who usually doesn’t drink) got really really drunk for the second time in his life. It was wickedly entertaining watching Raymond pole dance and then seeing Max intent on picking up a girl. Raymond actually started hitting on this girl that had a very protective boyfriend at her side and it was all Weasle could do to prevent Raymond from being beaten up. We danced the night away and were chucked out of the closing club at 3am. Walking back along the high street we kept meeting people and talking to absolute randomers. We met these two German guys commenting on Raymond who kept tripping up in the snow and the violence that ensued between me and the guys when they catcalled me. Max and Weasle decided they hated one of the guys and started getting really larry. He was a bit of a prat though to be honest. I looked up in time to see a christmas tree being hurtled over my head in the direction of the guy and started legging it. Then I started to leg it back to pick up Raymond who had managed to trip over the tree. Then Max and Weasle jumped me and I fell over the frigging tree. Uuuh all in all we got home alright…after being pushed into a hedge and drowned in more snow. The bruises I get lol.. At home Raymond was trying hard to stay conscious and was then sick on himself and everything else in the bathroom….NASTY. While I tried taking care of the poor guy, the other two had decided to strip, scream and run around. I could do nothing but hope my grandad was a deep sleeper. As much as it worried me…it couldn’t have been more hilarious either xD fuckers lol.

Saturday:

Saturday morning of course…we were fucked over as usual. I got up early to clean up the mess the bathroom was in (YOU OWE ME!) and secretly hid all incriminating evidence in the laundry room in the cellar (puked on carpet etc). Then Jelena texted me and we decided to meet up. I managed to slowly get the guys up (stomping in and ripping the curtains open works wonders) and after beating eachother up a bit and endlessly dissing Raymond, we set off to find food. While I wanted to have a traditionally German meal of Schnitzel or Bratwurst, the guys forced me into an ASIAN food restaurant of all places. Like I haven’t had enough of that already. The Thai restaurant was quite good actually, I just couldn’t really focus on the awesome meal cause my contact lenses were absolutely annihilating my poor eyes. I really do have to learn to take better care of them. Then we went to meet up with Chrissie and Jelena. The group of us went to this wicked ice cafe place where we had coffee for hours, loudly discussing everything dirty that crossed our minds. I couldn’t help noticing the families that left after we arrived and the rest of the people shooting us wary glances. What is it with adults and being intimidated by tweens. Pffft. Conversation was hilarious. While Raymond slept and I caught up with Jelena, Max was causing trouble and Weasle/Chrissie were shaking their heads xD LOL. We were there for ages come to think of it :) (uhh thinking about it now..we were all dissing Weasle cause the only thing he kept talking about was HIMSELF loool).

One of the main points that kept being discussed was what we were gonna do that evening…I was SO not up for anything. We said goodbye to Chrissie and Jelena and went home for a well-deserved nap. We were planning to sleep anyway…Max fell fast asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow while Weasle, Raymond and I sat down to watch some Scrubs. Relaxing stuff.

At around 11pm we go to the pizzaria, grab some pizzas and catch the tram that conveniently rolls in a few minutes after we arrive at the stop. The tram was packed with studenty types of people staring hungrily at our pizzas and the shots of Feiglinge Max had started to down. We picked up Jelena and went to the Irish pub where the guys proceeded to be glued to the American Football match that was being broadcast. Typical. See this is one of the instances they really deserve to get hit lol. I used the time to down my pint as quickly as I could and then ushered them out of there asap. I wanted to PARTY damn it, not wollow in nothingness.

While most of us were happy going back to Jinx, Max was firmly against it. Mehhh, I thought, maybe we’ll find a place thats even better. It was snowing…and cold. Then Max found somewhere he liked and we followed him in. MAN what a mistake. It was SUCH a dodgy and grubby pub!! And packed into the corners with shouting and gurgling people. Most of them looked like frigging English chavs and they were sweating all over the place. The women dancing on the podiums were waay too old, and waay too drunk. I bought some tequila and got out of there as quickly as possible. I had a cigarette while I waited outside for the guys and Jelena to leave that place. I was just standing there but I must have looked suspect under my eskimo hoodie alone in the snow. The bouncer came up to me and started talking to me. Am I alright, do I always smoke, how is my night going? Luckily Weasle came out before we could launch into a proper conversation and schwuppdiwupp the whole group ended up in Jinx.

Now Max and/or Weasle had stolen someone’s keys accidentally the night before in Jinx and then given me the damn keys, running off and giggling. When we put our coats away I just chucked the keys down by the wardrobe in the corner and went to the bar. Smooth. What idiots they are too..lol.

While we got drinks Max started scouting the place for meat. I say meat cause half an hour later we found him dancing “with” this chick. I’m sure she had no idea what was going let alone where she was. She was dancing sluttily with another guy while Max danced with her from behind. Lol, quickly left that scene.. Went out begging for a cigarette when this punk got thrown out of the club by a bouncer. He flew through the air onto the cold hard snowed up floor in front of everyone. He got up slowly shouting filthy insults about the bouncer’s mother and then strutted off, half being held up by the chav that was his girlfriend. Weasle then had an epiphany “ Oh my god, that was me a few years ago!”. Lol, he just stood there dumbfounded laughing and staring after the guy “Man that used to be me…what an ass I was..”. Wowie, looks like Weasley is growing up. My ass he is xD Perhaps people do change and grow up with time..but when we get with our friends we fall right back into the person we used to be. Can’t help it. ^^ I just know that when all of us are in our 80ies we’ll still be mouthing off rudely and punching eachother.

I go back inside and Jelena and I decide to poledance. Now I know I know SLUUUT WHORE BLAAA, but its actually kinda fun. Those of you who have gotten to that tipsy stage where poledancing is a great idea and you end up enjoying dancing on a podium/bar/bench will know what I mean. I’m not gonna make a habit of it, and I certainly would not do it while sober but come on…its feels wicked at the time xD (best time was still dancing on the bar in crete that was then covered in blue flames woop woop – dancing on FIRE BABY!)

We were finally thrown out of the club, well ordered out more like, cause it was now 3am and the club was closing. What, we thought, NO WAY! Definitely needed to find another club that was open. But in HD? At this time? Hmmph. We walked around in the snow for a bit, Weasle scaring the locals by demanding they sell him a cigarette for a euro, while we tried to find a place. One group of random strangers then recommended Tangente to us. Apparently it was around the corner and still open until 6am. YAAY! Off we ran. On the way we met a blone guy who Weasle and Max then started accusing of being Swedish just because he was blonde. “Let me guess…your name is Sven?” Weasle slurred. “What?! No way man, I’m Dominic.” It was definitely one of those very random encounters you forget about until the following evening when his image flashes back into your mind!

There was quite a large group of guys gathered outside the Tangente waiting to get in. They told us to go away, cause the place was full and no one was getting through anyway. The people started getting quite antisocial when we walked to the front to try and get more info from the bouncer. “Heeey, can we still come in?” I asked. He looked me up and down and asked how many girls and guys I had. I pulled Jelena up close to me and smiled. “And three guys” I muttered on a side note. “Let them through” the bouncer called to his colleague and the guys standing around us just stared as we walked past them into the club. HAHAHA! Man it rocks to be a girl sometimes. And those fuckers outside were rude so they got what they deserved haha. We slid in there with so much schadenfreude and cockiness I’m not sure the dancefloor was ready for us lol. They had wicked music playing and the dancefloor was one with colourful floortiles that lit up in rhythm to the music. We were feeling awesome and got some more beer to celebrate the fact our night hadn’t stopped. Max’s girl suddenly appeared behind us and started dancing there with her friend. At first she refused to accept Max buying her a drink and then she danced with him as if they had never left Jinx. I couldn’t care less what she did, but then she started dancing into me. Alright alright, I can cope with someone who is a little dim and drunk to be annoying, but she started crashing into me with her violent dancing. In true guy style (sheesh what do my guys turn me into..) I felt like hitting her lol, but then just relieved the sudden surge of aggression by swearing terribly and getting another drink.

On my way back this guy asked me if I knew the time. I said I was sorry but I didn’t and he said that he had just been trying to find an excuse to chat me up. Aww lol. We chatted for a little while and then I went back to the dancefloor to my lovely crazy group. A little while later the guy from earlier showed up again. We danced a little and he was sweet but getting quite flirty so I told him the truth. I explained that I thought he was sweet but I had a boyfriend. I dunno why but I don’t think he got it lol. He was like “Well where is the guy….well if he’s not here…” Hah, no. At the same time, the guy had caught Max and Weasle’s attention. He had his back to them so he had no idea at the protective and aggressive faces they were making. Ha, I didn’t quite know what to do, they looked so funny :) Then though I kinda started to fear for his safety. There’s an awesome picture of them pushing him away, while he looks confused and I laugh my ass off.

Anyhow I told him they were my brothers and thats why they looked so evily. Then I kinda legged it away from the situation. When I came back he was still there. He darted towards me and asked me why I had lied to him. Apparently they had told him they weren’t in any way related to me -.- fuckers. He kind of got the hint though and left….or so I thought.

We danced and danced and generally had an awesome time in Tangente. At around 6am they chucked us out and we left in search of a way home. On the way we had a good old Doener (kebab) and Max stole a bike (or was that the night before?). After Raymond and I failed to find a taxi we walked to the tram station and sat down next to a wasted Max and Weasle. Jelena had gone home after the random Doener, man I wonder what kind of impression she left with, but I loved having her there.

Suddenly that keen guy from the club appeared and sat down next to me. You should have seen Max and Weasle’s faces…while he tried to talk to me they started shouting abuse at us lol. Mostly me actually but you know me, I don’t even hear it anymore cause its so day to day. It did kind of pissed me off though that they were laying into me and not him. Anyway, he was shocked at the abuse they were coming up with and told them to show me more respect. Haha. That was like a death sentence. They didn’t even bother to take breaths anymore between their insults. He ignored them and demanded my number. I was surprised and told him, look I’m not from here and I’m flying across the world, wtf? I ended up giving him 4 digits of my number before running off into the arriving tram with the guys. BYEEE! I shouted back. Phewww…

We sat in the tram waiting for it to leave, when keen guy got on and stood in the doors. “GIMME YOUR NUMBER, 0797 AND THEN?? AND THEN???” I was in shock while the guys exclaimed more insults in shame. The tram was trying to leave but he wouldn’t move and kept the doors open. Other people in the tram were starting to get annoyed. “Fuck off she doesn’t want to give you her damn number” a random stranger shouted. When I didn’t reply either he finally got off. …. …. man. We got off the tram ten minutes later and after another insult I kneed Weasle hard into the side of his upper leg. While he crouched in pain I strutted on. When the fucker still hadn’t moved I walked back to check on him. In that instant he jumped me. AHHH knobhead, I’ve got so many damn bruises after every reunion. The violence lol.

Opening the doors back home everyone was waaay drunk. Again I tried to keep people quiet and dressed and get them into bed. It ended up in me violently pushing them into bed, turning the lights off and going into my room.

What. A. Night.

LOL.

Man its taken me way too long to write the final bit up lol and I’ve lost all my patience. All in all I had an awesome time and I am gonna miss you guys so so much.

For all readers…I know in this post I sound like a violent bitch, lol, I’m not.

Mwah, love you all and goodnight! <3

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Okay so Im back. Back to carry on the story. Now where did I leave off…?

Ah yes. Plane ride!

We got onto the GIGANTIC Emirates aircraft and were awesomely surprised by the ueber-comfy seats and tv screen embedded in the back of the seat in front of us. We’d picked our seats prior to boarding and could all sit together. Maaann..7 hours of sitting next to Charlie and Joe? Really!? At least I had Ewa in front of me…hehehe.. Anyway we lifted off, Charlie holding (more like killing) my hand and me giggling excitedly, and were up in the air. A year of waiting and we were finally  on our way to Japanland. Crazyness.

hihi, Ewa.

hihi, Ewa.

Charlie and moi

Charlie and moi

We started playing around with our tv-thingymajig and watched movies…well I kinda just sat at the window watching the world go by. We took pics and I started with the whole phenomenon of taking mini-videos of pointless moments. Got loads of those, just haven’t figured out how to upload them properly. The flight to Dubai went by in a flash. We were served food and POOF, it was 11 minutes to landing. Looking out of the window all I could see in the night were giant villas covering the ground with mega swimming pools. Dubai eh? Glamourous..

wow! look at those place names!

wow! look at those place names!

Dubai, woooo!

Dubai, woooo!

I’d never been so far across the world before and when they showed that map on the plane I was so excited! I was by the Arabian Sea! At one of the most glitzy airports in the world! Plan was to wait in the airport for 3 hours and then catch our connecting flight bound for Japan. We got through security easily enough and started exploring the airport. Not as wicked as we’d imagined, but still bright and glitzy and EXPENSIVE. We found a place near our gate and sat down. Everyone got their laptops out and we surfed the net.. A little while later we got through the gate and were waiting to be called to board. We saw a group of foreign students (as in non-Japanese) sitting a little way away from us and we got all curious whether they were bound for Kansai Gaidai or not. Sure enough they were and BAM they turned out to be flipping English too. From Leeds to be precise. We talked to one guy a little, not knowing that he would turn out to be one of our most awesome friends here at KG. Strange how you meet people…at connecting flights in Dubai lol.

The second flight seemed so very long for me. It was a nine hour flight across the russian desert and boring as hell. We had even nicer seats and an even more awesome tv second time round, but somehow the fact that I couldn’t get to sleep really made it seem endless. At one point we got so bored we started phoning eachother using the phones attached to the tv. This got ridiculously annoying though when Charlie and Joe ganged up on me while I was trying to watch a movie lol. ^^ Bastards. Outside it was slowly getting light, dawn was breaking, but inside the plane they’d shut the little window shutters, turned off all the lights but for tiny little ones on the ceiling that represented stars. They were trying to make the time difference thing easier to handle. The stars were very pretty actually and most people (including Charlie) nodded off in a flash. Joe and me were less lucky.

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We just couldn’t sleep! We tried everything…I started watching “Australia” but it just kinda depressed me lol. Joe decided to try out different sleeping positions so I ended up supporting his legs while he was trying not to fall off the seat (shut up xD). It just dragged on and on and I couldn’t wait to finally get off. When I DID look outside the window I thought I could only see clouds. These “clouds” turned out to be absolute desolate land. Mountains and deserts of NOTHING. Like ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. It felt like I wasn’t on earth anymore but on some crazy cyber planet out in the midst of space. Thats the russian desert for you. Scary stuff.

lol, not happy.

lol, not happy.

across the world

across the world

Then, suddenly, it was all over. We landed in Kansai Airport at about 5pm local time.

Tune in for the next episooooode! (lol..)

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So I’ve been in Japan for just over a month now and all the excitement and adventures and general newness has stopped me from writing a single post. Well I’m going to work on that today and try and summarize what I have experienced thus far. This post is going to be Part 1 – Arrival. Just thinking about all the stuff I’m planning on writing is making me realise how many parts this One Month Anniversary section is going to have, so bear with me while I slowly try and recap the last 5 weeks. :)

Leaving London Behind:

My last few days in London were ridiculously stressy. Obviously I’d left everything to the last minute and was forced to rush around like a crazy person while trying to soak up as much of home in as little time as I could manage. The first time I tried going on my last-stuff-for-japan shop, it went badly. I couldn’t find a single thing. Then the night before lift off we went to Oxford Street where I raided Primark and bought as many pairs of cheap shoes as possible. No way were they gonna have my size in Japan. Then Gap granted me a pair of beautiful essential jeans that I couldn’t have gone without…again, no way were they gonna have my length in jeans in Japanland. ^^ I finally sorted travellers cheques (ooooh preeeeetty and BTW reeeeaaally useful when you finally have to pay your fees to KG) and an overdraft extention (Jesse: “Up the overdraft and fuck off!”). Luckily the first installment of my student loan came in just in time and now I didn’t have to freak out about money until JASSO finally started.

Final goodbyes were pretty sad but not as much as I had always imagined they would be. I was so blasee that whole week and my friends just couldn’t understand how I could possibly not be excited. I just wasn’t. I was completely chilled out and envied the people who were really really nervous. The whole concept just hadn’t hit me, hadn’t sunk in whatsoever.. My final night out was awesome. We had decided to go to Notting Hill Arts Club. I met Sophia for some pre-drinks in Holland Park, where along with a fantastic bottle of Merlot (red wine duhh), we ordered too much food. It was hilariously fun though and we took some posey pictures as tipsy wine drinking London girls do.

Shazaam!

Shazaam!

Lol yes. So around 11ish we made our way to the club and got some awesome stamps of a naked burlesque lady on our arms. We were just in time for the live music which we enjoyed with the pitcher we had acquired straight away. The night went on and Ciara and Kat arrived. We danced, we met people, we swapped numbers, pulled and danced some more. The night ended with me falling asleep fully clothed in Sophia’s bed the second my head touched the pillow. Next day looked at the pictures and had no idea who the people on them were.

Who are these people?!!?

Who are these people?!!?

Goodbyes are always sad though.. I knew Skype would become my new best friend.

It was lift off day. I hadn’t slept that much seeing as I had been packing late into the night. Not only did my cat Poodle  decide it wanted to be packed, my brother was also persuaded to get into the bodybag that was my suitcase.

yes my suitcase is a bodybag and yes, he got stuck xD

yes my suitcase is a bodybag and yes, he got stuck xD

LOL, that picture still makes me laugh. He broke part of the suitcase in the process but it was still funny as^^ The whole suitcase packing was a nightmare. We don’t own a weight machine so had no idea how much my suitcase weighed. I was flying with emirates (ooohwee) which allows one carry on bag of about 8kg and one check in bag no heavier than 30kg. My bag was immovable when I finished packing it. It was so heavy that we couldn’t get it out of my room. I was forced to repack…TWICE. Each time leaving more and more stuff out. Finally it was sort of okay to carry, but we were all still really worried about them accepting it.  In the morning before the flight I was reeeeaaally stressed out. I hadn’t yet purchased my insurance and the guy that was meant to be emailing it to me took AGES to do what he was meant to do, so that we were late. I left it in the end and rushed off to the car.  Then we got stuck on the motorway on our way to Gatwick Airport – damnation!! One of the exits of the M25 was fucked and the road stood still. Thank god we took that one exit before we got stuck in that mess…otherwise I’m sure I woulda missed that damn flight. After we parked the car we tried fnding the gate where everyone was waiting. My suitcase was SHITTY to move, seeing as it was just one giant blob of a bag that couldn’t balance on the four little wheels it had and thus pretty much had to be dragged across the floor. We got to the gate, greeted Charlie, Joe, Ewa and their families and proceeded to check-in. GUESS WHAT. My fucking bag weighed 17 flipping kilos!! 17!!!!! Damnation! Unbelievable. Hint for the future. If you don’t have a weight machine at home….buy one -.-  My bag got a “large baggage” tag and had to be checked in somewhere else but all was fine. Stupid fat blob of a bodybag. We said our final goodbyes to our families and I handed over my phone. My lovely phone. I felt so naked then lol^^

Airport time…man it was strange finally waiting to get on that long ass flight.

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Okay I’m gonna leave it there for the mo. Don’t wanna overdo posts lol. Next one I’ll start describing what it was like sitting next to nutcases for 18 hours, flying over Iraq and stopping over in Dubai Airport. Plus finally getting to Japan. WOO!

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So this is my current darling phone^^

I used to have an awesome one with all the usual modern techy features, but one night about two years ago now, I managed to completely fubar it. I’d been swimming and had left it in my bag with the damp towel. I had then proceeded to break into my old school with a buddy after a lame party. Lets just say the phone never worked again. So I got this crappy thing. I figured, until a new flashy one comes out, I don’t really need to be able to do more than just call and text. It didn’t matter that it didn’t have a camera, not a single game and was just generally shite. I kept it….for ages even. Now its more of a sentimental thing. I’ve kept texts from throughout the two years I’ve had it and filled up the 118 text capaciy inbox so that theoretically I can only receive one text, which I then have to quickly delete so I can receive more lol. Furthermore it now boasts three buttons that don’t work, tells me in advance that I’m GOING to miss a call (it only does it sometimes but wtf lol, its not even right) and if you tap it on its lower left corner it turns off. Yep, I need a new phone. Desperately.

Now I figured that the best thing to do was to keep the SIM and just get an awesome new phone that would work in Japanland. I’d keep my texts, my numbers and contacts. I wouldn’t really use it in Japanland that often, but I’d still have it, while using a mobile I purchased in Japan for everything really. WRONG. I’ve just been to the Orange store (my mobile network provider) and they told me that 1) pay as you go won’t work in Japan with most networks that I purchase here 2) I’d need a 3G phone and 3) it would be extraordinarily expensive if at all possible on the little pay-monthly deals that some networks offer. So yes…it looks like I’m gonna LOSE not only my phone, my NUMBER, but also all my contacts. Moreover, as soon as I leave this country BAM I have no phone…so if I do happen to get lost on arrival (very unlikely seeing as I’m on the plane with Charlie, Joe and Ewa – but still!!) I’m fucked. I won’t have a phone until I buy one over there. That’s kinda sucky. I can’t even text my old phonebook contacts my new number, seeing as I don’t have one yet and as soon as I do, I can’t look up my contacts cause my old phone will be dead. :/ MEHH!! Stupid stupid phone…

MEGA RANT over. Apologies you lovelies. <3

PS: I’m planning to get something like this in Japan xD to make up for the two years of phone crappiness….TRANSFORMERS!

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So theres less than 2 weeks to go, but I don’t feel it. Hasn’t hit me yet, I’m not nervous or excited or in any way realising the fact I’m moving out and across the world not this, but next friday. It feels like there is still a month to go and my days are pretty much the same they have been the last two months. Hmm.. I’ve been working nearly every day and this week I decided to get some time off and hit France or Germany for a few days with my family. Maybe this will finally get me psyched and make Japan a reality. I feel like I need to be smacked, hard, around the head lol to get my act together..! I’m getting my insurance this week and will also try to sort out bank stuff. Gotta tell them I’m moving cause otherwise they’ll block me. I’m also gonna try and get an extended overdraft but am kinda pessimistic about it. Another thing thats been pissing me off is JASSO. No info whatsoever, no idea whats happening, when we’re getting the money, or some kind of published confirmation. Its making me worry a little even though I’m still so blase about everything. Aaaaand packing? I haven’t spent a single thought on it. I’m one of those people who leaves everything to the last minute, knowing I’ll get completely stressed out and panic the day before. ALTHOUGH I DID buy two winter hats today and a pair of sandals. Thats thinking about packing kinda :P Furthermore I need a haircut. And need to dye it too again. Hmmm… Why do I procrastinate things so much!??! Sheesh kebab! Right now I should be packing for three days in France, but we’re so spontaneous we might even go tomorrow…dunno yet. ALSO, studying Japanese is not really happening. Maybe I’ll take it on the France trip and study in the car…better than my previous plan of cramming on that 18 hour plane ride……Do I need an ipod? I don’t know…Not really. I have my music on my netbook and I have an old mp3 player that still kinda works. Ohh and my new phone is coming into stores in the next two weeks. Then I can keep my number and have a fully functional mobile in Japan versus my current dualband piece of crap thing where half the buttons don’t work. Yeah so I’ll get that phone and then also get another one in Japan for inland calls. Sorted.

So yes people JAPAN in 11 days! I wish my stupid head could comprehend how little time that is.

Instead I’m messing around with my webcam. Maan, I shake my head at myself..

lalala...blase
stupid face
sacre bleu!
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JUUUUUMP, yep thats me ^^

JUUUUUMP, yep thats me ^^

Today was my mum’s birthday so we decided to leave London for the day and drive two hours south to hit the beach. The weather was the most perfect its been in AAGES and we got there after only taking one wrong turn xD I hadn’t been to the beach in soo long, seeing as English beaches aren’t that great!^^ The water, being the atlantic ocean, is  waay too cold to go into and the currents are so strong that there is mostly a red flag flying high demanding that no sane person enters the water unless they’re feeling suicidal. So yes, a beach with no chance of swimming, strong winds and sand flying everywhere….the great British seaside :) . Anyway, we got there and found the perfect spot next to some sand dunes that were fenced off for conservation purposes (typical -.-). The cake we got out ended up being covered by sand in less than ten minutes…the sand was just going everywhere. My brother and I decided to build an amazing sandcastle..! We planned to make it airodynamic and facing the wind. It was going to be the shape of the star trek symbol with a tiny shell covered castle inside, shielded against the elements. Yep. You see….I dunno about you but I’m a crazy sandcastle/snowmen builder. I may not be a perfectionist in most things..but sand and snow?! I get passionate lets just say xD. While mum went off to get some food, my brother and I built and built..we sat there for at least an hour…maybe more lol. It was so much fun, I know I’m 20 and all, but this just reminded me waay too much of those epic, hour-long lego building sessions. :D Mid build a dog came running up, jumped in the middle of our star trek symbol creation and lifted his leg o.O!!! My brother froze in shock and I uttered a choked half scream half laugh, but luckily that doomed little dog ran off without desecrating our immense work of art xD LOL. After we finished we took lots of pictures doing stupid/crazy jumps into the air, making sillouhettes against the late afternoon sky. From backflips and sand angels to belly jumps …not only were we now completely and utterly CAKED in sand, we had bruises. Haha.

Coming back into the city I felt like the biggest beach bum ^^. I sat in Pizza Hut waiting for my stuffed crust pepperoni passion, covered in a layer of sand. Getting a few glances is an understatement lol.

beachcar

Beautiful day all in all! :D

PS: Ohh yeahh meant to write about that hipster party lol. Will do soonish :P blaaa

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So I did really well yesterday.. No ramblings, no pointless stories about random events in my life…JUST Kansai Gaidai related awesomeness. Seeing as this blog is meant to be about Japan. Well I’m not in Japan yet, and if you’ve been reading my other stuff you’ll know how I’ve been mainly using this site as more of a diary thing really. How can I really focus and update stuff on here about KG, when I’m not even there yet? So yep… Today I’m gonna even it out and post a completely normal and mundane entry. Just a simple summary of my day.

Hhhmm..well to be honest I haven’t really done alot today. My alarm went off at 8am so consequently I got up at 9am ^^ I’m a terrible morning person lol. I managed to get to work on time and worked at the restaurant till 4pm. Completely uneventful…just lots of little old ladies wanting tea. Tonight the plan is to go to “Plastic People” a basement-live-music club in London’s art-punk district. Hope that’ll be good, I haven’t been out in ages..dunno half the people coming so that will be interesting too. I’ll let you know how that all turns out..the last time I went to that area, a blood-covered homeless guy approached my friends and I and asked us for a fag. You gotta love London, I’m sure the blood was fake, it was waay too pinky :P

The last few days have been BORING cause of the crappy april-like weather that we’ve been having. All days except for wednesday aren’t even worth a mention in this mundane update lol. Wednesday was Ciara’s birthday! She turned 20 wooo! We met up with some friends and decided to be all touristy. None of us had ever been to the London Aquarium, so we decided to go there. I TOUCHED A LIVE STINGRAY! (illegally..you werent meant to stick your hand in xD) It was wicked lol, not gooey but more glitchy. Just made me reeeeaaally wanna go diving. That “shark walk” that was so heavily advertised was aloada crap lol. It was meant to be this exciting walk across the glass ceiling of the shark tank (oooooooooh) but instead this “walk” was a 2metre glass patch covered by toddlers. Scaaaary -.- Don’t you just hate little kids sometimes?! At zoos and aquariums and farms and stuff, when they want volunteers to handle the animals, who do they always pick?? The ruddy kids! Tss! I wanna stroke a snake too dammit! ^^ After the aquarium we took the tube (yes THE TUBE lol) to some docks and went to a pub for some food. Then we decided to go hang out at Trafalgar Square. They have this performance project thing going on there called “The One & Other” (http://www.oneandother.co.uk/). Its this thing where they have a person spend an hour on one of the plinths in the square doing whatever they please. Every hour a new person gets hoisted up there and the whole thing is broadcast live over the internet. You could do absolutely anything with your hour, from dressing up as a giant cow and dancing around, to being a topless mermaid and blowing bubbles at people. Some just sleep for an hour or make a political statement. But most of all people interact with the random pedestrians passing the plinth. Sooo yeah we went there in time for a woman dressed up as a princess to ascend the plinth and start chucking roses at “deserving” people. Ciara got a rose of course :) As soon as that princess-woman realized it was her birthday (we started loudly singing), she gave Ciara a rose. Ciara you got on tv wooo!! xD

Trafalgar Square in London

Trafalgar Square in London

So yeah..that was my signature rambling right there. Managed to balance out my blog after that productive post yesterday!

Talk to you soon darling, hope that hipster party tonight goes well. :)

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Yes yes yes I KNOW! IM SORRY! I have been a serious non-blogger for a month now..but I’m back! Okay?!?! So stop it :P

Man oh man,  its getting close! So what KG-related stuff has been happening in the past month. Hmm chronologically:

1) We finally got that housing email that we had been holding out for. Seeing as we had discussed it quite alot and knew most of the details already, most people knew what they were going for. Doesn’t mean there wasn’t some serious forum activity going on^^ So yes, I picked Seminar House 3 as my first choice. I wish I could have ONLY put that one down but heck, second choice was Seminar House 1. The only one I really didn’t want to get put into was 4 cause its so far away from the others. I picked the apartment-style House cause I’ve never lived away from home and kinda liked the thought of it. I also preferred the idea of sharing your bathroom, living room and kitchen with only 7 other people versus like 30. I put Charlie down as a roomate :) must be strange coming from somewhere else and having to share your room with a stranger, exciting definitely…, but I’m kinda glad I have Charlie. Oh and another thing. We emailed KG asking them about mixed flats BUT NO, apparently all the flats are same-sex. Awww, shame. Meh, I guess a girl flat does have its advantages. We find out what house we’ve been put into on the 21st of August I think..oooh wee :) I wonder if I should bring some of my favourite posters to decorate my side of the room a little^^ (PS: OH AND IM NOT ALLOWED TO FORGET TO POST THAT DAMN CONTRACT THINGY!)

2) Cultural Interaction Email: Shortly after the housing email we received some information about speaking partners and home visit programmes, as well as the guided tours and activities that will be available to participate in. The whole speaking partner thing got mixed responses on the forums. On the one hand people thought why not? Might be fun. At least then you’ll have a Japanese person that has to talk to you lol! The guys also figured that they’d get some hot girls, seeing as there was the rumour of lotsa KG-chicks signing up to be speaking partners to find boyfriends. -.- I say let them at it, if they’re successful, the guys will only have themselves to blame, not that they’d mind^^ Another point was the fact that you’d actually have to invest time in this whole thing with a speaking partner you may not actually like that much. That was one of the main risks people were concerned about. Personally I signed up. What’s the worst that could happen :D (I know I know, I shouldn’t jinx it :P ). I signed up to the Home Visit thingy too..but only once a month and not toooo much interaction. Can’t wait for the field trips to Kyoto for example or the sushi classes – yay!

3) My CoE arrived!! Man that day was awesome in general. It was a monday and my free day. I’d finally saved up enough cash to get myself a super duper cool little netbook and when I came back from the store with my purchase, literally two seconds in the door, the DHL guy arrived and handed the package to me. I was pretty impressed (and well relieved in general) the little CoE was veeery pretty, save the picture of me looking like that crazy-ass killer witch Bellatrix in Harry Potter. Charlie and I went and crashed the London Japanese Embassy later that week to apply for our visa. Mine turned out to be free as I have a German passport, but Charlie had to pay like £6 -HAHA! The Japanese must like German nationals :P All went smoothly, quick and easy and they told us to come and pick it up the following week.

4) An amazing thing happened. I woke up yesterday and while getting ready turned on my netbook. Checked my hotmail account and SHAZAAAM!! I had an email entitled “JASSO Scholarship” from that ridiculous international-office woman that calls herself our advisor. A month earlier she had let us know that cause she’d “never done this kind of scholarship” thing before, the deadline had passed and we’d lost the chance of actually coming out of this whole adventure without years of resulting debt. In other words she’d completely fucked up. I tried to console myself by thinking of different ways to arson her house. Or to egg her car. BUT THEN THERE WAS THIS EMAIL IN MY INBOX, that said that KG had secured a larger amount of scholarships and we’d be eligible etc for them!!!!! I must have read it five times to find some sort of fault but all it said was:

Today, I am writing to advise you that we will be able to secure six
(6) scholarships both for one-year and one-semester exchange students.
The scholarship recipients for this time are:

[One-year students]

B**R, L Angelina H M
etc.

So yes it says my name, I’ve just made it internet friendly… CAN YOU BELIEVE IT??? I SCORED JASSO! IM SAVED! I DON’T HAVE TO PAY BACK THIS TRIP FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE WOOOOOOOOOO

5) Picked up my visa today. Charlie was late and so I went in on my own. I literally had finished with everything 5 minutes after entering that beautiful embassy. I’ve never had a visa before you see, so when I opened my passport and saw that awesome thing I felt like jumping around :) NOT what I had expected. One page in my passport was covered with a big sticker very similar in layout to the main page in ur passport, and another had my CoE attached to it. Apparently they take it away at immigration when you enter Japan (mental note: photocopy it before they take it!!). So YES, I have my visa sorted. FOUR FLIPPIN WEEKS LEFT. I can hardly believe it… I think my mum is in denial^^.

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Its kinda nice right? Doing good deeds? Helping people out in need? Yep makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside huh?

I, for example, was leaving work late with a bulgarian girl two nights ago. She doesnt really speak any English whatsoever (only German and Bulgarian I think). So it turned out her train had been suspended and she had no way of getting home. Instead of running for my train, I try to help her out. I find her a different train to catch and explain to her which bus she needs to get when she gets off the train. As her train was leaving I went to catch my own. Only I couldnt. Id missed the last one. So now I was forced to catch a bus that comes once every hour -.- and I thought good deeds give good karma… -.- Walking out of the train station I saw a middle aged guy looking desperately lost. He was American and didnt know how to get a ticket, let alone how to use our British currency. So I stopped, walked him to the ticket machine and helped him buy a ticket. Then I told him exactly which platform to go to. He was really surprised by my kindness, said “You’re lovely” and ran off (SEE! Im nice!). Another karma point you might think? When I reached my busstop I had just missed my once-an-hour bus. Stupid karma. So I sat in the chilly night and waited.

I couldnt comprehend the logic of doing something good and something bad happening in return. Using this new found logic.. if I did something bad, would something good happen to me?!

The guy next to me at the busstop was also not having the night of his dreams. He was like 17 and sitting there next to a girl he’d probly just been on a date with…or just really fancied, who knows. He kept trying to impress her with goofy comments but was met with an awkward giggle. It was painful to listen to. He’d apparently texted her something in a foreign language a few nights ago (courageous poor fellow) which she had cruelly ignored and met with a cold question mark.

Boy: “You know…you don’t need to take the bus.. you live so close!”

Girl: “Yeeahhh but I don’t like walking home alone.” (this would usually be an obvious invitation, but going from her voice she wanted to get away from the guy as quickly as possible)

Boy: “Oh! I can walk you home!” (very keen awwww)

She hesitated alot not wanting to be alone with him. Then he offered her his arm. Sigh. As they were about to leave, the girl looking increasingly unhappy, her bus (not mine -.-) came. She hugged him briefly and had disappeared in seconds. He stood there waving madly until the bus was out of sight, then shook his head dejectedly at himself and sat down. He quickly texted her something sweet I think and then sat there looking glum. My hopes for him arent high :(

Well okay to be honest I dont really know lol, I havent been on many dates (im calling a date going out for dinner here). One was with a guy who was like four years older than me, but turned out to be really shy, so I ended up talking to myself all night. Another was a little better, interesting conversation but no chemistry. Ahh.. Typical. But the whole dating thing is a funny thing to discuss really. Peoples stories can be epic as these things can go so well and sooooo wrong. You got any interesting ones world?^^ I bet you do :P

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Ive been out twice in the last two weeks. I don’t go out as much as I used to seeing as its the holidays and many of my friends are away and Im working. Now I dont know how many of you have been clubbing in London, but it can be a pretty retarded scene.

The RnB and HipHop clubs in London all have a dress code. Most clubs in London do really (‘cept for the indie hangouts). If you want to go proper clubbing however, not just like to a gig or something, then you have to watch how you dress. Guys: Absolutely no trainers. Never ever. Don’t even think about it. Clubbing for guys is harsh anyway… Not only do you have to pay more in terms of entry fee, you have very little chance of getting in if you dont have girls with you. Yaaaa, its a little screwed up for you guys..! So yes, NO TRAINERS and a shirt is your safest bet. You’d be crazy to go with a hoodie. Girls: Now girls… Oh girlies, London is a slutty city. It really is. With dresscode you differentiate between going for the Glamorous Slut Look ( for the upper-class posh clubs) or the Trashy Hooker Look (the average normal look). Of course Im generalizing and not everyone looks like that but the majority does unfortunatly. Oh and dont forget the killer heels, you’ll feel out when wearing flats.

Uhhh *shudder*

Uhhh *shudder*

Okay so lets say you’re going clubbing. You’ve dressed up and taken the tube (our underground trains duhh :P ) into central London, round 10ish (yes I know it seems very early but most clubs – like 90% – close at 3am!!!). You walk along the clubbing district and wait for a promoter to jump on you. “Hey there! Going clubbing tonite treacle?!” There you go. Now remember this: Promoters trick you! (Okay so I know some that don’t but Im FROM London, man Ive just noticed Im kinda writing a tourist guide o.O). So as a tourist watch out they dont scam you!  Just go to a club and stand in the queue.

London clubs differ greatly…theyre really seperated into areas. Posh areas house posh clubs obviously. Take Movida. Movida is near Bond Street (oooooh) and very superficial. People are usually minted and arrive in taxis (no buses or tube here). If you dont look hot enough you dont get into these kinds of clubs. If youre a girl and you look hot you get given a Golden VIP ticket which means free entry. If not you have to pay £20 entry (!!!). Inside its luxury pure. Diamonds on the ceilings, some famous DJ playing and a bigger VIP area than the one for commoners -.-. So my friend and I go in after getting a golden ticket (siiigh, dont say anything) and sit down. We were worried about getting in so we’d come early, it was only 11pm. A guy approaches and gives us his business card. He says hes a promoter and he will put us on his guestlist for next time. We go dance and are approached by a woman. “My client would like you to join him at his table” – We think why not and follow her. We sit down in the VIP area at a table with two fat bankers deep in conversation. They say hi, then ignore us. Unlimited free champagne…well this is feeling cheap. Obviously the only reason we are sitting there is for appearance’s sake. We take the champagne and leave. See….these clubs can be fantastic, glamourous and exciting, but they can also be superficial, judging and harsh. Unlike in London, I havent been clubbing so much in other countries. Maybe its the same. It must be I guess. Every country has sleazy guys that try dancing at you from behind without you knowing. Meh.

Obviously Ive given you a very general, sarcastic and one-sided account here. Dont get me wrong I love London infinitely. Im a serious clubber or used to be and know alotta places. Ive just come to prefer more electro based/ alternative indie spots compared to the cosmo scene Ive previously hung out on. I guess you guys will have to make your own minds up…and even if I did exaggerate (I SO didnt :P ) there must be some truth in it huh?! :)