ERAU Study Abroad Japan 2024

The day started like any other on this trip. The sun with its deadly heat raising upon the land nicknamed after the solar star, land of the raising sun, had given me a sight as I awoke from my bed. From my room I look to the ground and see many faces as they rush to work in a timely yet chaotic manner. This was to be the day I adventure to the White Harmon Castle and the gardens of Korakuen. The Shinkansen reside was enjoyable as I was able to zig zag my way through the country side of southern Japan. As I was heading to my destination, I had time to take in the beauty of Japans landscape and reflected about my stay here. Japan is not like the United Sates, the landscape here shows much more greenery in comparison to a place like Arizona. Getting a different vibe from places that are new or outside of the normal day to day can really help in calming the mind. Soon however, I was broken from this trance as my station was announced and started to pack up my personal belongings. I first t

Our study abroad is at its second half, and for our second field trip, we embarked on a journey to Nara, a city famed for its old temples in mountainsides and deers. But the adventure began a little earlier, with our COM 221 class kicking off at 9:00 am at Osaka Metropolitan University's Sugimoto campus. Earliers, however, at 6:30 am, I squeezed a gym session before getting prepped for the day. By 8:00 am, I was ready to got to OMU with Ihan. We met up with the rest of the group at the station, and got on the Midsuji subway towards Tennoj. Reaching Sugimoto Station, went direclty to our COM 221 class. Thankfully, the schedule accommodated our Nara adventure with a shorter session. We squeezed in 20 minutes to tackle Assignment 3 (How to Guide) before diving into lectures. The COM 221 lecture we learned Alt text, accessibility best practices, and presentation techniques. We even got our creative time with some free-writing activities. Fueled and ready to explore, our group meet at S

Today was really unique. I started off with going to the Sugimoto campus and I may or may not have gotten lost. Once I got there though, COM 221 began and we talked about user testing and report structure. After class we had lunch and I had been craving curry, so I got it and it was delicious. Once I finished my food I met up with some friends and we were enjoying the OMU college life. Then SS 314 began and we started working on our kikochos. I printed some photos of Japanese architecture that I thought were intriguing to add to my kikocho. After we finished that, we met Prof. Simon to learn from him the art of Aikido. At first, he taught us how to properly bow to our sensei and then he introduced how Aikido works. Aikido is a form of martial arts and focuses on energy, harmony, and self-defense. Naomi was my partner throughout this activity and we had fun practicing throwing each other around. We switched to learn Kyudo with the Japanese archery club. Kyudo is different than American

Today was our rest day after a thrilling adventure in Hiroshima the previous days . After a long-needed sleep I started the day off at around 10:00 in the morning with my roommate still asleep next to me. We ended up staying in bed until noon and then decided to really get our day started.   We decided to explore around the city of Namba, some times considered the heart of Osaka. We decided to stop by Mcdonalds right across the street from our hotel to get lunch. Mcdonalds in Japan has something to it that is slightly different that American Mcdonalds but in a good way . After munching down on our food, we continued our journey around the city admiring t he bustling streets and crowded atmosphere.   After some time passed, we turned back to the hotel which is very close to the epicenter of Namba. There we yet again laid in our beds while watching some YouTube on the hotel TVs. Eventually we would all fall into a deep sleep , as if not even knowi ng what was going on , as if we were

     May 26th was our first day in Hiroshima. We started our day in Osaka by meeting in the lobby and walking to Namba station together. Then we took the Midosuji line to Shin-Osaka station in order to catch the Shinkansen. This was my first time ever on the Shinkansen, which was really exciting. The inside looked like an airplane, and it took us about two hours to get too Hiroshima station.           Once we got to Hiroshima, we spent about an hour inside the station grabbing food. Myself and a couple friends headed downstairs to get some Korean food. I got beef ribs and a seafood pancake, which were really good for train station food, and it only ended up being $8.79 for the meal, which included rice and miso soup.     After lunch, we left the station via tram in order to go to the Hiroshima peace memorial museum and park. There, we got had a presentation by a survivor of the atomic bomb. She was 8 years old when the bomb was dropped, and it was both fascinating and very saddening to

 May 25th was the day of the Yukosai Festival at OMU Nakamozu. A lot of us met up at the main gate with a few of the OMU Buddies, and then split up into smaller groups and began to walk around. It was very interesting to see how much was going on at the festival. Right past the entrance was a little flea market where many of the local residents had set up tents selling their old clothes and other belongings. Past that area was a lot of student run activities and stalls. The first thing past the flea market was a stage where many performances were held at. One of which was a koto performance by the Japanese Music Club that we got to meet previously on May 16th. A lot of us watched that performance and it was very good. The main walkway had many student run food stalls. There was a wide selection of food including many things like shaved ice, karaage, takoyaki, and many other options. There were many other activities and performances you could find around. Inside one of the buildings wer

    May 24th was fortunately a free day for us so me and my friends decided to go to the beach. After some researching for beaches around Osaka we found the town of Shirahama in Wakayama prefecture known for its white quartz beach, scenic cliffs, and amusement parks. The only real catch was that it was a 3 hour train ride away, but without any other ideas on what to do for the day we bit the bullet and went for it. Our other buddy Joseph wasn't into the idea of going to the beach so the crew was Aidan, Joe, and Me. We set out at around 9 am out of Namba station to begin our journey. The train ride itself was quite lovely and scenic and took us through the mountainous countryside and coast. After arriving in the Shirahama station we immediately had to hop onto a bus with little to no English support, but we eventually figured it out and ended up on the beach. Our first impression was spoiled by the realization that Aidan and I both needed a towel, so swimming was postponed until we

  May 22 nd , My day started at 7:00am with me getting breakfast from the family mart. This trip so far has been hard for me to wake up and feel awake. I took the metro to campus after getting breakfast, and I felt that it was tranquil even though it was busy. With everyone being quiet on the train it can be easy to fall asleep which is something I almost did. After arriving to campus we started our day with the separated group lectures. Being in Com we started our day learning about the descriptions in writing sets, which is different from instructions. In this class time a lot of us felt out of it or tired because the trip so far has been going to many places and hanging out with our OMU buddies after the class days. The lectures on doing descriptions had us looking at past works of students and critique those works for our perspective to get an understanding on what revising a work can look like. Lunch was good, I tired a new dish from the cafeteria. It was a noodle dish with some

May 23rd marked the eleventh day of our study-abroad trip to Japan. Sadly, the previous day was our last day at the Nakamozu campus, my favorite of the two. Today was our first day back at the Sugimoto campus in nearly two weeks. Because of this, the professors let everyone know we would once again be traveling to campus as a group, and the time to meet was set at 7:55 am in the lobby. This would've been no problem if my roommate and I had just remembered to set alarms. We did not. When we woke up in the morning, it was 7:45, and   we only had ten minutes to get ready and go. With zero time, we jumped out of bed, got ready in a flash, and rushed down to the lobby. We had no breakfast, looked a mess, and were barely prepared, but at least we were there. The ride to Sugimoto was relatively relaxed, as we didn't have to navigate ourselves, which was a nice change of pace. We just turned our brains off and blindly followed the professors.  After arriving on campus, we split off to

  As per usual every morning I wake up and start to get ready to  make our way to campus. As usual my roommate and I headed to  the train station, walked to our usual platform, and boarded the  first train that arrived.  However, today, in our morning haze, we failed to notice the train's route display. Instead of boarding the  train bound for Nakamozu, which would take us directly to  campus, we ended up on a train that only goes until station M26  four stops short of our destination at M30. Once at M26 we got off the train and waited for the next one that was headed to Nakamozu, once the train arrived we hoped in and we were on our way.  For class time it was no different than normal days. We started with COM 221, we  work on Some class activities as also our proposal for our second assignment. After COM 221 we went to get lunch I don't remember the name of what I had but it tasted very similar to Pechuga a la Milanesa(Chicken Milanese).   After lunch me went back to take o

Day two in Osaka dawned bright and free, with most of my must-sees already checked off. But a true explorer never stops, and today's adventure took me to Tsutenkaku, Osaka's iconic tower, supposedly on a "dangerous" area. Spoiler alert: danger was nowhere to be found! Before my 20-minute walk, a rumbling stomach demanded attention. A quick pit stop at the trusty Family Mart downstairs scored me a tuna and egg sandwich, which despite waht it lokks is really good with a cold and fish mixing taste. (Side note: Happy early birthday, Dad! Time zones are confusing!) Adulting never truly sleeps, even on study abroad. I carved out two productive hours to finish homework for both COM 221 and SS 314, with some brazilian funk music on to keep me awake and productive. (gotta keep those grades up!). With a clear conscience (and a full stomach), I waved goodbye to my roommate, who was Umeda-bound, and set off for Tsutenkaku with a spring in my step. Google Maps, bless its al