ERAU Study Abroad Japan 2024

    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...

  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 ...

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 M...

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...

  Around 9 a.m. my ERAU buddies and I met up with our OMU buddies at the I-Site building, which wasn’t too far from our hotel. Once we got there, we had a short lecture from Dr. Hirose and got to work on our presentations. The presentation had to include each group’s theme, what we had learned, and our impressions of the Kyoto field trip. My group’s theme was Nature focused as we went to shrines, and temples to embrace the beauty that surrounded those places. Joseph, Dante, and I learned so much while in the Kyoto prefecture. Since we had gone to the Kanji Museum, we found out that there are over 50,000 Kanji and that 2024’s Kanji means “tax.” While walking around we wore Yukata’s and our OMU buddies Kyoka and Nene told us that there are 3 types of kimonos and the Yukata is a thinner material used for hotter days. Our impressions were a little scattered but the main one is that many other foreigners were also wearing Yukata’s. After all the presentations were done, my roommate Vict...

  May 18 th : Kyoto Trip with OMU buddies   The day started at 8:30 and we left the hotel to head for the metro to war ds Kyoto stati o n. After we took a bus to our first destination, Ginkakuji , also known as the Silver Pavilion, is a beautiful Zen temple that is immersed in n ature . This includes landscaped gardens that had significance toward the reflection of moonlight . The temple was surrounded by many plants, including bamboo. One can get lost in nature itself and admire the elegant architectur al structure of the temple itself .            After exploring the temple, we as a group were starving so we headed to a local udon shop , called Om en Udon which was a recommendation by Professor Hirose . I had the vege-udon with a side of vegetable tempura, and it was heavenly. Later in the day we stopped by a small shop to try Otabe , a traditional Kyoto dessert made with red bean paste wrapped in a mochi like do ugh. It w...