Hi. Guess what? So much has happened today I don’t know where to even begin. I’ll start with an edit from yesterdays blog. I have made an incredible amount of friends and met so many new people but I did not mention everyone in the blog post from yesterday. I kind of felt bad about that. I also didn’t mention my FAVORITE part of the symposium which was when I found out Manami (our partner) listens to Paramore and Fall Out Boy. I’m aware these could be average facts for most humans, but for the human, (me) they’re game changers. Manami and I are now best friends. It happened. It’s real. She might not even know.

I’m going to throw away all of my clothes and pack my suitcase with these chocolates. You don’t understand. I’ll be bringing so many home.

I have no idea what we are doing but I really love this picture. Taken across the tracks of the subway station.

Moving swiftly along. TODAY we did some pretty incredible things. First, we went to Fushimi Inari shrine in Kyoto which was like a temple trail. I’m not entirely sure how to explain this without being incredible disrespectful but there was this orange temple and then smaller ones all around it. Then you could follow these trials that slowly worked itself up a mountain with more private and serene temples. I guess they could be compared to checkpoints on the way to the top. What was really cool was the bamboo growing in the forest alongside the trail. We actually never made it to the top but what are you going to do.

A lot of the walking paths at the beginning of the trail were under these tall orange beams.

The opening building to the Fushimi Inari shrine. The color was so bright, I loved it.

After a tsunami hit Japan, people from around the world sent paper cranes and they were hung around the walls in one of the shrines.

People could make wishes to the whomever they believe will hear their private wishes.

Before you enter the shrine you are asked to purify yourself with these instructions.

This was the purifying station.

The architecture was incredible. We didn’t even make it inside before we took a million pictures.

The water was so cold..or maybe that was the purification working.

After that we took a train to a different part of Kyoto to see the temple of one thousand Buddhas. This was easily the most amazing thing we’ve seen on this trip. You have to take your shoes off at the door and put on slippers that the shrine provides for all the guests. You walk into this long room and there are seriously no less than a thousand gold statues lined up for what goes on for what seems like 70 miles. They’re all a little bit different from the one next to it, but the rustic look and the detail is incomparable to anything I’ve ever seen before. The first thing that immediately popped into my head when I saw them was the chess game in the Harry Potter movie. Totally different, but that’s the vibe I got. In front of the rows and rows of statues, there are I think 12 different stone statues of the deities with descriptions of where they are believed to have come from and what they symbolize in the Buddhist religion. Some of the statues had crystals for eyes and it made it look like they were living people trapped inside stone cases. (A little like Mr Krabs when he’s trapped in the ice in The Spongebob Movie.) Anyways, in the middle of the 12 statues there is this enormous Buddha that looks like it is floating in the air. It was easily two stories tall. The entire thing in unable to be described with pictures or in words. If anyone wants to ever see it, I’ll just have to bring you back to Kyoto. It’s worth the flight, I swear.

In both the temples I was so intrigued by the way beliefs brought people from all walks of life together.

The slippers we wore in the shrine. If anyone walked past my boots I took off they probably died on the spot from the smell.

While I loved the two places we were able to explore, my favorite part of this day was afterwards when we were lost on the train So we board a train back to Osaka (where the hotel is) and until we get off the train, I honestly had no idea if we were even heading remotely in the right direction. Long story short- 4 hours later we made it back home. It was supposed to be a thirty minute trip. Between you & I, I thought I was going to die in the Japan train station. I could see my end and I’m lucky to be alive. You’re lucky I’m dramatic, otherwise this blog would be all about facts. The thought bores me.

In the Kyoto train station there was a Christmas celebration with a massive tree, music, and a holiday lights show.

This tree in the Kyoto train station was probably over 8 eight stories tall. We kind of stumbled along this display unintentionally. I’m so thrilled that we did though.

All in all, it was a good one. I’ve been throwing around the idea, in my own head, that I could see myself one day living in Japan. It’s such a stunning country filled with the kindest people. I don’t have to take into consideration the fact that I dress differently because I would stick out anyways so why try to avoid it. I do think there are a lot of things in the culture and society that would clash with my own personality and beliefs. Honestly, who knows. Right now my number one place to live is Africa where I can ride a giraffe all day, everyday. THAT would be the life.

I shouldn’t be invited anywhere professional. I’m just not cutout for the serious life.

MY FAVORITE SNIPE OF THE TRIP. Even in spiritual places, cracks are invited.

Get ready for whatever lies ahead tomorrow.

Stay weird.

Ally

Current seating arrangement- tucked in bed.

TODAY’S THE DAY. THE SUN IS SHINING. THE SYMPOSIUM IS WAITING.

The symposium was today so we headed over to the University at about 9 am. (I’m getting really good at using the subway. I probably could get to somewhere really cool then get lost and never find my way home.) The symposium went well and we had about seven Kansai students present with us on stage. The audience really took an interest in the student responses and thoughts on our personal COIL experiences. I think our participation might have really influenced some of the other attending professors to participate in COIL themselves, which I love. I mean without COIL I wouldn’t be sitting next to Marissa on a hotel bed in Japan typing this blog post. (For the record, Marissa is only pretending to type hers next to me.)

Made it to the University! It’s a pretty beautiful place.

At the Symposium with Maho and Marissa.

That’s a fine-looking crew.

List of the student presenters at the symposium. It’s no big deal.

I felt like a very big deal. My name tag paper was even taped to the table. (I did steal it. I’m bringing it home

After the presentation we took a tour of the University with some of the students in the class we worked with. The campus is so big compared to Oswego and it’s absolutely beautiful. It’s winter in Japan but it’s about 50 degrees and most of the trees look like it’s fall, so the campus is full of color. We passed by students outside who were interpretive dancing in a group on the sidewalk. Also, there were students with their instruments just jamming in front of one of the buildings. Kansai has around 27,00 students. I feel like if most of the Japanese students didn’t commute like they do, the lines for the showers would take about thirty-seven years.

The holiday drinks at Starbucks are unique in Japan too. (Also, apparently they are really very sweet.

PAULINE AND MEG. I FOUND A MCDONALD’S. Too bad it’s in Japanese and I couldn’t read it!

We left the University and headed down to the ShinSaiBashi-Suji which is an ENORMOUS outdoor shopping mall. The beginning of it looks like the Time Square of Japan. There were these Christmas lights that hung from the beginning of the street all the way down to the end. By the time we got there I was wearing these high heel dress shoes. (Let me give you some background info- I don’t wear heels. That’s enough background.) The problem was that I couldn’t buy a cheep pair of shoes to change into because most shoes come in three sizes- small, medium, and large. So it’s safe to say I bought no shoes. Also, most of the traditional Japanese clothing stores have sizes called feminine and male. It’s just one size for each. So again, I bought no clothing. But that’s okay! I bought two cool pairs of socks and a blueberry face mask. We put the face masks on and we looked like we are on our way to our Blue Man group auditions.

ShinSaiBashi-Suji was incredible. Almost better than Time Square in New York, but not quite.

I had sushi for the very first time tonight with Sofia! I figured if I’m going to have it anywhere, might as well be in Japan!

This donut is the reason for my existence on this earth. It was some sort of salted caramel nut slice of heaven.

These boots were in a sm, md, lg store and they made me think of Hayley Williams. So naturally, I took this picture.

The international gang. (left to right) Maho, Jenni, Marissa, Me, & Sofia.

We went to the shopping center with Maho, Jenni, and Sofia which were three of the Kansai Students. (Maho is from Japan, Jenni is on exchange from Australia, and Sofia is on exchange from England.) I truly feel like meeting them was the entire reason COIL should be brought to other classrooms and people. You not only learn about cultures and whatnot, but it gives you the opportunity to meet and create relationships with people you would otherwise never meet. If I never took this class or participated in COIL I wouldn’t have made these friends or learned as much as I did. I’ve taken more away from this single class and this single experience than I have from anything else I have done in my entire educational career. This experience has given me such a wider perspective on the world and a better understanding of the people who live in it. Maybe it’s fair to say it didn’t give me the understanding, but really the curiosity to learn by going places to talk and ask questions. There’s so much to learn that can’t be found on google, which seems insane, but I think it’s true. I said it yesterday but I’m going say it again (because this is my blog and no one can stop me) I am so grateful for this experience. I have international friends that I can talk to and meet up with one day in the future. Or they can come to America and stay with me. If it wasn’t for COIL I would have never had the opportunity to meet these remarkable people. This semester might be finished but I think the doors and relationships that this experience has opened up to me are going to stay with me for a long, long time. I’m hopeful it will be forever.

Did you think I’d forget my favorite day of the week?! Happy Sick Ass Sock Saturday- Japan Edition! #SASS Japanese socks are like mittens for your feet.

Everyday the nice lady that cleans our room tucks Hillary into my bed. She’s probably such a sweetheart.

Stay Weird.

Ally

Current face smell- Catastrophe Cosmetic Blueberry

Dec. 2, 2014

We’ve reached the 8 hour mark. Well 8 hours and 9 minutes to be exact. There is this nifty little clock that counts down to the time of arrival. Whoever thought of this deserves a round of applause. It seems like a lifetime ago that the we were on the runway in Detroit and the countdown was at 12 hours and 2 minutes until we arrived.

I’ve watched two movies so far ( actually the first was a documentary but details, details) The problem is that I cried through both films. Okay, maybe that’s dramatic. It wasn’t like hiccupy constant whale cries, more like little sniffles and eye rivers here and there. The poor man next to me must think I’m a loony tune which honestly matches the past two weeks I’ve had trying to prepare for this trip. Moral of the story, I guess I can’t argue with the guy. He has some gripping examples to support his claim.

You know, it’s not even fair to say these past few weeks have had me acting like a lunatic. It wasn’t like I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off, it was more like I was a chicken born without a head  in the first place. Mass chaos. I can’t argue that it was like the calm before the storm, because it’s actually clear weather. I didn’t think these few weeks would end, let alone I would ever be sitting on a plane on my way to explore and present at a symposium in Japan. That’s bananas.

Maybe I should introduce myself- hi. I’m Ally and I’m using a giraffe neck pillow right now. If you’re going to be reading these blog posts you may want to know more than my name and my wildlife neck support. So here’s 7 facts that have nothing to do with anything at all:

1. my favorite season is winter

2. breakfast for dinner is a top-notch meal

3. my favorite holiday is Halloween

4. cats are fantastic

5. my favorite movie is The Breakfast Club

6. my initials are ACDC

7. 7 is my favorite number

To get into some serious business, the reason I am on my way to Japan is to present at an international COIL symposium that is held in Osaka, Japan. This semester I took Intercultural Communication (COM 422) and we participated in COIL which is Collaborative Online International Learning. We were able to Skype and work on a project with a class of students that attend Kansai University in Japan. At the beginning of the class if someone had told me I would be boarding a plane and meeting the students, let alone presenting at an international symposium I wouldn’t have believe it. I don’t believe that I’m sitting on this plane right now. It’s the real deal. Who would have guessed it?

I think that’s all i have to say for now. Since I won’t be posting this until later tonight or whenever I have wi-fi, I might add some more later. HEY! 7 hours and 53 minutes until the time of arrival!! WE’VE MADE IT TO 7! (which is still my favorite number if you didn’t remember.)

Stay Weird.

Ally

Current Jam- ‘White Noise’ by Pvris. The entire album. Highly recommend.