Summer Nutrition

Summer is almost here! Bring on the season of barbecues and tons of ice cream, but let’s not forget to eat healthy as well. Here are four ways to stay healthy during the summer:

  1. Take advantage of fresh produce!

Produce is at its peak during the summer months, which allows for a wide array of diverse veggies and fruits to choose from. Veggies like tomatoes, avocados, leafy greens such as Swiss chard or beet greens, and bell peppers are super fresh and taste absolutely amazing as a side for dinner or incorporated into your barbecue. More fruits such as cantaloupe, watermelon, strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries will taste delicious as your dessert instead of ice cream.

   2. Choose lean meats!

For many families in America, summertime fun means grilling hot dogs, sausages, and hamburgers of various types. Many of these processed meats are full of nitrates, nitrites, and other preservatives and may be high in fat.  Go lean! Try ground turkey and chicken instead, or better yet, fish and shellfish like salmon, ocean perch, clams, and mussels. If you can’t forgo the burger, then try adding some healthy toppings like guacamole, low-fat feta cheese, or dark leafy greens.

    3. Be smart about your cold treats!

Ice cream is not only high in saturated fats but it’s also jam-packed with sugar. Think about the different kinds of ice creams that add chocolate syrup and pieces of whole candies in the mix to the already sugary ice cream. FYI adding fruit doesn’t really help your cause either! When it comes down to it, fruit is made of glucose and fructose, so adding it to a bowl that probably already has at least 50+ grams of sugar will only make the situation worse. Remember to control your portion sizes when it comes to this, and I would also encourage you to try fat-free and sugar-free options as well. Frozen yogurt and sorbets are good alternatives as well.

    4. Keep on the H2O!

Hot weather and outdoor activities means lots of sweating, and without adequate water intake it’s easy to get dehydrated really fast. However, this isn’t the only reason we have to drink more water. Water has the natural ability to make you feel more full and help to maintain a steady metabolism. For example, drinking roughly 16 oz of water can increase your metabolism by 30 percent. Buy a reusable water bottle to help you keep water available to drink. To make it more fun and delicious, add some of your favorite fruit or a fresh sprig of mint.

Remember to get out this summer and participate in some outdoor activities, hang with your friends and family, chow down on a hot dog once in a while, roast some marshmallows over the fire, and take it easy. Incorporate some of these tips into your diet and I can assure that it will make you look and feel much healthier!

Since this is my last blog post as an intern for Kathryn Szklany, RD, I would like to say that this has been a wonderful experience for me to share some of my knowledge and interests about nutrition with the SUNY Oswego community. Thank you, good luck on your finals, and have a wonderful summer!

A picture of a delicious looking picnic, with a wide array of healthy foods.

From a Thankful Senior

Thanksgiving is a reflective time; the word “thanks” is in the title. Although the history of Thanksgiving is more complicated than that presented to us in grade school, the modern connotation of the event is all about spending time with family and taking stock of the good stuff (yes, that absolutely includes perfectly whipped mashed potatoes holding a beautiful crater of overflowing gravy). I have a lot of things to be thankful for myself, so I decided it would be a good time to share some of these things.

  1. My Oswego education. I’ll be graduating on December 15th in front of my family. Image result for graduation gif
  2. My newest family member: my nephew Grant.
  3. A delicious meal and the opportunity to eat it with loved ones. Image result for thanksgiving gif
  4. My caring, creative, crazy friends that I’ve made both at Oz and in life in general. Image result for friends thanksgiving gif (a “Friends” Thanksgiving gif is almost obligatory, no?)
  5. The social media team. I’ve been doing this since my sophomore year which means it’s been 2 and a half years of photographing geese, dogs, hockey players, and filming and writing about my personal adventures. Image result for social media gif

With graduation coming up in a few weeks, I’m currently trying to polish my resume, finish five different papers and projects, apply to jobs, and balance a few other spinning plates as well. This break and this particular holiday have been very important for me, not only to have a bit of extra time to work on these things, but to also remember what I have going for me. I’m very thankful for my time in Oswego in general. I have changed and grown so much and feel as though I’ve truly come into my own. I’ve met amazing people and learned so many things, both in and out of the classroom. As I enter the most confusing and transitional period of my life yet, remembering this and trying to use it to my advantage will be more important than ever.

I’d like to thank my boss Tim Nekritz for putting me on the social media team and giving me a platform to create content of my choice for the school. I also want to thank everyone reading this and everyone who has ever read one of my blogs, watched one of my vlogs, viewed my Snapchats, and looked at my Instagram posts for Oz. I hope that I have been educational, entertaining, or at the very least distracting (in a good way!). Take it from one very thankful Laker: take the time to think about the good in your life. You might be happier than you’ve ever been, you might be going through hard times or transitioning into something new; no matter what, if you think hard enough there will be something to be thankful for. Now enjoy the dinner rolls.

How to Perfect your Staycation

The sun and the sand of St. Lucia sound amazing, but that’s not always realistic for a broke college kid. If you’re spending spring break (or any vacation in your house), I have a few pieces of advice to make it one of your best.

  1. Sleep

Image result for sleeping gif

Staycations are the perfect time to catch up on the sleep you missed for studying for midterms. If you’re at home, you don’t have to feel guilty about wasting any time you could be spending sightseeing or tanning.

 

 

 

 

 

2. Organize

Image result for organizing gif If you’ve been letting your planner get messy or you’re pushing 587+ emails in your inbox, it’s a great time to hunker down and sort it all out. Getting prepped for the second half of the semester will make your life go a little more smoothly.

 

 

 

 

3. Do your hobby

Image result for baking gif If you’ve got a camera, a pair of skis, a computer, or whatever you like, pick it up and do it! Hobbies can be harder to execute while you’re at college because there is so much else on the docket. I’m planning on baking while I’m home!

 

 

 

 

 

4. Binge a new show

Image result for binge watching gif If you’re like me, you hate picking up a new show during a super busy time like right before big tests. A staycation is the perfect time to catch up on a show all of your friends have been talking about. Plus you have enough time to watch 2 (or 7) episodes in one day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Relax

Image result for treat yo self gif It’s spring break! The word break is in there for a reason, so at the end of the day, just relax and do what you want. You can treat yourself to a meal, new headphones, a little RnR, anything you want.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t let envy take over! Your staycation can be just as beneficial as a trip to an exotic locale (and can be easier on the wallet). If you really can’t stand it, turn up the heat in your apartment and post a picture from the internet to your Instagram (kidding!). Have a happy and restful spring break!

Adjustments: Moving Back Home

“Hey, wanna go grab ice cream?” This was the question I asked my best friend Alexandra on the second day I moved back home last year. She was hanging out at my house, so we got in my car and got our chilly desserts. Approximately 10-15 minutes, I got the text. You know, the quintessential parent to child text that strikes fear in your heart.

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After getting used to the autonomy of college, I realized that I had to tell my mom my location. I told my mother and she was fine with it, but it was a wake-up call. Yeah, in college I might mention that I was grabbing dinner with friends, but the task isn’t compulsory. I realized I would have to make a key adjustment moving back home.

It’s easy to forget when you experience the kind of big lifestyle change that college provides. It is often the first big stepping stone for many and is their first taste of living on their own. The biggest recommendation I have is talking things out with your parents and understanding their expectations for you. I definitely live under a certain set of rules, but my personal growth in college has an impact as well. I have more freedom than I did in high school, but I still need to respect my parents as well.

College is certainly a great experience, but that doesn’t mean going home for the summer can’t be great, too.

 

The Best of Brussels and Ghent

Brussels is a city that is extremely underrated! I mean how can you go wrong with a city thriving off of beer, waffles and fry’s! A statue of a peeing baby is their most famous tourist attraction and it has over 300 outfits… what’s not to love?

To know before you go!

  • Euros are used here (YAY!)
  • You will never feel like a foreigner, the city is made up of foreigners (half the people are Dutch and half are French!)
  • Everyone speaks either French or Dutch, English is a little harder to find!
  • **WARNING** don’t call the fries French fries! Just don’t do it, very sensitive topic.
  • 2go4 hostel has a free walking tour I totally recommend. We saw all of Brussels in 3 hours then we got to go back and explore what we wanted!
  • There is a legend for everything!
  • Never try the same beer twice!
  • Waffles are meant to be eaten plain! Maybe with sugar, but everyone will know you’re a tourist if you get the one with 10000 toppings (though they are tempting.)
  • There is a certain type of glass for every beer. All the tourist tries and steal them (I wish I did) but you will get in trouble if caught.

Hostel

2go4- Very nice! I stayed in a room with 3 twin beds and our own bathroom, which is perfect! The location was walking distance from the Grand palace and also the train station. The lobby was very vintage looking and included free coffee in the morning! Again free walking tour that I recommend!

The Sites

Grand palace

  • Beautiful old buildings in a square with city hall towering over you is deff a site to see! Each street has it original market name for example cheese street, coal street, meat street. One of the buildings is where Karl Marx lived and wrote the communist manifesto during his exile. This is a quick thing can be done in 30 mins or so.

Manneken Pis

  • Biggest (and lamest) tourist attraction in Brussels. It literally is a little baby peeing into the fountain. Legend has it that when Brussels was under attack a baby saw a piece of dynamite in the city, so he peed on it so it would not explode. Thus the manneken pis was born. In the 80s two college students stole it and the city went into chaos! Eventually the police located the statue and thieves and as a punishment they had to make hand-sewn outfits for the baby. There’s a schedule of when the baby is wearing an outfit and everything.

The Atomium

  • Think giant steel balls in the sky. Literally that’s all this is. They say its brussels version of the Effile tower, not as grand in my opinion. We went at night and saw them lit up which was pretty cool but did not do a tour or anything. Type of attraction you take a pic and then call it a day.

St Michael’s Church

  • Beautiful from the outside but I wish we did a tour of the inside.

Museum row

  • Really cool buildings from the outside but each building was a different museum. There was the modern museum and the fin-de-siècle which we went to for 3 euros… these were pretty boring to be honest but if you’re a fan of fine art this is the place for you! There is the museum of music which I was told was really cool plus there is a restaurant at the top that had a view of all of Brussels!

Jeanneke pis

  • Manneken pis sister… or girlfriends, depends who you ask. This is located right near the Delirium café and was put there to simply attract tourists to that area…. Smart.

Ghent or Bruggs

  • Both these city’s are close to Brussels and are a must if you are staying in Brussels for long. We went to Ghent and it was awesome, filed with young people and a beautiful river that went through the city. We took a boat ride (not worth it) but the streets are so cute and old! You can get to these cities from the north station for cheap!

To Eat/ Drink

Tonton Garby

  • MUST GO! I cannot rave about this place enough. At first glance it is a little hole in the wall deli-looking store with a big display counter and 2 tables. But the second you get to talk to Garby you’ll see that place is a gem. They serve sandwiches specializing in cheese! Don’t be afraid to order wrong because Garby will explain the whole menu to you, if you like sweet, salty ,or spicy he will come up with a sandwich that will blow you away. He was the warmest most genuine person I have met so far in Europe… definitely what we all needed from being away from home for so long. You will miss out if you don’t give this place a try, it is truly spectacular.

Delirium café

  • Guinness world record for having the best and most variety (over 3000) of beers. Such a tourist attraction but worth it! My friends and I shared 3 different types of beer that were all very different and amazing! If you don’t like beer you have never tried a strawberry flavored one before.

Flores Bar

  • Absinth bar…. I repeat,  Absinth BAR! Deadly…. Worth a try… but deadly (right across the street from Delirium.)

Dulle Griet (Ghent)

  • This bar is so much fun. When you go you have to get a Kwak, which is a giant glass that is held in a wooden stand. They make you pay the price (your shoe) so that you can’t steal the cup! The boot goes in a bucket that’s attached to the ceiling and a bell is rung once you get your boot back! So much fun!!!img_7385

The Best of Budapest

One of the locals said it best “everyone comes to Budapest for 3 things, booze, art and… well you can guess the last one” and he was right! I traveled to Budapest for 5 days and 4 nights which was great… but a little too long (if you have ever had Palinka you know why.) Budapest is fully of history, culture and freezing cold temperatures, but being from Oswego that didn’t stop us! In this post I want to share some travel tips and cool spots I found along the way!

To know before you go!

  • Budapest is split into two sides divided by the Danube River. Buda and Pest (pronounced peshed)
  • If you stay at the Wombat DON’T go down the street with all the Christmas lights right across from the hostel. Biggest tourist trap! The restaurants are pricy and the food is mediocre!
  • There currency is the forint so when you switch from euro to forint you get more for your euro but trust me that money goes quickly.
  • Ask the locals! For the first day my friends and I had no idea where to go or what to see, all we had was a map and our curiosity.
  • Try and do a hop on hop off bus tour. It may be cheesy but it’s the best way to see the city in the least amount of time. Plus with Budapest’s harsh winter weather that bus comes in handy just to warm up a bit.
  • Don’t take the cabs! Will charge you a lot when they know you’re not Hungarian!
  • Metro is your best friend! Its super easy and cheap and sometimes they don’t even check to see if you have bought a ticket.
  • Beware if the Palinka!

Hostel: The Wombat

  • We stayed at the wombat all 4 nights and it was great! The front desk was super nice and helpful (especially the woman from England with the red hair!) They helped us to book tickets to the baths and gave us great advice on where to eat for cheap. Best thing about the Wombat… the BAR! So much fun and great way to meet fellow travelers (plus they give you 2 free drinks at check-in). My two friends and I shared one room with a full bed and private bathroom, there was plenty of space plus we saved some money.

The Sites:

The Grand Synagogue

  • Incredibly moving if you’re Jewish or not. We did a tour of the synagogue and was one of the highlights of the trip. The tour guide was fun and funny while sharing his extensive knowledge of the Hungarian Jews and their struggle throughout the world wars.

Central Market

  • This market is filled with not only Hungarian culture but also traditional Hungarian food! My friends and I went to different stands and sampled everything we could get our hands on; chocolate, olives, dried sausage, fruit, candy, cheese! On the top floor there are different booths selling traditional Hungarian tapestries and items for tourists (pricy.) It was great for lunch plus right outside the market is a bridge leading over the river and it is beautiful at sunset.

St Stephan’s Basilica

  • Very cool cathedral! It was huge and the inside was gorgeous with old painted ceilings, old bells and children singing as you entered. I wish I did a tour here because I would have liked to learn more about it, but a site to see for sure!

Liberty Square

  • We stumbled upon this square as we were looking for the parliament building! Very nice surprise! The first thing we saw was a bronze sculpture of Ronald Regan that faced the US embassy! I was curious why it was there so I goggled it and apparently Ronald Regan helped liberate the Hungarians from the Russian rule during the First World War. We took some cool pics with old Ronny.

Parliament Building

  • Amazing! When you’re on the Pest side you can’t see how big the building really is but here you can do a tour of the building. But I suggest walking the chain bridge from the Buda to Pest at night when parliament is lit up. It is breathtaking. The parliament building costed the Hungarians so much that they could have built another city for the same price! I didn’t do a tour but I’m sure that would have been so cool!

Shoes on Danube

  • These are located right on the water next to the parliament building. There are 80 pairs on iron shoes on the wall next to the Danube that represent the Hungarians that were shot into the river during World War II. The only remains of these people were there shoes of all different sizes, from high heels, slippers, work boots and children’s slippers. A site I will never forget.

Cave Tour

  • We booked a cave tour through bus 2 alps for 30 euros. Well we had the hardest time trying to find the cave (Buda side) plus when we got there the tours were half the price we paid going through bus 2 alps. But the cave was very cool defiantly a once and a lifetime experience. **WARNING** Do not do if you are claustrophobic! At one point we were army crawling though an opening that you could not even hold your head up right through! **WARNING** do not do this if you’re hangover…. I did and it was terrible (no bathrooms in the caves.)

Buda Castle funicular

  • The funicular was like a little cart on rails that took you up to Buda castle, which gives you a view of the river and city. You have to pay to ride in it, I suggest only riding one way because the view was cool but not as great as we thought. But this is one of the oldest funiculars in Europe.

Mathis’s church + Fisherman’s bastion

  • Both sites were cool and very close to each other, which was nice. But I wish I did a tour because I didn’t really know what I was looking at! Nice buildings and views but deff try to get on a tour!

Hospital in the rock Museum

  • This museum was in a cave that originally was a hospital and safe zone for the Hungarians during the cold war and WWII. The museum was cool; it had replicas of the different rooms and the equipment they used at the time.

Szechenyi thermal baths

  • A Budapest MUST! We went at night that was cool because you saw the steam coming off of the giant hot baths! Think giant Jacuzzi with 100 of your closest friends. Make sure to bring a towel (or they charge you) and some sort of slip on shoe (walking from bath to bath on frozen concrete with no shoes is no fun.) We stayed for 4 hours and it was so relaxing!

To Eat/ Drink

Breakfast

  • Mosaic – right next to Wombat hostile, very good for a big cheap breakfast!
  • Zoo Café- SO COOL!!! It’s a café that has waiters bringing different animals to your table! I’m talking chameleons, snakes, rabbets, toucans, parrots, Guiney pigs, turtles, cats, bearded dragons and much more! I do not suggest eating here, but the ambiance was so fun.
  • Chimney cake!! You can find one of these on any corner in Budapest! It’s like a lemony churro that is shaped like a cone (or chimney) and covered in sugar and cinnamon! I had like one a day they were great!

Lunch/ Dinner

  • Langos Papa – cheap and you get a lot of food! We got Hungarian goulash, pate and a langos (think of a funnel cake with sour cream, garlic and cheese…. Interesting but worth a try!)
  • Kiado – This pub is definitely not a tourist trap! Very original Hungarian bar. Which was a little intimidating walking into. But the food was great! I got the duck and it was delish!
  • Gerbaud Café – Pricy! But absolutely amazing food! I got the sauerkraut stew and it was the best thing I had in Budapest!

Nightlife

  • We went on a bar crawl with the hostel for 15 euros with entrance to 3 bars and a club. This was fun at first, but the group split up from each other towards the end. Some highlights of this was the bar Retox! This bar made me feel as if I was in Oswego, they had drinking games (beer pong, flip cup) plus the best part the owner was from Scranton PA! He told us to call him Shmike (his Hungarian name) and he gave us some great recommendations on where to go to get the whole Hungarian experience. If you are lost and don’t know what to do, go to Retox and ask to talk to him! He literally saved us from all the tourist traps and made us feel right at home.
  • Instant club- it was very fun deff recommend!
  • **WARNING** There is a very popular Hungarian liquor called Palinka, the alcohol content goes from 40-87%!!! Deadly! Naturally I bought a bottle to bring back to the US, but be careful a couple of shots of this you’ll be seeing stars (trust me.)

Budapest was one of the best trips I have ever been on I 100% suggest making your way to the “city of baths.”img_7207

University in Australia vs. College in the States

On my decision to come to SUNY Oswego for an exchange semester, I knew that things would be different, but I assumed that more or less Australian and American university life and culture would be very similar. I was wrong. I have outlined the main differences below. Enjoy.

College is love

College is love

1. College is love, college is life. Literally. Since beginning college my days typically consist of eating all my meals with friends, going to class, going to the gym with friends, doing homework with friends, watching Netflix with friends, and sleeping. This is vastly different to my university days at QUT as everyday would always be completely different. In Brisbane some days I would go to work, others I would have class, and others I would do absolutely nothing but hang out with friends. I like the structured format of college in the states because I am forced to be more dedicated to my studies and I actually feel like I have time for things (such as working out) because everything is on campus.

2. Homework and pass grades. At QUT in my course, to pass a subject you simply need to get 50% or higher, which is simple and makes sense to me… Here it varies on the subject. For instance one of my subjects is 60% and another is 70%. However it is easier to get marks here (from my recent experience anyway) as professors tend to give out marks for attendance and small homework tasks. Which brings me to my next point; homework. Per subject at QUT I would have two exams during a semester and 1-3 large assignments, and class work/homework is completely optional. Whereas at SUNY Oswego I actually have to keep up to date on course work by submitting graded homework tasks weekly. I like the feelings of always being on top of my course work here, and it gives me reassurance that I will pass and do well, but I do miss weeks of procrastination and doing things last minute as I work well under pressure.

3. Structure of classes. At QUT all of my weekly classes are made up of two parts: one being a lecture which takes place in a hall and is run by a professor, and the other is a practical session in a classroom environment which may be run by a professor or a researcher. At SUNY Oswego all my subjects are in a classroom environment. I feel as though I am back in high school at times. I prefer my university’s style of teaching because a lecture might be one day, and the practical session the next, so it gives me time to digest the information. However I feel as though I have the potential to develop closer, more meaningful relationships with professors here as the contact is more personal and regular.

Snow storm

Snow storm

4. Classes are cancelled if there is a snow storm. This is vastly different to what I am used to. It doesn’t snow in Brisbane, but when we do have extreme weather, scheduled activities are rarely postponed (the exception being sporting events). I was surprised that classes were cancelled when there was a blizzard because most students live on campus and have the warm clothes needed to withstand these conditions anyway.

5. Not everything will kill you in the states. I was bitten by a spider two nights ago and I did not die; I initially thought it was a mosquito bite as it was itchy, small and hard, but turned out it was a spider bite. If this had happened in Australia I probably would have gone straight to the ER. I am enjoying the fact that I do not need to fear for my life when I encounter bugs and reptiles here.

6. American’s have awesome accents. I am always interested in what my peers and professors have to say because I cannot get enough of the accent.

7. American’s have a different definition of thong. I was telling some new friends about my regular encounters with spiders and how I kill them with my thongs (flip flops), and they thought this was hilarious because they were imagining me killing them with a g-string. Lol.

College food

College food

8. Dining halls. At QUT we do not have any dining halls, rather we have food courts, cafes and bars, where items must be purchased in $AUD. When I arrived at Oswego the whole dining hall and dining dollars thing was so foreign, amazing & like something from an American movie. I love that there are so many dining halls on campus and their hours are long and flexible. I wish we had this culture at QUT.

 

Peace Out

 

Ski Trip to Bristol Mountain Ski Resort

Yesterday I went twilight skiing. It was awesome.

Beautiful views

Beautiful views

As a student from Australia, the idea of going skiing as a college related activity, is unheard-of. There are always posters around SUNY advertising upcoming events and I saw this ski trip to Mt. Bristol listed. I was in. I signed up for the trip, paid the small fee and was all ready to go with eight of my closest friends.

The mountain is only 1 hour 30 minutes from campus and besides not having cell reception for most of the way, the bus trip proved to be enjoyable. When we arrived I was so ready. I had been ready since I saw the trip listed and finally I was here.

I had only ever been skiing at Coronet Peak & Perisher prior to this trip so when I arrived and looked at my surroundings I was amazed. The flora and fauna was completely different to anything I had seen or skied in before, it was beautiful.

feeling very 80s with my beanie

feeling very 80s with my beanie

We skied between 4pm – 10pm which forced me to make productive use of the time (i.e. spend as much time on the slopes as possible). Some of my friends elected to take lessons before skiing, so whilst they were doing this I was exploring the slopes with two of my friends who, like me, did not need a lesson. We warmed up by skiing around 6 or 7 green runs until I decided I was comfortable enough to take on a blue. I was wrong. The sign indicated that there was a blue trail ahead, however it lied (or maybe I read it incorrectly) and there were only two track options – both black diamond runs. Fortunately it was still early in the afternoon (so I was not tired and my technique was fine) and the snow was powdery. I only fell over twice, ejected from my skis once, and most importantly did not get injured. I am glad that I challenged myself and went down this first diamond run as it gave me confidence, and desire to explore the mountain.

My friends and I all met up for dinner in the Rocket Lodge and it was perfect. It was this big wooden hut with long tables, a canteen service, and great vibes. We ate hamburgers, pizza and waffle fries – can I seriously be doing anything more American? I love it.

I think by the end of the night the only runs I had not attempted were the double diamonds, and skiing through the deeper woods. By the time 10pm came we were all fatigued and ready to go back to campus. We stopped at a McDonald’s on the way back and all went to sleep content.

wow pretty
Thankyou SUNY, you are awesome.

My Journey In Japan, Part One

(NOTE: This is one of those blog entries that I probably should’ve started working on much, much sooner. Perhaps one could consider this a testament to the amount of adventures I’ve been having as of late?)

As I write this, I’m not currently in Oswego. Or in New York State. Or even on the North American continent.

Nope, right now I’m in the middle of a semester abroad at Kansai Gaidai University in Hirakata-shi, Osaka, Japan. I’m only halfway through the semester, and I already have found it to be the most worthwhile experience of my entire life. This is the realization of a dream I’ve had since I was in middle school (and probably even before that), and is the culmination of over a year and a half of diligence, hard work, and perseverance.

Eleven years in the making, and I'm finally here...

Eleven years in the making, and I’m finally here…

 

 

I’ve got so many stories to tell about my adventures thus far in Japan that I’ll need more than one post to talk about them. But first, let’s talk about two things that have been fundamental in making this even possible in the first place: choice and responsibility.

This is my senior year. I plan to graduate in May, which means I have a little over a semester and a half before I’m expected to go out into the “real world” so I can “make something out of myself.”

As a Creative Writing major, I get a lot of comments from people asking me what I plan on doing after undergrad with that kind of degree. These comments often have a somewhat derogatory tone to them, as if I’ve somehow wasted all my money on something completely worthless.

Now, this is the part where you’d probably expect me to say something along the lines of, “The Creative Writing major is actually super-versatile, thank you very much,” and then drone on and on about how I could be a technical writer or a PR manager, both of which are rather profitable jobs.

Fortunately, that’s not what I’m gonna do. Instead, I’ll tell you the absolute truth.

The truth is, I don’t know what I plan to do outside in “the real world.” I sure as hell don’t want to spend my life rotting away inside a cubicle at a job I hate just because somebody else told me to. That’s not me; it’s not my kind of environment. Sure, it’s secure, but it’s also boring as hell. As Joseph Campbell (whom I’ll probably get to talking about in a later post) once said, “There is no security in answering the Call to Adventure. Nothing is exciting if you already know what the outcome is going to be.”

Now, where does Japan come into all of this?

Well, it’s simple: I’ve wanted to go to Japan since I was a little kid. Over the years I’ve heard a variety of people say a variety of things about the variety of reasons why it would be impossible and/or stupid to go to Japan.

“It’s too expensive.” (Nah, it wasn’t really.)

“Someone like you wouldn’t survive a week over there.” (Try eight. And counting.)

“You’re too stupid to get into a university over there.” (Honors Program with a 3.3 GPA.)

“What’s the point? You’ll just end up owing boatloads of money over nothing.” (See below.)

“Stop being irresponsible, Tom. Just graduate and get a job like everyone else. Worry about Japan later.” (Again, see below.)

Well, if this post is any indication, in the end I didn’t listen to them, and I’m so glad I chose not to. The truth is, this semester abroad wasn’t just the best decision I’ve ever made, but the most NECESSARY, as well. I’d been exposed to too much cynicism to that point, and I needed to break free.

[*cue minor tangent*]

You see, I hate cynicism. It’s probably one of the worst qualities to find in a person, as it more or less translates as a sign of laziness and apathy (which are two equally terrible character traits). I especially hate when I hear my fellow classmates back home (many of whom are juniors and seniors) whine and moan about how “the last four years have been worthless” and “I still don’t know what I want to do with my life” and “[Insert name here]’s got a degree in [Insert Liberal Arts major here], so he’s gonna be flipping burgers when he gets out of here.”

Here’s the thing: people who say that kind of stuff seem to have missed the point of college; they act like all they need to do is attend class during the week and party during the weekend and they’ll somehow magically figure out who they are and what they want to do. They neglect opportunities like study abroad or clubs and organizations, saying that they’re just a waste of time. School is work, and to them, work should always be separate from play.

And then when they realize they were wrong, they blame it on their parents and other adults who told them that getting a degree was the only important part of their college education.

They couldn’t be more wrong.

See, the thing that so many of those cynical students seem to forget is that college is about learning to make your own decisions, as opposed to following the will of someone else. Thus, whining about how you gained nothing from college is a sign that you didn’t learn how to think for yourself. That’s a skill you often can’t fully learn how to use in a classroom setting; you can only apply it there. You have to learn about yourself and the world around you by actually getting out and being there.

[*end minor tangent*]

Which is where I turn once again to my experiences in Japan. I’ve known for a while that I probably won’t become a full-time writer; for one thing, it’s been hard to come up with something original, and for another, I have a rather short attention span that makes writing for significant length of time somewhat difficult. (Which is why it’s actually kind of weird that this post is as long as it is…)

[*cue another minor tangent; don’t worry, kids, it’s all relevant in the end*]

But I do know one thing: I love stories. I love telling them, I love reading them, and I love learning about how they work. And I also love games; playing games, talking about games, and learning the science behind games.

And I know that I can take these two bits of knowledge and tie them together. And I know that by tying them together I can see the world from an entirely different perspective. And from that perspective I can find things to do and make that can change the world as we know it. Things that take my creative writing and cognitive science backgrounds and turn them into the impetus behind a force of good.

Knowing that, I feel there’s only one choice I can make, because I have a responsibility to myself (rather than to the people around me) to do something extraordinary with my life.

And the best way I can think of is to pursue cognitive video game studies in graduate school.

[*end minor tangent*]

Now, I know what you’re thinking: Man, does that Tom Kline likes his tangents. But trust me when I say that this all ties together rather nicely.

Because when I first came to Oswego as a freshman, my parents and high school teachers had already told me that I had a responsibility to study what interested me, because in doing so I’d learn to appreciate the gift of choice that came with that opportunity. And so I became a Creative Writing major and Cognitive Science minor, and somehow ended up in Japan.

There, we’re back on track.

Now, having finally come to Japan, I’ve been rewarded for my self-faith and conviction by being granted so many other opportunities while being here. My birthday, September 19th, was the day of the Jugoya full-moon festival in Kyoto, and I got to go to a celebration at Shimogumo Shrine. That night, the full moon was said to be the prettiest full moon of the year (in contrast to a similar festival in May, which is said to be the most powerful full moon of the year).

It was a great night.

 

What’s more, I spent the next four days in Tokyo for the Tokyo Game Show 2013, which was an industry expo similar to E3 (the Electronic Entertainment Expo, held every summer in LA). Unlike E3, however, the last two days of TGS are open to the public.

The ticket for TGS 2013

 

While I was there, I got to play a bunch of crazy games that might not even come out in America.

 

This guy was from a Sega game for the Nintendo 3DS that had something to do with fighting using Japanese yen. I barely understood what was going on. At the end of the demo they gave me a box of tissues that looked like a 10,000 yen bill. Japan, people. Video games.

And my favorite part of the trip was getting to meet a bunch of independent game developers. These are two-and-three-man studios who come together to make games on their own terms, free from any corporate meddling. They often make more avant-garde games with interesting mechanics that in turn can influence the rest of the games industry.

Here’s me with the guys at VisionTrick, who are working on a game called Pavilion for the PS4 and PS Vita. There’s an interview with them that I’ll post soon. They were pretty awesome.

Rickard Westman(left) and Henrik Flink (right) of VisionTrick Media. Talking to these guys was really, really cool.

 

And here’s me with Henry Fernandez and his brother, who are working on FluffEaters, a mobile game for Android and iOS devices. An interview with them should also be going up in the near future:

Me with Henry Fernandez (aka Henry Kun), left, and his brother (whose name sadly escapes me at the moment…), right. These guys were also really cool to talk to.

It’s great to talk to these developers because they operate on a more easily-approachable level; they make games, but they’re not Shigeru Miyamoto or Cliff Blezinski (from Nintendo and Epic Games, respectively). You can go up to them and talk about game design and playing games without feeling like you’re speaking to a suit (or, in the cases of Miyamoto and Blezinski, a legend). In a way, these guys are artists who are making their dreams come true by creating something unique for others to experience and interpret and learn from. They could’ve gone and become businessmen, rotting away at a job they hate, but instead they decided to do something awesome with their lives.

Thus, we’re not really different at all: I love games, they love games. I’m in Japan at the Tokyo Game Show experiencing the insanity that occurs within, and so are they. And most importantly, I’m here because I never gave up on my dream, and neither did they.

That week alone was one of the greatest and most life-changing periods of my entire life. And none of it could’ve happened (or at least, not to the extent that it had) outside of Japan. If I hadn’t made the choice of going to Japan now while I’m still an undergrad, I’d be letting down so many of the people who got to where I am today.

But that, friends, is a story for another time. Until next time, stay tuned for more coverage from the Land of the Rising Sun!

The semester ends when?!

Like most students on campus, I’ve been as busy as ever juggling  jobs and classes, relationships and hobbies, and most of all… me time. This also means that I neglected updating all of you with how my semester was going. So, here it goes. It’s been a long one. It’s interesting to see how far I can push myself and it’s really rewarding when the grades that come back reflect the work that’s been put in. Graduate school is no joke, but at the same time I feel that this is where I’m supposed to be and that I was prepared for the work. Civic Engagement is going well, we were super busy until the election and now we’re planning for next semester, which is just as time consuming. The Women’s Club Hockey team is off to a decent start, not where we usually are at this point but we picked up our play as of late. Coaching teaches me a lot about leadership roles, professionalism, the game of hockey, and myself. Right now we’re 5-3-0 with a few games left this semester to improve that quite a bit. It’s something that I love to do, though it’s really time consuming. On a lighter note, being a graduate student means no finals! it also means that there are only 8 days left in my semester. Definitely thankful for that. Well, hope all of you are doing well. I’ll try to get on this more often to keep it updated.