Shibuya

Everything is still so new here and because no one really knows each other that well yet it's a little awkward in the mornings. I don't feel particularly jet lagged but for some reason I've been waking up around 7am every day. I try to go back to sleep or check emails until it's 9 or so then I walk downstairs and I'm still the only one up.  Eventually around 10 most people were up and trying to figure out what to do with our day, since we were left to fend for ourselves. A couple of us decided to wander around in nearby Shibuya, while others ventured off to Harujuku and Ginza. I was super touristy and had my camera handing around my neck pretty much the entire day. I took a ridiculous amount of pictures because there was so much to see! I'm not really used to being in big cities so it just felt like I was walking around in New York or Boston, until I looked around and all I see are Japanese people. Randomly you pass a fellow gaijin and either you kind of a share a smile, or they ignore you completely. I took quite a bit of pictures but I'll try not to overload your senses.

This is a photo of Emelie (a girl in the program from the UK) on the train, everyone here is glued to their cell phones. A big thing here is cellphone novels, they're short and designed so you can read a bit when you're sitting on the train.

The statue of Hachiko! Very famous, look it up if you don't know the story. Made me miss my own dog, I've seen many shiba inu's but no akita's so far. 

This is Shibuya Crossing, they stop traffic in all directions to allow for pedestrians to walk. We eventually made our way into a store called Shibuya 109. It's a department store for women's clothing, and I tried to hit every floor but it's a bit overwhelming. It's 9 stories or so of just way too much to look at

A sweatshirt that says Rook'nRoll..The song playing in this section was Grove St. Party by Waka Flocka Flame. (He's a rapper from Atlanta)  

Do your department stores have chandeliers?

Or delicately carved wooden structures where the cash registers are?

The girls that were shopping were just as interesting to look at! Everyone is dressed up. The fashion is amazingly different from back home. I think the whole knee socks and heels thing really only works in Japan though.. imagine seeing people dressed like this at Walmart.. yikes.

We did have a boy with us though so we didn't spend the entire time in Shibuya 109. Eventually we made it out of that department store and back to the streets.. 

Karaoke Bar, have yet to go but definitely plan on going soon. As in tomorrow or next weekend. Can't wait for that crazy experience.

'a proper kebab place'. Myself included, in today's group of adventurers there were two Americans and two British students (I know, I know, we should have been practicing our Japanese) . We had a big debate about the correct pronunciation of the word 'kebab'. Further up the street from the kebab place, we found a plant store, expensive but so cute!

Eventually the sun went down and the bright lights of Shibuya came on.

Today was a lot of fun, but wow there was a lot of walking. We walked from our dorm to the train station, figured out how to buy tickets and switch lines, then we just walked up and down and all around Shibuya until we kind of sort of got extremely turned around and had to ask for directions back to Shibuya Station. I was prepared for a lot of walking but I am beat! On our way back from Shibuya we were switching train lines when we noticed a matsuri, festival, crossing the tracks. We tried to follow it to see what was going on but we didn't have time since our train was arriving, we were a little upset but walking back to our dorm from the train station, we happened onto another (or possibly the same matsuri people), we were passing through somewhat unnoticed when my friend Dan decided to take a picture. The flash captured everyone's attention and all of a sudden we were taking part in the matsuri by helping a bunch of really, really sweaty Japanese men and women carry a little shrine up the road. I don't have any pictures of that but Dan does so I'll write more in detail about that when I get the pictures to go along with the story.