First post, four weeks in :)

It's been four weeks since I landed at the Kansai International Airport on September 15th.

So much has happened I don't know where to start.

First off, school/dorm. I'm staying at one of the international dorms at Ritsumeikan, although it's located about a half hour walk from the university. It is a little strange that the dorms aren't on campus, but now that I am here I can see why. The Ritsumeikan Kinugasa campus, where I study (the other campus is the Biwako-Kusatsu campus, about an hour away in Shiga, I think) is very small compared to UBC or UVic. All of the buildings are very close together, and there is not much open, green space (and definitely no ocean :( ). Most of the students at the dorm seem to bike to school, but I got a bus pass instead because I know that I won't want to bike when it's raining and terrible outside.

My dorm room is pretty much to be expected; it's not much different from the rooms in Marine Drive, except that the furniture doesn't move which is unfortunate. I do, however, have my own bathroom, sink, fridge and balcony, which more than make up for it :D

My dorm room, right when I arrived.

There was a week of orientation from September 21-24th, which was as to be expected as well: long, boring and not over soon enough. Not sure what else to say about that...

The weather here has been so strange. It has been so hot- anywhere from 25-30 degree when I arrive, and even now it's around 26 or 27 degrees. It's hard to handle because I am definitely not used to heat, especially humid heat... It has rained a few times (including the day I landed- it felt like I hadn't left Raincouver yet) but it doesn't get any cooler when it does. Supposedly it will start feeling like fall soon, maybe in the next week. Which is good because it's so strange to be so hot after Thanksgiving (or even for it to be hot during schoool!).

On the weekends I usually spend time with the other exchange students (mostly the ones who live in the same dorm as me) exploring the city and so on. A bunch of us went to Osaka last weekend, which was a lot of fun but all we did was shop, no sightseeing lol. Of course I enjoyed it!

I have been to Kyoto before this time, but it was only for a few days and we were rushed around to see all the sights we could in that time. Now, it feels like I have all the time in the world, so I haven't been to any temples or other sights yet. We are waiting for the leaves to turn for a lot of the major ones, because they are so beautiful that time of year. But even though it's half way through October it isn't fall yet, here! There are three major temples/shrines within a 30-40 minute walk of the dorm, which is amazing :D

At an izakaya (Japanese style pub) a couple of weeks ago.

There were so many of us SKP students that they took down the walls to make a bigger room, which we also filled up :D