It's amazing how much English I have lost. I haven't written a critical thinking essay since I left Berkeley. Writing one recently wasn't easy. Trying to recall words and spelling was like... whoooohhhhh. You know.. that word...that you want to use...but you can't recall. It's so frustrating. >< Hopefully with more practice, I'll be able to remember soon. :")

Aside from that, I was able to do a homestay with a family in Takahagi, Ibaraki-ken, Japan. Seeing how they lived, even though it was only one night, was quite interesting. Maybe more on this later.

Posted by K. Lee at 6:10 AM | Permalink

As well as you try to prepare, you can never be prepared enough. I like to think that I'm a pretty well prepared person. Before I went abroad, I tried ensure my own graduation safety. I made sure that I finished my freshman to junior courses all in my first two years. That way, when I went abroad, I wouldn't have to worry about getting credits for my major. I thought that that kind of preparation would be a worst case scenario. Thank goodness I did though, because that was just what happened. I was unable to take a single course towards my major. One of the issues upon returning from abroad is unit conversion. As you know, eight of the UCs are on a quarter system. Thus, the Educational Abroad System uses a quarter unit system. These quarter units are converted to semester units for Berkeley (and I suppose Merced). If the school abroad you are at is a quarter system, then you mostly don't have any complaints. The issue comes in when the school abroad is a semester system. Instead of direct semester to semester transfer, it is from semester to quarter to semester units transfer. For example. I'm taking a 2 unit Organic Chemistry I class here. This becomes 2.5 quarter UC units. This will finally become a 1.6 semester Berkeley units. That missing 0.4 units is a painful thing and can often mean the difference between a course being accepted as equivalent and not.

Another issue is the course schedule. Before coming, I had planned on taking a dozen or so courses in international studies, humanities, and Japanese. Yet, all Japanese courses are 2nd and 3rd period every day of the week. Most of the classes I was interested in fell into 2nd and 3rd period. Unlike Berkeley where one may sign up for time conflict classes, you may not do so at ICU, nor is there any way to override the system.

Thus, while I enjoy studying abroad, don't expect to get any major or requirements done while abroad. The only thing you may be able to get fulfilled are your breadths, and you may not even be able to do that unless you have advanced level Japanese. If you have beginner to low intermediate level language skills, the course and scheduling restrictions will keep you from doing so.

But note, I would still study abroad again if I had to do it all over. The experiences you gain here are worth more than the difficulty in getting credits.

Posted by K. Lee at 10:45 PM | Permalink

We all know that we get ripped off on our textbooks. Looking at that lovely organic chemistry textbook of Vollhardt's that costs $163.95 on Amazon is painful. Salt is just poured on the wound when I realize that I can get the same book new on Japan Amazon for $100. What's with this difference? (Not that we use Vollhardt's book here at International Christian University. We use Solomons where there is a $100 price gap.)
It's the exact same book being published in the exact same location. It's not even an "international edition" that is marked "not for sale in North America."
Science and education subject books are cheaper in Japan.
On the other hand, literature, law, and history books seem to be more expensive in Japan.

What's with this disparity? Hum....

Posted by K. Lee at 6:02 AM | Permalink

After church at Berkland Baptist Church, Tokyo, I went to the park behind Korakuen with some people. For only a 300 yen ($3) entrance fee, we got to tour the entire park. It's plum blossom season and it was beautiful. After, we left and went towards the Korakuen Department store. Parked outside was a bike with a kid in the backseat. No parent to be seen. We stood there for 25 min before we decided to get help. Two people went in to ask the station master what to do. He said it wasn't his jurisdiction and to get the police to handle it. (Closest police station is a 7 min walk down the street). Meanwhile, the kid's dad finally came back. He unlocked his bike, patted his kid's head, and rode off. It was like.. hum...
Tokyo's safe, but not that safe. There are often kidnapping reports (according to the Japanese people-church-friends).

Posted by K. Lee at 11:59 PM | Permalink

It's been one and a half weeks into my lovely vacation. Japanese universities have March off....and some even have February off too. I only have March off [International Christian University]. During this month, I've moved in with my cousin who is located in central Tokyo. The apartment is near Tokyo University [a.k.a. Todai].
Yesterday was quite productive. I finished my HTML final project for the UC Berkeley Extension class Creating Websites with HTML. http://www.unex.berkeley.edu/ Since I could do everything online, I had started in October. One has 6 months to finish an online class. Haha.

Continue reading "A month of Vacation" »

Posted by K. Lee at 5:39 PM | Permalink

Studying abroad means that one ought to take all the opportunities possible to improve one's language skills. One way that I do this is my watching dramas. I prefer to watch them once without subtitles, then once again with subtitles to catch the meanings I didn't get the first time. If the episode was fascinating, I might watch it once more without subtitles. For proper language skills, I would recommend that one not watch anime (Japanese cartoons). Many Japanese people mention that those to avidly watch anime talk oddly. They have a comic accent.

On an awesome note, as I was watching a drama, this guy with this shirt pops up.

Go UC System!

Posted by K. Lee at 12:17 AM | Permalink

The Washington State University's sports coach Willy and five athletes (golf, baseball, and athletic related majors) visited International Christian University, Japan, where I am studying abroad. As a member of the baseball team (manager = girls pick up balls, bring tea to the players, etc. [not quite as cool as what a manager means in the USA]) I went for the welcoming and closing parties.

I'm quite amazed at Japanese hospitality. They took care of U of Washington's people quite well.

On the other hand, I found out that Berkeley has a baseball team. Did you know that? I only found out when the U of Wash captain of the baseball team, Simi, remarked on his experiences at Cal. Heh. Also, when they joked about Cal and the Pac-10, all I could really do was smile and nod. You see, all I know about Cal athletes is football, we hate StanfUrd, and we're in the Pac-10. That's not very much information.

By the way, W Dub =/= Washington State U=WSU
And, now I have a WSU hat.

Yay! Come back and visit again WSU!

Posted by K. Lee at 5:48 AM | Permalink

A girl in my dorm is taking an English class on Bioethics presented me with the following case.
A scientist/doctor in Japan has transplanted 42 cases of kidneys into patients on dialysis. The issue with these kidneys was that they were previously diseased but had the diseased portion cut out before transplantation. In none of these cases did complications arise. Due to the situation in Japan, the scientist was unable to present his findings/paper in Japan. Yet, he will be bringing the paper to present in the USA this month (or perhaps he has already presented it this month).

She asked me about my thoughts:
Q: Is this more acceptable in the USA? The USA is probably more open about presenting abnormal, groundbreaking, cases. However, this does not mean that the situation would be more acceptable in the USA.
Q: Would you give your diseased kidney to someone? No. I don't want to deal with liability issues our legal system makes it easy to sue. Even with liability waivers, it is still possible to sue.

Continue reading "Bioethical Issues on Kidney Transplants" »

Posted by K. Lee at 7:24 AM | Permalink

I've never seen it snow before! It's 1 AM and my UC Irvine buddy texted me. I went outside to see for myself. Holding my hand out, tiny white droplets fell. Snowflakes!! They only lasted a second.. but.. SNOWFLAKES!!! As you can see, I am excited. :)

Posted by K. Lee at 8:00 AM | Permalink

Hi Guys!

My name is Amy Lin. 4th year MEB major currently studying abroad in Singapore! I was one of the CNR peer advisors and I thought it's be nice if I can share my experiences abroad with you guys! I'll be updating some pictures and my daily happenings on this blog. So stay tuned!

Today was the third day of school in National University of Singapore, NUS, where I study Life Sciences. I can't believe I've lived in Singapore for 10 days already. I spent the first part of my winter break in Taiwan and then I went to Singapore straight. Upon arrival in Singapore, the EAP program provided us a week of touring from Monday to Sunday last week. Everyday we woke up at around 8 and got home around 10 at night and we still have not yet finished touring and exploring Singapore! No, it is actually not that small, surprisingly.

There are 30 UC students studying abroad in NUS for Spring 2008, mostly are from UC Berkeley. 9 of us did not get assigned to the on campus housing and thus we live in the apartment- Boon Lay Block 190- arranged by the school. I live with Tiffany Berkeley, Cindy from UCLA, and Katherine from Hong Kong. We've met international students from many countries around the world, Canada, India, Malaysia, Poland, France, Brazil, Germany, England, Japan, Australia, China, Taiwan, Japan... No country, however, tops the 30 people we have from the UCs, California =)

Posted by Amy Lin at 2:16 AM | Permalink

Today I visited with a large portion of the Botany faculty at Miami University of Ohio. This is one of the schools to which I have applied for graduate school. You can visit their Botany website here: http://www.cas.muohio.edu/botany/

Tom toured the little town and took photos while I met with faculty.

My schedule for today:
8:45am - Hotel pick-up by Dr. Prem Kumar (Post-doc in Dr. Kiss' lab)
9:00am - Dr. Linda E. Watson (Botany department chair)
9:30am - Dr. John Kiss (NASA-funded space Botany)
10:30am - Dr. R. James Hickey (fern systematist)
11:00am - Dr. Mike Vincent (herbarium curator)
11:30am - Dr. Quinn Li (genetics)
noon - Lunch with Prem Kumar (Post-doc for Dr. Kiss' lab) and Neela Kumar (PhD student Dr. Kiss' lab, vegetarian)
1:30pm - Dr. Richard Edelmann (electron and light microscopy specialist)
2:00pm - Dr. Nik Money - (Mycologist)
2:30pm - Dr. Beth Schussler (Biological sciences education researcher)
3:00pm - Dr. David Gorchov (Ecology)
3:30-5:15pm - Meet with Tom and discuss day.
5:30pm - Driving tour of campus with Dr. Kiss (Tom, too)
6:00pm - Dinner with Dr. Kiss (Tom, too)

The weather was cold, but not at all unbearable. Dreary in the morning, clear blue skies in the afternoon. People asked me often my impression of the weather. It was pretty. I liked watching the little flurries of snow caught up by the breeze.

Impressions of the program:
Well-established Botany program. Knowledgeable staff. Focus on teaching. Kind people.
Dr. Kiss is my favorite faculty member. His research is fascinating. The folks in his lab are kind and fun.

Drawbacks of the program:
May not be easy to petition into PhD program. Many encourage you to complete your master's, then move on to PhD.
Described by one graduate student as having "low expectations" (challenged by other students I met, who found it quite difficult to juggle teaching, their own coursework, and research)

Pluses:
Excellent funding
Diverse coursework offerings
Gentle people
Fun, fairly isolated college town, but driving distance from Cincinnati and Dayton.

I like it.

Posted by Christina at 5:46 PM | Permalink

It's still vacation for Berkeley, but I'm in the middle of my second trimester here at International Christian University, Japan. Thus far, I've learned about international representations.

When I think about America, I think about immigration. It's a soup bowl of people. It may be a melting pot or a salad, but either way we're a unique culture of combinations. There is truly no uniting force in the USA except that we are ... here by accident or by purpose (whether our own or some other force). Going overseas, we represent this conglomeration of cultures. Yet, because it is a glop of cultures, when we represent, we are unable to represent the entirety. We do not have a common history, ancestors, or thoughts to bind us together. The question of what is an American is a difficult question.

Continue reading "Representing" »

Posted by K. Lee at 12:59 AM | Permalink

According to this article and according to a little slip I received from the emigration officer when I was leaving Japan for a visit to the USA last week, beginning Nov 20th, I will be fingerprinted (and my picture will be entered into a database) every time I enter the country. Frankly, I feel quite...uncomfortable by this prospect. My fingerprints are my own, unique. I don't want them in some database especially since I haven't done anything. Sure, if I forget to turn on my bike light when I'm biking in Japan, take my fingerprint oh police-dude! (True thing. They take your fingerprint because foreigners normally don't have the I.D. stamp with them (hanko)). However, before I've even committed something is a bit... ... ... hum.

In the article, it talks about foreigner visitors to the USA needing to be IDed and photoed. Can anyone verify that? None of my relatives recall going though that, but it has been a long time since any of them visited. Maybe it depends on which country you come from and the Visa requirements?

Posted by K. Lee at 1:39 AM | Permalink

It's been quite fun here in Japan. Last weekend, the "Canada House" (one of the men's dorms) had a "Canada House Ball." I can't believe the effort the guys went into for the dorm. The theme was Indiana Jones...but I didn't see anything vaguely Indiana Jones-ish except for the entrance in.

Here I am with my classmates. All international students.

Over the weekend, I went to celebrate with my Baseball Club because we'd gotten 2nd in our league. Here's part of the team. The team is quite close. Even ex-members continue to come to practice and hang with the rest of us. =)

Then here's the yummy food we had.

Posted by K. Lee at 5:22 AM | Permalink

One disadvantage of studying abroad is that I have no resistance to their diseases. I've never been sick this often in my life. My entire Japanese class (minus the teacher) has been sick at least once in the past two months. We have a test tomorrow and we were trying to think of ways to get our professor sick...but since our Japanese class is taught by 6 different professors...we decided that it would be too difficult to get all 6 sick by tomorrow. ;) mwahahah.

Posted by K. Lee at 5:35 AM | Permalink

The Study Abroad Office asked me to answer some questions for Cal guy interested...so here are my answers just in case you were interested.

1. How intense was the school's Japanese language program?
2. How effective was it? (were you able to speak at the native level by
the time you returned home? Could you read books, watch tv, etc. How
proficient did you become in Japanese?
3. What level of Japanese did you take at UC Berkeley before studying
abroad.

I'm currently a Junior (Molecular Toxicology
Major) studying at ICU for the year. The Japanese Language Program (JLP)
can be quite intensive. There's a required summer program that is about
3.5 hrs a day 5 days a week. It was fast but doable. It's the "normal" JLP
classes squeezed into 7 weeks. During the normal year, there's a "normal"
JLP class (12 hours/week) and an "intensive" JLP class. Intensive is..
really intensive at 4 sessions of 70 min classes a day 5 days a week (23
hours). It's basically 2 levels of "normal" JLP classes squeezed into one
semester. It's recommended that you do not take any additional classes
aside from that. I think that one class on top of that is doable. ;) I'm
taking Intensive right now.
2&3. I've been in Japan for 3.5 months now. I entered with basically no
knowledge of Japanese. I had not taken Japanese at Berkeley. The last time
I touched Japanese was in sophomore year of high school where I took one
years worth of Japanese at the community college. Living in the school

Continue reading "ICU Japan Questions" »

Posted by K. Lee at 11:07 AM | Permalink

Today, I visited the laboratory class of Prof. Kobayashi of ICU. It was pretty awesome. They were doing a laboratory on progesterone and its effect on fish sexual behavior. I got to inject progesterone into fish. We watched the bipotential brain of the fish and the spawning behavior.

Then, we studied the the fish immunological system each student implanted fish scales from different types of fish and from clones of fish. It's not as easy as it looks. =)

Overall, I learned quite of bit from the class. The different teaching style, laboratory layout, and student to teacher interaction was also different. The single professor teaches with two helpers, a GSI and a post-doc. There are about 20 people in the class. The small class size and teacher to student ratio really allows for thinking and questions. The lab report that they were assigned for this lab was unusual in that it was an open ended question, "What follow-up question do you have? Design an experiment: Intro, Purpose, Materials, Procedure." Kobayashi-Sensei said that he wanted to train the students to critically think. I'm glad that I went even though I was dirt tired. Professors at ICU are pretty nice and welcoming. =)

Posted by K. Lee at 1:33 AM | Permalink

I joined the baseball team at International Christian University - Japan as a manager. In Japanese clubs, managers are the girls who pick up the balls, clean the equipment, do odd jobs, and perform first aid. What's nice is that one of the players actually lived in my hometown for a few years. =)
Anyways, today the university was getting a head count of all the players so everyone showed up. Since the equipment was out already, they started playing catch, practicing swinging, and helping to scrape the field. The thing is that everyone came from different places. First you have the people who were practicing earlier in their baseball uniforms. Then there were the people who just came from job interviews wearing their suits. The people who came from classes were still wearing their trendy clothes (e.g. tight red pants with a rolled up shirt, or the guy with the sports coat and jeans). Their enthusiasm for baseball really showed. It was awesome!

Not related to the baseball team, I was able to help a dorm mate check the English translation for a Japanese sex-ed book she was hired to translate. It was pretty interesting and the differences between the Japanese culture and American culture showed. I made a few cultural changes and grammatical changes. It was fun discussing it and learning about the differences. Ex. 1. The Japanese say that there are 10 months of pregnancy. (The lunar calender probably accounts for this difference.) Ex. 2. The penis is drawn the other way up in Japanese sex-ed books.

Posted by K. Lee at 3:02 AM | Permalink

One: It takes exactly 3 months to use up a 40 mL bottle of mosquito bite anti-itch medicine. That's plenty of mosquitoes causing me pain in order to reproduce and produce more mosquitoes that will cause me future pain. Irony.

Two: The best time to take a shower in the communal girl's shower at International Christian University - Japan 's 1st Women's dorm is between 12:30 A.M. and 1 A.M. That is when the showers are normally full and you are trapped with people that must talk to you. :) It's good practice. When else are you going to talk to people for a full 15 minutes without using your electronic dictionary?

Posted by K. Lee at 9:28 AM | Permalink

From the past couple of entries, one might assume that I flew an island in the middle of the Pacific to go on a semester-long vacation. This just isn't the case.

We're 22 students, working on our own personal research projects. Diatoms, octopus, fish, crabs, ethnobotany, invasive plants, skinks, micro snails... everyone has their own project. We go out into the field in pairs and help each other collect data and samples, learning statistical methods to apply while doing field research, and learning how to write a proper publishable scientific paper.

It's a rush of a time, with a few hours here and there of fun, mixed in with a lot of searching for applicable references, figuring out our model organisms, understanding dispersal, learning about habitat, and so on.

It's a great experience, but not for the faint of heart.

Several of the students say that the Field Lab section of Bio 1B has prepared them for this research. Other students were boyscouts, girl scouts, divemasters, lifeguards, worked for environmental firms, and so on. A diverse group of students, with fascinating backgrounds - scientists at heart, trying to make sense of their natural surroundings.

Posted by Christina at 3:37 PM | Permalink

Yesterday we went as a class to Tetiaroa. It's a two-hour boat ride from Moorea. Here's a map of the Tetiaroa atolls:

I didn't take my camera with me for the trip, since they warned us in advance that we wouldn't be able to keep our bags dry. So, all of the photos in this particular entry have come from travel and dive websites, which are cited at the end of the journal entry.

Why weren't we able to keep our bags dry? The only way to access the island is by little French Polynesian fishing boats (Yes, the map indicates that there's a private airport, but it was shut down in 2004). These boats can get within a few feet of the fringing reef. But, oh, um... the ocean floor is about 30 feet deep at that point, and we had to jump into the water from the boat, swim 15 feet to the coral ridge crest (2 ft. under water still), and walk 100 meters to the shore, along the tops of reefs and between, sometimes in knee-deep water, sometimes in neck-deep water, the whole time dodging stone fish, diadema sea urchins, sea cucumbers, and fire coral.

It's worth it, though!!!

These low little motus are essentially untouched by man (the only hotel was shut down in 2004), with shockingly crystal-like water, mild currents, waters rich with rays, little reef sharks, rich varieties of coral, a rainbow of fish, and the nesting region of blue-footed boobies, and many other birds.

Incredible just doesn't seem to describe it thoroughly enough.

Photos are from these sites:
http://www.tahitinuitravel.com/fr/ile/tetiaroa/tetiaroa.asp
http://www.dive-tahiti.com/old/site04.html
http://www.tahiti-tourisme.fr/articles.php?id=783
http://www.tetiaroa.com/

Posted by Christina at 8:15 PM | Permalink

Give Blood. Mwahahhaa.
At Berkeley, there are often blood drives going on in MLK. You should see this guy in a blood drop suit during those times.
In Japan at ICU, there was a blood mobile. It was pretty awesome. I gave 400 mL today. whee~~ Hehe. It was my first time giving blood. The people were really skillful. I remember when I needed an IVP at the Tang Center. It took them 3-4 tries (2 people) before they got a hold of my blood. And.. that was painful. But the blood drive people do this all day for a long time. They're really skilled and in one shot, the nurse got my blood. They know how to angle it so that it doesn't ache. Thus, its pretty much painless except for the pinch at the insert-tation. (Is that a word?) It was faster than I expected. yay! blood! It didn't even hurt when they removed it.

GO GIVE BLOOD! And sign up for Bone Marrow Donation at those Bone Marrow Drives.

Posted by K. Lee at 9:30 PM | Permalink

Erin Martin asked 1) what program I'm in Moorea with, and 2) how I found out about this opportunity.

I'll answer the 2nd question first:
You find out about cool study abroad opportunities like this one while attending CNR's Welcome Week new student orientation. Someone in the CNR staff mentioned the program, and I thought, "I need to look into that."

Now for that 1st question:
I'm here in Moorea through a class offered under the course title ESPM 107 and IB 158. It's a semester of research in French Polynesia, 13 units of coursework that can typically count as the bulk of your elective units. Check out the past semester of blogs under "Tina" in the categories, to find a few more entries that give background on the program and a couple different tours of the Gump Research Station.

In the meantime, here are some more photos....

Continue reading "Moorea Program Details" »

Posted by Christina at 2:27 AM | Permalink

Well, we're here! Moorea is a truly beautiful island. And this program is just incredible! 22 undergrads learning how to become scientists. Goodness - the past few days have been a complete rush. No time to sit and rest- much less check e-mails and do research. Oh, but it's a good busy.
Before we left for the island, we had a few weeks of class where we learned what to expect from the island. During those few weeks, we did preliminary research on potential projects, went on a field trip to the Bodega Marine Lab, took a swimming and snorkeling examination, wrote a paper, and took our midterm. That coursework was mingled in with hunting down supplies, getting our visas, and all the other hassle that comes along with making sure we can leave the country safely.

Coming up on Moorea by boat, from Tahiti

Now that we're on the island, we've had a great time.
Monday we went on a tour of the island. Dr.Jerry Lipps and Dr. Carol Hickman gave us a geological tour of Moorea, from the estuaries, to the basalt mountains and the coral reefs. Beautiful!

Today we visited one of the Motus of Moorea. They're tiny coral islands off the coast of Moorea. Since the motu we visited was isolated from tourism, we were able to see how very close the fish would come to the shore -within feet, all happy and healthy. On the way there, we stopped to snorkel with domesticated stingrays, little sharks, and fish along the small barrier reef that surrounds the island. We also caught glimpse of a humpback wale from the boat on the way back to the station. Goodness - what a good day.

Posted by Christina at 11:59 PM | Permalink

This is aka hazing week over in the Japan ICU dormitories. Each newbie in the dorms must wear a costume for the entire week. Mine is keropi. I have a kangeroo friend and a yellow power ranger friend in the other dorms. ^^ I'll try to get a picture up.

For clubs, I think that I will join the Baseball and Golf clubs. I've enjoyed Golf since my Wii days. (yes, that's the Nintendo Wii.) I've wanted to try out the real thing, but its quite expensive in the USA. At ICU, they transform the baseball diamond (not really transform) into a golf range, so it is free to practice. So I'll be around the baseball diamond a lot. I'll elaborate on this post later.

Posted by K. Lee at 10:35 AM | Permalink

The typhoon is coming so we have canceled classes tomorrow. yay? It would be yay...except we're trapped inside...and that also means more work next week. Well, it's interesting at least. heh.

Posted by K. Lee at 12:58 AM | Permalink

I moved into my new dorm on Saturday. I have a huge room shared with a roommate. Nice. Imagine...a room double the size of the average Foothill room. Ahhh. The room was badly designed though. The closets are unmovable and in a sucky location. It's a long room so there is much wasted space since each person is lined up against the side. Wide rooms are preferable for shared rooms. Anyways, they have lots of sockets... YAY! I have 10 sockets just to myself. =) Good design.

Continue reading "A new dorm life" »

Posted by K. Lee at 6:24 AM | Permalink

I had two weeks off, so I went to Gunma and worked for a farm family through WWOOF. It is a work for food/housing thing. Since I do not have a work permit, that was pretty decent. I worked at the food stand at Asama National Park and at the cabbage farm harvesting cabbage.

So I wisely volunteered for farm work. As a result I am in pain... Cabbage cutting was painful until I adopted a sit on trough and cut. Move cabbage. Scooch forward. Repeat. Much easier on the back. cabbages are heavy. Really heavy. From the second day though, we needed to move faster, so I could not do my sit scooch thing. AHRGH PAIN.

Continue reading "Farming. Gunma. Japan." »

Posted by K. Lee at 11:34 PM | Permalink

I stopped by the STA travel office on campus today to pick up my international student ID card. There's place where I didn't need to stand in line.

I also picked up my bus pass for the semester, so I can ride up to the Botanical garden for volunteering on the off chance that I have a day off from class in the few weeks before I leave. That was a line.

Then I picked up the textbook that I needed and returned another textbook that I didn't need. Different lines. Different bookstores.

So many lines at the beginning of the semester. Hopefully I won't need to stand in one for a while. Wait. Tomorrow I'm getting my French Visa in San Francisco. That's probably another line.

Posted by Christina at 1:37 PM | Permalink

Barcelona: Gothic Quarter

Aqueduct in Tarragona

Sardana Dancers - statue in Barcelona, Citizens of Tarragona danced to the music of a live band on the walkway in the middle of La Rambla every Friday night; (the dance is a series of complicated to-the-beat steps which people dance while holding hands in the circle, as the song and dance continues, more and more people join in)

Pictures from Park Guell, a garden city/park built by Antoni Gaudi, it is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The park is rich with beautiful architecture and mosaic figures such as the dragon/lizard and has one of the longest park benches in the world (which is decorated with gorgeous mosaic designs)

Continue reading "pictures part1" »

Posted by Nikki Fernandez at 12:53 AM | Permalink

The end of my Summer Sessions Program in Tarragona, Spain ended of course with more adventures! We arrived at the airport at 4:00am and our flight back to San Francisco was scheduled for 12:10pm. The check-in and gate information on the boards/screens lagged and the information that we finally found was wrong and we ended up missing our flight and were forced to stay an extra day in the airport.

So let me backtrack a little. After our program ended we traveled a little bit.
I wanted to go to the Basque Region to visit the Guggenheim in Bilbao which I think has one of the most interesting and beautiful buildings with titanium panels but there were seemed to be a lot of buzz about ETA and terrorist activity and some of the locals warned against the trip.
Instead, we first went to Geneva and attended the Geneva Festival. The people were friendly, the air was crisp and the weather was nice and warm; it was all so beautiful. We visited the United Nations buildings, where we met an Arabic translator and were able to examine such details as the doorknobs, which were originally from the League of Nations.We were also able to watch performers such as the French rap artist Doc Gynéco. We also met the CEOs of Christian Aid and Muslim Aid. After our trip to Geneva we went to Paris, France watched the Eiffel Tower sparkle in the summer night sky, visited the Louvre, and took a tour of the city.

And finally I am home, adjusting to the time and getting ready for school. Already!

Posted by Nikki Fernandez at 11:55 PM | Permalink

I went on my first trip outside of Tokyo today. It was quite fun, but tiring. Two Japanese students led six overseas students. We went to Hakone, which is known for its hot springs. Our youth hostel had its own hot spring water, so we bathed at night and in the morning there. We also went to this classes onsen (hot spring) place. They had six pools and a sauna on the girls' side. It was weird in the beginning bathing with all the other women...but I got used to it after a while. (Swimming suits not allowed.) I stink like sulfur now though.
Then we went up on a Rope Way (cable car ride) to the top of the Hakone Mountains. There, we got to see the steaming sulfur pools and eat the black sulfur eggs. Quite interesting. The legend is that if you eat one egg, you gain 7 years, and if you eat 2 eggs, you gain 14 years to your lifespan. Eat more than that...and there are no guarantees. I've attached a youtube video link for you to see our mountain hiking trip. Enjoy. It's very simple.

Posted by K. Lee at 3:13 AM | Permalink

So here in Japan, they have fun with watermelons. They blindfold a person, spin them around, and verbally guide them to a watermelon that they have to crack with a stick. The point is not to smash the watermelon, because you waste watermelon that way. It's just to crack it so that you have a cutting point for your knife. Yummy Watermelon. Funny people. mwahahah. Sticky hands.

On the other hand, we learned yesterday in UC Orientation that... you should never do what your Japanese classmates do. In Japan, grades for your Japanese classmates don't matter. There's no GPA, so they don't care if they get a C. On the other hand, that would be painful for us UC students. There was this story of a cocky UCB student who decided that he didn't need to go to classes. The entire grade was based on a final paper. Yet... when the final day came and he was to turn in his paper, his professor would not accept it. Evidently, there was this 4 letter word in Kanji that means assumed attendance. You have to attend classes. He'd missed 10/13 classes. He got an F. Professors here don't mind giving out Ds and Es (what we would say are Fs). It doesn't hurt the student here... but since everything transfers back... one would say that all you can do is cry if you're in that situation.

Posted by K. Lee at 12:02 AM | Permalink

So bike registration was relatively easy. The housing assistants brought us down to the police station and we turned in our paperwork. Since we're "bimbo"s, or "poor," the nice police civil worker waived the fee for us. so ta da. I'm done. Now I don't need to be worried about being stopped by police.

Interesting Fact: It's illegal to drink and bike.

Posted by K. Lee at 6:20 AM | Permalink

Before coming to Japan, I was thinking, "where in the world is Carmen San Diego!" no... haha.. but, "how am I going to bring my money over and manage it?"
I'm a Bank of America loyalist... I've been raised in the good old American bank. Ever since my first ancestor came to the USA, we've always relied on Bank of America. However, banks have changed. They aren't as customer friendly as before. Doing my research, I found one awesome credit card / bank that didn't charge extra for international transactions:
Capital One. It's a small bank in SoCal that has a good internet presence. I have a money market account and credit card with them. It's awesome in that they pay out of their own pocket the 1% Visa international charge and they don't have any other charges. The same with withdrawing from ATMs. They don't charge anything. So where Chase, WaMu, and BoA would have hit you with up to 7% in fees.... I don't pay anything. So I'm living a happy life here while everyone else is having a hard time accessing moolah. Oh yeah. I also have a Citibank account which worked fine, but some people have been getting hit with a 1% fee at non-Citibank ATMs. Since the nearest Citibank is a couple cities away, I've just been using my CapOne. Since I also earn miles/points on my CapOne credit card, I've been using my credit card whenever possible.

Posted by K. Lee at 1:38 AM | Permalink

The post offices here are AWE-some. In Japan, post offices have semi-banking ability. You can open a post office savings account to store that lovely cash sitting around. There really isn't an interest rate though. Since there are post offices all around Japan in every nook and cranny possible, you'll always have access to the PO ATMs. Note however, PO ATMs are only open during specific hours and aren't accessible on the weekends (fact check?). I had an interesting experience trying to open one, but you to can do it with basically no Japanese speaking/understanding ability. The best part about PO accounts is that even if you leave the country, you can still keep your account. ATMs aren't just depositories however....

Continue reading "Going Postal in Japan" »

Posted by K. Lee at 1:26 AM | Permalink

Tarragona has turned out to be a beautiful place. It is the site of a lot
of Roman history including aqueducts called Pont del Diable similar to Pont du Gard, except for
the fact that the one in Tarragona was built more for aesthetic purposes
and is a little better preserved, allowing for people to walk along the top
of the aqueduct. We have visited Barcelona, monasteries, mosques, and can
simply walk a few blocks to the beach, The Mediterranean Sea!

It is a little funny that in such a beautiful place, we continue to talk
about the the U.N, insurrection, violence, minorities within minorities,
and the colonality of power, all of which complements the program. Spanish lfe in general has proven to be very interesting. In the U.S. it is so easy to get caught up, wrapped up, and completely swamped with the everyday things that just need to be done. Here life is a little more slow paced. People take advantage of siestas, little cafes and cervecerias stay open until the wee hours of the morning, and free performances are offered throughout the week on the streets and allyways of Tarragona. Last week we watched a "circus," complete with improv, juggling, and fire-tossing/breathing/juggling men. Yesterday we watched "arte visual" which was a little like modern art in the form of film.

Continue reading "Halfway Through!" »

Posted by Nikki Fernandez at 2:52 AM | Permalink

Yesterday was a national holiday, but we were lucky and had the opportunity to take a midterm. whohoo! There was also a earthquake in a nearby prefecture. We were able to feel it though. shakeshakeshake. Quite similar to the Berkeley shakes. Ah. which reminds me. Non-Californians should learn about earthquake safety before they come to Berkeley. Quite important to know how to duck and where the safest parts of structures are.
Classes are quite intense. Three tests a week. 2 vocab, and one section/midterm test. It's a fast

Continue reading "Week two of ICU ILP study abroad" »

Posted by K. Lee at 10:32 PM | Permalink

It's been a crazy intensive first week already. whohhhh. Think intensive x5. 12 unit class. >< wah wah wah. haha. Two vocab quizzes for the two chapters that we've covered. We have a test on teh coming Monday. At least tomorrow will be a nice break. I'll be going on a field trip (wow! field trip! I haven't been on one since middle school!) to the National Theater in Japan for a Kabuki event. That should be superb. I'm not sure if I'll like it, but it'll be an interesting experience.

Homework has been quite heavy and tiring. I have not taken Japanese in four years, so I'm quite a bit rusty. Wish me the best!

Posted by K. Lee at 8:20 AM | Permalink

The campus is flat and wide. Well, flat except for these two lumps of hills in the middle of campus called Baka-yama and Aho-yama. (Stupid mountains) People who cut class tend to go there to sleep and hang out when they're cutting. There are lots of large tall trees. They're right outside of my window so its quite nice. My window faces the east which allows me to wake up with the sun on my face at around 8AM naturally! Isn't that amazing? Or maybe that's the jetlag waking me up. hahaha.

Ah, and the free bike. There was a drawing for 4 free bikes and I won one. yay! Now I have a bike to get around and I don't have to buy one. I was planning on buying a bike to get around for the year, but this is much better. Now I can spend the ~$100 on food. Food is expensive. It's not more expensive than UC Berkeley campus food, but eating that everyday adds up. I went grocery shopping a few days ago so I've been cooking for myself mostly. Thus far, I've spent 10152 yen (~$88). That's not too bad as a week in itself, but I've actually only been spending money for 2.3 days. Now it gets scary.

A nice thing I've noticed is that my skin feels nicer. It doesn't feel dry and scaly without lotion anymore. yay.

Posted by K. Lee at 7:58 PM | Permalink

Die mosquitoes. DIE!
I just got these two mosquitoes while walking through the foyer of the Global House, the dorm I'm living in. Yesterday, while walking I got 5 insects bites. I'm fully covered in long sleeves, long pants, sneakers, socks, etc. Yet these mosquitoes still find my skin in the tiny exposed crevices when I'm walking!
I took the three hour placement exam this morning. It was quite grueling. Even with the review I've been doing, I've realized that I don't have much listening nor speaking experience. I have reading and writing, but aural listening and speaking are simply...impossible at this time. I hope to become decent and be able to carry on a conversation by the end of this summer. Dream high, reach high.
Orientation. While the other, non-UC, participants of the summer program got a school tour, the UC students had Orientation number one. We learned about safety, the law, and safety. Follow the rules and you'll be okay. Don't follow them and.... good luck.
At the end of the orientation, we received our housing placements for the fall. I got into my first

Continue reading "Day Two - Japan - ILP" »

Posted by K. Lee at 1:20 AM | Permalink

I hopped on the train to Mitaka and took a taxi to ICU. If you're considering ICU, take the taxi if you're coming with luggage. It makes life so much better to not have to lug luggage around. Everyone who's living on campus stays at the Global House for the summer. It's 4 little rooms set around a sort of living room. There's a washer, shower, bathroom, mini kitchen, fridge, etc. in the suite. It's lovely! Each room has a personal balcony. It overhangs to lovely greenery.
I went out today to get my Alien Registration, Certificate, National Health Insurance, and cellphone. You need the Alien Registration to get the certificate and the certificate to get the NHI and cellphone. They make copies for you at the place for free, so you don't need to bring your own copies of stuff. If you don't have pictures already, there is a kiosk at the City Hall where you can get them taken. By bus 01 from ICU, its a 10 min bus ride. At first, I took the

Continue reading "Day One - Japan - ILP" »

Posted by K. Lee at 6:39 AM | Permalink

I'm now in Japan. I left on the 3rd, arrived on the 4th, slept overnight at my cousin's church place, and in a few hours I will be heading to ICU. We took the Keisai Skyliner from Narita airport to Ueno before traveling by taxi. The taxi service was interesting as you press a button and a taxi comes zipping around the corner. I was a bit confused about the seatbelt usage though. The driver didn't put on his seatbelt until 6 minutes into the ride. In the backseat, there was a sign that said to please wear your seatbelt for safety. However, there weren't belt locks for the window seats. I suppose safety is optional.
I didn't have a problem withdrawing money with my Citibank atm card at a Citibank machine. I had an exchange rate of 122.2 which isn't the