Two Months in Japan

Wow. Two whole months in Japan! I can barely believe it, and every time I think about the fact that 1/5 of my exchange is done, I feel like crying. I love it here! Life in Japan as an exchange student feels so rewarding, and I am incredibly grateful I was able to come here. So, two months? A lot can happen in that time! First, I want to talk about Japanese food, and how my body has changed since coming here (not necessarily in a good way lol).

Japanese food is delicious. Any sushi/ramen lover would agree. But, how does real Japanese food compare to the cheap cup noodles that college students live off of? Real Japanese ramen is so delicious that even writing about it is making my mouth water. It is a perfect mix of ingredients, be it spicy or salty.

Tonkatsu ramen from Kagoshima

Karamen from Miyazaki, spicy level 15/25

There were also foods that I needed a little time to get used to. One is umeboshi, which is a pickled plum that is SUPER salty. I didn't like it when I tried it in America, but now I love it! Another food is "raw" chicken. Since my Japanese is not perfect, I could be a little bit wrong, but in Miyazaki prefecture it is okay to eat raw chicken. It's either raw or has very little roasting done to it. The texture is really chewy and feels like chewing slightly hard fat. The taste is surprisingly fine! The taste of squid is also going to take some getting used to; it's really strong.

One thing that has shocked me is how weak Japanese people are to spices. They cannot handle them! Eating spicy hot Cheetos would probably kill some of my friends ahah

As expected of exchange students, I've gained weight :( I don't understand it. because I bike 80 minutes every school day (way more exercise than I did in America), yet I am still gaining weight. It could be the fact that I ate way too many Japanese snacks in my first weeks here hehe! Also, because of those darn delicious snacks, my skin is the worst it has been in a while. Before I left for Japan, my skin was the best it had been in years. Now, my chin is a warzone :( but I won't let that make me insecure about my face!

When you live in Japan as a foreigner, especially if you're in a rural area, you will get stared at a lot. Sometimes, I have fun with the staring and stare back. But I will admit that it does get to me, and I'll find it creepy occasionally. Especially if it's someone older. Not going to lie, I also stare whenever I see foreigners ahah. They're rare here in Miyazaki! 

The nature and views here are beautiful. I'm surrounded by small mountains, and there are lots of rice fields. Biking to and from school, I basically go from the downtown area to rice fields to city again. 

My view of rice fields while biking home

Speaking English has become weird to me. When I hung out with another exchange student after not speaking English for a while, it felt so strange to have my mouth forming sentences. We both had weird pauses in our sentences initially. I will admit, I miss the versatility of English and how fun English slang is! But Japanese is awesome too. I especially love using Miyazaki-dialect, like なんしちょっとinstead of なにしてるの. I want to sound like a Miyazaki native by the end of my stay! 

As for homesickness, I got hit pretty hard in the beginning. But now, I'm completely fine :) Thinking about going home actually makes me sad! I <3 Japan

Since school is the biggest part of my life right now, I am going to make a separate post and a YouTube video for it. I'm also going to be making one for culture shock, so stay tuned~

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