Sakura, Sakura

  Perhaps one of the best times to be in Japan is spring; right around the time the new school semester started, we were able to see the cherry blossoms begin to bloom around Kyoto. Though I was sad to have to start school again after getting to spend so much...

Summer Brings Change

I’ll include my winter posts soon, so please be looking out for those, but I would like to begin with everything that has happened thus far this month. For the first time in a while, I was able to travel to Osaka after school. While Kyoto is a lovely and quiet...

Goodbye 2017!

It’s been unbelievably fun here in Japan ever since I arrived in September. At first it was a little difficult to adjust to everything, and I’m still sad that fruit is so expensive to buy… But thanks to everyone living here at Utano International...

Autumn Foliage Viewing

As the season has changed from summer to fall, there are a lot more tourists in Kyoto. According to my Japanese teacher, they come to visit many of the temples and shrines that Kyoto has to offer. But also to see the ‘紅葉’, or Autumn leaves. At first I was...

The First Month

After the first week of coming to Japan, everything became a whir of trying to orientate myself here. There was a lot of paperwork we had to do for both the university and for Japan, not to mention I had to buy more groceries and the store near the bottom of the hill!...

A Not so Difficult Decision

Since I left Germany after a two week vacation in high school, my goal has always been to go back, but I did not know how. The opportunity presented itself with the Two Steps Ahead program at UA. The expectations were lofty: become a fluent German speaker inside of...

Prague: Doorstep to the East

In France, there is a long fall break of about one week at the end of October called Toussaint. French students from around the country leave in mass exoduses to various countries in and around Europe for a week of exploration before the weather turns grey and foul in...

Profitez-vous

I am an engineering major. Well, I am a Computer Science major to be precise. Over the last seven years, from middle school and well past high school, I have studied the French language. Since I was small I have known that I have wanted to study abroad in France,...

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

Living in Japan has been an amazing experience in more ways than one. Although there is little time left before I return home, there is still so much I want to do before leaving. I want to climb Mt. Fuji, visit Kyoto, eat some of Jiro’s sushi – the list goes on. But,...

Journey in Japan

” こんいちは、バマ!Hello Bama! How do I begin to describe the span of my incredible adventure in Japan? I’ve seen so many things, gone so many places, and learned more than I ever thought possible. I hope I can adequately convey the way Japan has captured me...