ERAU Study Abroad Japan Summer 2023

Today, was a free day, so I ended up using my time to go and visit a local attraction, the Osaka Aquarium. I’d been meaning to visit it, given its notoriety for having extensive exhibits and rarely seen species on display, so I made it a point to set aside the entire day for it. The first thing that I saw at the aquarium was their forest wildlife exhibits, which housed some freshwater fish and some otters. The otters were extremely cute, and I was able to get a closer view of them in another window. The next exhibit had some non-fish exhibits, which was super cool to see. They had seals, dolphins, and penguins on display. I was able to get a really cool photo of one of the dolphins as it swam by. After that was the main event of the aquarium, their big tank and it’s supporting exhibits. The main tank had multiple whale sharks, a manta ray, lots of groupers and some stingrays. They had a tank that was filled with sunfish, which I never thought I’d be able to see alive. They even had a b

Here is the final vlog of the trip. It has been such an amazing adventure to be here in Japan with everyone. I've made lots of new friends and had lots of new experiences and I hope the same rings true for all who went. Thank you!

  My blog day was the 27th of July. I woke up early that morning and started getting ready at around 7:30. It was the day we were scheduled to go to the famous Himeji castle. So, I met up with the rest of the students at the front lobby on the first floor. There were only a few students there at the time, around 5 or 6, but the rest of them came into the lobby a few moments later. We then went to the train station in Shinsaibashi. Several people got lost on the way, from the trains to the walk over. Then when we made it to the Himiji train station the professors decided that it was time to break for lunch and a few students and I went to an Italian place. At this restaurant I ate a pizza and a bowl of pasta. I enjoyed the pizza however the pasta I ordered ended up being far too spicy for my liking. After that I got a Mint Chocolate ice cream cone from the local Baskin Robbins. After that a small group of students and I headed out to the castle. After a while of walking in the baking su

                Today was an interesting day, despite being uneventful and also filled with fun. I woke up this morning, after sleeping in as the day is a free day. Upon waking up, I see my text of the people I was making plans with for after the program ends, and decided to move my flight back again. After moving my flight back, I went ahead and called my parents, because we needed to discuss about senior year anyway and my plans.             After this, I went ahead and text my friends about what we were doing today, and if ready to leave. We left the hotel at around 10:30, to go back to Osaka. To leave the hotel, we split up into two taxis, as to avoid the bus confusion from the previous day. The Taxis in Japan are incredibly nice for a cab. Usually a black comfortable car, or in this case a white one. They are also very Japanese styled with the mirrors on the hood instead of near the windows.              Next, we unload our stuff at the train station, and made our way to the thund

  I woke up bright and early and got ready to head off to Tokyo. We headed to Shin-Osaka station and from there boarded the Shinkansen. The ride was about 2 hours total with some beautiful views throughout. Many of the students gathered on the left side of the train, hoping to catch an excellent photo of Mt. Fuji as we passed by. Eventually, we arrived at Tokyo station, which was a very difficult place to navigate. With many different platforms everywhere, each with countless different lines, Tokyo Station proved much more difficult to navigate then Osaka’s. Eventually, we left the station and headed to the hotel located not to far away.                Because it was too early to check in, we dropped off some of our bags at the hotel and then went back to the station to get food before the rest of the day’s events. After arriving at the station we went to go find food and ended up at a French Café. I ordered a quiche, French onion soup, and some French Fries, which were pretty good.

Today I skipped the class event to sleep in with my wonderful roommate Lauren and at around 11pm we left the hotel to begin our day exploring the city. It was very thunder-stormy on our train ride to Shibuya City and I really enjoyed it, we both forgot our umbrellas but I didn’t mind running around in the rain in the city, in fact I had lots of fun doing so. Our first stop was a maid cafe to grab some lunch. I personally found this experience to be so incredibly funny. I guess me and Lauren arrived at a special time because while eating our food the maids randomly broke out into dance and in the background a nerdy looking man who seemed to be a regular at the cafe was in the back going absolutely ham with glow sticks. He was doing tricks with them so hard that he has to rest periodically throughout the song the maid was preforming. After the performance the maid came up to us and asked if we enjoyed the performance, to which I responded “Yes” and that I especially liked the guy in the

Day twenty four of our trip to this country half way around the world. Unfortunately it is almost time for us to leave it all behind. I’ve done most of the things I wanted to do but there are one or two goals I had that will not be possible due to time constraints. These will require a second visit. Today however, I did manage to accomplish one of the most highly anticipated items on my list- Explore the city of Tokyo. I woke up at seven o’clock in the morning, far too early if you ask me, and departed from shin Osaka to Tokyo station. This was not my first time in the city but it would be my first time wandering the streets and actually experiencing the city rather than just passing through. The group decided to break up for lunch after depositing our bags in the hotel. Most went back to the station to eat but I, being the enterprising sort, took to the streets. When I happened upon a rolling sushi location I was delighted. These places had proved to quick and cheap in the past so why

  Today wasn’t particularly eventful. I didn’t really do much as I have been sick and didn’t feel up for anything. However, despite how bad I felt I still went to class. I didn’t want to miss our last day on campus because I wanted to buy.  Before I got to campus, I stopped at the 7-11 to see if the lady who brings a small to my face was there. Sadly she wasn’t. I was really hoping to see her cause I wanted to give her a gift but sadly I wasn’t able to. I could maybe try someday this weekend but I’m not too sure about my schedule yet.  After that I headed to campus with Ian and Athena. We stopped and talked to Gabe on the way as he was on his way back to the hotel. He was done for the day, because they did not have any after class clubs and seminars for us to attend.  Once we got to campus, the three of us headed straight to class. By that time I was regretting my decision to go to class. The heat and humidity had sucked all the energy I had out of my body and I wasn’t able to cool off

  Travel Blog 2: The beach     Originally I was going to go and climb Mt. Fuji on this day, but my professors told me and the group that I was going with not to go. As a result, I woke up late and wasn’t sure what I was going to do with my day. I had already wasted Sat urday preparing for this, and I didn’t want to waste Sunday as well.    Because of this, when I saw Daniel post saying he was going to the beach, I thought “why not?”   I met up with him at one, as well as Race and Colby wh o were also tagging along,   in the afternoon , and we   headed toward Omi-Maiko beach. The trip there was uneventful .   When we made it to the beach, it was packed with people. Before we went in the water , we walked to a Hawaiian restaurant, and I ordered chicken which was excellent . Next, we walked along the beach and looked at the jet skis that were lining the portion of the beach we were at. Our stop was short, and we soon moved on and found a relatively open area to lie down at.