Alysse Abroad

As you may have seen, I wasn't able to finish my first post on my journey, and haven't been able to get online since.  I had planned to use Kim's laptop to update my blog, but it ran out of battery on our first night, and she doesn't own an adaptor.  We have been searching for an adaptor for her, but Japan doesn't sell America to Japan adaptors anywhere.  The only place we may be able to find them would be in Akihabara, which is the electronics town of Japan in Tokyo (I haven't been there yet, but apparently it is streets upon streets of all kinds of electronics from everywhere you could imagine, but you have to really search because it is mostly small shops).  Learning this, I'm glad I brought adaptors of my own.  So if you're coming to Japan from America, bring an adaptor or perish in a life of electronic exile. I have done so much in the past week that I worry I'll forget to include half of my adventures in my blogs when I finally get the chance ...

My Summertime adventure has officially begun!  Kim, Erin, and I set out to Asakusa today (in the rain... seriously, where did that come from?). Asakusa is a town in the heart of Tokyo and is most known for the Buddhist Sensoji Temple.  When we arrived at our hotel, we were a bit displeased to find that our intriguing capsule style hotel would be musty, dingy, dirty, and... yellow?  We each get a bed inside of a little cubby, with a light, a television (which we still haven't figure out how to turn on), and a clock.  We also each get a small locker for our belongings.  The hygiene here was not up to par, but the owners, a woman and her grandmother (obaasan), are so incredibly nice that it's difficult to fully regret deciding to stay here. Besides, it's only for one night.  The obaasan startled us when we were checking in when she came up behind us and asked us if we wanted a drink.  We turned around and were momentarily confused unti...

I took an impromptu trip to Odaiba with everyone who is staying in Dialogue House right now.  We started our journey by getting donuts at the station.  Japanese donuts are so much different from American ones that I would barely put them in the same category of food, but they were still yummy.  I got a custard filled one, a green tea somethingorother one, and a strawberry icing one.  They also had donuts that were supposed to look like takoyaki (octupus dough balls), but I didn't try those, because takoyaki is a little bit too doughy for me, and even if they didn't actually taste like octopus, I didn't want to eat anything resembling an octopus meal for breakfast. Then we set out for Odaiba, a man made island with lots of shopping, attractions, a giant ferris wheel, and the popular rainbow bridge.  This is our train ride around and into Odaiba.  You can see the ferris wheel, rainbow bridge, and the fair-like area. Kim, Erin, Loren, me. E...