Alysse Abroad

It snowed again.  Last Monday Becci came running into my room telling me it was snowing again, so we watched it fall from the windows, and then I went back to homework.  Later, Mariko called me to say it was snowing, and I told her "Yeah, I know, I saw."  But she said "No, Alysse, it's SNOWING!  Let's go outside!" so I got up to go see it again.  But when I looked out the window I realized it really was SNOWING.  It was sticking everywhere, not just on dirt and plants.  So we abandoned homework and set out to Bakayama, and there was enough for us to go have a huge snowball fight in!  Soon more Global House residents came, followed by people from all over campus.  This is the first time in my life I've had a real, big snowball fight, and let me tell you, a good snowball thrown right really stings!  There were probably about 30 students throwing snowballs at each other, sometimes just within groups of friends, and sometimes groups pitting ...

Our ball turned out to be a success.  We made about $500 profit and everyone had a lot of fun. The night before the ball we all performed a short dance to each of the dorms, singing to Katy Perry's "Hot and Cold" but with our own informative lyrics.  Here are some pictures of that, as well as pictures of our final setting up and then finally, the ball. Those of us in black were supposed to be pollution.  Then we had animals and a sun.  The robot is just cool, though not a logical addition to the theme. Advertising as we walked through the dining commons. Setting up the food area and the bar. Icy entrance. Paper mache snowman. Final volcano with lasers. The dance floor. Volcano lasers. We got a black light to allow the lava to be seen. We had a smoke machine that blew smoke out the top of the volcano, too.  It refracted the light in really cool ways. Our bartenders hard at work. First performance: Taro. Second...

Last night the weather reports all said we would be getting snow starting sometime between midnight and three in the morning.  But we got rain instead.  So I went to bed a bit bummed, and woke up as normal.  But when I looked out my window, this is what I did: P.S. Don't make fun of me for not being able to make up my mind about whether it's cold or not.  I know I go from "it's so cold!" to "it's not that cold..." to "it's cold, but not as cold as I expected."  It was snow.  It blew my mind straight out of order. I took pictures with Mariko, but she's sleeping right now so I can't get them from her just yet.  But I promise that by tomorrow I will have them up here, so if you want to see them, check back! These are the only two pictures I have: I'm the only one of us who had never walked to class in the snow before.  Can you tell? Left to right, Simon is from The Netherlands, Jessica is from Hong Kong, and David is...

Preparing for this ball is a lot of work, but I am having so much fun with it.  I've been spending all my time either advertising, decorating, or studying, but the balance is keeping me upbeat. At about 8:30 tonight all the tenants of Global House were drawn from their rooms (even me, on the top floor at the end of the hall) due to an overwhelming sense that we were suddenly swimming in chemicals.  It turns out that the three spray paint cans worth of paint it took to cover our (amazing) volcano had released enough fumes to fill a four story building.  So we were forced to keep every window open, in 2 degree weather (37 in Fahrenheit). But now that I've thawed back out I can show you some of the awesome decorations we've completed! That's mary.  The volcano was her idea. We set the lava mood with a spotlight covered in red cellophane, propped up behind the volcano. We're making the entrance room the cold and the actual dance floor the "warming,...

Japan has been a little bit like ammonium for me lately.  If you're subject to smelling ammonium for too long, you'll lose the ability to sense what smells good, what smells bad, or what smells at all.  Being in Japan I've been overwhelmed with highly concentrated necessity and enjoyment to the point that I've started to forget what exactly I need and want anymore. Since I arrived here I have changed a lot; I think about myself differently, I think about the world around me differently, and I have different hopes and dreams.  But sometimes I wonder if the choices I make are due to those internal changes or if I have simply lost my way. So many times I've been told that I will change my mind throughout college: it's part of growing up.  But ever since I was a very young girl I have always had the same dream.  Sure, my path has differed a bit from time to time, whether through deciding to add a passion, forget one, or do something different with those passions, ...

As promised, I'm here to fill you in on my trip to a maid cafe. Maid cafes are... well... cafes, and they are staffed by girls dressed as maids.  They are supposed to have a very cutesy feel to them, and the service is supposed to be very hands on and equally cutesy.  I went with Mariko, Simon, and Evan. We went to one in Akihabara, which is the most famous nerd city in Japan, known for its stores upon stores of electronics of all kinds, and for otaku, which are stereotypically 30+ year old guys who live with their mothers and stay in their room filled with toys and video games. Before we went to the cafe we got KFC.  Even though KFC in Japan is a Christmas time tradition and I didn't get it then, I can at least say I've had it.  Then we went to a video game shop and looked around for a bit.  The picture of me on the phone isn't of any importance, but Mariko had it on her camera, so I decided to add it.  I was trying to understand a guy talking to me in ...