Wanderer - Saana's adventures in wonderland, also known as my exchange year in Sapporo, Japan 2016-2017

I’m 500% done with everything except my homework

There are days when I get out of bed and regret the decision immediately. After all, my favorite hobby is sleeping and then feeling like I haven’t slept at all. There are days when I can’t be bothered to put on clothes, put on makeup, do my hair. Je suis sick of that shit. There are days when I literally give up, so that the quilt of not doing stuff I was supposed to do today gives me energy get stuff done the next day. I mean, like, why do homework when I can sit here and hate myself? I literally sit there, looking down on my homework like I should totally do this for tomorrow and then, because I am a gigantic idiot, I’m like nah, not feeling like it. Then I panic the next day because I am not prepared for class. What kind of an idiot does this?!

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In any case, I’ve been having trouble sleeping lately. My morning classes start always 8:45 and it takes me from 20 to 30 minutes walk from my dorm to Uni depending on how badly Sapporo’s weather is trying to kill us that day. Which it had been valiantly doing since a couple of days ago. Our bikes outside are gone. Nothing but a huge pile of snow. People slipping everywhere. Snow in my shoes. Everything is white. We’re drowning in a gigantic white pillow called Sapporo’s weather.

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I’m so fucking done with this weather because it means early wake up calls. Which are hell. You’d think that as a person who adores sleeping so much I would go to sleep helluva lot earlier but no, nope, my brain refuses to shut the fuck up in the evenings.

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On the bright side, our midterms ended a week ago. I scored almost perfect score on each of my subjects because I’m also a gigantic nerd and a perfectionist. I feel like I haven’t studied this much since high school. Yeah, I could have bullshitted my way through basically everything else but Kanji midterms exam (because you actually have to study for that) but I ain’t about that lifestyle. Then again, I had been feeling really stressed about my schoolwork so I cancelled one of my classes which I’m planning to retake in the spring. So now, I feel more balanced and focused. Zen.

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But really, me eating spaghetti doesn’t have anything to do with regret and everything to do with the fact that I can’t cook. You want to see a magic trick? I can even make pizza explode in the oven! I haven’t cooked by myself in weeks and why would I, when I can get anything and everything straight from conbi (convenience store) that are open 24/7. Maybe the fact that I’m getting so many pimples has something to do with my diet literally consisting of rice, meat, sauces and sweets. Like, I don’t know, sounds totally fake but okay. cough-denial-cough

Not only is my skin breaking out but me and the other Finns – that have fallen victim to all the chemicals Japanese people pump into their water – complain about the same thing: hair loss. There is hair everywhere in my room. Tufts of it come off when I comb it after shower. I have hair in my clothes, in my shower, on the floor, on my bed, even in my fridge. How, I do not know, but there it is. Apparently this is normal and to be expected and it should stop after half a year, but I’m not sure if I’ll have any hair left after six months if this pace continues.

What else have I been up to except for worrying about sudden baldness? Well, let me talk to you little about contemporary entertainment.

Lately there has been a lot of commotion about Yuri on Ice!!! which is basically an anime about a Japanese figure skater Yuri Katsuki who gets famous and successful Russian skater Victor Nikiforov as his coach, and they fall in love in the process of working towards winning the Grand Prix gold medal. And the commotion isn’t unfounded, this anime is truly a feast from visual effects to soundtrack. Besides, all that fan service. My god. Take me out of the oven because I am so done. This time in a good way.

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The other anime and manga that has had my undivided attention for a while is Haikyuu!! (what is it with all the exclamation marks in the titles, I do not have answers for you, I’m also bewildered). Surprisingly enough, it’s a volleyball anime. Yes, I have fallen for a sports anime and I can’t get up. In fact, I don’t wanna get up. If anything, I’d like to dig myself a little bit deeper into this series because it’s so worth it. You know when you get that nervous flutter in the pit of your stomach and panicky jitters when you watch your favorite sports team play IRL? This basically puts all those emotions in a nutshell and let’s you enjoy the feeling to the fullest.

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Everyone should just keep an open mind and try different things even though they are not in your usual genre because, who knows, maybe you’ll also come across gems like these two animes. I’m never been into sports animes before but hell, I ain’t turning back now.

One more serie that I want to talk about is not an anime and surprisingly enough, not even Japanese. I’m talking about a Korean history/romance/action/drama called Scarlet Heart: Ryeo, or also known as Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo. Don’t let this soft looking name ruin this bad boy for you, alright? This thing, right here, is pure gold. If by pure we mean it will make you the happiest person on earth, and by gold that it will eat your heart, chew, and spit the remains out just so you can cry yourself into dehydration. That kind of gold. The main storyline is basically about a modern woman who gets thrown back in history into Goryo-era (I do not know Korean history enough to tell you anything meaningful about this era, I’m sorry) and attempts to survive in there, all the while she just might fall in love (more than once) and change history.

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Through my various experiences with animes, dramas and fan fiction, I have arrived into a conclusion that I greatly enjoy watching other people emotionally suffer on screen. I will also stay awake the whole night in order to partake into the said suffering and cry my eyes out because the said actors are too precious for this world. I just like torturing myself, ok? Don’t judge me.

What else, what else? There have been a couple amazing parties I’ve gone to.

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For example, there was this awesome Thanksgiving Party where everybody cooked or baked some food to share. Even with this many people everyone had their stomachs full by the end of the party. The food just kept coming and coming. I am actually in the picture as well, somewhere on the background behind everyone else (curse my vertical restrictions).

Another party that I thoroughly enjoyed was International Christmas Party at Club Vanity in Susukino. Since I felt like my makeup that night was totally on point, here, have a picture.

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Thankfully there are no actual pictures from that night but let me tell you, it was awesome. We danced for maybe 4 hours straight and had a blast! Shout out to my party gang of Helka, Joan, Stuart, Kaita and Hao for being totally awesome, and also congratulations to Kaita for winning ”the wild-one” gold medal with the pure power of his abs. Another similar party will be held next weekend but in a different (bigger!) club, and to tell the truth, I can’t wait. I need more party outfits. Shopping required ASAP.

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So, in midst all that drunken haze we actually managed to have another wonderful trip to the onsens with Ewelina, Carmen and Agné. This time it was the Hoheikyou onsen near Jozankei with a very reasonable price of 1800yen which included the bus tickets there and back, as well as the onsen ticket. We managed to soak up for a good 3 hours, saw the sun set and stars come out, all the while floating in that steamy pool. Pure. Extacy. And so, I conclude this blog entry with some pictures from that magical place as well as of us, being just generally magical:

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“Shit it’s 2 a.m,” I say every day at 2 a.m. as if i am surprised

It has been a while, hasn’t it? And honestly it’s my own fault too, trying to get involved in everything that happens at Hokkaido University and going out every night and evening and day. I’m trying to rewind just a little bit and tell a summary of things that have happened here since my last post.

I think the first thing I wanna tell about is climbing our nearby mountain (or as our guide that day put it: a glorified hill), Maruyama.

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This was our gang for that day.

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The mountain is gorgeous and it was already turning into autumn colors. The little fox statues along the road were prayed to and asked to protect ”lost children”. That’s why people also dressed the statues warmly so they could deliver those clothes to the children needing them. It was creepy and heartwarming at the same time.

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The view from the top was so worth the hike!

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”A bunch of sweaty but happy foreigners”.

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…then there was this other time we hiked Maruyama at evening with Agné, Ewelina and Pardis. And it was beautiful. Children, do not try this at home. Photo © Agné Jurgaityté

Then the next worthwhile thing to mention is our self-planned trip to Otaru which is a nearby tourist town of Sapporo.

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Highlight of the trip for me was to try something one Japanese couple recommended to me at work back in Finland to try out if I was ever to go to Sapporo: Genghis Khan. Basically you have the grill in the middle of the table and you fry meat, onion and sprouts on it. Plus you get rice, sauce and miso soup.

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At this point weather was turning freezing cold already. Photos from Otaru © Carmen Winfield

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The autumn here is amazing and colorful. Unfortunately, as I’m writing this, the snow has already fallen here in Sapporo. The autumn time was short-lived as snow arrived almost a month earlier than on the previous years. In other words, I’m in my element.

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This it what it looks like in here… The snow just really came out of nowhere. Photo © Agné Jurgaityté

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Eternal fucking struggle to figure out how much clothing to wear in the morning. It might be sunny in the morning but it gets freezing in the evening. If you walk, you need less clothes or you start sweating like a little pig. If you take bike, you need more clothes because of the wind. Do you take the short jacket you have for autumn and risk freezing, or do you get the long winter jacket and risk freezing later ’cause you used the winter coat in the autumn? ARGH! Seriously, I mentally high-five myself every time I get my clothing choices right for the weather. (Or high-touch, as the Japanese say. …yes, I know, wtf?)

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Japan, for me, has been a time of firsts. In that category also goes my first experience with proper Halloween. And it was awesome and everybody’s outfits were so on point!

…less vodka next time though.

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The amount of hangover the next day, oh my god… Not to mention that it wasn’t a normal stay-at-home-and-die kind of a hangover day, no, nope. We had a fucking trip on that day. We went to Shikotsu lake, Ainu village and Jigoku Hell Valley, not to mention that half of the day we sat in a bus. Gosh, just thinking back at it makes me nauseous. The trip was awesome, though.

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First stop, lake Shikotsu. We look like we’re fucking freezing, hah! (We were.) The wind was crazy strong and damn cold, but on the bright side I got to taste a corn-dog which was nice. And yes, I know it’s american but I’ve never had it before. Who said all my new experiences had to be strictly about Japan?

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Jigoku Hell Valley. I learned from Supernatural that demons smell of sulfur. Also learned that day that sulfur stinks pretty bad. Wind that smells of rotten eggs and hangover – true hell doesn’t get much better than that.

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True to it’s name I found this oni (Japanese monster) from Hell Valley. Didn’t seem to mind me invading his personal space. I don’t have any pictures from Ainu Village but, uh, there wasn’t that much to see, so… Go there yourself if you wanna see it, dammit.

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I did get the permission to show you these two adorable group pictures from Ainu Village though. Photos © Gabbie Manolo

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What else, what else? Well, there has been about a million different parties that make me deliriously happy. So many amazing personalities, so many new friends and inside jokes and so much laughter. I’m surprised how well I’m doing on these with my social skills being:

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In any case, I feel like I’m slowly getting the hang of socializing. It’s not so bad. It’s just me that’s bad. But I’ll get better, I swear.

Apart from countless parties that I’ve been lucky enough to join, there’s one another thing that makes me the happiest person on earth:

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Onsens.

Gosh, those places are awesome. Onsens are basically public bath-houses, with either natural hot water springs or man-made ones, but whichever you end up with, you’re bound to enjoy it. Sure, the nakedness is awkward at first but it’s the same with Finnish sauna: first it’s awkward and then you realize nobody cares about your (or their) nudity and you can just stop caring as well.

Pro Tip: Instead of having feelings, try being dead inside. Everything is still horrible but you will not care at all.

I’m kidding, of course. But I promise, after the first shock everything gets exponentially better. If you don’t take my word for it, take my friends’. The onsen near to our dorm is called Souen, and on their website you can check out the pictures of the place. With onsens there are few rules you need to follow:

Bring your own towel. One big and one small (called modesty towel). Otherwise you will have to rent or buy them.
Onsens are usually pretty cheap. For example in Souen you pay 400 yen (little less than 4 euros) and you can stay as long as you like.
Strip naked. And I mean entirely. No, swimming suits of any kind are not allowed.
You can bring your own soap and shampoos, but usually onsens provide the basic ones.
Important: clean yourself from top to bottom before entering onsen. Wash yourself carefully, including hair. Because you’re a foreigner you have to be extremely careful with this unless you want to get on the Japanese peoples’ bad side.
Tie your hair up before entering onsen. It’s important your hair doesn’t touch the water. It’s not a fucking swimming pool, alright?
If there’s a scoop before onsens, it’s for scooping some water and splashing it on your feet in order to get rid of any dirt you might have gathered from the walk between shower and onsen.
You can put your modesty towel (which you can use to cover your, uh, lady parts while you’re walking if you want) to the side or on top of your head. If your towel gets wet, squeeze the water outside the onsen, not back into the onsen.
If you go to sauna, shower afterwards before entering any other onsens.
Be careful of getting dizzy! It can happen surprisingly fast because the water is hot. Take a cold bath or shower before taking another dip. Also, stay hydrated afterwards. The water of onsens doesn’t magically get absorbed into your body, so remember to drink!

I know this seems very complicated and lot to remember at first but honestly, just use your head and common sense and you’ll be fine.

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You should also get something to eat after taking a dip. Just like swimming, onsens make people super hungry. My choice for the day was fried shrimp with egg, noodles, pickled pieces of something yellow (I told you, I don’t usually know what the food is), and Sapporo Classic Beer.

Alright, couple more things and events I think are worth mentioning before this monster-of-a-blog-entry is done. I just feel like I need to get all the events before snow out of my system, so the next entry can be about Sapporo’s early winter.

15036556_1151081928320145_3929508904473064068_n So, on that note… I went to see an orchestra. It was awesome but in my typical style I feel asleep at some parts. I’m so sorry, I’m so ashamed of myself.

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We found a gorgeous little soup-curry place near Odori Park. Soup-curry is one of Hokkaido’s specialities.

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There was this autumn-event where they lightened up the Ginkou Alley on our University Campus. It was so pretty! A lot of people gathered at the beginning of the road and we had a countdown for the lights to be turned on. Honestly, the picture taken with my phone doesn’t do the place any justice.

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Got some super cheap cotton candy and coffee! In the picture you can see mine and Ewelina’s excitement over the treasure we found.

It’s not like it’s all party-party-party every night though. Only every other night. No, but seriously, the thing keeping me awake isn’t only the constant socializing but also schoolwork. There’s been a staggering amount of it, when you consider it all. The HUSTEP core courses aren’t bad, no problem, I can do it. It’s the japanese classes that are giving me a rough time. Every morning – and I literally mean every single morning – begins 8:45 with a test. Then you give in the homework you spend three hours total completing. Then you learn new grammar and kanjis every single day.

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But it’s not like I’m ready to give up, fuck no. I came here to study (yeah, I could hear that skeptical snort through the screen), so study I shall. And it’s not like it’s all pointless, I’m learning more japanese than ever and my english has majorly improved because of constant communicating with my friends. Nowadays I even start my conversations with other Finns in english by pure reflex.

Besides studying I decided to join a Karate Club but since I’ve only been to one practice so far (I started last Thursday), I don’t have too much to tell yet. Maybe in the next blog entry.

Gah, finally this word-picture-vomit of a blog entry is over. I hope you enjoyed!

All about food

I thought that perhaps food was one of those things that certainly deserved a blog entry of their own. Also, I decided to give it an entry just because I love food. Don’t misunderstand me, I don’t like food, I love it. Forget all about candies and sodas, I’m more of proper-good-fulfilling-meal kind of a girl.

However, the difficulty with the food that I eat in Japan… I don’t even know what I’m putting in my mouth most of the time. I can’t read the names (yet), I can’t tell all ingredients apart from just looking or tasting the food, and some of the ingredients I haven’t even heard of or seen before. So food, as it’s own category, is an adventure on its own.

This picture is actually of the first week in Sapporo, taken at the Autumn Festival. We bought mochi in three different flavors: macha (green tea), strawberry and vanilla. These little beauties were filled with red bean paste which is really common filling in Japan. I know, it sounds disgusting but the taste isn’t actually that bad.

Me and Agné also tried tagoyaki which is basically… a ball of fried octopus with mayo on top. It was alright but not as yummy as it looks. There is actually a funny story related to this food that has to do with that rubber band you can see beside the container. So after we ate, I tried to put the rubber band around the container so we could neatly throw it away but no, no, the gods of Japan apparently hate me and decided it was a good time to make it clear. The band accidentally sprang from my mayo-covered fingers and smacked a poor Japanese girl right in the middle of her forehead at the table next to ours. I’ve never been so mortified in my entire life. I just arrived to Japan and I had already assaulted a person on my first day! How do these things happen to me, I don’t understand.

This one was called imomochi. The black on top is seaweed and I remember the thing had a sweet, perhaps a little fishy taste even though apparently it was fried sweet potato and mochi. The more you know. But it was good, even better than our tagoyaki!

The picture below was my first meal at Hokkaido University. In the bowl I had a dish called sammon which had cooked fish, spring onion and sauce on top, and rice underneath. I also had one extra piece of fried chicken:

This is one of those things I bought from conbi (convenience store) on a whim. The pastry is hot and fluffy and inside this little bun was meat/curry filling. It’s really good as a quick snack but unfortunately they stop selling warm food in conbis around 12pm. It’s such a shame, this would be a wonderful hey I’m super drunk, let’s eat something! snack:

Now let me tell you about the beauty below. Now this is it, my favorite food so far here: katsudon. At the bottom you have rice (of course, it’s no meal without rice, goddammit), topped with sauce, fried chicken, runny-egg and spring onion. The perfect hangover food. And I had to come all the way to Japan to find it, jeez. This can also be called oyakodon, which basically means that you’re eating the mother and the child at the same time. As in, you eat egg and chicken:

Because I love katsudon I needed to try all of its variations, of course. This one is miso-katsudon, so the brown sauce on top has a miso-soup base:

This one was a bad buy. Not everything in here tastes amazing; there are things that make you wrinkle your nose. These are soba noodles (I don’t remember the exact name anymore) but the dish was ice-cold! The noodles, the sauce, the egg; everything was cold. The sauce/soup tasted a bit like smoked fish and the egg had a strange, foamy consistency. Not recommended unless you want to try something weird and disgusting or if someone lost a bet:

So far, from food-related experiences I have learned to always check two things:

Is there a table-charge in the restaurant?
Are my noodles going to be hot or cold?

Because yes, some places charge you for using the table. The charge is usually around 200-500 yen per person, so from 2-5 euros. First time we came across this we were totally ripped off though… Not everyone in Japan is nice.

The desserts have been good as well! I really relate to Japanese people when it comes to ice-cream: soft-ice is so much better than regular ice-cream. They have some weird-ass flavors though. Who eats cheese flavored ice-cream?

Franziska’s birthday party! Afterwards we went to ferris wheel to check out Sapporo from above at night. …wasn’t much to be seen as it rained.

Birthday food! We had onion rings, potatoes and mayo, tortilla pizza (…yes), taco-egg salad and caesar salad. Sundaes a few pictures above were our dessert. At this point I’d like to mention that pizza is freakishly expensive in here. You might have to pay 20 euros for fresh pizza.

Last but not least, I’d like to introduce you guys to this only-available-in-Japan special food product: McDonald’s Halloween special. As in, french fries covered in chocolate-pumpkin sauce. And yes, it tastes just as weird as it sounds.

We have tried many things in here outside of these pictures too, it’s not like I take pictures of everything I eat. And sometimes I’m just too hungry to take the fucking picture. Eh, ごめんなさい.

Entrance Ceremony and choosing classes

We had Entrance Ceremony on Monday and it was a lot less painful than I thought it would be. You know how in Finland the ceremonies just seems to go on and on and on because the headmaster just refuses to shut up? Not here. His speech was maybe 5 minutes and entirely on point. Then we took pictures that are going to appear on magazine somewhere (I will try to find in later) and then we were done! So efficient, I like it!

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Dressed up nice and fancy for the ceremony. On the left we have Agné from Lithuania, Franziska from Germany in the middle, and me on the right. Just amazing. Look at all that European beauty and grace…

I finally found out about my Japanese classes and reached a decision about the HUSTEP core classes. Kinda. I’ve decided to go for Japanese Politics, Japanese Political History, Gender&Sexuality in post-war Japan, and Contemporary Japanese society for sure. I’m still kind of hesitating between Roadmap to UN with special reference to WHO and Introduction to Japanese Studies I (History). I’ll need to decide between those two by next week.

For the Japanese I have three different courses: Introduction to Japanese Grammar 2, Japanese Communication 2, and Kanji&Vocabulary 1C. Japanese Grammar is three times a week, Japanese Communication two times a week, and Kanji&Vocabulary class also two times a week. So much Japanese! Learning a completely different writing system… my poor brain.

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All in all we have four different level Japanese courses: Introductory, Introductory&Pre-intermediate, Intermediate, and Advanced. We also have different levels inside the levels (levelception, whoa). For example, in the Introductory level we have levels from 1A-4B and I got to level 2 in Grammar and Communication classes. I’m still a total beginner with Kanjis so I’m quite happy with my placement in level 1C on that class.

There were some communication problems with the placement test though, I’m just warning you guys in advance if someone is planning on applying for HUSTEP. Before the placement test you have to choose which Japanese classes you would like to take, as in, what level do you think you are. Then you take the test and it determines which level you actually are, however – and this is the fun part – unless you have also ticked the boxes for the levels underneath the one you think you are, and your results for placement test don’t quite reach to that specific level, then you’re not gonna get any classes. Which is ridiculous. One would think that if you don’t get the results that would be enough for the level you wanted to go to, then you would be automatically placed on level that fits you the best.

But nah, let’s just leave people without classes, shall we? Yes, that sounds perfect. Japanese bureaucracy, just what? Why? Why must you do this to us?

Bizarre bike adventures

Against all odds, I am still alive. Actually there haven’t been that many odds. Actually everything has gone rather smoothly. Actually I’m waiting for this all to collapse and turn into shit somehow but honestly, so far everything has been so good.

My classes are finally starting. For HUSTEP students the first few weeks are trial-classes, so you can take as many courses as you want, and check out the courses and the teachers before you actually decide what you want to study. I regard this practice as a work of genius because this allows you to see the teacher’s teaching style and you can learn more about the course content and expectations before signing up for class that sounds good on paper but isn’t that in the reality. So far I have tried Japanese Political History, Risk Governance, Contemporary Japanese Society, Gender & Sexuality in post-war Japan, and Roadmap to UN with special reference to WHO. Next week I’m still going to try Introduction to Japanese Politics and maybe Soviet History. In the end we’re expected to choose 4-7 core classes that are held once a week, plus all the Japanese language classes. Hence our following schedule for the autumn semester doesn’t sound too busy or impossible.

I took the picture above today from my route to Hokkaido University. As you can see, the weather has been treating us nicely and Sapporo has proven to be a beautiful city. Before I came here I admit to being a little nervous as to how I’m going to survive in asphalt jungle but as you can see, Sapporo is actually a very green city. There are stunning parks, little roads, and greenery everywhere. In Hokudai students can actually study Agriculture as a major, so we have their playgrounds all around campus: apple trees, potato-carrot-onion-salad-fields, greenhouses, flowerbeds, tree plantations… You name it, they have it. And it’s beautiful.

As you can see from the picture I have recently also acquired a bike! Surprisingly enough, bikes are the main means of transportation around the city. I got mine from bike-sales and altogether paid 7000 yen for it; that’s 6000 yen for the bike itself and 1000 yen for a lock and lock’s installation. 7000 yen is around 62 euros.

There are many rules in regards to biking that confuse the hell out of me though. For example, you cannot bicycle with your umbrella or someone on the backseat because if the police catches you, you could get a fine for those. When you buy a bicycle you have to register it and keep your registration document with you all times when biking because if you don’t have it and the police stops you, they would have to assume you’ve stolen the bike. It’s so complicated and so bizarre to have to register your bike as if it was on the same level as a car but I guess this is what keeps the society running and so well organized.

All roads lead to Odori Park

Now I understand why all the blogs I’ve read about people leaving for Japan stop for the time being after they arrive. I feel like I’ve been through a blender or perhaps a hurricane. Also please forgive me for this super-late entry, I only got internet on my phone today so I finally got all the pictures from my phone to my computer.

This is going to be quite long entry but let me tell you what happened.

The day I had my flight from Helsinki to Nagoya was a would-have-been-a-nightmare-but-it-wasn’t. When I was at the gate and handed over my boarding pass to the flight attendant, the machine beeped red. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. What happened? Why didn’t my boarding pass work? I’m not sure if it was because I’m a member of Finnair, or because I was one of the last ones to board the plane, or if I just got lucky, but I had been promoted to business class much to my astonishment. Apparently they had booked the flight too full.

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And so I got my first taste of first class flying in my sweatpants and shirt, with a messy bun and dirty shoes. It was such a bizarre experience. You are handed a class of sparkling wine from Iittala’s Ultima Thule classes as soon as you sit down. You can basically drink and eat as much as you want and you have all the legroom you’ve always dreamed about in crowded airplanes.

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Thankfully my seat was superb as well; the seat went all the way down to lying position so I could get my much needed beauty sleep and do my best to adjust into Japanese timezone. I couldn’t sleep very well in the business class so I can only imagine the horror of flying in economy class. The only down-side to this was that I bought and brought my neck-pillow and earplugs for nothing, but I am more than happy to exchange those for first class seat.

The switch from Nagoya to the airplane that took me to Sapporo went really smoothly, and I got my resident card because you get it at the place you first enter Japan. The second I stepped on the Japanese ground I understood the rumors about Japan’s humidity; I was drenched in sweat in just a few minutes. After a quick wash and a much needed change of clothes, the flight from Nagoya to Sapporo took around two hours, and afterwards we took a shuttle bus to our respective dormitories.

I arrived to my dormitory Kita 8 around 3 pm, completely exhausted and starving. Last time I ate had been the breakfast at Finnair flight around 7am. The second we barged through the dormitory doors with our massive bags and eyebags, we were sat down and told to sign a bunch of papers. They also told us the rules of the house. This included that you should take your shoes off at the door and put them in your locker, you leave your umbrellas by the door, you have about a million different ways in which you have to separate your trash into designated garbage bags, and that no boys are allowed into the upper floors of the building. Ever. When you finally got your room there was nothing from toilet paper to towels, so the first night we spend just… managing. I felt like a survivalist. Everyone was too exhausted to go and find a supermarket, and t-shirts were pretty good towel-replacements anyways.

There were so many new rules and so many official papers that we all felt a bit overwhelmed. That was, however, nothing compared to the next day. Bank. Post. University. Insurance. Student insurance. So many thing. So many papers. So many places to go and look lost at. I have no idea how we would have survived without our awesome Japanese supporters (thank you Yuka, Saya, Reiko and everyone else on the team!) who sacrificed a whole day, literally the whole day from the morning until the very evening, to save our asses. They helped us to fill the papers, they translated, found us a place to eat, helped us to get our phones working, finding adapters, finding cables for the internet landline, and finding equipment to our kitchens. They were just amazing, I feel eternally indebted to those kind souls.

But when things settled down, after we got all the official stuff out of the way, things have been just nicer and nicer every day. It’s like you finally get a grasp on your surrounding and you are not just floating along with no fucking clue as to where you’re going. I’ve met some awesome people here and already made some really good friends (that’s you, Franziska and Agne!). Every day you feel a bit more connected to the place, like when you learn where the local supermarket is, you learn on which side of the road to walk on, how the boiler works, you find the right soy sauce out of million different options… It’s the small things that make you feel like a proper citizen.

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These past few days we’ve had a lot of free time because the next university thing, the orientation, is next week. We’ve been exploring our surroundings and the city, and spend our days enjoying the Sapporo Autumn Festival which is at Odori Park, not too far from our dormitory. The festival lasts for a few weeks so we’ve been going to almost every day to try different foods, taste Sapporo’s classic beer and enjoy the music, performances and general atmosphere. The Odori Park is located pretty much in the middle of the city, it’s big and easy to find from a map, and the tv-tower is hard to miss even from a long distance, so the place acts as a good landmark for us lost foreigners. Hence also the entry name.

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We’ve also visited gorgeous Maruyama Park, prayed to the gods in the traditional Japanese style and got our fortune told. Not that we could read the fortune but I took a picture of it and hopefully, by the end of the year, I’ll be able to tell what it says. Accidentally we also found a good café for rainy days.

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All in all, it seems that things are finally settling down for us. The only thing to mess this peaceful schedule of ours – aside from the ever screaming and croaking crickets – will be the soon starting classes but I think by the time they do begin, we all are ready to have some real order in our lives. Even if it’s school.

For new readers

Hello new Facebook people!

If this is your first time visiting my blog, then welcome! If it isn’t, then welcome back. This is my blog about my exchange year in Sapporo, Japan – an adventure I’m sure you will enjoy as I’m bound to experience some socially awkward situations, cultural differences and difficulties, as well as wonders and weirdness of the land of the rising sun – and I’m planning to blog all about it!

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I haven’t linked this blog to my Facebook before purely because I thought to myself: who the heck would want to read about my applying process and paper wars, unless they’re going through it as well? I’m sure you’re much more interested in what actually happens there, not how I got there. The blog entries tagged with ”applying process” are purely for those who might be planning on going through the same thing next year as I did this year. I’m sure they’ll need some support and someone to relate to. I sure as hell could have used some.

Therefore, as I am leaving to Japan today, I thought it was the time to let you guys know my blog exists. Feel free to comment and ask questions! I’d be happy to answer and chat all about it.

Time to go

Goodbyes are never easy. Not even when it hasn’t quite registered in yet how long you are going to be apart from your loved ones. Some tears were shed, I got hugs and kisses, and slowly it’s starting to become more clear in what kind of a mess I’ve put my spoon into.

I’ve gnawed most of the skin off my fingers by now, I’m so nervous. I think I have done everything and that I have everything I need with me, but still I have this terrible feeling I have forgotten something super-important. Right now I’m sitting at Helsinki Airport and waiting for my flight first to Nagoya (4 hours to go) and the second flight is tomorrow to Sapporo. The longer flight will be over night and thanks to Japan being 6 hours ahead of us, it will be 8am in the morning Japanese time when I arrive to Nagoya (that’s 2am for us, how the hell am I supposed to survive this?!). Afterwards I’ll switch to Japanese Airline and arrive at Sapporo around 1pm.

I think I have all important papers, and I was smart enough to exchange money in advance and picked the envelope here from the airport. I have my passport, visa and money, so even if I forgot something, I’m sure the rest will figure itself out.

Oh hell, here we go.

Last minute traveling, planning and shopping

I went to Helsinki to get my Visa. That was one embarrassing experience I hope to never repeat again. I dragged my suitcase across the uneven stone-streets in bright sunlight with my jacket on. When I got to the embassy I was sweating and panting and the man at the door was the picture of perfect calm. One amusedly raised eyebrow was enough to send me into such deep state of mortification I’ll probably never forget it. Same thing with the woman behind the glass wall. I jammed my passport and wrinkled Certificate of Eligibility under the window with shaking hands while her (also wrinkled) face remained inexpressive as that of a gargoyle. I did detect a hint of disapproval from her though.

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But I did get my Visa. It was a happy ever after for me.

Next I hopped on M/S Superstar with my friend and sailed towards Tallinn. It was still summer there with temperature reaching +17 celsius and probably more in direct sunlight. Our hotel was a four-star beauty, Tallink City Hotel, located smack in the middle of city center. Uneven stone-streets continued to annoy me with their existence but how could you possibly stay angry when your surrounding are so beautiful. The Old City or Old Tallinn was stunning during the day, basking in flowers and sunlight, and gorgeous at night with illuminated terraces and lit torches. Martinis were delicious, food was okay, and everything was cheaper than in Finland.

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If you need a good place to hang out or spend the evening, head to Butterfly Lounge in Old Tallinn. It’s right in the middle but reasonably priced (price ranges for drink were from 6 to 10 euros), and the taste. Oh dear me. Best alcoholic drinks I’ve ever had and I’ve had a lot. Rhubarb Martini is something to experience on it’s own but the venue is also wonderful. I liked the simple and modern style they were going with, and between the buildings you can enter on the patio that is decorated with cherry blossoms and apple trees. If you’re feeling adventurous, you might even try Shisha. Apparently it is the place to be during the weekends but if you want to have a chill evening with your friends and just sit down and talk, this is a good place to visit during the week as well.

But right now I’m back to Finland and Rovaniemi and in the middle of doing my last minute shopping and packing. There were few things that I was suggested to bring more than usual because a) you can’t get it from Japan/it’s more difficult to get it from Japan b) it’s more expensive, or c) there is no variety for the product. My list included:

deodorant, because apparently Japanese people don’t need it or use much deodorant which means there are only few brands available
cold medicine, because I was told the Japanese kind isn’t as effective for us westerners
shaving cream and shavers, because for some inexplainable reason they are more expensive in Japan
tampons, because apparently Japanese gals are all about pads (WHY?!)

If I figure out anything else I would have hoped to bring or not have brought with me, I’ll let you know sometime later. Other last-minute shopping included a neck-pillow and earplugs for my 13 hour flight which I am sooooo looking forward to… Hngh, so much sarcasm my mouth tastes likes lemons.

I also did a placement test for my Japanese Course today which was, to put it simplistically and in the most descriptive way, hell. You have 50 minutes to complete 20 pages of question which were all written in Japanese. …I got to page 5. Yeah, my Japanese ain’t that good. But I am pretty proud that I could actually answers some of the questions (it was in Japanese, you know, hiragana and kanji). The problem was me being such a slow reader. It took me a minute to translate one sentence (and I did not use the vocabulary) but I did translate them! And I think I actually got some of it right. I’m not too bothered with the result anyways as I applied for beginner’s classes only so the test was voluntary for me.

Tired of my face yet?

I felt like I couldn’t just flood Instagram with photos of me-myself-and-I (yes, I’m actually aiming for variety in Instagram) I thought to myself, what would be a better alternative social media page that I could flood with pictures of my face other than my own blog. Conclusion? Nowhere. So here we are, have some photos.

It’s rare for me to be happy with how pictures of myself turn out, but luckily I had one hell of a photographer.

I can’t thank Ismo Jokinen Photography enough for these awesome pictures! Now, I don’t have many good sides to my face (I seriously have to work my angles when taking a selfie because it’s shaped like a rectangle – hence why most of these pictures are also profiles), but Ismo managed to capture most of them like it was nothing. If you want to check out more of his awesome works you can find him on Instagram and Facebook.

Yes, yes, I promise next time it’s gonna be pictures of something else. Please bear with me, it is a rare treat to get a good photo when you were born in the role of ugly duckling.

Moving day

I am exhausted. I’m dead. Please, don’t wake me up in the next 100 years or so. Let me just crawl into a coffin so I can enjoy the sweet eternal slumber of death.

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So, moving day was rough. I needed to get everything packed away permanently (and by that I mean for a year) so I needed to pack things extra-carefully. You can’t just dump everything into boxes like I usually do ’cause you’re not going to be unpacking them anytime soon. So yeah, most of my stuff went to storage at my grandma’s place and some (mostly clothes) are here at my mom’s place where I’ll be living until I leave. I need to decide what I’ll take with me and what I’ll pack away and what I’ll just throw away. And then half of our stuff plus my boyfriend’s stuff went to his new place. It was a hassle.

Just to make things extra fun for me, basically everyone who could have helped me was working or at school. My boyfriend did help some, dad helped to carry all the heavy boxes, and mom helped me to wash the windows, so thank you! But yeah. You have too many things to do? How about a nap instead?

Visa

Such imaginative titles I have for these blog entries. Like wow. Much thought. So creative.

I posted the visa application today. It has been a hassle but mostly because of things that have nothing to do with me and all to do with Embassy of Japan in Finland. I e-mailed them twice and called them twice: first time they told me they would sent me the info-package right now, and the second time they told me to contact them via e-mail and ask for the info-package, so I did. Nothing. Nada. Complete radio silence both times. It wasn’t until the third time I called (and I was mildly annoyed, I’m not gonna lie) they actually send me the info. Like jeez, let’s all give them a slow clap, shall we?

For the visa-application you need:

visa-application form: filled on computer, then printed and signed, and with a passport-picture glued on top
photocopy of Certificate of Eligibility (the certificate was automatically send to me from Hokudai)
photocopy of passport (remember to check it’s not going to expire during your stay!)

Now, that was all the info-package required but there was a note that in some cases they might ask for further information. Since Hokudai had actually send me a Certificate of Admission and Certificate for Jasso-scholarship as well, I photocopied those and added them into the bunch. I mean, hey, what’s the harm, right? Hokudai info claimed they might be needed, so there we go. If the embassy doesn’t need them, then so what? The copies just end up in the trash. No harm done, I thought.

All the applications in Finland are required to be posted to the embassy. The info package said it would take a few days for them to go through the documents and they would inform me immediately when I could go and get it. On some website they said that with the Certificate of Eligibility the time required for procession is 5 working days. On the embassy’s page it said 1-3 weeks. Info-package said few days.

…yeah, I don’t know. We’ll just have to wait and see how long it takes.

Even though the documents are posted, you have to personally go and get the visa from the embassy. Easier said than done when you live on the other side of the country. And because I’m just about the unluckiest person on earth, the embassy is closed on the exact Monday I’m supposed to leave for Japan because of Respect for the Aged Day. And of course, it’s also closed on weekends. This means it’s cheaper for me to just go and get it from Helsinki a week before I leave. With Norwegian the flights were 58 euros there and back with just hand-luggage, and my wonderful friend from high-school very graciously promised to house me for one night (thank you, sweetheart! xoxo).

On the info-package that I got, they also said that when you go get your visa from the embassy you are going to need your passport, original Certificate of Eligibility, and (exactly) 22 euros in cash.

Lastly, I want to tell you guys this tip I learned from my co-worker. When you are booking you flight to Norwegian, there is this box called ”kampanjakoodi” or ”campaign code”. Put a code ”ALLE26” into it and you get the youth prices for those who are under 26 years old. Neat, right?

Vaccinations

I’ve never been scared of needles. Especially in hospitals, those people know what they’re doing. Why is everyone freaking out because of a teensy-tiny needle? I don’t get it.

Anyway, for my exchange year I needed to get four different vaccinations:

tetanus (jäykkökouristusrokote): must be renewed every 10 years. In Finland you get this free from your school’s health clinic.
twinrix (hepatiitti/hepatitis A&B): protect you from liver infections caused by viruses. You need to be given 3 vaccinations, the second a month after the first, and third after a year. The liquid from pharmacy costs about 50e per one shot but injecting it was free at my uni’s health clinic. Altogether, I’ll be paying about 150 euros.
ixiaro (japanin aivotulehdus/japanese brain-fever): Two shots, the second one 28 days after the first one. One shot is about 125 euros from my local pharmacy. Totally costs me about 250 euros.
nimerix (aivokalvon ja selkäytimen tulehdus, sekä veren infektio/meningnitis and spinal infection, and blood infection): One shot, about 60 euros from local pharmacy.

Staying healthy is proving costly, man. Sigh. But I’m staying in Japan for a year so this was a must. Totally all vaccinations cost me around 460 euros. I did save some money by going to my uni’s health clinic for the injections because they are free there. In the pharmacy they would have asked 15 euros per injection but in a rush that would have been one option.

If you’re staying in Japan less than 4 weeks, you usually need only hepatitis injections. Always talk to your doctor and hear their recommendations because they vary on the length of your stay, location and travel plans. Please stay healthy and safe, everyone! Don’t take unnecessary risks that might prove even more costly in the future because you didn’t take any precautions.

”Money won’t make you happy.”

I call bullshit. Like yeah, financial stability is just horrible, isn’t it? Why that title you might ask yourself. My friend, I have news for you regarding that exact subject.

I AM THE CHOSEN ONE.

Just kidding! Well, kinda. I have been chosen to be one of the lucky ones to receive the JASSO-scholarship and on the outside I’m cool as a cucumber but on the inside I’m freaking out. For those of you who don’t know:

”Japan Student Services Organization (JASSO) offers scholarship for qualified international students who are accepted by a Japanese university, graduate school, junior college, college of technology (3rd grade or upper) or professional training college under a student exchange agreement or other student exchange arrangement on a short-term basis from 8 days to one year between Japanese school and their home higher educational institution outside Japan.”

Basically it’s the mother of all scholarships and I got the full thing. This year (2016-2017) the scholarship’s monthly stipend is 80,000 JPY which converted into euros is around 700 euros. It will cover my rent, bills and most of my food-spendings. Along with the normal student-support from KELA, I’m all good to go. I had been mentally prepared to be declined and having to take a student loan but apparently it shall no longer be necessary.

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”Money won’t make you happy”? Clearly you’ve never received a scholarship before.