Sunday, August 17, 2008

Japan!!!

I arrived in Japan two days ago. The flight went so well so, almost all AGUers slept soundly. The two weeks in Maryland were gone so quickly. I enjoyed so much thanks to everybody.

The first thing I did in Japan was to have eaten white rice and sashimi. I ate them two days in a row!! Japanese sashimi is much better for me than American one.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Batting Center

Yesterday, we went to a batting center. This was a first time to play baseball for a half month so I didn’t do so well but I enjoyed so much. But the batting center is the worst one I’ve ever went to!! The machines were too difficult to bat!!! Afterwards, we went back to the hotel by car. In the car, almost everybody slept. (I want to put on the photo but I don’t have it, sorry) And this post is the last one at UM. I’ll make posts after going back to Japan!!! Tank you, everybody!!!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

American cook out

Yesterday, we went to Nikki’s house to eat American out cook. I barbecue with my family in summer in Japan. I love it!!!! After going back to Japan, I want to do.

At Nikki’s house, there were many delicious American foods such as burgers, hotdogs and so on. They tasted so good and I ate water melon with Joe and Mike. It also delicious so Mike ate too much!!! Yesterday was beautiful day.
Thank you, Nikki’s parents and Nikki

Monday, August 11, 2008

MLB


We went to Camden Yards to see Baltimore Orioles play baseball. I love baseball, so I had been looking forward to seeing MLB. The game was exciting and I found many differences between Japanese Professional Baseball and MLB, the differences of style of cheering, atmosphere, and style of baseball. MLB is more powerful than Japan, but less technical though and the foods that are sold at the stadium are too big!!! There are many differences, but I enjoyed it so much!!

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Japanese sweet tea?


Yesterday, some students, Mike and I went to Teaism CafĂ©, which is a Japanese restaurant. I ordered beef ochazuke (boiled rice with tea poured on it; simple meal) and Japanese sweet tea. Before ordering, I thought Japanese tea is not sweet but I ordered and it tasted so bad, the worst tea I’ve ever drunken!!!! But ochazuke was so good!! But it was a little Americanized. At the store, there are some Koi (carp). The koi were beautiful, some are white, some are gold….. In Japan, there are many koi, so when I saw the koi, I remembered Japan.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

5th day in America

We had Dr Hallion’s lecture of diplomacy of America. The lecture was difficult to understand because she spoken in English. I did not understand what she said, so I thought I must study English more.

Afterwards nine students, Nikki and I played volleyball at the University of Maryland. The court is very beautiful, in Japan there are almost no volleyball courts on campus. The University of Maryland is very big, like a city.
Then we went to Nikki’s apartment to eat some pizzas and relax. The apartment is beautiful and also Nikki’s room!! The pizzas were delicious!! We had a nice day and I’m enjoying my time in America!!

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Meeting UMD students

Yesterday, we met Maryland students who are studying Japanese. I was surprised because the students know Japanese culture, manga (comics) and so on. They know Japanese manga more than me. Afterwards we went bowling and played billiards on campus. We enjoyed them and meeting the students are good. we had a beautiful day.

Concert


We went to the Kennedy center for a free concert. This is the first time to go to a concert as far as I can remember. I don’t like listening to music so much, so yesterday listening to the jazz made me sleepy. Afterwards we went to Dupont Circle to eat Japanese food. Most of the students ate sushi and I ate sashimi and miso soup. Miso soup was good, sashimi was so-so though.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Georgetown


Yesterday, I went to Georgetown. In Georgetown, there are many historical sites and I went some of them such as Church of Christ which was built many years ago. I was very excited because in Japan, I can not see old building. There are almost no buildings which were built 300 years ago or more. In America, there are many old buildings so I’m looking forward to taking photo of them.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Arrival in America


My name is Tomoya Kawano. I’m a university student. My major is international economics. Yesterday; I arrived in America, Washington D.C. It took 13hours by plane. I saw the White House, Washington Monument and so on. I ate a cheeseburger. They were so big. Everything is bigger than Japan. This is the first time to come to America. What I want to do is to brush up my English skill, go to see MLB game and eat American sushi and hotdog. . Now I’m in university of Maryland. Of course it is bigger than my university.