First trip to Komaba and Shibuya

Fff, jetlag is the worst. I was absolutely exhausted last night (really, really wanted to sleep around 8pm), but stayed up until a more normal bedtime (11:30 or so), and still woke up at 5:30. XD+

Today was to be the "bike tour" to Mitakadai station. It was raining at ten, but since so many of us had gathered we decided we would take the bus to Kichijoji and then those who wanted to could take the train to Komaba (campus), to see it. But it was a big group, so we were moving slowly, and by the time we got to the bus stop the rain had stopped. So, most of us (seventeen AIKOMsei and two tutors, I think) went back to the hall to get our bikes, and biked to Mitaka-dai station, after all. We then all got on the train to Komaba for the first time.
What we saw of the campus was exciting. As we walked down the steps from the station and the main gate tot he campuseveryone suddenly sort of gasped.
I guess it's to be expected from TouDai, but the campus was really pretty. The trees are especially pretty, though right now the ginko nuts are falling and smell bad. We ate in the dining hall there, then walked to Shibuya, which is a very short walk from one side of the campus. '

Shibuya was just amazing. I really couldn't even take it in. There's just so much. At the same time, though, it was actually easier to get around and navigate than I expected. We saw the famous statue of Hachikou (pictures later...), then split up to shop/explore/etc. for two hours. I went with Robert (Norway/New Zealand), Bastien (France), and Zhemin (and maybe one more person?) to an electronics store, since Robert and Bastien both had things they needed. We ended up mixing with some other AIKOMsei there, and I ultimately left with Hanika and Etienne (both France). It was the first time I really talked to Etienne, so I was very glad for that. We explored a Book-Off there, where I bought a Spitz CD, Etienne bought a bunch of CDs, and Anika bought a dictionary and little stuffed animal thing. We looked though all the floors of the building (all used merchandise), including the clothing shop int he basement. I also found a Mameshiba keychain in a Gahapon machine. Since I was thinking just this morning that I needed something to put my keys on, since having loose keys makes me nervous about losing them, and since I love Mameshiba, I bought one. <# It was really very much fun, and I got to know Etienne and Anika much more. We finally met everyone back at Hachikou, then rode the train from the Shibuya station back to Mitakadai, and biked back (this time on the more dangerous/difficult, but straightforward route). After we got back to the dorm Sebastian and I were going to meet with some others at seven to go out to eat, but then he came and got me from my room when they left early to try to go put some money in toward our internet. The two konbini we went to both required Japanese bank accounts (which we don't have yet), so we went back to hall, met a bunch more AIKOMsei (to make 17 of us, I think), and then went to eat. Some went off to try to go to a nearby Ramen shop, but since it was too small for all of us the rest of us tried to go to the nearby kaitenzushi restaurant. But, this being Saturday night, it was really busy, with a long wait, so we ended up going to Gassto(?), the restaurant many of us went to two days ago. The way the seating ended up, I talked mostly to Erica and Francesco, which was really nice because I hadn't really talked to Francesco much yet at all. Afterward we met the ramenya folks and all went to a Supermarket, which is something I've been wanting to do since I arrived. XD I bought some bananas (craving fresh food after so much packages and restaurant food), a package of anman, some milk, some dish soap and a kettle. Yisha, Shahenda myself and someone else (>_>) also talked to a really friendly local woman a bit, in Japanese, which was really cool.

Another thing... So, last summer I think, I wrote about my experience with British friends, how I was sometimes involuntarily picking up their accent after being around them (really involuntarily- I was trying not to, since it was kind of embarrassing). It's definitely happening really strongly here. Today with Etienne and Hanika, and their French accents... And definitely with Zhemin and his Chinese accent (spiced with a British accent on a few words). I keep hearing really strange things come out of my mouth. XD+
On the other hand, though, it may be that this thing I do with accents has an upside. I think I can hear an improvement in my Japanese speaking, in terms of intonation and pronunciation, being around so many native speakers all the time. I guess that's worth it, if the price is a temporary loss of my normal ability to speak English with entirely my normal Midwest/Michigan SAE accent.

I mentioned to Sebastian that I wanted to practice riding to Mitaka-dai station on the "safe route" (complicated and harder to remember, but dramatically less stressful than the "dangerous route"), just make a dry run tomorrow, before I'm actually expected to get to Komaba on any schedule. And he mentioned it to someone, and now, after a few more iterations of this, it seems that a fairly large group of us will be going, with is pretty rad, I think. I've really enjoyed spending time time with the various AIKOMsei so far, so I'm looking forward to it.