See you soon

Ja, jag är inte längre i Japan, och inte längre på utlandsår. Nu har jag pluggat ännu en termin i Linköping och har precis påbörjat ännu en. Och det känns bra. Allt är mycket lättare skolmässigt än i Frankrike, och kurserna på avancerad nivå är jättekul. Håller på just nu med tillgodoräkningen, som jag tänkte att jag skulle delge här så småningom om det kanske skulle kunna hjälpa någon blivande erasmus därute. Men jag saknar helt klart livet jag hade där. Den berömda erasmuskoman som jag upplever att många av mina kompisar därifrån har genomgått/genomgår. Detta är en sång till alla er.

This is a song to all of you guys with erasmus coma. Miss you all. I'll see you soon xxx.

Ginkakuji

Today we went to Ginkakuji which is one of the amazing temples of Kyoto. This one was founded in the 15th century and it was so cool to see. Not only the buildings with their very special architecture that I associate so much with Japan, but only the fantastic garden which was so beautiful. Just look at the pictures, I hope they can show some of its beauty.

Ice cream with vanilla and green tea flavor.

And then we bought an ice pop.

Kyoto University.

Patchinko.

Pizza with banana and chocolate.

Kaveh in Kobe

As I said earlier, we went to Kobe today to see Kaveh who lives in Kobe. It was so nice to see him too, I haven't seen any of my friends for over a year! He showed us around in Kobe, which is a very nice city, I really liked it. It has both mountains and a harbor, nice shopping streets and a china town. We went around, taking a tour, passing through a 100 yen store to buy souvenirs (:P), had a fika at Muji (they had nice coffee, similar to Swedish coffee actually), went to the harbor, and then we had sushi at a nice place where the sushi pieces come to your table on a conveyor belt. 

After that we went up the big hill behind the city, passing a convenient store on the way to get some beers and a cup of sake (have to try, right?). There was such an amazing view up there, all dark but the city with all its lights down there. We could see as far as Osaka, but it looked as one city from up there. They are expanding so much that they are growing together, all three of them, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe. We even saw fireworks in Osaka! It was perfect, just to sit up there talking like old times, with this beautiful view.  I'm so glad i could come here while my friends are still here, it makes this whole experience so much better and I appreciate it a lot! And I'm also glad that we're going to see each other more in a couple of weeks when we all move back to Linköping. I think we all have changed a lot during our year abroad, but somehow we are still the same. 

Sand dunes and camels!

Yesterday we went back to the Tottori sand dunes, but now it was daylight so we could actually see the big sand dunes. They were huge! Can't see how all that sand came there naturally. Cool! And of course we had to ride camels, that was cool. But it was only for like 100 meters, haha. We also tried the Tottori pear soft ice cream, very nice! (The pears were too expensive :P)
I love the Tottori mascot, トリピー, it's so cute!
After the trip to the sand dunes we began our long journey back to Kyoto. We only took small local trains so it took us about six hours, but it was nice to see the countryside. The first thing I saw in Kyoto were the train station with its original architecture, and behind it, the Kyoto Tower. It's a much bigger city than Tottori (population ca 200,000), Kyoto has a population of about 1.5 million, but that's only the city centre, so it's still a lot bigger than cities in Sweden ;) I'm staying with Sara in her apartment because she has two rooms and two beds, which is perfect. Even though I have a bed, because of the high atmospheric humidity level, it's not very comfortable. It's so hot here, even during the night. When we woke up this morning at 8.30 it was already 29 degrees.
First of all, we rented a bike for me to use while I'm here, because it's really easy to use to get around in the city. Then we went to town to get the train to Kobe, because today we're going to visit Kaveh! I'm so happy that I'm able to get around in Japan this much and see a lot of different places, it's awesome!

And if you read this, please feel free to write a comment! :)

Kyoto.

Going to Kobe.

Beer please.