Shimane, Japan
My name is Melissa and I am a 22 year old American living in rural Japan. I graduated with a degree in International Studies and Japanese Language and now work as an ALT (assistant language teacher) through the JET Program.
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Saturday, November 27, 2010

Starbucks and Motorcycles

Okay…so I know I said I would be going back in time with posts for awhile and I still plan to do that, but I simply had to make a blog post about my amazing day yesterday. Also, I really want to write about it so I don’t forget the feelings I had about it!

November 26, 2010

I did something spontaneous for the first time in basically ever! It has been a busy week so by yesterday (Friday) I was feeling a little bit under the weather. All day I had been waffling about whether or not I wanted to go to my afternoon class. After having lunch with some friends I was feeling a little better, but still figured I would get some books for homework at the library and then head home to sleep. On my way back from the Library I ran into my friend Tatsu, who I had just had lunch with but is a new friend to me so we didn't know each that well. He and my other friend Elyse had decided to skip class and go to a motorcycle store in Kyoto and they asked me if I wanted to come along. At first I was hesitant because usually going to Kyoto means a 35 minutes crowded train ride and pushing your way through the mass of people once you get there. But this was not the case because Tatsu has a CAR!!! Oh my, the novelty of someone with a car in Japan let alone a college student. Elyse and I were like dogs that jump at the word car ride! Tatsu was like “wanna go for a car ride?!” and we were like “Car ride!? Car ride? Where? Where’s the car??! Let’s go! CAR!” lol well not exactly like that but you get the idea. Thus, I spontaneously skipped class to go a motorcycle shop in the suburbs of Kyoto! But, before that we made a brief detour at Starbucks! Which is not that big of a novelty in Japan, but this one was pretty epic because it was…FREE STANDING, drive thru, parking lot the works. If you didn’t look at the Japanese menu you would think you had been transported back to America! After getting coffee we had a pleasant car ride through suburban Kyoto. It was beautiful and so relaxing. I never realized how smoothly cars move, but after being on crowded buses and trains and standing on the moving vehicle a car is just so pleasant to me. It felt like home, driving in the car with good friends not having any particular destinations in mind. We headed to the bike shop that was really pretty big for Japan. Tatsu races motorcycles and it is kind of his thing so he showed us around and for me knowing nothing of motorcycles it was a cool new experience. Elyse on the other hand loves bikes and had basically died and gone to heaven! After that we had fancy coffee and ice cream at the café next door and it was just a really wonderful afternoon. I got to know two people who were really just acquaintances before, but I think will prove to be good friends! We didn’t do much else besides driving and talking and joking around so I guess it is hard to put into words here the feeling, but I just finally felt at home here in Japan. The end!


P.S. I didn't have my camera so the pics are from my cellphone.

Coming soon:

Day in Kasagi, Miyajima Trip, Thanksgiving at KGU and more!

I plan to blog like crazy over winter break since I will have the time to get caught up! For now I am going to post some pictures today so check out the evidence section to see pictures of what I have been doing so far!

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