We arrived around 2PM and went to do some sports in an indoor gym. I am not particularly a sports kind of person\u2026 the only type of sport I am any good at is badminton\u2026 but the sports we played there were no regular sports. Well ok, initially we did play regular volley and my right arm ended up all bruised because I\u2019m not used to it, but after volley, the genre changed a bit. For example, we had goal shooting competitions in basketball (with your back turned against the hoop) and soccer goal shooting competition (where you had to spin around a bat 10 times before shooting\u3050\u308b\u3050\u308b\u30d0\u30c3\u30c8). I didn\u2019t even get to kick the ball as I fell over after spinning before even getting to the ball. ^^ It was a lot of fun, but I ended up with a few bruises \u2013 that\u2019s how sport is!<\/p>\n
After the sports, we went to the shared bath \u304a\u98a8\u5442 (women and men separated though ^^) and it was very nice after those hours of sports. We were only two girls, so I got a chance to talk to a girl from the 4th<\/sup> year bachelor students who I hadn\u2019t talked to before. Her English was pretty good \u2013 particularly the understanding \u2013 and we spoke in a mix of English and Japanese (it\u2019s usually like that when I talk to the students ^^). In the evening, we went to a specific small Japanese style house to drink (\u98f2\u307f\u4f1a). There were several of these small houses and they were located a bit away from the main building, so it seemed as if they were built with the purpose of housing drinking parties where people are loud. ^^ Usually the students are pretty shy about talking to me \u2013 particularly in English \u2013 but after only a few drinks they became a lot more chatty. Before this trip, I had only really talked to the 1st<\/sup> year master students and the PhD student, so it was nice to get a chance to get to know some of the others a bit as well. I showed some Danish drinking style to some of the guys who had started drinking whiskey. In Japan, they really like to mix whiskey and sparkling water to make \u201cHigh ball\u201d, but I said that in Denmark it\u2019s a lot more common to drink whiskey on the rocks (only with ice). After that, we somehow ended up drinking pure whiskey shots with Danish \u201cSk\u00e5\u00e5\u00e5\u00e5\u00e5l\u201d (cheers) even though that\u2019s not really Danish style\u2026 but I guess drinking strong alcohol like that is Danish style after all. ^^ All of a sudden one of the guys who were sitting in the window disappeared (fell out)\u2026 luckily it was ground level so he was okay. After we realised he was okay, we also realised how funny it had actually looked. ^^ I think we went back to sleep around 5AM that night, and had to get up in the morning the next day to play soccer.<\/p>\n I was surprised at myself for actually being able to get up around 8AM and go play soccer. I can\u2019t say I felt very good, but we were all in the same boat, so the pace of the soccer game was not very high! The rest of the people from the lab arrived around noon, and the presentations started at 1PM \u2013 everything in Japanese. I had barely slept and was a bit hung over, so it was VERY difficult staying awake during the presentations, but I didn\u2019t fall asleep!! The Professor did though\u2026 he slept through one of the presentations from start to finish\u2026 I felt so sorry for these guys who\u2019d worked their ass off to prepare. But oh well, at least the associate professor was watching through all presentations and asking questions every time. It was difficult for me to understand the contents of the presentations, since I couldn\u2019t really understand what they said as I was tired and it was difficult words, but I did my best \u9811\u5f35\u3063\u3066\u3044\u305f! In the evening that day, the official drinking party took place and half of us were already exhausted before even starting (because of the party the day before). However, after getting a few beers and getting back into party mood again, the tiredness and hangovers were forgotten quickly.<\/p>\n I was seated near the professor and associate professor, and spent the first few hours talking to them. Before this, I didn\u2019t really have much of a chance to talk to the professor before this, since he\u2019s a busy guy, so it was nice. The bachelor students had to say something funny about their senpais in front of everyone, and even though I didn\u2019t understand it all, it was so much fun. After the initial party, it moved into the same small house we used the day before. Here I got to talk a bit more to the professor, but also a lot to some of the bachelor students who were not there the day before. I learned about the Japanese style \u201cdrink call\u201d songs where you sing someone\u2019s name and then they have to finish the glass. Some of the guys even had their own special song that everyone knew. ^^ I taught them the Danish version of this type of song (e.g. \u201cka\u2019 Kristine, ka\u2019 Kristine, ka\u2019 Kristine drikke ud\u201d), but they couldn\u2019t pronounce (or remember) it so it ended up just being \u201cka\u2019 Kristine, ka\u2019 Kristine, ka\u2019 Kristine\u201d in repeat instead. ^^ I realised one thing, which is quite different between the Japanese and Danish party style. In Denmark, you\u2019d always have music at a party, but not in Japan. The noise level in Japan (from people) though, is much higher. ^^ But I really like the Japanese drinking party style \u2013 better than the Danish. Everyone got so drunk this day, and in particular one guy who I ended up half-carrying back to his room. Again this day, I kept partying until very late and after the party I was talking to three other guys until at least 5:30AM. I only got two hours of sleep that night. Despite this, I went to eat breakfast before going to play soccer again the next day. I was really tired, but I was not as hungover as the day before.<\/p>\n The drive back home that afternoon was very long. Not just because I was exhausted, but because it was during silver week (Japanese national holiday), and we were stuck in traffic jams for the whole trip. I think we took off around 2PM from Karuizawa, and I was home in my apartment around 9PM. And the trip is usually 3-4 hours! I had a hard time understanding any Japanese in the car even though I had been speaking mainly Japanese during the trip \u2013 but both my body and brain were completely exhausted. When I got back to my apartment, my boyfriend was waiting for me (he had been sleeping since he arrived ^^), and that was really nice! I didn\u2019t have much energy though, so we just went to a convenience store to get him some food, and then shortly after I went to sleep.<\/p>\n During this trip I experienced so many new things and learned a lot\u2026 particularly about Japanese drinking culture\u2026 \ud83d\ude00 Everyone here have been so nice and welcoming, and I\u2019m very grateful!!<\/p>\n I have been so busy that I didn\u2019t get to write anything on my blog for more than a month I think! Since I wrote my last post here, so many things have happened that I don\u2019t even know where… Continue Reading ![\"1443929850841\"](\"http:\/\/sci-life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/1443929850841.jpg\")
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