Introduction time! I'll make this short, we've got a lot to say. I am a 3rd year student at the University of Denver. My major is International Health and Gender Development, with a minor in Philosophy. Regardless of such fancy titles, I am a language and travel fiend, and Japan has been the twinkle in my eye ever since I was in 6th grade and a nurse from Japan came to stay in our house and taught little me Japanese words and cooking. It was okonomiyaki sauce and freeze-dried miso soup (plus lots of fun times at Water World!) that convinced me that Japan was the place for me. It just so happened that my high school was the only one in Colorado that offered the language. So lucky me, my love for the country was fueled for 4 years straight, and I entered college dead-set on a year in Japan. Now I am here. It's like a Disney movie! I do feel I slightly resemble Lindsay Lohan.

Needless to say, Japan is everything that the art museums, travel guides, television shows (etc etc etc) say it is. I am in Nagoya, the 4th largest city in Japan, attending Nanzan Daigaku, a previously Christian school now known for it's world-wide exchange program through it's Center for Japanese Studies. My program is Japanese intensive, and now that I have started classes, I may vouch for emphasis on the "intensive" part of that title. But the rigor is welcome, as I am living in a homestay in which I speak Japanese every day from sunrise to sunset with a sweet woman named Ryoko, who I call my okaasan (Japanese for mother). I am traveling with IES Abroad, which means that I have already gotten a considerable taste of Japanese culture through my orientation in the mountain town of Inuyama in which we watched cormorant fishers, ate lots of sashimi, and dipped nightly in the ryokan (Japanese inn) onsen (Japanese hot-tubs basically. Very little will make you happier than this nightly ritual).

Well, I believe that's all so far! For more detail, check out my extended blog http://kt-synesthesia.blogspot.com/.

Mata ne! :D