Today was definitely a catch up day! After a lateish start, I spent a couple of hours catching up on emails and with friends, including a skype with my sister before the internet cut out :( After that, we head into the town of Tsukuba and did some shopping - grabbed some delicious lunch (seriously, I have to stop with the tempura) before getting back and skyping Kris and Nat which was really wonderful and made me terribly homesick, I'm looking forward to seeing...

Ahhh Tokyo! What a city! Today a group of us jumped on the train and faced the big city. Lights, colours and interesting characters roamed every street and it was full of life. We went shopping in the electronic district and spent most of the day wondering fun and quirky shops - I even managed to nail down a couple of presents! After lunch, we decided a quick backtrack to Ueno was neccessary find the National Science Museum - and we werent disappointed at all. S...

Question: A good day always starts with being soaked through, right? Answer: Right! Today started with a brisk walk in torrential rain with no rain protection or an umbrella to our meeting spot, assuming the field trip would be cancelled - fun fact, t'was not! I was kindly donated a plastic poncho with the sporty 'Colour Run' printed on it, and as I pulled it over myself and my backpack I could faintly hear Katy Perry in the background with her 'do you ever fee...

More learning today! All of us from ANU and UTas went out to dinner at a more traditional restaurant last night and then got ice cream - we're a good bunch, we all share interests, some are different but there's a lot of cross over. It was fun wondering the city, chatting and getting to know everyone. I hadn't realised but I hadn't had a proper conversation with someone in over a week since I was travelling and was typing all my conversations. It's nice! The cl...

Study has begun! We got up bright and early and I met our sensei, and we got straight into it! We were sharing the class with people from all over south east asia, I also met a man from France and a lovely man from Kenya! The class went from 8.30-4.30 and we discussed a lot about biodiversity and it's applications in agriculture, with input from all our countries. I'm still tired, and hungry despite the cheapest lunch ever from the cafeteria?! 390 yen for rice...