Blog Revival & NUPACE Exchange

A long time has passed since the last post of this blog; not only missing are the daily posts from my trip in 2010, but I actually returned in Japan to do a similar trip in November 2012 and am now waiting at Lester Pearson Intl. Airport for yet another departure to my seemingly beloved Narita Airport, but this time around not for tourism as my last two trips: Study will be the main purpose of my -extended- stay in Japan. I will attempt to wrap up what has been going on for the last two years regarding my travels in Japan and whatnot.

First of all, it would be rather difficult for me to recall what happened after the last time I write something down back in 2010. I stopped after day 9 out of a trip that lasted 24 days in total, so remembering the subsequent event might prove difficult. Let's just say I had a lot of fun and everything went well. That should wrap up the first chapters of my travels in Japan.

Obviously, this wouldn't be the last time I went to Japan. I mean, how can somebody say with perfect confidence that this will be the last time they visit Japan (assuming you liked the actual country of course, which isn't too hard to do) ? In the midst of my then newly began undergraduate studies in Physics back home in Montreal, I managed to plan another trip in November 2012, but this time around I dragged a very good friend of mine with me. Fun fact: not only the arrival and departure dates were identical to my first trip in 2010, but the very hours and flight numbers were identical as well. The places we visited were slightly different this time though. Unlike my first trip, where I visited many places for a short time, we stayed a bit longer in places I deemed to be more worthwhile (we still did move a lot though). No surprises here, we had a blast. His father even met us over there and considering I get along very well with him as well, he was more than welcome. It would probably take me the whole upcoming 13h flight to write down everything we did, so I'll simply link you to the photo album that was mostly shot by my friend, Colin L. Racicot, who, among other things, has a particular talent for photography.

Japan 2012 on Flickr by Colin L. Racicot.

Upon my return from this second trip and after the, so terrible, traveler's blues had passed, I started my fourth semester at University and while doing stuff that any regular physics university students do, I stumbled upon the possibility of doing an study-related exchange to many possible university around the world, including Japan. Fast forward to February 2013 and my application form was on the hand of the Universite de Montreal and Nagoya University to review.

The assembling of my application form wasn't a simple task. From the pictures that had to be a few millimeters close to the demanded size (gotta please the meticulous Japanese) to waking up at 4 in the morning to take the bus that would take me other side of town taking the TOEFL test. Anyhow, the process wasn't made of pure fun. But as all good things you invest time in, the results were, nonetheless, pleasing (well not all of them, if you're unfortunate). I received the confirmation I was selected around mid July I believe, along with the news that I was also offered the JASSO scholarship. I then started arranging every aspects of my incoming stay in Japan, which would span almost 6 months. When I think about it, there wasn't THAT much work to get prepare, if you rule out the obvious stuff like getting travel insurance, pre-dormitory accommodation, plane tickets, etc. The main concern was probably getting Student Visa once I had received my Certificate of Eligibility from Nagoya University,  which is one of the most important document in this whole deal. The accommodation was mostly taken care of by the NUPACE office, so no worries here (I will be staying at the International Ohmeikan).

As I'm typing this in Toronto, I have absolutely no idea how the coming week is going to be, although I expect a whole lot of paperwork to be filled and getting to know the fellow NUPACE students. Like I have said many times to those who know me, I won't rest in peace until me actual classes are registered. You see, being in the Physics department in Montreal, which is a rather specific major, restricts me to, well... physics related classes, and I had to pick up those classes very carefully for them to be credited at my home university. So carefully that I believe I HAD to get the classes I submitted in my application form, which are by the way all Global 30 classes that are apparently also open to exchange students. To quickly summarize what Global 30 is; it is a program initiated by Japanese government a few years ago to implement a good diversity of English-taught undergraduate as well as graduate programs (because, let's be frank, there's no way I could understand what the hell is going on during a physics lecture in Japanese; my Japanese which is functional at best). If I can't get all the classes I initially asked for, I will have to find replacements classes, which might prove difficult. Let's hope for the best here.

I plan on updating this blog more or less frequently; I'll be studying after all and not every day might struck you at being interesting. But you should definitively look forward what interesting -or not- stories I'll be reporting here. And if you happen to be a prospective NUPACE student searching some advice, from the Universite de Montreal or anywhere around the world, let this blog be a "Ask a NUPACE student Anything" and I'll answer to the best of my capacities.

Finally, I must apologize to all my French speaking entourage for making this in English; I'm hoping to reach a broader audience by writing in English.

On this, see you after (or during?) my flight.

Sebastien

Japan Log : Day 9

I was bound to set off for Kyoto on tat day, but since i was staying in Kyoto for a relatively long time (3 nights), I took things easy in the morning and took my time to visit Takayama's daily morning market. Walked along the canal, bought the traditional Saru-something, or the Faceless Baby Monkey, which the obligatory souvenir from Takayama, fed the carps and eventually left for Kyoto. As I checked out, I complimented the owner for his beautiful ryokan; he was rather embarrassed by th compliment and even gave me a nice pair of chopsticks as a souvenir. He was a kind man.

Japan Log : Day 8

Although comfortable, the night was rather cold as the gas heater automatically turned itself off during the night, the thermometer indicated 11 Celsius degrees when I woke up. I did slept well though, I don't mind cold weather at all; 11°C is enough to make me realized it's slightly cold. I took things easy on that morning as my next destination was not so far (Takayama), so I took my time dressing up and when I was zip my jacket, I see on the mirror some kind of huge insect that was on my jacket. Now normally if I were in Canada, I would have had a rather good idea of the insect on first sight; if it's dangerous or not, etc, but now I was in Japan and I had not a freaking idea of what that thing was ! I quickly pushed that thing off me (took two times) and it landed directly in the garbage bin on the opposite side of the room; talk about aiming. On a closer look ,it looked like some sort of cross over between a spider and a grasshopper...

Japan Log : Day 7

After the wonderful night I had in the bus, I was ready for the day at 6h20, when the bus arrived Kanazawa. One of my concern about taking the night bus was that I would be exhausted form the lack of sleep in the bus. This was not of my concern anymore as I passed sleept as much as I would in a regular day; I would highly recommend the night buses of Nohi Bus Co. to everyone. Once in Kanazawa, my goal was Shirakawa-go and I knew there was a bus line that connected the two cities, but I also knew it was on reservation only, which I didn't had, so I instead headed toward Takayama and take a reservation free bus over there. This plan turned out great since I would have arrived a little bit too early in Shirakawa if I took the bus from Kanazawa.

Japan Log : Day 6

Didn't really had a precise idea of w, hat I was going to do on the 6^th day, except that I needed to return for Tokyo. I left Date Masamune's city as soon as I could and jumped in the Hikari shinkansen this time, which I fould to be much faster then the Tsubasa. I needed to go back to Tokyo for catching the night bus that was going to Kanazawa, but that bus was an overnight highway bus that was leaving at 22h20 and I arrived at Tokyo at 13h, I had no clear idea of what to do, so first I decided to go scout the bus station a little in order to have a good idea of the place and left my big pack-sack in a coin locker around there.

Japan Log : Day 5

I took the fifth day rather smoothly; after waking up from a wonderful night, bathing in the onsen one last time and enjoying my first traditional Japanese breakfast I set out for Sendai where my hotel was located. I didn't have a significant interest for Sendai, but staying in Matsushima, where I wanted to spend my day, was rather expensive, so I opted for a reasonably priced business hotel in Sendai, which is 25 min away by train. One again, I got a lift from the ryokan to the bus station and as I told the staff guy that I was going to Sendai, he started talking to me about his parents that were apparently living there.

Japan Log : Day 4

On that day, I first had to take the train from Ueno to Yamagata and then from there, take the bus up to Zao Onsen which is located atop of some mountain 50 min away from Yamagata. The ride from Ueno to Yamagata was by shinkansen, the Japanese bullet train; I was eager to ride one for my first time. While waiting in the station I saw many MAX models, which were totally impressive: their aerodynamic noses do look like bullets and they had 2 floors ! The model I rode was a Tsubasa Shinkansen, slightly less impressive, but still awesome to take. The seats were comfortable, the interior design pretty nice and it rode on the rails very smoothly.