Invasion of the Extra-curricular Organizations

On campus today, every single club was trying to recruit new members. There were so many different types! From glee and guitar club to Nou theater, juggling, jazz, and ice-skating. People yelling their club names, wordless sounds, or singing in melodious harmony. It was crowded but not in a claustrophobic way. I was specifically looking for archery and have realized I will not be learning taiko this semester due to the fact that there is no taiko organization on campus. The archery club members were mainly just practicing in their dojo behind the library. It was a bit hard to find (I ended up asking the Nou theater people who then helped me find someone - very nice!). Turns out that I will probably not be joining kyuudou (archery). It meets five days a week - but that is not what bothers me. It is that it meets on Saturdays that is problematic. That would mean my travel options and schedules would become much more limited than they already are. It was so cool to see them shooting though! They are very precise in their form and take their time with each shot. And the bows! They are so tall yet light-weight!

However, I still want to join a club, just one with less restrictions and time needed. There was a light-music club (band instruments), but it seems that they are more likely to go listen to music rather than play it. Two clubs that I am considering are the Mandolin club and the Scuba diving club. The former meets a few times a week, but I feel that they are not as strict and rule-based as archery. I checked and you do not have to own your own instrument. Th scuba-diving club seems to have a set schedule or doing something once or twice a month, including volunteering at beaches as well as just scuba diving. I will doing more research (and translating of the brochures) tomorrow.

Tonight, I had Japanese tonkatsu for the first time. It is basically fried chicken, but it was so good and crunchy yet not hard. There was also rice, red miso soup (the third time of miso soup), a salad of cucumber and leftover octopus, spinach, a Japanese-style salad with gobo and renkon, tofu, and hijiki - a type of black, thick seaweed. Hijiki does not look like it will be very appetizing, but it is quite delicious.

I think I want to try to explore Nishinomiya tomorrow, especially because most of my "to-go-while-in-Japan" places are outside of this city. I'm realizing that though this city isn't popular outside of Japan, it is really neat. I believe many students are going to Nara on Thursday, though not necessarily as one big group. I think I'm going to do that as well, and wait just a few more days for the cherry blossoms at Osaka Castle to bloom (dream day trip right there).

More school-related news for today:

• Had gym orientation today and paid the entry fee. I will have to buy some indoor work-out shoes tomorrow, hopefully cheap. I wish I had known this before (that you need a separate pair of indoor-only shoes for the campus gym).
• Gotta get some binders
• Had a nice orientation concerning Japanese courses today in which our KGU international programs coordinator gave us some nice tips such as how in order to become skilled at Japanese, one must study in class, study out of class, try to talk often and correctly with fellow Japanese-speaking people, be attentive, and try to dream in Japanese (that last one was a bit of a joke, but also sincere). 
• As of today, I can start adding classes into my online shopping cart for my home university's fall semester. I have two weeks to figure out my fall schedule (while also figuring out my current spring semester schedule here). 
• Kangaku (the colloquial term for KGU) is a very beautiful campus, with gardens and ponds, historical buildings, and a mix of Spanish missionary style with Japanese style.

I was able to get some good pictures while decompressing in said gardens today, which I will post below. Other than that, until tomorrow!

Another hiyodori (bulbul) but my best pictures of them yet!!!

Suzume (Eurasian tree sparrows)

Kijibato (Oriental turtle dove)

And two types of ducks that I have not yet figured the species out.