Golden Week Update: My new Apartment!

So it seems that the so-called Golden Week soon is over! Not that it was too different from other weeks though, I'm actually getting more days off in the upcoming week since I'll be going to Tokyo for the weekend leaving from Kyoto by night bus on Thursday.

One thing that happened in the last week though, which I mentioned in my last post, is that I have moved to a new place! My neighbor Jamilah and I got tired of living in the middle of nowhere (Read: Haradani), and decided to move out in a rush because of that (and also somehow because of the huge utility-bill we got for April, which rounded 10.000 yen pr. person..). It was a good deal; the previous place was 30 minutes away from school in a valley north of Kinkakuji, and the place we live now is about 5-10 minutes away from school. Plus, while the previous place didn't have any grocery stores nearby, this one has a store right across the street. Ironically, the store that used to be the closest for us in Haradani is still our closest store. There is just a 30 minutes difference in the distance to it.

Anyway, my point is that if you can avoid living in Haradani, you should. I had some nice experiences there in October with a local festival and a local sports day, but besides that it is really not worth it living there. Hmm.. Perhaps I'm being a bit rash.. But there are plenty of cheaper and more central places to live, so if there are other options then I wouldn't rush into moving to Haradani if I were you;).

Anyhooow, I really like it so far; it is a traditional Japanese house with traditional Japanese garden! And the landlord is so funny too:) She keeps on saying that she is so happy because I understand everything she say^^.. Some of the rules at the dorm are a bit strict, but in comparison with the previous apartment the current place is still a lot better so I don't bother too much. Here are some pictures of the new place!

The house seen from the room. The small house to the left is the one I'm living in.

Japanese style garden!

Pretty!

My new room

 The rooms are traditional tatami-mat rooms, and the first couple of nights I didn't have a madrass so I had to sleep directly on the floor. Thanks to my friend Larissa however, I have upgraded my room with a mattress to sleep on! I'm forever thankful!! Haha..

A golden bamboo stick for luck, and the picture I got through the Fuku Musume-contest

I don't have that much stuff to use for decoration of my room, but at least I finally had the chance to put up the picture I got through the Fuku Musume contest in December. Yay!

Besides moving out I must admit I didn't really do that much out of the ordinary. There was a little bit time for partying, mostly time for school work, and the time in between was spent with friends. Yuma came visiting me too, but I guess he is busy even when it is holiday so we didn't have the chance to hang out that much. Yesterday we had a big picknick with some friends in the Expo '70 Commemorative park in Osaka, which I also went to a couple of weeks ago for Hanami.

My friends in front of the Tower of the Sun

 It wasn't really the best weather for a picknick, as it was raining a little bit and at times even quite cold. But all in all it wasn't too bad, so it was a good thing we didn't cancel it. I had baked a banana bread and brought some Norwegian snack called lefse, and some of the others had brought Japanese snack and other things too.  Our friend Racchan has just started working for Kirin Beer, so she sponsored us with some drinks!

Look what Yuma found in the river!

After some photos we let the little guy back into the river.

 We spent most of the day in the park, and after we had eaten all our snack we went out to explore more of the park. Although I had been there one time before, it is quite big so it is better to take your time and not rush through all in one day. Last time I only had the chance to see the east side of the park, so this time we went through the west part.

In search for a four-leafed clover

Posing with Kirin beer.

In the end we found a tower that had quite nice view of the park, where we took some last photos before leaving the park in search for a Japanese izakaya. 

The Tower of the Sun seen from the opposite side of the park

And with the end of that day my Golden Week also came to an end. Today I'm back in the research room at school, ready to continue my hard studies. But with that said, I haven't really been a good student at all today anyway. Better get myself together and stop procrastinating!!

About Anette
Anette came to Japan as an exchange student in 2010, met the love of her life and got stuck. From her base in Tokyo she writes about her experiences as a full-time worker in Tokyo and about her travels in Japan and abroad. She's a free-spirited adventurer who enjoys both the great outdoors and her urban lifestyle.