First week

Heya!

I think this will be a very long post so I write straight in English. First week behind and so far doing well. A lot has happened during one week and even more is to come. Last week I saw one exchange student who was in Oulu last autumn and we went to eat sushi to 花まる (Hanamaru, very good place! Sadly I didn't take any photos ;/ ). I was exploring the local supermarket and found coffee and pasta which I was way too happy about.. :'D I also learned to use the dorm's washing machine and the bus which leaves right next to the dorm and goes to Sapporo Station. It was great to be able to use Japanese when I asked which bus was the right one and how you paid the ride! :)

Sapporo Station is huuuuuuge... More shops and restaurants can be found also underground!

With the help of my Japanese friend who lives in Finland I also managed to order SIM card for my phone and concert tickets to see GENERATIONS in Niigata on 24th of December. Great Christmas gift for myself! :--P I saw them live in London last year with my sister and we got to know couple German and English fans there and the other German fan is going with me this time as well!

After the concert I will go to Tokyo to spend Christmas and New Year in my friend's house. Hopefully I will also meet my tutor students there and in Yokohama!

On Saturday I went to explore Sapporo more with couple girls from my dormitory. We went to Sapporo Station, JR Tower, Bic Camera, Former Hokkaido Government Office Building (Red Brick Building), Odori Park and Sapporo TV Tower. It was a long but very nice day! There was an Autumn Festival going on in the Odori Park, lots of stands everywhere but we had just eaten so couldn't eat anymore...

Lunch~

Former Hokkaido Government Office Building (Red Brick Building), such an original name :-P

There was a very nice park near the Red Brick Building!

Funny sign in the park

Odori Park (大通公園)

Views from Sapporo TV Tower~

Under TV Tower there was Sapporo's Oktoberfest :-P

TV Tower

Clock Tower

On Sunday I went to the other dormitory again to pick up some stuff former Finnish students had left me. The key to my bicycle was still missing...

On Monday I finally went to do some clothing shopping with another Japanese tutor student who was in Oulu couple of weeks ago. With her help I also tried to buy a proper camera from Bic Camera, but my card didn't work there so I had to buy it next day with cash. We ate in Provence that was more Western styled restaurant. I had a salad with squids in it and a tomato-mozzarella pasta.

Yesterday we had a HUSTEP orientation that took almost 6 hours... We got to know more about this program, fellow exchange students and how university library works. I saw couple familiar workshop students during the day. :D I also found out that my school starts already tomorrow. *o* I was bit in a hurry to choose my classes, but luckily we had chosen what we wanted to study already during the applying process.

After the orientation I went to Sapporo Station with the guy from last week's sushi and I bought the camera and managed to withdraw money from ATM with Visa Electron. Later in the evening I went to a British Pub with exchange students I had lunch with. We sat and chatted for couple of hours there and quickly visited an arcade. It was a cool place, have to come again later too! At 22/10pm they closed and we walked to the dorm from station with 2 girls, took about 40 minutes, our dorm is so far away...

Canon EOS Kiss X7, later on better pictureeees~

Another curry lunch in canteen

So that's it this time. Next post will come out probably next weekend with more news from this week. I am also planning to make a post about funny/weird things about Sapporo/Japan I have noticed during my time here, at least compared to Finland.