Beginning of a new School Year

Today was my first day back to school since the beginning of the summer! It feels nice to back on SJSU's campus again and walk into buildings that I have come to know. This is also the first fall semester where I have attended the same college as the spring semester before it. For the past 3 years I have attended 3 different colleges beginning with Southern Utah University, West Valley College and now, San Jose State University. 3 Colleges in 3 years. After all of the hassle of transferring credits, requesting too many copies of transcripts, and arguing with counselors, I am finally able to settle into a routine on a familiar campus beginning on the first day of fall classes. For once, I was the one who was directing a new student to a classroom building instead of the other way around. It is a strange feeling being at the same University after so many years of jumping around. I feel as if I am missing something because I have not had to walk into the advisement office yet today. Now I get to settle down for a while.

So to all of those readers who are going back to school this week or the next, from Elementary school to Masters programs, Good Luck this Year!

My First Day of School Picture (thanks to Matt:)

The Japan Travels continued...

Kyoto was a fun but busy part of the trip. We visited countless shrines and temples (most which we walked to) including the one shown below, Kiyomizu Temple. This one is famous for its high wooden stilts that the temple rests upon and the pure water spring for which the temple is named. I dont know exactly how high the stilts are but they are at least 40 to 50 feet tall of old wooden beams and holding up a platform that 1,000's of tourists walk upon day after day. 

An attempt at a self portrait in front of Kiyomizu-dera. Matt drinking from the pure water spring. 

Hand washing is a task done before entering each temple or shrine. We were not required to do it but Matt and I felt it was a way to completely soak up the culture we were experiencing.

Me with 4 women in Kimonos! Matt saw these women at Kiyomizu-dera and couldn't help but ask if I could have my picture taken with them. They were more than happy to pose and smile for a blonde haired, blue eyed man who spoke almost perfect Japanese and his 'gaijin' wife. 

A better view of Kiyomizu Temple. The trees block the view of the stilts but you can get the idea that they are tall considering the temple is above the tall trees. 

Matt and I then traveled through the small streets of the old capital city of Kyoto to Nanzen-ji, a Zen Buddhist park which included  several gates. The one we were standing on was originally built in 1296 but burned down and was rebuilt in 1628. Still pretty old! And we would not have even gotten this arial picture of the park if we had not seen a camera flash above our heads as we were leaving under the gate's massive doorway. 

This is Matt and I and our Japanese friends in front of Kinkaku-ji or the Golden Pavilion. And if the walls seem gold like, it is because they are. All of the walls of Kinkaku-ji are covered in gold-leaf! This picture is of one of two groups of Japanese school children who were required to conduct an interview with English speaking tourists for their field trip assignment. They asked us simple questions, mostly about how much we liked Japan, how long we were staying and if we liked Japanese food. Matt was able to tease these kids in Japanese and give them hints as to what to ask in English when they were confused with the language. It was fun to see their faces light up and the nervousness fade as they realized they could cheat/fib on their assignment and get some help with Matt's language skills.