Spending way too much money.
So while I was cleaning up my room and unpacking somethings I brought home from college I ended up stumbling upon some charms that I got from 金閣寺 (kinkaku-ji) in 挙党、日本 (kyoto, japan). While I was looking through the bags I found a few receipts and I was absolutely shocked at how much money I had actually spent. Just in that bag alone, I had found two receipts totaling around 8,000円！
友達：「どうしてシャンテルさん。どうして。」私： 「わかない！も。日本の買い物は本当にすごいですよ。」
So to save you a little time I’ll just tell you what 8,000 yen is equivalent to. It’s roughly, giver or take, 70 dollars. You want to know what one of the receipts was for? Twenty face masks. I spent 70 dollars on face mask. Mind you the entire time I knew the conversation rate to the dollar while I was in Japan. Guy’s I am so frugal I even refuse to fill up my car when I have been driving on empty for a questionable amount of miles. What was I thinking, you ask? Well, I wasn’t, clearly. I was just so excited that I was in Japan, buying everything my little heart desired, and to be fair I only ran out of money on the very last day of my trip. Still, I can think of a million other things I could have invested that 70 dollars into but c’est la vie. Je vais devoir vivre avec elle. Pas de problème. All the money I spent I had saved for this trip so I guess it’s okay. No, it is okay! I am just going to need to get my life together before August..
Pro-tip for saving:
Don’t fall into lust with random crap you see and want to buy. Just remember that you can buy all the cool shit in Japan.
Not Getting Lost.
I have always been afraid of traveling on my own, even if it was in my own neighborhood. Sometimes going the store by myself was difficult for me. Living on a College campus and having my own car has really helped me get better at traveling on my own. However, when I got to Japan there were so many things that I wanted to do and see but I was to afraid to explore on my own. On my trip we had the opportunity to explore on our own for one day in each country.
Side note: Something that I liked that my professor did that I really liked was that he made all of the participants use a map to figure out how to get around Japan. We used trains and buses to get around so that by the end of the trip we were all experienced in reading the maps, train signs, and bus signs. Which I really loved considering that I am going to be living in Japan for a year. I can now go back and there wont be much of learning curve. I also loved how we used the physical maps rather than google maps. Some people have never even used a map before. Sure it was frustrating as hell at times, nonetheless, it was a great experience! Professor D’Amato (coolest guy ever and he should let me be student leader next time he goes) if you are reading this, I learned some shit, thanks!
Anyway, back to the original story, sorry. Like I said I regret not getting lost, essentially. I would have been able to see so much more and experience so much more of the culture. But don’t be mistaken, I did not just sit around my hotel twiddling my thumbs (okay one day for like 3 hours but we had climbed a mountain the day before and I was dead) I explored the local areas and went to book stores and museums i stayed 30 minutes walking distance from the hotel and there was a lot of things to do just in that area. But I do wish I went other places but I will not be making that same mistake when I go in August.
For more on my blog about Japan please check out the full blog post on my personal Blog! Thanks love!
またね！
シャンテル (✿◠‿◠)
Censorship added***