Throwback to last Summer in Nagoya

I was supposed to update a lot of stuff during summer but I was so busy and totally forgot about it! (So sorry about it!) I remembered writing a long post about my summer in August but seems like the post have gone somewhere else so I will just write a long post again (I guess) about my experience in NUSIP~~

Throwback to my happiest summer in Nagoya 😀

First of all, let me talk about NUSIP!
NUSIP is a summer program introduced by Nagoya University which mainly focuses on Latest Advanced Technology & Tasks in Automobile Engineering. During these 6 weeks, we attended automobile engineering classes and also Japanese classes (3 lessons per week)! The lecturers from the automobile engineering classes included professors from other universities, and also guests from different companies. (Trust me, the lessons were really interesting. We also got to visit some cool stuff done by the professors!)
What makes it more exciting is having the opportunity to visit factories every week! (Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures for some of the factories)

*Picture taken in Toyota Commemorative Museum*

Let me share what I’ve done during these 6 weeks!

In Japan, it is common to have school festivals every year! I am really lucky to be able to join this year’s Meidaisai名大祭 (Nagoya University Festival)! There are lots of shows, food stalls, events and activities going on! They even have the ‘Goldfish scooping’ activity🐟 (one of the popular activities where you can find at most of the summer festival) .

Since it’s summer, they have lots of ‘summer’ food and drinks (candy floss, shaved ice, yakisoba, takoyaki etc.). I got a Yakisoba for myself and it was delicious!

Before the classes start, we had a cultural excursion to Kyoto and Nara. We visited some famous tourist spots such as Kinkakuji, Sanjusangendo temple and also enjoyed a Kimono show! During the free time, I walked around the main area of Kyoto (Shijo) with my friends. We had barbecue for dinner near Kamo river. 🍖 The scenery over there was wonderful.

Kinkakuji 金閣寺, one of the most famous attraction in Kyoto.

Lunch in Nagoya University cafeteria! It’s less than 1000yen (around 7 pounds)!! The food was really nice and cheap. There are a varieties of food, drinks and also desserts!

Oh yeah, my friends and I also tried Nagoya’s famous hitsumabushi eel dish. Pricey but worth it. I would say that this dish is a must-try food in Nagoya. If you don’t want to eat in the restaurant, you can also order online! (This is kind of cool)
In Japan, there is a special day(土用の丑の日) where everybody eats eel. I am not sure why though..

I also went to Osaka at the second weekend. The takoyaki and okonomiyaki in Osaka taste totally different from takoyaki that I’ve tried in Tokyo or other places. We also went to the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan to see the whale shark. It’s a lot of fun!

Talking about what’s so special about Starbucks in Japan, they have new drinks every month!!! This is the Starbucks lemon yoghurt frappuccino where I bought at the Starbucks in the school campus. It tastes amazing!! Really hope that UK Starbucks will have a similar drinks too~

On the 3rd weekend, I went for a day trip to Gifu prefecture! It only took 1 hour from Nagoya Station to Gifu. Since I only have a day, I visited the Gifu-Kakamigahara Air and Space Museum, Gifu castle and also watched cormorant fishing on Nagara River. It was raining in the evening but I was glad that the cormorant fishing observation was not cancelled!

I travelled alone to Nagano prefecture (one of my favorite place) as I did not manage to visit most of the places last year. Had a lot of walking but definitely worth it. Nagano is a prefecture surrounded by mountains from all side, which makes the weather to be chilly even during summer. I stayed at Nagano city for two nights, visiting Togakushi shrine, snow monkey park and Zenkōji temple. Will definitely revisit this place again!

Besides that, we went for a factory visit tour in Tokyo and went for sightseeing as well. On our way back, we stopped by at a place near the Mt. Fuji for lunch. Unfortunately it was hazy that day, therefore we didn’t manage to see the Mt. Fuji (but we saw a baby Mt. Fuji!)
Other than that, I finally got to try the bubble milk tea from LuJiaoXiang!! Unlike in Nagoya, we only wait for less than 10 minutes haha!

Coming to the end of program, all of us were busy preparing for the automobile engineering and Japanese presentation. It was a little bit stressful, but what’s more important is I really enjoyed all the lessons!
As July was the peach season in Japan, me and my friends had some (a lot of) peach parfait! Not sure why but all of us were craving for desserts everyday🍰🍦🍨🍡
On the last Friday, we went to Summer festival for fireworks at Nagoya Port. We had parfaits again after the fireworks 😀

On the 18th of July, after finishing our presentations, we had a farewell party with all the staffs, and also teachers who helped organized NUSIP program. I also got a present from my Japanese teacher! (Thank you so much, sensei!)

Words cannot describe how fun it was joining NUSIP. I would say that I am really lucky to be able to join this wonderful summer program. I got to make new friends, experience the Japanese culture, travel around Japan by myself (sometimes with my friends).
Although it was a little bit stressful dealing with reports and presentations, this is definitely my best summer ever in my entire life.❤️

Thank you NUSIP!

Orientations

Today is the 2nd day of the program and it was fun! 😀

We had housing orientation yesterday and had a dinner together after packing our stuffs. It is a Japanese- Italian restaurant and the food was good. 😀

Btw, the dorms were really nice! It was much more larger and better than what I expected. We have cutleries provided and a huge kitchen. The laundry room, bathrooms and our bedrooms were so cool!

Sunset when we were on our way to the restaurant, it’s nice isn’t it 🙂

And today, we had our NUSIP orientation at 2pm and also welcome party at 5.30pm. Before the orientation, I went to the Lawson nearby to get some mineral water and something special.~~~~~~~

I heard that Lawson is very famous for this chicken nuggets and I finally had a chance to try it!! This is the spicy flavor and haha! Love it so much. Will definitely try the others next time.

We took our Japanese textbook and some important documents and also our student cards 😀 It was kind of cool!

The welcome party was really good as well. Lots of nice food, and we get to talk to our lecturers and mentors. I was kind of drunk and became so talkative lolll.

And that’s all for these two days! I have lot more to share but too tired now www. We are having a trip to Kyoto and Nara tomorrow! Can’t wait for it 😀

Sight seeing day

Went to the Nagoya Castle this morning~

Although some sites were still under construction, it’s fascinating to see the arts and design of the Hommaru Palace.

I then walk around the Nagoya station, which is incredibly large. Similar to the Fukuoka station, there were lots of shopping malls and shopping streets underground. Initially I planned to have a bubble milk tea at Lu Jiao Xiang, but the queue was so long and I just gave up. The crazy part was I spent 30 minutes finding the bubble tea shop (Yes, I have a terrible sense of direction).

Btw, I bought a little bear at the station! It’s called the ‘Uirou bear'(ういろうベア). In Japan, there are actually a few designs of bears with different colors representing every single county. In Nagoya, there are two kinds of design, one with brown and white, another one which is the one below! https://www.fujisey.co.jp/gotouchibear/aichi/#menuList

It is cute isn’t it 😀 I actually bought it because of my favorite voice actress- Nakahara Mai. She went to Nagoya few weeks ago and got this! https://twitter.com/mai__nakahara/status/1132243139131990016
(Mai-chan is very lovely and I really admire her very much!! Her famous roles are Furukawa Nagisa from Clannad, Ryuugu Rena from Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Watashi-chan from Jinrui wa Suitaishimashita(Human has declined), Estelle from Tales of Vesperia etc. Let’s talk about her next time haha

I then went to Bic Camera, which is opposite the station to search for Perfume’s signature. (Yes, I love Mai and Perfume!) And Ta-daaa!!

After that, I had a walk at the Oasis 21(near Sakae station). The concept of the building is fun and creative; they have a spaceship-aqua rooftop, green field at the ground floor, bus terminal on the first floor and galaxy platform and shops at basement level.

After putting my stuff back in hotel, I went out for lunch(or dinner lol). It was 1600 at that time and the weather is still sunny(the forecast this morning said that it will begin to rain at 1500).

I went to a restaurant named ‘Yamamoto-ya’. They serve mainly udon with miso or with curry. I ate the one where A-chan recommended. It’s the miso udon with egg and chicken(名古屋コーチン玉子入味噌煮込みうどん).

It was so delicious! Will definitely keep you warm during winter hhh.

Had a really great day today, lots of walking, quite tiring but it was fun! Gotta rest early and prepare for tomorrow’s housing orientation!

Nagoya!!

So I finally arrived in Nagoya yesterday evening 😀 It was raining heavily in Tokyo but the sky was clear and nice in Nagoya~

The sunset was amazing right ^^

And my plan today is to walk around Nagoya castle and the city center before it starts to rain loll. The weather forecast shows that it will start raining at 1500. Hmmm.. 6 more hours to go!

I hope that today will be a great day!