Flashback Japan Sept/Oct 2013: Bye bye, Germany!

As you might have noticed, I didn't find a lot of time to blog in between (okay, I want to be honest - I actually had some time in the evening, but it was impossible to format my blog entries and I really didn't want to mess it up too much ''orz ). So I decided to blog afterwards - which is, well, now! :')  So you will find all my Tokyo 2013-entries in my "Flashback"-section again ☆　I hope you won't mind D':

Additionally, I want to say SORRY for not posting contemporary, but I was (and am) still very busy due to the new semester and my coming up internship in Tokyo in 2014. It's still lots of things to do... ''orz

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Well, we had to leave quite early because our flight already went at around 11:50 from Düsseldorf airport. Anway, our train was in time (yehaw!) and checking in was totally easy and smooth! We didn't have to wait for long at the counter either - I'm not sure whether that was because of Etihad...?

Nevertheless, after we spent some time lurking around at the shops (where we didn't buy anything of course - would that even make any sense??) we decided to go to our gate. Boarding started quite early already, but as I said, we were totally in time for everything :')

(In front of the smoking lounge :'D )

(Bought some Vio at the airport, so I could drink it whenever I wanted |'D )

When we boarded, I already was so flashed by the plane. I mean, of course, it's just another airbus (I think it was a 333? ), but we had some GREAT headphones, cuddly blankets and such a great selection of movies! (See pictures below ❤）

(This was our menue for the flight to Abu Dhabi. Until now, I never experienced such 'tasty' meals while traveling via plane! Either I was with the wrong airlines, or I was just unlucky as hell, haha (^^ゞ　)

(As you can see, I decided to eat the chicken! I was so surprised that it even looked like actual meat, haha :') )

(This was a snack for "in between". Doesn't sound and/or look special at all, but I was surprised how tasty it was!)

 

(Our first view of Abu Dhabi! )

When we arrived at Abu Dhabi Airport, I was totally amazed! Of course it was a great thing to see the sea and the desert at the same time, but also the airport itself is really pretty. Fortunately, the airconditioner worked totally fine - otherwise I think we'd melted m(_ _)m　 It still was like 35°C at around 08:00 p.m. (the time when we arrived there), so you can imagine how it felt being there!  

(Swarovski @Abu Dhabi Airport)

When we boarded, of course we got another menue - this time also in Japanese :') It was for dinner and for breakfast in the morning. Pictures are belo~w! ↓↓↓

We arrived at Internation Airport Narita around noon. It was such a great feeling to 'arrive' at last. Even though we literally sat ALL THE TIME, I think it's so exhausting to travel such long distances...! First, we decided to go to Yucho-Ginkou (Japanese Post Bank) to withdraw some money, and bought our tickets for the bus which should bring us to Shinjuku, where we booked our hotel ☆　
It was around 26°C and sunny! Such a great welcome!

Our travel to Tokyo also took around 1:30, and of course we first had some rest at the hotel - like unpacking our suitcases, changing clothes and stuff. Afterwards, we went off to our "hood" (haha, I love calling it like that, to be honest...!) to buy stuff like shavin' gel (because I totally thought I don't need to bring this stuff from Germany) and other hygienic articles.
Additionally, I bought some sushi bento at Famima (Family Mart), which is a convenient store (they're literally located EVERYWHERE. Famima, 7-Eleven, am.pm. Newdays... just to name a few of them)

After eating, you can imagine we didn't go to a lot of places afterwards ^^; We checked the television programs and went to bed at around 10 p.m. already. We were just so tired BUT happy to be able to spend the night in a BED instead of just trying to sleep in a seat ☆　

It's Tokyo-time!

Hey hey, how're y'all doin'? :)

I was pretty busy preparing my trip to Tokyo lately. So, well, yeah, I'm still packing and stuff. And at the same time, I got to finish and send my applications - wanted to be already finished, actually, but one of my Senseis took quite too long to hand in some important documents, so I just can start now. 

Additionally, I lately heared that Maestro-EMV-chipped cards will temporarily not work in Japan, because their ATM-system is updating. AND on top of that, 7-Bank (known for their convenient-stores all over the place, in which you usually find international ATMs which are free to use) is currently messing with MasterCard, because they kinda changed their terms and conditions regarding cooperational companies - and 7-Bank just don't like them. Well, so, to speak clearly, it's not possible to withdraw any money at 7-Bank-ATMs via Maestro, MasterCard and Cirrus. So I had to check things for that issue, too, since I don't want to be in Tokyo without any money |'D

Well, let's just say "s**t happens". orz

But thanks to a nice Japanese friend of me, I know where to get money even if there are these problems ☆ Thank you so much for your help!  (I also asked at our bank's office, but they just didn't know anything about that issue. At all. lol (ノω；｀) ).

Nevertheless, I'm totally looking forward to go! (≧▽≦)☆ It's like I was waiting for years. 

We'll go by Etihad, so we'll have a stop at Abu Dhabi. I'm totally nervous about that, since I heared that the Airport was so big and luxurious, haha ^^;

It's the first time I travel via Etihad, and of course it'll be my first impression of Abu Dhabi  (even though I'll only see the airport σ(･´ω｀･) ). Of course I'll try to take lots of photos in Abu Dhabi as well!

I'm looking forward to see all my friends over there, and I'm so looking forward to meet new people as well :) 

I will try to update my blog more often to share some impressions and photos with you! ☆

So, what else to say... I'm not quite sure whether I'll write another entry BEFORE I go, so... I'll keep it that way and feel allowed to say "See you next week in Tokyo!" (*´ω｀*)

I'm totally looking forward...

...to holidays.

I've been quite inactive for a while again, even though I promised I'd try to write some more posts. I'm sorry for that _ _'!

It's just like I'm really, REALLY busy due to University lately. I didn't expect this semester to be so tough...

If I don't write blogs, please feel free to follow me on Twitter, since it's so much easier for me to write some short tweets in between :')

Anyway, it's official now! I'll be in Tokyo again this summer ☆　Unfortunately, it still feels as if I needed to wait for years... I think it's called anticipation, haha? Of course I'll try to take LOTS of pictures, so I can share them with you (๑•ᴗ•๑)♡

But before that, it's time for exams. I was totally shocked when I checked my calendar to see it's barely one month left until they start. This semester passed so quickly.... (by the way, I really start feeling old. It's like I'm meeting lots of people I know since grammar school, and they're all like working or having family and kids. And what about me? I'm still studying, single and a dreamer, haha (ﾉд-｡) ).

Oh but by the way,

even though I'm full of strange thoughts lately, I had some time to relax last weekend. Akira and Waru came to visit us to have some barbecue ! At first, we met at Düsseldorf to go for Karaoke (Oh hell yeah, I really love Karaoke... if I lived in Tokyo, I think I'd go to Karaoke every day (since it's so much cheaper over there)) ٩(๑´ᵕ｀๑)۶

So, but well, what I wanted to say actually just was: I totally enjoyed the weekend and I kinda feel I really could get back some badly needed energy - even if I didn't sleep quite a lot... (^^ゞ

Random post is random, I'm sorry! ^^

Karaoke, Takumi and sweets ☆

Yey, finally I got some time and a nice topic to write about :) At least, it's great for me |D

To celebrate our last day within this semester before the exams, some of my fellow students decided to head for Düsseldorf  to spent some time 'the Japanese way' ☆ :'3 

Unfortunately, my day started quite unlucky, because I totally missed my graphemics course due to Deutsche Bahn (it's the German train company, by the way...^^).  Trains are late quite often lately (because of the snow, or...something like that), and this time it was so late that I couldn't attend the course anymore (which is, in my opinion, quite bad, since it was our last course just before the exam X__X' ). Anyway, I managed to participate at least in my communication's course. 

Right after that, Caro and me left off to Düsseldorf, where we wanted to meet Sofi-chan. Actually, some more people wanted to join, but they didn't make it due to several reasons D: Anyway, as soon as we arrived, we did some food (and drink) shopping, before we entered "TAKUMI". I already heard a lot about this restaurant, but I've never been there until now (；´∀｀)

I ordered a set menu, which consited of rice, 5 gyoza and shoyuu-ramen <3 

I gotta say that I really loved the Gyoza and the rice, but I was kinda 'disappointed' by the ramen noodles, if I can call it 'disappointed' at all...? As for my taste, the noodles tasted too egg-y, but my fellows just thought the other way around - they loved especially THAT fact ^^. So I really think it just depends on your personal taste whether you'd like it or not. But as for me, I prefer the wheat-y-er ones (^^ゞ The soup was great, though! (๑´ڡ`๑)

Well, after buying some more food (*´艸｀*), we finally left for Hotel Nikko to sing karaoke! You cannot image how excited I was, because it's been YEARS I didn't go to karaoke (;_;)❤　

Unfortunately, our stay was quite short, because the train situation was quite... unlucky again. But we want to go again as soon as possible!  It was so funny and relaxing! 

I sang "愛の唄"  (= ai no uta) by Psycho le Cému, amongst lots of other songs, too 　(ﾉ´∀｀*) This song is sooo old, and it was so fun, since I once played this song with my own band, too :') It also totally reminded me of one of my best friends ☆ (That's the same reason why I sang "恋心" (= koi gokoro) by B'z <3 ).

By the way, I just want to show you some of my food-gets! 

I totally think I'll  get fat now (. /// .)

Düsseldorf with Caro and Raya ☆

My weekend started quite ... strange and annoying, to be honest. Actually, we planned to have rehearsal today, but we couldn't realize that because both Raya and me were quite busy. As for me, I had to manage some things that dealt with my freelancer job as a news writer for an online game magazine. And to be honest, I wasn't amused about that. Especially when I heared that they wanted to change the team, without telling us ANYTHING about that. Everybody but one from our team will quit posting for that site. But there's a problem with that: they refuse to credit us for our postings when it was decided we'd leave =A=' What cheek....!! 

Because of that, I didn't have to write any important news anymore, even though I already started several papers which should be posted within the next week, which were "urgent", actually...... Of course, now I won't do it. I just won't hand them in -.-' But since I finished the discussion with my boss late at night, I didn't think I could re-invite the vocalist we wanted to test... because I can't assume him to be available again just after I said I'd be busy. 

Nevertheless, 

therefore I was able to enjoy some "freetime" ☆　So I went to Düsseldorf with Raya and Caro (●´ω｀●)

(I already look tired in this one, don't I ? x_X) 

We met at the station and went right to "Maruyasu Don", which is a Japanese restaurant. Actually I wanted to eat a Gyoza set menu, but unfortunately, they didn't have enough in stock. And because Caro also wanted to eat some, I declined and chose "Torikara set menu" <3   ("tori" means bird or chicken). It was totally delicious as well! .w.! 

(It was torikara, some salad, rice and miso soup <3)

After that, we decided to take some purikura. I didn't take any since visited Japan in March this year (・・;　

Caro and Raya look so cute! .w.  Unfortunately, I look kinda tired in all those pictures, and I failed looking into the camera, too.... xD Fail fail fail, I thought purikura can make everyone prettyyyy...? ;A; 

Before we left, we went to the asian stores in Düsseldorf to buy some random stuff |D As for me, I bought frozen Gyoza, because I still was kinda sad that I couldn't eat them at Don ^^  I already bought them once, so I know that they're delicious anyway. Buuut, I also bought some random stuff (●´ω｀●)

Haha, as you see, I bought some Hello Kitty Jelly-Drink. It's apple taste. I actually wanted to buy some drinks by Weider, but they didn't have any in stock, unfortunately... so I bought this one. ... I already drank it |D But it tasted great, though :'DD
And about the can... isn't it just great?? ;A; It's Piccolo from DRAGONBALL, and it contains orange soda ☆　I'm totally looking forward to try it! There are several other motives as well, but I just thought that Piccolo would be the coolest one to have (；´∀｀)　(Sorry for being such a fanboy xD).

At our way back home, we met some "almost drunk" girls who were actually kinda nice xD They said they'd love to add us on facebook, and because they were nice, we just thought we could give it a try anyway ^^; I mean, I don't see a huge risk in doing so. 

When we arrived at Cologne, we noticed that our train back home was already gone because our train has been late... so we decided to have a drink at Starbucks ☆

I had "Java Chip Chocolate Cream" (without lactose ^^) and Raya had some Strawberry Cream shake! By the way, Cologne Main Station already looks so... sparkly! They started to decorate the station with lit strings! It's so obvious that we're getting closer to Christmas!!　＼(^o^)／　 (I'm kinda looking forward to that... I didn't do so since a few years, to be honest! That's kinda instresting ^^;; ). 

Well, it's already half past 1 (a.m.), and my head starts to hurt... I think it's because I'm lacking of sleep (/_;) Anyway I reeeeally enjoyed my unexpected free-time ☆　Thank you, Raya and Caro, for spending it with me!　I hope we can repeat this　(^^♪