Sep. 12 (sun)

Today I took part in a tour "Ride the Duck". It's kind of a tour bus and boat which shows travellers around the city. I heard Boston has the same tour. It was good, I enjoyed a lot. A duck's beak shaped whistle was given to all of us and we blew off whenever we wanted.
The good thing was ticket discount. Because I joined a tour organized by a graduate student center, my ticket was $10, less than half of regular ticket!

#a place where a first flag was sewed or something... A flag in a picture is an original one.

Sep. 11 (Sat) TV

Today I went to Wal-Mart and bought a room lamp and TV. I really wanted them so I'm very satisfied.
TV has a function of closed caption. Closed captioning displays text on the screen. I think it helps to improve my listening comprehension ability and increase colloquial expressions. Now I'm watching "IRON CHEFF". As you can easily guess, this program is "料理の鉄人". This program seems to be popular here. Some foreigners told me about it.

After Wal-Mart, I went to an oriental supermarket. I found many Japanese food, new flavors of Pokky and so forth. Mmm I miss Japanese snack.

#view from my room (daytime)

Sep. 10 (Fri) climate

A climate here is really dry. For my friend from California the climate here is humid. But I never get sweat even though I walk a long distance. In Japan during summer I wiped and wiped sweat from my face but never stopped. It was terrible. So I'm happy that I don't sweat here!

I got two pimples on my chin! My face is dry skin so I hardly had pimples before. But in a few days since I moved here, I got TWO. It's surprising. Maybe because food and water are different from Japanese ones.

Sep. 9 (Thu)

Today I will tell you about the most shocking incident in US. Well, I chose this university because I found a professor whom I really wanted to study under. I read her book, visited campus to audit and talk with her before I enter. I was so excited to take her classes, however, she is on sabbatical leave. Another professor whose speciality is in my interest IS on sabbatical leave, TOO. When I found out last week, I couldn't get a word out. I felt myself foolish to spend much money for things that I didn't design for. I even thought to postpone my first semester and am still thinking, but... My life on campus has already begun. I try to look on a bright side like I learn a lot from them next year or so.

#dawn, view from my room Look at 3 colors, blue, white, and red!

Sep. 8 (Wed) bagle

Today's breakfast was WONDERFUL! One of my seniors recommended bagles in some shop. They are baked in a shop around the time it opens, 6:30am. This morning I happened to wake up before 6:30 so went to a shop and bought two bagles. One is sandwich and the other is not sandwich. They are FRESHLY baked so they are very soft and tasty!
The shape was not round but square to make & eat sandwich easier I guess. But they still have a small hole in a center! It's kind of cute. The square bagle is called "squagle" in the shop. When you visit me, I definately take you there!

Sep. 7 (Tue) difference

Today I had an orientation. After that I went to a library, bookstore and droped in a small party which gives free food and drink at my dorm. There are many places which serves free food and drink during a welcome party season. I don't want to miss those events, however, I can't participate in them all.

From today's diary I would like to introduce some differences between US and Japan that I found.

Yolk of eggs here is yellow. On the other hand, Yolk of Japanese eggs which I get used to is orange. Well, eggs must be different from place to place. But whenever I break an egg and see the yolk, I feel strange.

Sep. 6 (Mon) BBQ

Today was labor day, it means national holiday!! I heard that we have a class even on national holidays. But a labor day is one of the two holidays which have no class.

I participated in a BBQ party which was held in the terrace of my dorm. However BBQ was different from what I imagined. Staffs grilled hamburger steaks and sausages at the back of the terrace and brought grilled stuffs to the front. So what we do is just to pick up a hamburger steak, a bun, and pickles to make a hamburger and hot dog. An American from Texas told me that it's BBQ but just different style. In her state they grill beaf steaks at BBQ. The eastern style or philly style BBQ was OK but I miss Japanese "Yakiniku".

# a squirrel on campus

Sep. 5 (sun) drinking a lot!

Look at the picture! These are American beers and the first can from the left is the oldest American beer. Don't ask the taste because I didn't try. After drinking a few bottles, we moved to whiskey!

I was invited to a Japanese drinking party held in a room of a same dorm. A host was a Japanese who knows very well about alcohol and cooks great. There were 4 people including me and all Japanese. As you guess, I drank some beer and whiskey and got drunk. I was sitting in a couch and SLEEPING. We talked, drank, and ate until midnight! (It's like Matsudo!?) I really had a good time.

#a beer can and bottles in US

Sep 4 (Sat) 3rd Prize!!

Hey! In today's "Scavenger Hunt" my team got a 3rd prize!!!
Actually only 5 or 6 teams joined and at last a few teams waived. So I was lucky. The prize was a $10 gift ticket for/of (which preposition is correct?) a nice shop which sells cute clothings and funky goods. I bought small dishes and bowls with the ticket!

After that my friends and I went to a Vietnamese restaurant in China Town. Our group was 12 people and most of them were Japanese. I talked to some senior students and I got some valuable information. Free breakfast at Hilton Monday through Friday!! Just apply for a membership on-line! This is limited to graduate students, professors, and faculty staffs of PENN(University of Pennsylvania). Usually they have to pay $50 per year for breakfast service, buy only in their first year, it's free! You can't expect too much for food, just sandwiches and drinks they have. But it's very economical and Hilton is just across from my dorm. So I definately use this!


# ENIAC, the first computer invented at PENN

Sep. 3 (Fri)

Today I joined some events held by graduate students' organizations. They give us seminars for student life, security, studying, and events for fun! Most of the time we have free food and drinks! That's really helpful.

One of the events I participated today was "Scavenger Hunt". We walked around searched and found 10 gnomes scattered on campus. Clues we got were all about campus buildings and facilities. I had no idea about buildings or directions. So I just followed my teammates. Although we didn't get a prize I knew some useful buildings and made friends!

I hadn't heard "Scavenger Hunt" until today. But it seems to be a popular game. I'm going to attend "Scavenger Hunt" TOMORROW organized by a different association!

#gnomes we found

Sep. 2nd (Thu) Registration

Today I had an orientation for international students in my department. They are from China, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Turkey, Canada and Japan. Most of them are Asian. Living here for a few days, it was for the first time to talk with Japanese! I saw many Korean and Chinese but never Japanese. This year there are 6 Japanese students in my department, that is fairly a lot! We can cooperate for preparation of homework and exams...

After the orientation I registered courses for this semester. Although there is still time until deadline it's getting late they said. But all information we had was courses' title, professors' name, day and time, and requirement or elective. I expected that they gave us some information about courses but they didn't. They recommended to talk with our academic advisor before registration but there was no chance to meet her. So I talked with a Japanese senior and registered today because I was afraid of running out of seats if I wait until I see my advisor.

Not to mention this case, I often feel that in the US you have to go and get the information. You shouldn't wait until information comes to you because most of the time it's too late or it won't actually come to you. The important things are to have a good networking with friends or staff, nimble footwork, and check internet everyday... Do you have any advice?

#a building on campus

Sep 1st (Wed) friends

I got two friends today! One is from Korea and the other is from China. They are the 1st year of Graduate school and majoring in computer science. I spent much time with Korean girl exploring campus, shopping grocery, having dinner, and watching TV. She looks elder than her age. She is younger than me by 9! But I think I can be a good friend of her. Friends are really important!

#a building in campus

Zippo

A black cashier said to me "Zippo" before she checked through my items. How should I respond? I didn't buy any lighters but just linen. It turned out she meant "zip code" to ask customers where they come from. A similar pronunciation problem happend to me in a same day.

A student said to me that he went to "Dennil School". I thought it's kind of a name of school like Wharton school. So I asked him his major again. Then he showed his white clean teeth and said "Dennil school!" Yes, he meant "Dental school".

#campus

August 31st (Tue)

Today I ran some errands, paying a rent, opening a bank account, and shopping. I went to downtown by subway to buy Futon. I didn't want to take time to coordinate colors or patterns for sheets and a pillow. So I bought a set of complete bed. It includes sham and bed skirt. First I had no idea with these words. And then I found out that sham is a cover of pillows and bed skirt is the sheet the covers both sides of bed's underneath. I looked up a dictionary and sham is decorated covers in American English, but ぺてん師 or みせかけ in English. mmm, I see!
I could sleep well with this comfortable bed!

#my new bed with a sham and bed skirt

August 30th (Tue)

Finally I reached Philadelphia!
I came here to go to a graduate school starting in September. Actually this is the second time to visit here because I came here to visit the campus last January. I am so happy to come back!

I arrived at dorm midnight althought I was supposed to reach around 9pm. Because my flight was late and wasted about one and half hours to wait for a limousine bound for downtown. I was afraid to reach that late, but the dorm was 24 hours open and people helped me carry my luggages to my room, and my roommate gave me a warm welcome.

My room was larger than I expected. It's about twice as big as the room I stayed before. It also has a bathroom and kitchen for my roommate and me.

After a little talk with my roommate I accessed internet to send e-mail to my family and friends. I already missed them in the plane. Although a bed is furnished there are no pillows or sheets. So I slept without them. (>_<>
#view from my room