Port city squid

The view from the street in front of the school.

You might not know this, but I am tired. Turns out going to class for four hours every day and then spending up to seven hours doing homework every night starts to wear down on you after a while. Who knew? These past couple weeks have been full of adjustments--to life in Japan, to life in a small town, and to life in a language program. I won't lie and say that it has been easy, but I have thoroughly enjoyed the past week and am looking forward to another five weeks living in this beautiful place.

The view from my classroom

So for those of you who don't know, Hakodate is a port city, and in the past it was an important hub for the transfer of goods and people through Japan from both other Asian countries and especially Europe and the U.S. Unsurprisingly, given its geographic location, there is a strong Russian presence in Hakodate, and near the school where I attend classes there is a very prominent Russian Orthodox church that takes up a good chunk of the skyline. The local Russian consulate is also located in the same building as my school, so there is a nice combination of English, Japanese, and Russian signage on everything. That being said, I don't think I'm planning on taking up another language any time soon.

An ice cream shop on every corner

Looking up from the street in
front of the school

Squid ink ice cream

Usually after class, the our program arranges cultural activity classes that most of the students participate in. Being the graduate student (read: incredibly boring person) that I am, and as one of the students who has already done a study abroad program in Japan, I have chosen not to participate in a lot of these events. Instead, when class gets out, I usually set myself out on a walk around the mountain where the school is located. My homestay sibling, Sam, and I have already found all of the famous soft ice cream shops hidden behind the school. It's a neat little street that reminds me a little of Kyoto, since most of the shops cater to tourists and are definitely displaying the typical Japanese wares for sale. Hakodate's big draw for tourism is its maritime culture, which can be found everywhere from its famous food-stuffs like squid ink ice cream and fried stuffed squid to its manhole covers and city mascot. Don't roll your eyes at me, internet; the squid ink ice cream is actually pretty fantastic once you can get over the fact that it looks like your ice cream has gone bad and that it turns your tongue just a little black when you eat it. Naturally, since we are sitting on a coast, the seafood is pretty awesome as well. Usually our daily miso soup comes with some kind of fish or crab in it, and there is always plenty of sashimi (raw fish) to eat. I know there are plenty of people who say that eating raw fish sounds pretty gross, but personally, until you get to try it someplace like Hakodate, I don't think it really counts.

Tonight's dinner: sashimi bowl! 

 I'm going to try to be a little better about posting more regularly, but with our hectic class schedule, homework, my own research, and trying to spend as much time with my host family as possible, I don't want to make any promises. I'll also be going to Sapporo (Hokkaido's capital city) next weekend with a large number of the HIF program participants, so there should be something interesting to say about that if I can manage to write it down before I get too busy again. Of course, if I don't, I can always console myself with more squid ink ice cream. :p