Good times in Gstaad

Last weekend my EB and I went to Gstaad to celebrate our term, to look back, to have fun and to be together a last time before our term ends. It was HILARIOUS! We went snowboarding, ate delicious food, drank good wine and spend hours with talking, being random, laughing...here some impressions...

Good times in Japan

Here are four pictures that stand for the good times I had in Japan...Being funny before going to the Onsen (japanese hot spring) in Hakone

Warming up with a cup of hot sake between visiting temples in Kamakura
Lunch at Hitotsubashi University...good food, sunny weather, great laughs...

Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo: Sushi breakfast at 7 am...yet everyone is smiling!

Sugoi

Sugoi - great in Japanese - is the right word to describe the time I spent in Japan. Every day I visited interesting places and also learned a lot about the country. Here are some surprising, interesting and funny things I noticed during my stay in Japan:

- Japanese love coffee and sweets, so on every block you find at least one café or sweets shop...or maybe it's only because of the long working hours (for some jobs 16h)
- Taking the shinkansen train is a true experience. Not only it's very fast (300 km/h), but you can also watch the train crew bow towards the passengers when they are leaving the car after checking the tickets
- Valentine's Day is BIG in Japan, but unlike over here, there only women give chocolates to men (including their collegueas at work). But don't worry, men also have to be generous and give something back. This day is called White Day (14th March - one month later) where men have to give a gift to the women who gave them some chocolate. The mean thing is that the present is supposed to be more valuable than the chocolate ;-(
- Japanese sanitary installations are amazing: Not only they have the most advanced toilets I've ever seen (the seats are heated and the toilet is equipped with different water sprays), but the showers are even better (you can adjust the exact water temperature, switch on a heater fan (respectively a cooler fan) and after you're done you can let everything dry in the "dry mode"). And then they have the best hand dryer in public toilets ever - for once your hands actually get dry!
- Literally every 10 meters you find a vending machine with relatively cheap hot and cold drinks on offer, so you're never thirsty

Tokyo

Tokyo is an incredible city - it offers everything you could ever ask for, it's extremely safe and clean, has the best public transport system I've ever seen and is full of surprises. You find skyscrapers, but also village-like areas like Daikanyama, you find entertainment districts like Shinjuku with its neon-lit streets, but also numerous shrines and temples, you can explore the world's biggest fish and vegetable market, but also shop till you drop in one of the huge department stores or shopping streets.

Back home

Yesterday evening I came back from the land of the rising sun, from Japan. I spent two awesome weeks with visiting buddhistic temples, shinto shrines, beautiful gardens, exciting urban areas, eating delicious japanese food, learning more about japanese society and customs, being impressed of the japanese efficiency, service level and lifestyle and most importantly meeting my friends. In the next couple of posts I will write more about my trip, the experiences I made and of course also share some pictures!