{"id":36682,"date":"2018-11-22T09:45:31","date_gmt":"2018-11-22T14:45:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/?p=36682"},"modified":"2019-02-07T02:42:36","modified_gmt":"2019-02-07T07:42:36","slug":"only-a-year-making-the-most-of-my-time-abroad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2018\/11\/22\/only-a-year-making-the-most-of-my-time-abroad\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cOnly\u201d a Year: Making the Most of My Time Abroad"},"content":{"rendered":"When I first told my Grandma the details of my exchange to Tokyo, she exclaimed \u201cOnly a year? That\u2019s too short!\u201d\r\n\r\nHer reaction surprised me. <em>A full year? <\/em>I thought, <em>if anything, that\u2019s a bit long. <\/em>But in retrospect, my Grandma was onto something. Although I\u2019ve only been in Japan for about three months now, it\u2019s hard to believe how fast the time is passing.\r\n\r\nBefore returning home, my goal is to check off all the items on my Japan Bucket List. It includes Japanese cultural activities, such as <em>kabuki<\/em> (traditional Japanese theatre) and tea ceremony; tourist destinations like Tokyo Disneyland; and more idiosyncratic places like a restaurant known for its extra fluffy pancakes. Last week, I was lucky enough to have a week off from school. I used this time to get to work on my bucket list!\r\n\r\n<figure id=\"attachment_36688\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-36688\" style=\"width: 3024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2018\/11\/90876D64-8C8B-4966-9427-F89E3A4D8EA5.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-36688\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2018\/11\/90876D64-8C8B-4966-9427-F89E3A4D8EA5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"3024\" height=\"4032\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2018\/11\/90876D64-8C8B-4966-9427-F89E3A4D8EA5.jpg 3024w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2018\/11\/90876D64-8C8B-4966-9427-F89E3A4D8EA5-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2018\/11\/90876D64-8C8B-4966-9427-F89E3A4D8EA5-768x1024.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 3024px) 100vw, 3024px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-36688\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A very beautiful pumpkin at the Yayoi Kusama Museum in Tokyo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nAfter months of anticipation, I finally got to see Tokyo\u2019s Yayoi Kusama Museum. Ever since tickets sold out for Kusama\u2019s popular Infinity Mirrors exhibit at the AGO last year, I\u2019ve been dying to visit. While the museum itself was slightly underwhelming, at least I can now say \u201cbeen there, done that!\u201d\r\n\r\n<figure id=\"attachment_36687\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-36687\" style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2018\/11\/emi-5.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-36687\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2018\/11\/emi-5-1024x752.jpg\" alt=\"A seagull flying over the shore.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"752\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2018\/11\/emi-5-1024x752.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2018\/11\/emi-5-300x220.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2018\/11\/emi-5-768x564.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-36687\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\"I'm like a bird, I only fly away\"<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nLater in the week, my family and I went on a road trip. While this was never one of my bucket list items, it definitely should have been! We drove an hour and a half to Miura, a small fishing town south of Tokyo. The scenic route along the coast made me nostalgic for the years I spent in California. If not for the Japanese road signs, I could have believed it was Pacific Coast Highway.\r\n\r\n<figure id=\"attachment_36685\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-36685\" style=\"width: 683px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2018\/11\/emi-3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-36685\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2018\/11\/emi-3-683x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Broiled tuna head on a plate on a table surrounded by other small dishes.\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2018\/11\/emi-3-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2018\/11\/emi-3-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2018\/11\/emi-3-768x1152.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-36685\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This broiled tuna was even bigger than my own head!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nLeave it to my family to drive an hour and a half for the primary purpose of eating! Miura is known for its amazing tuna. While there, we ate a delicacy called <em>maguro kabutoyaki<\/em>, broiled tuna head. No one in my family had ever tried it before! While photos of the meal definitely freaked out my friends on Snapchat, it was some of the best fish I\u2019ve ever eaten. In fact, I\u2019m a bit sad knowing that it\u2019ll probably be years before I get the chance to eat it again!\r\n\r\n<figure id=\"attachment_36686\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-36686\" style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2018\/11\/emi-4.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-36686\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2018\/11\/emi-4-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Tuna meat on a plate. The meat has no fish skin or bones.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2018\/11\/emi-4-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2018\/11\/emi-4-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2018\/11\/emi-4-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-36686\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">After being sliced, this is how the tuna looked. It was surprisingly boneless!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nThis seaside adventure was definitely one of the highlights of my time in Japan so far. It reminds me of the fact that sometimes the best things are the ones you don\u2019t picture yourself doing. My week off was over much too quickly. But I\u2019m glad that I still have many bucket list items to look forward to checking off my list.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-summary\">\n<div class=\"entry-summary\">\nWhen I first told my Grandma the details of my exchange to Tokyo, she exclaimed \u201cOnly a year? That\u2019s too short!\u201d Her reaction surprised me. A full year? I thought, if anything, that\u2019s a bit long. But in retrospect, my&hellip;\n<\/div><div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2018\/11\/22\/only-a-year-making-the-most-of-my-time-abroad\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;\u201cOnly\u201d a Year: Making the Most of My Time Abroad&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div><div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2018\/11\/22\/only-a-year-making-the-most-of-my-time-abroad\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;\u201cOnly\u201d a Year: Making the Most of My Time Abroad&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":322,"featured_media":36685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2407,82,67],"tags":[2340,2407,6723,556],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36682"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/322"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36682"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36701,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36682\/revisions\/36701"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}