Morgantown Spring Part 1 and Look of the Day: Me, Arianna, and Cherry Blossoms

Don't worry, I still have plenty more things from Japan to post too!  I wanted to post this first one while it was still technically spring (though it seems to have reverted back to winter)...

Yes, Morgantown actually has real cherry blossoms too!  So many people are surprised or don't believe me at first when I tell them XD I didn't even believe it when I first heard about them.  

Anyway, this is my new Liz Lisa dress that my friend Aya got for me in Japan over spring break ♡ I love it! When Liz Lisa has other colors besides pink, white, and beige (as much as I adore pink) it's always so beautiful and unique! I'd have to say I like their lavender, blue, and of course pink colored things the best.

And of course my lovely friend Arianna accompanied me ♡

I have a few more Morgantown spring posts along with the rest of my Japan posts so keep watching for those ♡

Blog: Japan Day 2, Part 2: Shimokitazawa

Takeru said that I would love Shimokitazawa, and he was so right!  It might be my favorite place to shop in Japan so far.  There were so many secondhand and vintage stores there.  Of course there will always be a special place in my heart for Harajuku and Shibuya for shopping ♡

I even spotted a little bit of lolita there!

I found two Gunne Sax dresses at this store! This was one of my favorite secondhand stores for sure.  Really cheap and absolutely full of  cool clothes

After shopping, we went to a game center in Shimokitazawa to do purikura and play some games!

Japan definitely knows what a girly-girl like me wants and needs ♡ This little makeup corner is for getting pretty for purikura.  Lots of girl's bathrooms even have extra mirror sections specifically for doing makeup.  Some purikura places have some costumes that you can wear for the pictures too!

Also, in the purikura section of game centers, boys aren't even allowed unless accompanied by girl.  So, yes to cute purikura with boyfriends, but no creepy lurker guys! ♡

It was exciting to use my Nesica card thingy again and access my old account!

One of my favorite games!  He still beat me though....

I couldn't figure out how to change my thingy from being fries...also I did horribly, but I was so happy they had this song!

This is probably the best I've ever done at this game!

Before leaving Shimokitazawa and heading to an izakaya to meet Takeru's coworkers, we ran into one more cute, literally hole-in-the-wall, store that was having a going out of business sale, and we haggled the price down on a skirt from $150 all the way to $60!

Matcha flavored Baileys! One of the things that I wanted to try while I was in Japan. I was lucky to find it on the menu here.

What all I drank....

And that ends day 2 after a quick ride back home sitting on the back of Takeru's bicycle!

Diary: Stolen Camera

Uggggh, I feel like so many of my posts (besides Japan stuff) have been so negative, but I just can't seem to escape the negativity lately...

On Sunday, April 2nd at the Morgantown, WV waterfront (Hazel Ruby McQuain Riverfront Park) between 9am and 12pm, my Nikon D3200 was stolen.

Here's what I posted on Facebook:

"Well I took some really cool pictures of the cherry blossoms with snow at the waterfront today, and I guess no one will ever see them because my camera was stolen. I don't even know what to do now. I don't have the money to get a new one. I take my camera with me almost everywhere, and I need it for my blog, which has been my main hobby lately. I would never even think to do something like this to someone else, so why does something like this happen to me? At least I got some of my Japan pictures and cherry blossom pictures from earlier this week off of it for my blog...but I lost all of the other pictures on my memory card. I guess I need to stop being so naive and trusting of people. I really would like to see the best in people and the good in the world, but that's getting harder and harder for me everyday."

Here's what happened: 

I was modeling for a photo shoot with two other models and a photographer, and we left all of our stuff in a pile just out of eyesight of our shooting location, but I looked back often to see if it was all still there.  The photographer left her camera bag on a bench, separate from our pile, and I didn't think about that area.  I brought my camera over before we were shooting to take some pictures, and I think I accidentally put my own camera in her bag, which was also stolen.  I don't remember doing that, but it makes the most sense.  My camera bag and all of our purses and wallets and money was untouched in the big pile.  Why would they open my camera bag, take out my camera, then go to the bench where her stuff was and take her almost empty camera bag and not take anything else of value?

I lost most of my Japan pictures and some of my recent cherry blossom pictures.  After the rest of my Japan posts and one or two about Morgantown's cherry blossoms, I don't have any more pictures and can't take anymore, except maybe cell phone pictures.  Half of my motivation for blogging is the fun and artistry of taking the photos.  It's the only artistic thing I've been motivated to do for a while, and now I don't know when or how I can continue.

I feel completely stuck, lost, and hopeless right now.  I should be doing homework right now and I'm not.  I'm finding it difficult to care about what I need to do.

Blog: Japan Day 2, Part 1: Around the Area

This day, Takeru showed me around his neighborhood and where he used to go to school.  We even went to some playgrounds he used to play at when he was younger!

This river has lots of cherry blossom trees, but they were just barely starting to bloom.

I thought this was a really cool, interesting story to share that Takeru told me!  Takaido Junior High School was given roses by Anne Frank's father after they sent him their impressions after reading Anne Frank's Diary, and they took care of them and they can be still seen growing here! Here's a link to an article about it that I found, but the link is kinda weird so I hope it works...

I love flowers, and reading Anne Frank's Diary in middle school is what inspired me to keep a diary for many years, which may have even led to why I enjoy blogging so much now!  I'm very forgetful about things that happen in my life (I don't like it, it scares me sometimes), and I love taking pictures, and sharing all of the things that I love and find interesting.  I'm not too fond of writing, but when it comes to memories that I'm trying to keep and/or share with others, the words just flow so easily for me. Anyway, here's the rose plant, not in bloom yet of course

菜の花 (field mustard flowers)

We stopped at a department store that had a little pet store inside it too XD

Then we went to Takeru's favorite ramen restaurant called Makotoya.  You first order and pay for your food using this machine thingy, like many restaurants use.

Then food porn! 

I ate everything....it was tonkotsu ramen, which I hadn't had since the last time I was in Japan!  It's not very common or easy to find in America unfortunately

The guys who worked there were nice enough to let me get a picture with them too!

I think that's all I'll include in this post, but this day didn't end there! I'm going to break this post up into two since this one is already so big and I still have a lot more.

Blog: Japan Day 1: First Meetings and Dinner with Aya

Only Takeru's aunt was home when we got there at maybe around 2 or 3 pm because his parents were at a concert.  She was so nice, and had a bunch of different sakura flavored things and tea sweets that she let me try!  One of my main goals in Japan was to try everything sakura flavored that I could get my hands on, and it's like she read my mind!  I will have a separate post with all of the different sakura things, so I won't post about that here just yet.  Anyway, she does Japanese tea ceremony, which is really cool, and I learned a bit about it last time I was in Japan at Kinjo Gakuin University.

After that, Takeru's friend Aya took us to a yakiniku place called Jojoen, sort of like a Korean barbeque.  It was soooo good!  She has pictures of us together, but I don't have them yet, so I'll add them here when I do!

After that, we went to a store full of all kinds of random stuff, from makeup, to toys, food, snacks, alcohol, clothes, accessories, and lots of other random fun things, called Don Quijote.  I got some Kit Kats, (for these I will also have a whole post dedicated to) sakura wine, and some candy, then later I got two really cute bra sets for like $10!  I guess I'll also do a post for all of the clothes I got too? Ahhhhh I have so much stuff to post about!

Blog: Shanghai: Short Taxi Ride Between Airports

I have mixed feelings about my time in Shanghai.  Though I know I can't really judge the whole city based off of a few hours, this is my first impression.

We found out that we had to switch airports in Shanghai when we checked in at JFK, so we weren't originally expecting to actually get to leave the airport.  I was a bit excited to see a little peak of China, but also worried we would get lost and stranded.  Luckily we ran into another couple who had the same flights as us, and seemed to be a bit more prepared than we were.  When we got off the plane and through security, we were trying to figure out how to change over some money, and where to find a taxi, and this guy in broken English came over to us and was trying to stop us from using the ATM machine and to use his cab AND money changing services.  He said the cab would cost the equivalent of  like $100 or $200, I don't remember which, and he brought Takeru over to like a sort of official looking booth area and tried to get him to change his money over.  We decided to follow our instincts and the giant sign that read "TAXI" in like four different languages, and go outside to the line of taxis, and this guy followed us almost all the way to the taxi desperately trying to convince us to use his services, even though we told him no, and that it was too expensive.  The actual taxi we took was the equivalent of only $30, split between us, only $15.

Our friend who came to NY with us JUST told us about his experience with a person like this in an airport in China before.  I was surprised how official he looked and sounded, and no one was stopping him.  Like, this is a common known thing to happen there, scams like these.  That is not at all a great first impression that you should want to give newcomers to a country that they've never been to before, and it makes me sad that this is a thing.

I wouldn't mind visiting and actually getting a good taste and sense of the city someday, I just don't think I could live in a place that so easily tries to deceit it's naive newcomers fresh off the plane (and apparently all around the city too, according to a few warnings of other scams I read online).  It's just not something I can ignore and accept.

♡❤♡ ♡❤♡ ♡❤♡ ♡❤♡ ♡❤♡ ♡❤♡ ♡❤♡ ♡❤♡ ♡❤♡ ♡❤♡ ♡❤♡ ♡❤♡ ♡❤♡ ♡❤♡ ♡❤♡

Anyway, the taxi driver we ended up with was nice and played a mixture of Chinese and American pop music, and we tried grape Minute Maid in the airport, and it had bits of grape in it, and was amazing!

These are the very few pictures I was able to take.  The smog in the sky was very interesting to see.  It kind of cast a pastel, right before sunset glow on everything.  Also, I knew that Chinese people drank hot/warm water instead of cold, but it was still super interesting seeing it on the actual water machine thing.

A little bit of familiarity in a strange country

Sorry there's so much negativity in my writing part of this post, but I wanted to say my experience as true to my thoughts as possible, and make sure if anyone else ends up in my situation, they can be prepared.  I hope that next time I'm in Shanghai, I will have better things to say about my time there, and get to see some more of it!

♡❤♡ ♡❤♡ ♡❤♡ ♡❤♡ ♡❤♡ ♡❤♡ ♡❤♡ ♡❤♡ ♡❤♡ ♡❤♡ ♡❤♡ ♡❤♡ ♡❤♡ ♡❤♡ ♡❤♡