Kokoronet magazine 2007

I had an opportunity to write an article to the 'Kokoronet', a biyearly magazine published by University of Fukui depicting the life of foreign students. Incidentally, it is my first true publication in any college magazine. It was satisfying to know that the magazine is dispatched to all the secondary schools in Fukui prefecture and also to overseas alumni of the university. In fact my initial plans of writing it in japanese was later taken back as I found it too complicated to express well as in english. There were other nicely contributed articles from current and yester year students as well.

Ski trip 2007

The previous post highlighted the snowfall happening in Fukui. In fact that was the only time that I could see some snow accumulating on the ground. The ensuing warm days cleared it off the ground in less than 2 days. Since then, only the occasional flurries were seen on some cold days.

Just like every year, the university organized a Ski trip for international students. As usual, the competition to get selected was high considering the no. of students willing to go at concessional price exceeds the selection capacity. But since it was on first-cum-first-serve basis, I got selected as I submitted on early morning hours of application acceptance date. Though the trip was planned for 2 days at Rokuroshi highlands, it was later shifted to 1-day event at Katsuyama Skijam due to little snow at the former location.

The trip was scheduled on 13th February. Fortunately the weather was superb with blue skies, which is perfect for skiing . Though it was my second time, I took time in accustoming to balance even on low-angled slope. My initial few trials also resulted in direct collsion to a colleague. Luckily, she managed without any inuries. Later, did ski carefully only when the surroundings were clear off any people. The best part came post-noon when I along with K.th and S.ley went half-way top of the mountain and started to slide down. The most toughest part of skiing for beginners according to me is the control needeed to STOP or SLOW down the speed, besides needing to make turns freely. While learning that, the safest way to control was only to fall intentionally. Overall it was a great fun-filled day and I didn't want to go back from there, especially after learning to make turns towards the end of day! Nevertheless, the great experience prompts me to go and master skiing in future.

WINTER TRIPS of 2006

The later half of the month of February is generally eventful as the university organizes winter trips. I remember the fond memories of my trip to Okinawa on last year, and hoped there could be more fun over this time around. I was fortunate to make into two trips - A ski tour to Rokuroshi Highlands and Kyoto-Nara trip.

The Ski tour was organized by Prof. Nakashima of Bunkyo campus. We went in a group of 30 students to Rokuroshi Highlands, a 1 hour drive from Fukui. The first day was pretty cold with intermittent snowfall. After having a short lunch, we adorned our ski gears to go for the slide. With me being novice, it took a while to balance with a proper stance. Thereafter it was fun skidding and making all sorts of side, front and back falls often colliding with others. The ensuing onsen (hot spring) bath and sauna made it a refreshing experience all together. The evening dinner party was fun-filled with lots of singing, dancing and enacting talents in full-flow. The next day was even brighter with blue skies and was perfect for skiing. The final glide from the mountain top was the best part with Prof. Yamamoto teaching the skills needed to control the slide. It was satisfying moment when I could make a long final slide without fall!

Rokuroshi Highlands

The Kyoto-Nara trip was organized by University of Fukui, as a part of annual winter trip. More than 50 students got an opportunity to make for it. The first day was spent at Kyoto visiting only two of more than 1000 historical temples. We also were taken to Kiyomizu pottery arena where each one of us had a chance to make cups or saucers. The evening traditional Japanese dinner had few surprises to the taste buds exploring exotic flavors of sea food dishes.

The next day was a visit to Japan's ancient capital city - Nara. The first place to visit there was Nara Deer park, where in nearly 1800 Shikas (deers) make their abode. The park also had a famous Todaiji temple where exists the largest buddha idol (Daibutsu) of Japan. It also contains a large Shinto shrine (Jinja) containing around 3000 lanterns. Then two other nearby temples -Kohfukuji and Byodoin were visited and their historical importance were learned.

Kiyomizu Pottery work (Made a large tea cup)

Kinkakuji Otera (Golden Temple) at Kyoto

Daibutsu (Large Buddha) at Nara Deer Park