Ahh… wow today was probably one of the best days I’ve had in a loooong while.

Today marked the day I finish Uni this semester – heck the last day I finish Uni in Austraia for 2009!!! No more uni till Kansai Gaidai! And, oh, was it a wonderful day.

So I woke up this morning after a pretty good sleep – which doesn’t happy very often due to a sleeping condition I have – and I dived straight into study for my final exam for the semester: Japanese.  And what a way to go out!

I rocked up at uni around 12 and went and met up with my friend JB and his Japanese girlfriend, Aki.  She was our tutor for the day xD.  So we caught up, and did a bit of study.  Aki was very helpful!

Somewhere in between our study session I went and saw the international exchange peeps at my uni because there were some forms to fill out.  Pretty much had to sign a few dotted lines and BAM! $5,400 is mine.  That was easy.  Confirmed a few things and then joined JB and Aki again for some more study.

Then JB and I headed into our exams, JUST as they were going to shut the doors!  We were kinda late.  But we made it, that’s all that mattered.  JB and I were already passing Japanese before the exam – so we were in a good way.

Yeah that’s me… the chinese girl… guy… thing…

The exam was SUPER easy.  I needed about 75% on the exam to get a high distinction overall – I can tell you now: I got it.

However after I left the exam, I ran into a chick who was in the Japanese exam.  She’d finished before me, and we were in the same class all through the semester too.  Guess what I had learned off her: Japanese DIDN’T count to my GPA.

Grr… and I worked my ass off for that semester.  Oh well, I should get an UNOFFICIAL high distinction – that’s bragging rights there.

JB finished and we went for a drive in the city to meet up with Aki (who went walkabouts whilst we were in exam).  We picked her up and went to have a look at an apartment that JB and Aki were looking to rent – it was balls.  A quick “no” and we were on our way for a celebratory beverage.

So we went to some place that was apparently famous but I forgot the name of it already.  It was nice.  JB and I started with a Kirin Beer.  I can tell you now, I don’t like Australian beer.  However Japanese beer is pretty good!  I had Asahi the last time I was out with JB.  I’m a spirits guy, but I can definitely do Japanese beer.

So we got a bit tipsy then knicked off for food.  We went to “Koh-Ya” – a Japanese restaurant with ALL YOU CAN EAT! … … … for $50…

Buuut.. celebration right?  And I got paid a shit load of money this week.  So we did it.  And am I glad we did!

Edamame

We started out with something I can’t remember.  It was a bowl of raw beef strips with a raw egg mixed in with it.  It was awesome.  Then we got a plate with raw beef, raw tuna, and raw salmon.  Also good.  I must say the raw tuna + soy sauce was definitely the best thing out so far.  Wasn’t a huuuge fan of the salmon, but I had a couple of pieces.  We also had this stuff call “Edamame”.  It was these beans that you pop out of the casing and into you’re mouth.  They were pretty tasty.

Then out came some different kinds of raw beef, and chicken.  But we had this BBQ grill in the middle of our table so yeah, we slapped that on the grill, cooked it up and ate it. OMG delicious!!

So we ate a ridiculous amount of that. Then out came “Shishamo” (whole sardines).  We cooked them up and ate them.  Avid readers may remember my last encounter with Shishamo – and it wasn’t pleasant.  This time around it was decent – but I’ve come to the conclusion I will never willingly order shishamo again.

More of everything came out.  Then we had miso soup, I had Japanese curry and rice.  Oh and we also had this “bambini” (I think) stuff… apparently it was Korean.  Pretty much rice, seaweed and [insert meat/fish of choice].  We got a beef one and a salmon one.

We also got these processed fish tube thingies – not cool.

Ok, highlight of the evening: Ox Tongue.  … … WTF!?  TONGUE? Woooooooah abnormal.

But, we slapped it on the BBQ, and JB handed me a piece.  I looked at it, worried about wtf I got myself into.  Shoved it in my mouth and had a go.  … AMAZING.  By far the best thing I had all night.  It was GREAT.

So all in all, I spent a lot of money today but experienced a shitload of new stuff, good stuff.  And I practiced a bit of Japanese on Aki, it was awesome.

Oh and for Male readers out there, I was told by Aki that a lot of male foreigners go to Japan and one way or the other they learn Japanese off Japanese girls.  This is all well and good – but try not to learn GIRLY Japanese!  She said like 80-90% of the male foreigners that go to Japan end up learning girly Japanese off the girls.  So we should make the conscious effort to ask and learn MANLY Japanese!  So yeah, I’ll make that effort!

Well now my university semester is over.  And it feels great.  Now I can focus on my other things and relax.  I’ve still got to make a website for work in my own time (WOO CASH!), and focus on The Kansai Gaidai Hub (It’s gonna be huuuuuuge! … that’s what she said).  I’ve also got some web work to do for my Aunty.  But it’s good – coz I now have that time.  No more studying.  Just working and earning as much money as I can before I go to Japanland.

SOOO EXCITED!!!

Ciao for Now!