For our Japan Study tour, a big part of the trip is our homestay with Keiai. So I’m here to talk about the things and how I think it went. 

Day One 

The homestay started at Keiai Middle School where are homestay came to pick us up. My homestay wasn’t my buddy and was a girl named Yuri. For homestay, she took in three students so I was with Tayne and Reise as well. We went to their cafeteria to eat lunch and waited until her mother came to pick her up. On the way to their home, we stopped at a cake shop. The shop was so quaint and cute and we got cakes to go. We finally arrived at their home and we got settled. We got changed and ready for the banquet and performance we were going to have. Before the performance, we went and visited the mall that was across Yuri’s home. We walked around and got ice cream before heading home. At the banquet, we performed our hula and changed into our formal wear. The banquet was a lot of fun and they had a lot of good food to eat. After the banquet, the day was pretty much over and once we got home we went to the 7-Eleven right next to her home and once we got back from that we got ready for bed.

Photo Credit: Haruka Ehira

Day Two

Day two was the full day and night with our homestay. We ended up spending the day with Ally and her homestay Haruka. The first thing we did was a go up this mountain with a train that went to the top. There they had the most amazing view and even had a thing call the Lovers Dome. There they had this place where you lock a locket and take photos there. Afterwards, we hit Yuri’s favorite mall. This mall was huge and we went around stopping at stores and even went to a Kpop pop up store. We also stopped at the Starbucks there and it was so much nicer than Hawaii’s. They had different drinks and each cup had a personal cute message. We stopped at the arcade and all of us took pictures at the photo booth and we all kept one. After the mall, we had to say goodbye to Ally and Haruka and headed home. We had some time to kill before dinner so we had a mini dance party at the house and it was a lot of fun. At dinner, we got to get even closer to Yuri’s family while eating some good food. When dinner was done and we got back settled in for the night we went to bed. 

Photo Credit: Yuri Kanamoto

 

Day Three

Day three was our final day with our homestay and in the morning we headed to Keiai Middle School. There we had the temple service where we exchanged gifts and performed our hula dance. After the service, it was time for lunch. We were going to cook lunch with our homestays. We were put into groups and funnily enough, our group was with Ally and Haruka as well. We made okonomiyaki and I think we did a good job. We didn’t get to do a lot after lunch though. We soon had to say goodbye and head on over to the bus. 

I had such an amazing time with Yuri and I really didn’t expect it to go as well as it did. Reise, Tayne, and I got along great with her and it was a lot of fun. Admittedly I was on the luckier side due to the fact that I can speak Japanese which makes things a lot easier with getting along but still as a whole we all did really well. We laughed and had a lot of fun with Yuri and Haruka and it made me sad when we had to say bye on the bus. I think my grade was able to become pretty close with the Keiai students and it’s something I’ll remember for quite some time. 

Phtot Credit: Yuri Kanamoto

Thank you for reading about my homestay experience!

-Mina ♥

Here is a link to a Facebook post about our trip to Keiai with more photos!

Here is another link to my schools Facebook where you can see all the posts that we posted about the trip!

Avengers Endgame came out only a few days ago but then I thought that that might end up spoiling the movie for my classmates so I decided to instead talk about some of my favorite movies from the Infinity Saga. So I wanted to talk about Thor Ragnorock. Also if it isn’t obvious there are spoilers for Thor Ragnorock.

If I’m being completely honest I have to say I didn’t really like Thor all that much until this movie. Don’t get me wrong I liked him but he was never a favorite. Also Thor the Dark World wasn’t the best MCU movie either. But when Thor Ragnorock came it changed a lot. They got a new director for the movie and everything changed. In all the movies beforehand Thor had this whole medieval thing with the way he speaks and he was always so serious and seemed so far away compared to the other heroes in the MCU. The movies were usually kinda dark and had very rare moments of lightheartedness.

Thor Ragnorock is a comedy and the movie has everything you want in a superhero movie. The characters were amazing in these movies. Even characters you’ve already known from other movies had a new sense of vibrancy to them especially Thor. The action is so fun and choreographed in a very interesting way. They used each character well in the way they fought and had new and interesting ways that they fought. The props and set were made really well and while looking at the screen there was so much detail and color. This movie is hilarious and yet it had its moments where it really pulled at your heartstrings.

Now let’s talk about what happened in the movie. Right off the bat the movie kinda takes everything away from the old movies and I got to say no ones really complaining. It was kind hinted at in the second movie that the whole Loki pretending to be Odin was going to be the main plot in the net movie but in the movie that was immediately resolving that. They take away his hammer. Then they take away his hair. (Which in my opinion looks better that way) And they end up doing a lot more but we’re not there yet. The fight scene in the arena between Thor and Hulk was really fun to watch. It was both funny and entertaining. Thor using his power without his hammer and getting a taste for how much power he has made me really excited for the rest of the movie. Hulk kinda being a bit more intelligent was a little unsettling at first but in a way it made sense and it was fun to watch too. Valkaryie is a fun addition and I really want to know more about her past. Loki and Thor’s scenes were the best by far. Every scene was pure gold and it really was accurate with how siblings actually act with each other. The scene where Thor finally unlocks his full potential and uses his power is a sight to behold. The music playing in the background and him crashing down towards the fighters on the rainbow bridge was amazing.

There are so many things that I want to talk about but this post is getting a bit long so I think I’m going to end it here. This movie is a really amazing addition the MCU and it made me love Thor so much. There was a lot of heart to it and it’s a fun twist to a classic superhero movie. I hoped you enjoyed reading my rant about this movie!

Thanks for reading!

-Mina ♥

If you want to know where you can watch it it’s available on Netflix.
If you want to just know more here’s a link to marvels official page for the movie.

Photos by Unsplash

Generally I talk about fandoms on my blog but I sorta wanted to talk about Cliches. Cliches are all around in the entertainment business. Books, movies, and shows especially. Cliches do happen in real life but I’m not going to talk about that today. So if you want to hear my take on this topic here goes.

The cliche I want to talk about is one that comes up a lot in romance books. They also come out a lot in fanfiction.  I used to love them and I would read them a lot. (Disclaimer: I’m not trying to call anyone out or say they’re bad books.) But something that I would see a lot of is this. There is an untochable bad boy that loves no one with his own little group that are super popular. The new innocent girl comes to school and they boy instantly likes her. The girl doesn’t like the boy and tells him to back off. There is a typical jealous mean girl in there somewhere. The boy invades the girls person space. The girl eventually likes the boy. Some sorta drama happens. The story goes on like that.

There are also other cliches in these types of stories. The girl is often innocent and unnoticed and she always calls herself as nothing special. But she always ends up as this sassy person and apparently beautiful later on in the story. The bad boy is often terrible to the girl at times and yet the girl always forgives them. Also side note it seems like they never have homework.  Another thing is that other then the main boy and girl the characters around them often don’t have a lot to them. The best friends to each of the boy and girl don’t do a lot aside from support their friend and make some quips but that’s about it.

I have to admit that at first these stories seem really interesting but the more I looked at them at a different perspective and grew up a bit I don’t see them as appealing. From time to time they are fun to read but I have ended up liking stories that break cliches a bit more. I see some comments on people saying they wish they had these stories happen to them but in my opinion I don’t agree. If I came across a boy like that I would probably end up hating them.

Thanks for reading and tell me in the comments if you agree or not!

-Mina ♥

-Unsplash

 

So recently Netflix has come out with a new show called Carmen Sandiego. I instantly started to love this show. The animation, the story, and the characters. The story is action packed and it is so fun to watch. admittedly Carmen Sandiego is a kids show. However I think a lot of people would like it. If you haven’t watched the show you really should and come back and read this post afterwards. As for the people that have keep on reading.

Let me tell you a little bit about the story. The main character is Carmen Sandiego but what makes her so interesting is her backstory. Carmen Sandiego is an orphan found by somebody  and she was brought to an island. This island is where she grew up and the only thing there was VILE academy. VILE Academy was a school for thieves and the staff and people there were the people that she grew up with. The people that took care of her. She was too young to apply for the school and she never was able to leave the island. So she never saw the outside world and all she knew came  from thieves. She eventually made contact of the outside world through a cell phone that she got a hold of. The person she came contact to became her best friend. When she was a bit older she applied for the academy and she got in. But once she got there she realized that not everything is as it seems. She realized that stealing was bad at that the people she grew up with hurt people. She found out what really VILE stood for. Villians Internation League of Evil. She decided to escape from VILE and with her took a harddrive of all the information of VILE’s little projects. That’s when our story begings.

Carmen sets out to stop VILE and all the terrible things they do. The person she came in contact to is called Player and he’s a white hat hacker. We see her adventures in stopping VILE and it’s such a fun story. Something I love about this show is the aesthetic of it. VILE always seems to take on the color red and Carmen in turn when she left VILE she herself took up the theme of the color red. She has the iconic red hat and coat. All her tools are red as well. The animation is stunning and the characters are extremly likeable.

Carmen Sandiego is a great show and I think it’s going to keep on getting better. The twist in the season finale sets up for a great story line ahead and I’m really excited. Something that is also great about the show is that it teaches the viewers along the episodes. I can’t wait to see season two and how this story is gonna go.

Thanks for reading!

-Mina ♥

(Photos from Unsplash)

 

 

Hey There!

A lot of people would probably use this to post something personal but oh well I’m going to fangirl. I recently found Voltron on Netflix and I’m hooked. It’s about these 5 robotic lions that choose someone to pilot them. They end up choosing a 5 people on Earth. Their called the Paladins of Voltron and they defend the Universe. A empire has been ruling over the Universe for 10,000 years and the paladins are trying to stop them. The story is really interesting and it’s worth a watch.

Something that really stands out in the series are the characters. The main characters are all very lovable and they each have a very distinct personality. You see them grow and all of the become closer. First is Shiro. Shiro went on a space mission and while on it they got taken by the empire that has been ruling the universe. He has the worse luck. But no matter what he’s the leader of Voltron and always has a level head. He’s Space Dad. As everybody calls him that. Keith is the hotheaded one. He does tend to get angry and defensive but he really cares for his friends and at times is willing to let loose. Lance is a bit of a joker. He keeps the mood light. But lance could become really serious at times and knows when to step up. Hunk is a lovable bean. He’s sweet and at first didn’t have a lot of confidence but these days he’s a lot more sure of himself and steps up when needed. Pidge is the brainiac of the bunch. He’s extremely smart and daring. Allura is a princess of a race destroyed by the empire (galra) and her race created the robots. Coran is her right hand man and he’s a bit goofy but he takes care of her and the paladins when needed.

The last season is coming up in December and I’m both ready and sorta sad that it’s coming to an end. I really got into this universe and the characters. This is based off the future but not by too much. People still dress how we dress it’s just technology is a bit more advanced. A lot of the story is based very deep in space with new locations. The action is great and the animation is really good. The show is funny at times but also very action based at time. If you find this post interesting try check the show out.

-Mina

 Via: Unsplash

You can watch it on Netflix btw…