My Visit to The Tokyo Imperial Palace

My Visit to The Tokyo Imperial Palace

Last summer (July 2013) I had the amazing opportunity to go to Japan for a 5-week-internship with the Advanced Materials Science Department at the University of Tokyo, so of course I seized the chance!!!!!

Japan is amazing, I think no one can deny that, but I won’t be able to discuss it all in one blog post so tonight, I will just talk about the Tokyo Imperial Palace and share some pictures.

The very nice lady who works at my Professor’s office suggested to take me and 3 other friends to the Imperial Palace Garden one day and it was amazing! Thank you so much Makiko-San!   

From  left to right: Makiko-San, Jiaqi, me, Martin and Ciara!

The Tokyo Imperial Palace is located in the Chiyoda area, a short walk away from Tokyo Station. It can be accessed through the “Seimon Ishibashi Bridge” that leads to the main gate over the moats.

It contains several buildings including the main palace where the imperial family lives (but that part was of course guarded and not open for the public… too sad!), some administrative offices, a Kendo arena (where some people were practicing, we could hear them while we were passing by), and of course the amazing huge and very beautiful “East Gardens” open to the public. YAY :)

These gardens are the former site to the Edo castle’s innermost defence circles but only the moats, the walls, the entrance gates and some guardhouses still remain. It took us hours to tour, it was a very hot summer day and we were attacked by some mosquitoes but it was all worth it. We also had a tour guide who was telling us the stories behind the buildings and the different areas of the gardens.

Here are some of the pictures I took, and if you are planning to visit Japan, pay the Imperial Palace Gardens a visit, you won’t regret it. It's kind of calming to walk around them, all green and beautiful. 

PS: if you’re visiting during the summer, don’t forget to put on sun cream, wear a hat and don’t forget your water bottle. If your skin tends to get sun burns quickly, wear a light jacket with long sleeves. 

Some of My Drawings (Mangas)

Some of My Drawings (Mangas)

So I was going through old pictures on my computer and I found pictures of old drawings  of mine so I thought... Why not share some of them on my blog?!?!?!?

I was never really good at drawing, I just like to do it from time to time. It keeps me focused and busy so I don't get to think about things I don't want to think about (what a sentence).

So enough said, I uploaded some of my favorites (some are kind of old), but 100% Japanese anime characters.

Let me know what you think!

PS1: for those who don't know much about Japanese mangas, I added some information under each picture. The first part of the caption will have the name of the character and the second part the name of the anime.

PS2: I copied these drawings. I mean I either saw them on books or on the computer and I copied them. None of them is originally mine!

Different characters, Love Hina

Different characters, Love Hina

Koalla Su, Love Hina

Pain Vs Naruto, Naruto

How I ended up in The Asian Country of South Korea.

How I ended up in The Asian Country of South Korea.

As mentioned briefly in the previous post of my self-introduction, I just graduated from Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea. 

I originally come from Tunisia, born and raised there for more than 20 years, yet at some point in my life in 2010, I decided to jump out of the secure "easy" life I had always lived in Ariana, Tunisia and to move all the way to Asia and exactly to Seoul, capital of South Korea. 

At the time I was in my second year of university, majoring in Industrial Engineering at the National School of Engineers of Tunis (Ecole National des Ingénieurs de Tunis, french name of it) but I decided to transfer to Seoul National University and change major to... Nuclear Engineering. Yup, I was always interested in nuclear scale "things" and I thought that if I had to go all the way to Seoul, might as well just major in something totally new and non-existent in my country.

Now the reason why I chose Korea wasn't totally my choice. In fact, one of my best friends is half-Chinese and left for Shanghai in 2009 to attend university there. For several reasons, right after I graduated from high school, I wanted to leave Tunisia and go abroad somewhere and this friend of mine suggested that I'd join her in China. 

That sounded like an amazing plan for me, to go all the way to China and share this experience with one of my best friends, but the price was too high. I'm not talking here about real money, but moving to China meant learning Chinese and starting all over again as a freshman (the universities I wanted to attend didn't offer a transferring program); this meant wasting a year or two in the language plus having the 2 years I already studied in my Tunisian University go to waste... and honestly I wasn't ready to spend 2+2+4 years just for a bachelor degree.

So my friend suggested either Japan or Korea, that way we could still be closer to each other and visit each other more often. I personally wanted to end up in Japan, but as my parents were paying, I couldn't allow myself to have them pay for everything (tuition+living expenses+traveling expenses), and Japan isn't the cheapest country out there.

So I decided on Korea, I searched for the list of universities in Seoul and decided that Seoul National University sounded cool, so I went for it.

I had all kind of reactions from people around me; some were surprised and didn't understand why I was leaving now half-way through my education, others laughed at me for choosing Korea as a destination (most people go to Europe, Canada or the USA)... but the most important people around me were my parents, and as they were supportive and encouraging, I just decided to ignore comments and reactions around me and focus on my application, and it went as follow: 

July-August 2010: application procedure

November 2010: reply (positive for me)

February 2011: moving to Korea and starting school on May 2nd, 2011.

As a transfer student, I was supposed to study just 2 years and graduate, but as I had to change major, there were a lot of 2nd year mandatory courses I didn't take in Tunisia and so I stayed in Korea for 3 years instead of only 2. 

During those 3 years I experienced amazing moments as well as horrible ones, but if I had to do it all over again, I'd probably do the same thing (maybe choose a different university instead but yeah :p ).

Now this long story isn't just to tell why and how I ended up in Korea but it's also to encourage people everywhere to move, don't wait for opportunities to come to you, create them and seize them. Be ready to deal with refusals, accept them and just keep on trying until you make it happen. I personally have applied for the UK, Switzerland and France since 2008 and each time I couldn't make it (whether because I wasn't accepted or because I missed the scholarship application deadline etcetc), but I still tried and I ended up in Korea and I don't regret it at all.

As a student, you can go on exchange programs, look for internships abroad, go backpacking wherever you want to. Of course be careful and most importantly ready to accept and respect the differences you will find in other countries and by the time you are back home, you will have carried with you the best memories of your life.

The world is an amazing place full of awesome people and breathtaking places, but most people are too scared to leave what they have even for a short period of time and go somewhere new. Open up your eyes and travel the world while you are young and can do it. Once you settle down, get a serious job or start a family, it becomes harder to stop and start all over again.

JinJu, South Korea.

I come from Earth, where do you come from?

I come from Earth, where do you come from?

I created this blog because I genuinely believe in the existence of life outside of our beloved planet Earth and I am hoping that one day before I'm buried several feet under ground, I'll get a sign or a reply or even a small poke from Them who live on other planets.

No, that's not true... even though I wouldn't complain if Aliens decided to show up in front of me one day and of course befriend me. If they are human haters and want to destroy us all, then... I'm not so sure I'll be glad to see them.

Anyways, yes my brain is this tiny locomotive that breathes out thick smoke as it drives along the random way it found itself on.

More nonsense yet this is me, somehow.

I go by the name of Sahar, born late 80's, freshly graduated with a Bachelor of Science from a "prestigious" (according to rankings) university in Seoul, South Korea, yet I come from Tunisia, all the way back in North Africa.

My loves are reserved for black coffee, dancing, writing, reading and traveling (when I have the time AND money) mostly. I enjoy learning new languages; when I was young I wanted to learn 10 languages. Until now I managed to learn 5, I still have 5 more to go but with age and other factors I think it will be more difficult.

I also like Japanese anime, Sangoku is my one true love but Elfen Lied is my favorite.

I want to travel the world (everyone says so I know), to learn archery, visit all the awesome friends I had once met yet life separated us; I also want to get a Lotus Elise (the car yes) and own a house where I can raise a wolf, a tiger and a snake (a little girl's dream).

My feminine side shows only when I see shoes, sometimes bags, but mostly shoes. I am crazy for them and shoe shopping has proved to calm me down and lighten up my mood when I'm stressed, sad or angry.

I don't know exactly what will go on this blog, some poems of mine for sure and maybe some posts where I will share my thought about any random topic. I will also try and tell some of the past 3 years I spent as a student in Korea, what I learnt there, what I liked the most and what I didn't really like much, etcetc...

  So, let it start!