My Apartment!

Today I did more shopping for my apartment with Christine. We went back to the area with some recycled home goods stores. I bought a stand-up mirror for my table, a dish rack, and some other home stuff. Then we came back to the apartment and after I ate lunch we went out shopping again. Haha. Lot's of shopping to get the apartment ready. We went downtown to Shijo Kawaramachi area, looking for 100 yen shops and for a school bag for me. We found two different Daiso 100 yen shops, and I got a lot of stuff for my apartment - utensils, sponges, more school supplies, a laundry basket... I didn't find a school bag yet though :( Then we got dinner! It was a place called Suzeriya or something... It had pasta and Western style food. I had minestrone soup, salad, and spicy (ish) red sauce pasta. It was yummy and super filling and pretty cheap! I'll definitely go back if I see one again. The soft drinks are free also. The deserts looked so yummy but I was super stuffed!

Anyway, here's the room as of this morning, aka before I bought more stuff and messed it up again.

My bed! It's quite big actually! Maybe a Japanese "full" size or so. The sheet I bought was the biggest I could find and luckily it was the right one. (But even though it said sheet "set" it was only the fitted sheet... lol). I like my fluffy pillow and pink pillowcase. It has roses on it. Hehe. Behind the bed is kind of an awkward space so I'm just storing my luggage and laundry back there. 

This is my tiny little balcony! I guess it's for hanging clothes to dry or for smoking... It's hard to access though because the bed is only a few inches from the glass doors. 

My  living room area! A nice big window and a table with two chairs. But if you look out the window ...

There is a cemetery! It doesn't really bother me though; there are lots of cemetery's in Kyoto - there is even one on Ritsumeikan's campus.

In the hallway area there is the fridge and microwave, another window, and the closet. Also, this ghetto lamp which is hung from the window. Lol. I am hanging my laundry drying thingie there too. 

Inside my closet... I'm still trying to figure out how to organize my clothes. Right now I have socks and tights/leggings in the basket and my other clothes hanging, but I need some racks or drawers to put pants, pajamas, etc... 

The "kitchen"! There is a single gas burner and sink and that's pretty much it. No oven or toaster. I still need to get cooking stuff so I haven't used the burner at all yet. It's not fancy but it works. The hot water is on-demand from the water heater on the right. 

The bathroom! There is not much wiggle room in here! There is a tiny little medicine cabinet and that space under the sink where the toilet paper is, but other than that there is no real storage room. The lighting also isn't great - it's pretty dark and yellowish. That's why I got the mirror for my table - which has great natural light from all the windows. Still, I'm happy to have my own private bathroom and shower. Overall I'm happy with the apartment itself as well as the convenience of the location. I'm starting to get it more decorated and organized. I really want it to be nice (and clean...) because this will be my home for a year! 

But right now, I need to study for my Japanese placement test! Ahh! Tomorrow is the first day of orientation, so I'll be pretty busy from now on! I'm Nervous and excited about meeting new people and starting classes. I'll be happy to have the placement test over with very soon.Later then!