A belated "Nice to meet you!" :D

A belated "Nice to meet you!" :D

Minnasan, konnichiwa! Hello, everyone! My name’s Danielle, and I have the honor of being the 2014 – 2015 LEX America Intern. Nice to meet you all!

Actually, last week, I celebrated my one-month anniversary here in Japan, but I started blogging only until just now… A lot has happened this past month, and I’m 100% sure that this internship at Hippo will be keeping me on my toes.

But anyways, let me start at the beginning.

I’m Danielle Dittmer. I’m a 23-year-old college student from Mundelein, Illinois (which is close to Chicago). My hobbies are writing stories, taking photos, computers, playing video games, and tea. My last name, Dittmer, is German. A long time ago, my great-grandpa came from Germany to America. And my great-grandma came to America from Ireland. So that makes me mostly German and Irish, like a mixed-breed dog. :D

I live on a farm with my mom, my dad, 2 younger brothers, 3 younger sisters, and my grandpa, too. On this farm, we raise chickens, goldfish, doves, and goats. I love it in the country!  When I first showed my family photos to the people at Hippo and various school visits (called kokurika), their reactions were all very similar, “Really?! What a huge family! I wish I had a big family like that!”

Me and my family were also fortunate enough to host 4 children from Japan, with whom we still keep in touch sending them mail from time-to-time for the holidays and birthdays, and I plan to visit them sometime during my yearlong stay here in Japan.

Let’s see… This past month has been loaded with new experiences. Experiences such as:

1.       Learning about the train system in Tokyo (no major mistakes yet, knock on wood)

2.       Trying new foods like monjayaki, surume, and shougayaki

3.       Working in the Hippo office in Shibuya with my super-nice coworkers who are so patient with me and my limited Japanese

4.       Trying on new clothes in Uniqlo dressing room

5.       Visiting an elementary school, where I played games and introduced myself to a group of super-cute first-graders, and gave them all high-fives afterwards

6.       Listening to a shamisen performance at the Edo Tokyo Museum

7.       Visiting the penguins at the Ikebukuro Aquarium and Ueno Park

8.   Getting help from a kouban when I got lost after getting off at the wrong exit

9.   Bathing in a Japanese bath for the first time

10.   Learning to walk on the left side of the street, instead of the right

11.   Playing piano in a Yamaha store for an hour until they kicked me out

12.   Riding a bike around town to get to local Hippo clubs

13.   Meeting more international exchange students at Tokyo Institute of Technology

14.   Working on a New Years card with another fellow intern

15.   Winning a prize doing shateki (target practice) at my first Matsuri in Gotokuji

16.   Editing/Translating English/Japanese documents for work

17.   Buying a guitar album at BookOff

18.   Meeting a very talented artist and having her draw for me

19.   Taking a ton of photos at the beautiful Imperial Palace

20.   Doing major shopping at Ikebukuro’s Animate store

21.   Shopping at Shibuya Hikarie

22.   Making so many friends that I can’t remember all their names (yet)

23.   Doing many speeches in both English and Japanese in front of Hippo members

24.   Eating really great Italian food at a café in Kichijoji

25.   Walking from Shibuya to Harajuku to enjoy the nightlife at Takeshita Dori

View from Shibuya Hikarie

Penguins at Ikebukuro Aquarium (so cuuuute!)

Beeeaautiful Imperial Palace

Matsuri lights at night

Megurogawa river

Okonomiyaki (my favorite Japanese delicacy~)

Pasmo is your best friend. Keep him/her close.

Cherry blossoms in Imperial Palace gardens

My first school visit

Train stations. I love taking pictures at train stations. :D

Typhoon weather - always fun

If they ask you to put a bag over your head when going into the dressing room, it means they don't want your makeup to get their clothes dirty in case you decide not to buy them.

I’ve learned so much so far, but I have a feeling that I’ll be learning something new every day while I’m here. There are days when I don’t even know what I’ll be doing tomorrow, so I just take things day-by-day, and do the best I can.

Also, I’m secretly very glad that it’s getting colder now. It’s really starting to feel like autumn. In Chicago, the winters are very cold and can be very long, so it’s been a unique experience wearing short sleeves in October! Especially when I’ve gone trick-or-treating in the snow a few times before!

Anyways, that’s all for now. Keep you posted! Mata ne!