Class trip of 2012 - China, Korea and Japan

Here's a blogpost about our entire class trip to China, Korea and Japan!!!

(this post is super picture heavy)

On March 2nd, we all met up at Oslo Airport Gardermoen and the excitement was extreme! The one thing we had prepared for all year was about to happen!

First off was Beijing. Even though I had traveled the distance between Norway and Beijing a number of times on my way to Japan, somehow, this time it felt shorter! I had only transferred from Beijing, so I was happy to be able to experience China outside the airport! My first impression was amazement over how the new, shiny skyscrapers stood in total contrast to the tiny, run-down brick houses and small and old store-buildings. Our hotel was... interesting. We were living at a fairly cheap hotel, outside of the biggest tourist spots, and the hotel was marked by this fact. Our hotel room was extremely dirty at all times, even when the cleaning ladies washed there! Well, we did survive in there, at least. And apparently there was a small rabbit-farm in the other side of the hotel building. 

We saw and did so many things in China! Among the highlights were The Great Wall of China, Beijing Zoo, Acrobatics show, Beijing Opera, the various parks and the tiny shops behind our hotel.

Chinese food was super yummy!

The Bird's Nest! It was huge, and amazing!

We did a traditional Chinese studio photoshoot, in which we were dressed and made up  by professionals!

I found Rain in a Chinese cosmetics-shop~ haha

My hotel-roommate Marie posing with our hotel breakfast: Dumplings

Panda bear in Beijing Zoo!!!!!!!

Me and Siri posing at Beijing Zoo ~

Still water with a picture of Lee Hom, Mango-juice and Disney-princess yoghurt! Me and my hotel-roomie always had this in our hotel-room. <3

Starbucks coffee and coffee aroma cheese cake. I LOVE STARBUCKS!

THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA, GUYS. Yes, I climbed it.

We fooled around at The Great Wall. lol

Beijing Opera :D I didn't understand a single word, but it was interesting and I understood the entire story from the acting.

We met a bunch of Japanese guys at Temple of Heaven and we played feather-ball(traditional Chinese game in which the point it to kick a ball with feathers from person to person and try to keep it in the air as long as possible). We failed. But it was really fun!!

A huge, outside flea-market. There were A LOT of interesting stuff there and I bought a lot of suvernirs for my family and friends there~ And I haggled hard. lol

Me, Elisabeth and Mia taking awesome photos right before watching Bejiing Acrobatics Show~

I didn't get any good pictures of this, but there were 7 motorcyclists inside that cage AT THE SAME TIME! It was the final act of the show and it blew my freaking mind. The entire Acrobatics Show was just amazing.

Siri and me at the Airport in Bejiing, leaving for Japan!

In Tokyo we went on a Grand Full Day Tour which included Tokyo Tower, Asakusa, Meiji Shrine, Buddhist and Shinto style parks, and dinner in Ginza! It was so much fun, since I had never been on an actual guided tour in Tokyo before! I learned a lot, and were able to visit places I had wanted to visit last time I was there, but couldn't! I was really happy to be able to speak Japanese again and to go back to the places I recognized~ we went to Shibuya 109 and walked around Ikebukuro, took purikura, ate delicious Japanese food and had so much fun! 

On the day off, I took the Shinkansen alone to Shin-Osaka, to meet my Yuto. It was great to be able to combine the class trip and meeting my boyfriend!

I had only taken the Shinkansen once before, to Fukuoka with Yuto, but I managed to find my way and get on the right one. I first took the Yamanote line(loop line) from Ikebukuro station(where we stayed) to Tokyo station, and found my way to the Shinkansen-place navigating from the signs in the station. But I have to say, if I hadn't gone once before with Yuto, I might have taken a lot longer time to find the right place and figure out what to do. It was nice to get back to Shin-Osaka, and I was so happy to spend a day with Yuto, even if it was only for that day. 

We talked to some Japanese schoolgirls who were on a class trip too in Tokyo Tower!

Tokyo Warm Light in Tokyo Tower <3

We found a ninja in Asakusa!! XD

Prayers in Meiji Shrine~

Early blooming Sakura blossoms in a Shinto-garden

The beautiful contrast of the city and garden in a Buddhist garden.

Us girls in front of Hachiko statue in Shibuya!
(From the left: Tonje, Kjersti, Marie, Me. Back:  Julie & Eli)

Shops in Asakusa. We went to the Buddhist Shrine at the end of this shopping street.

Classmates in front of Studio Ghibli Museum!!!
(From the left: Eli, Marie, Emilia, Siri, Tonje, Margrete, Kjersti & Kristine)

I found Kimura Takuya 8D haha







Seoul was amazing and we had a lot of fun there too!! We visited parks, shopped cosmetics and Kpop, went to a cat café and ate great Korean food! Also, we went to Lotte World, and to DMZ - at the border between South- and North Korea!
And some of us went to the recording place of Kiss The Radio - a radio show hosted by Ryeowook and Sungmin, members of the Korean boyband Super Junior, which we're huge fans of! We also visited the cafés run by some of the family members of the band, Kona Beans(run by the mothers of Leeteuk, Kyuhyun and Sungmin, and where Sungmin's younger brtoher also works) and Händel & Gretel(run by Yesung's family members). Now, me, Kjersti and Marie had prepared mittens for each member of Super Junior(they are 15 members, lol) and we delivered them to their families at the cafés. ^__^

I found Jang Geun Suk outside of Nature Republic, a cosmetics store~

Cat Café near our hotel in Sincheon!

Naked cat in the cat café ~ it was so cute omg.

We went to Sukira - Kiss The Radio at KBS!!! It was extremely difficult to get a good picture of it, but two of Super Junior's members are sitting in there! XD

While waiting outside of Lotte World, we found the Star Avenue, here's Kjersti posing with 2PM :D

At Etude House inside of Lotte World, I found Onew from SHINee, who seemed not so willing to receive my kiss. lol

I also found Minho from SHINee :D

Jjajjangmyon in Lotte World! I love this dish!

Scenery of Lotte World~

On the way to DMZ and the border between South Korea and North Korea. These flags were made by students wishing for a reunion of the two.

This is the border! I am actually standing on NORTH KOREA's side while taking this picture, safely inside a room.

Soldiers guarding the border constantly!!

Me and Kjersti in from of the border. North Korea is in the background.

The Bridge of No Return!

These are the mittens we had made for the members of Super Junior~

Kjersti, Siri and Tanita at Kona Beans, the café run by Leeteuk, Kyuhyun and Sungmin's mothers!

Kjersti at Kona Beans~

My food at Kona Beans <3 Oreo-brownie(!), chicken ciabbatta and coffee.

Caramel Macchiato from Kona Beans. I will never forget its taste! Sungmin's younger took our order!

Cocoa from Händel & Gretel, the café run by Yesun's family~ Yesung's younger brother was the one serving us ^^

At the airport, I found Yunho and Changmin from DBSK/TVXQ :D

This was truly a trip of a lifetime, and it wouldn't have been this epic and fun and amazing if I hadn't traveled together with my awesome classmates and teachers! I have so many fantastic memories! <3

My trip to Osaka in Christmas/New Year - WEEK 3

On the morning of New Year's Eve, me and Yuto took the train to Senrichuo station, and then the Osaka monorail to Banpaku-kinen-Kouen, or Expo '70 Commemorative Park~ The park itself was unfortunately closed, but we still walked around the area around the park, since the weather was really nice and it was 8 degrees~

Osaka monorail tracks


"Taiyou no To", or "Tower of the Sun" which is a monument inside of the park. It's really big and illuminates at night~ Yuto told me that it is also the symbol for his hometown ^^


Then we took the monorail into Dainichi station, and went into a shopping complex called AEON. We walked around and did some window shopping, and I even found a Liz Lisa store and Cinema Club! ^^ We also looked at cute kittens and puppies in a pet shop there and had ice cream at Baskin & Robbins~

In the evening, we went back to Shin-Osaka and just took it easy. We went for a New Year's dinner at a family restaurant called ガスト(gasuto), I got a chicken steak with kabocha(Japanese pumpkin) and eggplant. And the steak was shaped like a heart! :D It was delicious!!


Since it was New Year's Eve and all, we had dessert :3 Japanese matcha green tea fondant with red bean paste garnish. Both me and Yuto loves matcha *w*


When we ot back to the hotel, the annual New Year's show had already started! It's a music show featuring the most popular artist in Japan and this year's hosts were Arashi and Inoue Mao!

Various artists performed, among them TVXQ, Kara, AKB48, Arashi, SMAP, SNSD, Ashida Mana and Lady Gaga!! There were also many Enka performers(Traditional Japanese folk music), it was very fascinating~ There were also many touching performances dedicated to the tsunami and earthquake in March 2011.

After the show, the countdown began with a live concert by lots of Johnny's Entertainment groups!! It was so cool!!!!! :D

Just as the clock struck twelve, me and Yuto did a jump into the new year~! I never did that on New Year's Eve before, it was fun! Then we said "Happy New Year" to each other in English, Japanese and Norwegian :D

We didn't see any fireworks except on the Johnny's Concert, which lasted just about all night. After the new year had started, we went out and bought instant soba noodles(it's traditional to eat soba on New Year's in Japan), which we ate at the hotel~ It was yummy!


It was a very fun and interesting New Year's Eve, even though I missed my family and friends back in Norway, I am so happy to share that day with Yuto ♥♥♥

A couple of days after Christmas Eve, it seemed like all the Christmas decoration and illuminations were just gone with a *poof* and been exchanged by New Year's decorations overnight! I was amazed. Here are some traditional New Year's decorations outside of my hotel:






On January 3rd, I went into Kyoto together with Yuto for some bargain shopping! In Japan, there's bargain sales EVERYWHERE at the start of the new year! We thought that maybe it wouldn't be so crowded in Kyoto, but we were wrong. haha

We walked around and talked, looked around and shopped a bit. I bought a cute long skirt from Spinns(one of my favorite clothing stores!), and a cute rucksack from a stand in one of the shopping streets in Kyoto~

I also bought a Starbucks cup from Osaka~ I have kind of made it my goal to collect Starbucks cups from different parts of the world~

When we got back to Shin-Osaka, we decided to have a dinner at Gasuto again, but this time we got a bit lost. But that didn't matter so much, it was really nice to just walk together like that ^^ And we found the place eventually ;)


The 4th was our last day together before I had to go back to Norway. After a delicious omurice for breakfast, we went into Umeda and we went into the HEP FIVE ferris wheel, just like we did the first time we ever met~ It was nostalgic and very romantic. ♥♥ I got the memorial photo this time~

Afterwards, we bought couple's keychains from the Disney store in HEP FIVE and we shared a Matcha green tea parfait~ Despite the crowdedness, we had a romantic last day together. Saying goodbye was so bittersweet. T___T

The wonderful memories I've made during this stay is something that will always be precious to me~♥


The trip back to Norway went very smoothly. No delays, however, SAS airlines had changed their rules without me knowing, so I had to pay overweight for one of my bags. I had to pack in two bags because of all my shopping XD Also, there was little space in the first place, since I did bring way too much from Norway... Next time I'll bring less things from Norway! haha
I didn't need to pay much in overweight, so it was alright, really.

When I got back to my school, almost everyone in my class came to the bus stop to pick me up!!! I was greeted with a warming group hug from more than 10 people, they had been waiting for me in the middle of the night in minus degrees and they even helped me with carrying my luggage! I was so grateful~ It made me feel better about having to leave Yuto... :)