And the Journey Begins.

Hello from Makuhari!

My name is Lauren Gatewood and I am the Director's Assistant for this summer's LSA+ in Chiba, Japan. A quick introduction so you know a little bit about the person writing these blog posts: I am a rising senior at Dartmouth College. Japanese major, Studio Art minor with an emphasis in photography. This is my fourth term living in Japan! I did the LSA+ my freshman summer, but rather than live in Chiba (which is the prefecture next to Tokyo, see map at left) and due to the disaster in northern Japan, the program was moved south to Kyoto. Then, the fall and winter terms of my junior year I lived in Ichikawa City in Chiba--attending Kanda Gaigo Daigaku (Kanda University of International Studies) in the fall and doing an internship in Tokyo in the winter. So that's me.

Anyway, Dorsey-sensei, his wife Yukari-san, and I are currently staying in a hotel in Makuhari, which is very close to the Kanda campus (where everyone will be studying at), doing some pre-program things.

Last night we had dinner with a Dartmouth alumnus, Max, and his girlfriend at a small Izakaya-restaurant near the station and today (in about an hour) we are going to go pick everyone up from Narita Airport.

To close, here are some pictures of things around Makuhari. We are right next to the ocean and it is lovely. I tried to go running there this morning, but the wind was so strong I had to turn back after 20 minutes because I was almost not making any progress. But I got a couple good pictures so that was okay! We then have a shot of Sensei, Yukari-san, and Max looking up at a sign on the building we ate at, one of the station, and one of the view from my (former) hotel room.

So excited to get things going!