I'm coming back to Japan over the summer (and other things important)
It's official...I will be doing summer research on bionanophotonics at some university in Shimane. The date has not yet been set in stone, but I do believe that the professor is planning on sending me (and 2 or 3 others) to Shimane for 2 months starting at the end of May. That means I will be able to visit my friends in Nagoya for a couple weekends (the amount of the scholarship is a little more than 200,000 yen per month...that's more than my previous Monbusho scholarship). Of course, I don't have to pay for housing (they university is actually renting an apartment for us). With the extra money, I will be able to visit my friends in Nagoya and go a few places (so I'm feeling pretty good about that). Actually, when I think about it, I have never been turned down for a scholarship in math or physics that I applied for...I'm 5 of 5 (A undergraduate summer physics research scholarship $2,500, a TXCEPT math scholarshop $600, the Monbusho scholarship 170,000 yen/month, and now the IREA research scholarship $2,000 per month, and my current TA scholarship of $1,550 per month). I guess I have been lucky.
I have to choose a graduate advisor to oversee my graduate research really soon. I'm still not sure who I will choose...but it's an important decision, so I'm thinking about it a lot.
At the moment, I'm trying to think of what to bring back to everyone in Japan. I went to a book store the other day and saw a bunch of books about Texas history, but I don't think any of my friends would want to read that stuff (despite how great it is). But, I did get a book about somethings in Texas that one of my friends will like. I guess I still have plenty of time to figure that stuff out (about 7 weeks).
Speaking of Texas history, I'm going to do an article over a few very interesting events in Texas history (the anniversary of the battle of San Jacinto is coming up soon...the battle where Texas won its independence from Mexico and became its own country). I will visit the Alamo before I leave for Japan and take pictures and stuff for my blog...I'll probably do the article then.
Anyways, I didn't have to work today (Saturday), so I decided to put of my advanced quantum physics homework for a few hours and see what I could find around my town to write about on my blog.
(More views of the court house)
One of the pictures above has a band that just happend to be outside in front of the court house practicing that day. Actually, I think they were pretty good.
(Above: One view of the historic downtown court house)
A lot of towns in Texas have historical court houses. The one in Denton, the town that I'm living in now, was built back in 1850. That was only 5 years after Texas had become a part of the United States. Before that, Texas was its own country called, "The Republic of Texas." With the exception of Hawaii, not other state in the US can claim being an independent country. Many people seem to think that the state of Texas was always this size, but in actuality, Texas was a much larger place when it was The Republic of Texas. As a compromise for settling the debt that Texas had accumulated, part of Texas was giving to the US when Texas joined the union (i.e. when Texas became a state). Before that, Texas comsumed parts of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Wyoming (all very large states). When Texas beat Mexico for its independence, not only did Texas win what we today call 'Texas,' but it also won a lot more land that people don't really remember (you are welcome Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Wyoming!).
Also, I thought that a few of my friends may want to see my university, so I walked around campus a took some pictures. I hope you like them. I also included the physics building in there. Since some of the pictures are off topic, I will explain them as I go along:
(Almost in the middle of nowhere, these buildings pop out of the country side and form Texas Women's University)
After visiting downtown and TWU, I decided to get some lunch and figure out where to go next.
(So, for lunch I went Texas style. A 0.5Kg BBQ sandwich and a Dr. Pepper...It was delicous. Two of the things I really missed while I was in Japan.)
I decided to walk around campus and take some pictures for everyone to see. I didn't walk all the way around campus, because it is too big to do that. Below are some random pictures of my university...One of them has the physics building that I work at in it.
(Physics building)
There is a rule that no buildings on campus can be taller than the tower (in the picture below). A lot of universities in Texas have similar rules (such as, a building cannot be more than 4 stories). The rules were made by the university itself for some reason.
The campus that I'm at now (like many other universities) has a few historical buildings that are still in use.
These next picture are from last Saturday when, once again, I took my sisters to putt-putt golf and a movie:
Finally, I found something interesting. Do you remember the article where I talked about Nagoya University beer? Well, at UNT they are not allowed to make beer, but they do make University of North Texas water (picture below):
Well, that's all for now. Hope to see everyone in Japan in a about 7 weeks or so. I'll write again in a couple week. Adios.
-Ben
I have to choose a graduate advisor to oversee my graduate research really soon. I'm still not sure who I will choose...but it's an important decision, so I'm thinking about it a lot.
At the moment, I'm trying to think of what to bring back to everyone in Japan. I went to a book store the other day and saw a bunch of books about Texas history, but I don't think any of my friends would want to read that stuff (despite how great it is). But, I did get a book about somethings in Texas that one of my friends will like. I guess I still have plenty of time to figure that stuff out (about 7 weeks).
Speaking of Texas history, I'm going to do an article over a few very interesting events in Texas history (the anniversary of the battle of San Jacinto is coming up soon...the battle where Texas won its independence from Mexico and became its own country). I will visit the Alamo before I leave for Japan and take pictures and stuff for my blog...I'll probably do the article then.
Anyways, I didn't have to work today (Saturday), so I decided to put of my advanced quantum physics homework for a few hours and see what I could find around my town to write about on my blog.
(More views of the court house)
One of the pictures above has a band that just happend to be outside in front of the court house practicing that day. Actually, I think they were pretty good.
(Above: One view of the historic downtown court house)
A lot of towns in Texas have historical court houses. The one in Denton, the town that I'm living in now, was built back in 1850. That was only 5 years after Texas had become a part of the United States. Before that, Texas was its own country called, "The Republic of Texas." With the exception of Hawaii, not other state in the US can claim being an independent country. Many people seem to think that the state of Texas was always this size, but in actuality, Texas was a much larger place when it was The Republic of Texas. As a compromise for settling the debt that Texas had accumulated, part of Texas was giving to the US when Texas joined the union (i.e. when Texas became a state). Before that, Texas comsumed parts of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Wyoming (all very large states). When Texas beat Mexico for its independence, not only did Texas win what we today call 'Texas,' but it also won a lot more land that people don't really remember (you are welcome Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Wyoming!).
Also, I thought that a few of my friends may want to see my university, so I walked around campus a took some pictures. I hope you like them. I also included the physics building in there. Since some of the pictures are off topic, I will explain them as I go along:
(Almost in the middle of nowhere, these buildings pop out of the country side and form Texas Women's University)
After visiting downtown and TWU, I decided to get some lunch and figure out where to go next.
(So, for lunch I went Texas style. A 0.5Kg BBQ sandwich and a Dr. Pepper...It was delicous. Two of the things I really missed while I was in Japan.)
I decided to walk around campus and take some pictures for everyone to see. I didn't walk all the way around campus, because it is too big to do that. Below are some random pictures of my university...One of them has the physics building that I work at in it.
(Physics building)
There is a rule that no buildings on campus can be taller than the tower (in the picture below). A lot of universities in Texas have similar rules (such as, a building cannot be more than 4 stories). The rules were made by the university itself for some reason.
The campus that I'm at now (like many other universities) has a few historical buildings that are still in use.
These next picture are from last Saturday when, once again, I took my sisters to putt-putt golf and a movie:
Finally, I found something interesting. Do you remember the article where I talked about Nagoya University beer? Well, at UNT they are not allowed to make beer, but they do make University of North Texas water (picture below):
Well, that's all for now. Hope to see everyone in Japan in a about 7 weeks or so. I'll write again in a couple week. Adios.
-Ben
posted by Ben at 2:02 PM
3 Comments:
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nice pitures!!!! I am really busy this days, but I will write down a long email for you soon.
See you
Yay! TWU made it into your blog. If you ever have free time on the weekend now that finals are over, call me.
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