The Yard Magazine

A Passport to Knowledge: Kelly Brock ’11 (part 2 of 3)

David Rockefeller International Experience Grants Program
« Read Part 1 of 3 | Read A Passport to Knowledge Intro | Part 3 fo 3 coming soon »

Kelly Brock ’11

Hometown: Greenwood, South Carolina
Concentration: Engineering Sciences SB
House Affiliation: Leverett
International Field of Study: Immunogenomics Research
Destination: Yokohama, Japan

Even though I’ve already been here for seven weeks, I still have moments when I look around and say, “Holy cow, I’m in Japan!” They may be triggered by walking past a little old lady wearing a full kimono ensemble, or seeing large anime advertisements (and sometimes anime characters) in the street. Japan is like everything I’ve been imagining since I was a kid, but even more–more gigantic, more ancient, more contradictory, and more breathtaking–than I expected. For example, I thought I was going to explode from either happiness or exhaustion during the second weekend in July! The weekend started with a blast– or at least a fibroblast–since we (Andrew, Denise, and I) attended an international immunology symposium in Yokohama that Thursday and Friday. The speakers were terrific, even though some of the science went over my head. Afterward, the managers at the conference building told us that we had to leave the premises by a certain time, and police were everywhere. As we later found out, the Crown Prince and Princess of Japan had come to attend an environmental conference. I can now say that I have been close to royalty!

The next day, I went to Kamakura for my Japanese language class field trip. The morning was very hot, both temperature-wise and food-wise; I accidentally ate a large gob of spicy wasabi, which almost knocked me off the stool at the sushi bar. After recovering somewhat, I trekked with the other students to see the Daibutsu, a 40-foot-tall Buddha statue dating from the 13th century. We even got to climb inside of it!

After spending the day taking in all the history and temples and wasabi I could handle, I returned to my dorm room and I was almost asleep before I hit the pillow. The next day, however, was just as magical–I went to Tokyo Disneyland with two of my lab coworkers. I love Mickey Mouse, especially when he sings in Japanese! I recognized several rides from Disneyworld in Florida, but some things–like octopus pizza–were definitely Tokyo-specific. I even learned how to sing “It’s a Small World” in Japanese, although I have a bad feeling that the song is going to be stuck in my head for months to come.

The fun wasn’t confined to that weekend, however. In my first blog post, I talked about going to a maid café; I thought I should continue the trend of unusual restaurants by going to a cat café last weekend. For approximately $10, you can go into a café, have unlimited drinks, and play with any and all of the 10 resident cats for one hour. Cat toys were everywhere, and the tables were very low on the ground so that the patrons could more easily frolic with the felines. The downside to the low tables, however, was that one particularly rambunctious cat kept trying to drink my green tea latte–the situation almost turned cat-astrophic!

In short, I love Japan–where else can you find ancient temples, Mickey Mouse, and cat cafés concentrated around a few subway stops? So many places have history, a weight of tradition that counterbalances the newer, and sometimes stranger, additions. I would need a novel to describe all of the little eye-opening moments that have defined my stay. Maybe by the time my summer program ends, I will no longer be surprised by anything about Japan. However, I highly doubt it.

Kelly