About

Konichiwa! Who are you?

Heya :)
I'm Stephanie, the one who's writing everything on here and who takes/makes all the images (unless otherwise stated). I was born and raised in The Netherlands.... which unfortunately isn't that place where Peter Pan and Rufio live. It's a tiny country full of people in western Europe. I was born there in '88.

You're getting old. 
I know, thanks.

Describe yourself!
Here are some keywords that I think kinda describe me:
Animal lover. Awkward. Cancerian. Chocolate addict. Curious (a little too much sometimes). Cynical. Feminist. Fickle. Funny wannabe. Idealistic. Impulsive. Insatiable. INTJ. Misanthropic. Stubborn. Tattooed.

This what I look like when I'm admiring some awesome lioness who loves sleeping and laying around as much as I do.

Watcha gonna do in Japan?

I am a student Liberal Arts & Sciences (yep.. that isn't gonna get me a job) at Utrecht University and I'm majoring in Environmental Social Sciences (maybe that will tho?). I'm not the biggest environmental hippy but I do like to be aware and conscious. I will follow the KUINEP program at Kyoto University. This will consist of some pretty easy general courses and a lot of Japanese language classes. This all doesn't really fit in or add on to my usual studies.. but whatever, I'm in Japan! The courses start in October and will last until the middle of February and I intend to get back to Holland before May. I don't know what I'll be doing in that meantime, and that's okay.

So why Japan and not.. you know.. somewhere you can understand the language?
The choice for Japan is solely based on this feeling I had a couple of years ago. I visited Osaka for a couple of days in 2009 as a stopover to New Zealand. I don't remember a whooole lot from that visit, but I do remember just wandering the streets there and thinking "DAMN it's so cool here, how awesome would it be to one day live here for a lil' while?'. Shut up about the language, I WILL LEARN ok.

Okay. And what's up with your misspelled url?
Wanderlost is derived from the word wanderlust; literally lusting to wander.

I guess everyone who knows me will understand how much this word fits me. Whenever I'm in one spot for a longer period of time, I just get restless. It doesn't mean that I'm bored per se, or that I don't enjoy the spot that I'm in. It starts out as this little flame quietly burning inside of me, flickering a little brighter whenever I'm looking at photos from travels all over the world. And the more I see how much there is to discover and experience in the world, the bigger this flame gets. Until at one point it has grown into a full fire and I'm ready to take off again.

Great... wanderlust; it's called wanderlost tho.
Easy yo.. I was getting there. That's 'cause I always kinda enjoy getting 'lost' when I travel. It's part of the experience so to say. Instead of going from sightseeing to sightseeing attraction I like to just walk around and find little hidden places. And I think Kyoto, Japan in general, is a pretty good place to get lost. Not just geographically, culturally, socially, but also in translation; as my Japanese language knowledge is still seriously lacking.

What can I expect from this blog?
Please expect as little as possible as I hate to disappoint.

I guess I'm mostly keeping this for my own entertainment anyway. I'm not sure what my plan with this blog is...I'm thinking part diary-style but also maybe part informative about the stuff I will love about japan (and the stuff I hate), reviews of places I'm visiting, stuff I buy or eat or drink etc.

Sounds...eh..interesting.
Fuck you.

Oh boo. Also, why is your English so weird?
I'm not a native English speaker, okay. If you see any mistakes and want to correct me (which is a good thing, I want to learn!) then contact me.