Day 13: It Branches out!

Just got laughed at by the owner of the hostel for this quick transition between blog posts:

For those not in the know, these are different japanese beers, not very different mind you!

So this morning up at 7:30, which for those who know me, isn't a time I'm very au fait with at weekends. Went to my test sufficiently nervous and then took it. It was the GRE. For those who don't know the GRE is a test required by American grad schools to apply. You see for some reason in America, simply having gone through 4 years of uni is not enough to show that you have literary and mathematical skills, oh no you need more numbers to show that you can do that stuff. 

Furthering this logic your test consists of 2 essays and 40 "Verbal" questions (My personal understanding of verbal is this: "Expressed in spoken rather than written words", but whatever) and 40 "Quantitative" questions. Now, the logical man/woman/(wo)man/wo(man) would grade these out of 40 but that's too simple, no each are out of 170. Pretty much to make them sound more impressive. So I got 164 for verbal and 159 for the Maths or in logical terms 34/40 an 29/40.

This pic is mostly because I felt uncomfortable with that much text, also totally their logic though

I was disappointed by the 29 until I found out that I got the same as the average for engineering students. Also, my verbal score despite being 85% is in the 94th percentile. I'll take that. Depending on your view see the above as either a humble brag, a flat out brag or thoroughly disappointing (if you can or did do better), I don't really mind. It's my blog after all, I'll tell you what it is, you choose what to think of it. 

You may ask, what has this got to do with ramen, and I would answer: "Nothing, onto the ramen"

So thanks to my friend at friends in ramen, I went to what he considers one of the best places. Turns out I had already been here when I last visited Osaka. See, I had an app that told me the best rankings of ramen in Japan and this restaurant was top in Osaka. I wasn't blogging then but here is a picture then and now: 

(Turns out I don't have the picture on my computer,

 just imagine I have hair and am eating the same 

ramen you will see down there, maybe I'll update with the pic)

This place had a queue! Now this isn't that rare in Japan, when something is popular is usually has a queue of some sort (Group mentality, they gather towards what others like). While you or I may see a queue and think ""My time is worth more than this" Japanese people think "If people are queueing then it is worth their time, so its worth mine!"

Did I not mention you are greeted by a man in a top hat? You are greeted by a man in a top hat!

As a British man I love queues, not the queues themselves but the idea of them and the fact that the decent rules of a queue are adhered to in Japan. (Genuinely: How countries operate without them????)

Once inside you use a vending machine to pay for and chose your ramen and extras, I of course go for their most popular ramen, added an egg, gyouza (Fried dumplings) and after my test; beer!

Sorry for the before pic, I couldn't wait to hit the beer! Friday night of studying and no booze!

It was excellent, very different to what I have had at my usual place and very delicious. A much thicker broth and a very meaty flavour. Loved it. The gyouza were grand and the beer was well earnt (Just found out that earnt is a British thing??? ). However after this heavy, thick and rich ramen and 3 beers I am a bit bloated so I think for now I'll head for the G&Ts. 

Beer did not last evenly with the other dishes!

Now I'm off to the HUB, a "British" pub that is in major cities in Japan. Not really British other than pints and much cheaper drinks (Only 4-6, and its 5 now!) Makes me miss my first year friends, we had grand times ordering 20+ G&Ts at this place. 

Anyway, nostalgia. Have a great saturday and I'll catch you tomorrow.