So….I’ve been in Japan for about a week now, and I love it!! Well, there have been some hard parts (:P) to be honest, but before I delve into anything, I want to relay this week’s past events. (And omg, this week was so loooooooong (:P) ).
August 28th Saturday – The Overnight Airport Stay
I traveled through time zones and over where the Bering land bridge used to be to get to Tokyo, Japan. The ride was over 13 hours long, and I watched two movies, three TV shows, played hangman, slept, and tried not to go out of my mind. Luckily, 9 of the 11 UF students going rode this leg of the trip with me, so we were able to keep each other company.
When we got to Tokyo, customs went by rather quickly actually, and we had no issues with baggage or anything. However, when we re-checked our bags, we found out that our flight got delayed. We were planning on catching the last limousine bus out of the KIX airport (where we to finally end up at) to Hirakata City in order to make it to the international dorms before the 11 pm curfew. So…..we decided to maybe just take a taxi straight there, but when we got to KIX with our massive and beastly luggage, we ended up wasting time debating to take the taxi or stay at a hotel for the night (since the taxi turned out to be more expensive than we thought). In the end, 3 of us decided to stay at the airport hotel, and the rest of us had an overnight stay in the airport itself.
My god. I will never do that again.
I slept maybe 3 hours fully. We lugged our bags all around the airport in search of food and bathrooms, and then finally we settled in a hidden corner where the airport mailbox/post office area was. We thought that this was probably the best location since it seemed deserted and out of the way. Unexpectedly, it turned out to be the a high traffic area for security and the janitorial staff to stomp, STOMP, STOMP through and clank, CLANK, CLANK through while rolling large squeaky equipment and carrying quite jangly keys. (insert angry face).
Anyways, I ended up a cranky, uncomfortably unwashed, and sleep-deprived foreigner in Japan after that night. That’s not to say we didn’t have fun. We took lots of video and pictures and laughed and talked for hours. We explored a lot of that airport, and generally enjoyed our night to the best of our abilities.
August 29th Sunday – The Longest Day of My Life After That Mess Last Night
I ended up changing and cleaning myself as best as I could with a baby wipe around 3 to 5 am that morning. My friends and I brushed our teeth and stuff and loaded al our luggage onto those luggage carts that airports have. We went up to the top floor of the airport to watch our first Japanese sunrise and took video and pictures. It was really fun, and then we navigated our way to food and then to our friends who stayed at the hotel. We ended up taking that shuttle bus (cost 2000 yen) at 7:10 am or so for about an hour and a half.
Watching the scenery go by was really awesome. I was so sleepy, but my first real glimpses of Japan were so amazing. It looked so different but at the same time….normal. There were mountains to my right in the horizon and sea to my left. There was only one actual Japanese native on the bus, and the rest of the passengers were made up of us 11 UF students and one other international student from Alabama (we met up with the 11th one at KIX and made new friends J ).
The bus let us off in Hirakata city, and then we took taxis to the seminar houses (the international dorms). Those taxi drivers lifted our super heavy suitcases and had to drive with their trunks open and a single rope holding our bags in. I was scared the whole time something would fall off during the 10 or 15 minute drive. Then these guys lifted our suitcases back out, too. Just fyi, these guys were grandfather-aged. I was super impressed. It ended costing about 1900 yen to get from the bus stop to the seminar house.
It was hilarious moving in because the guy in charge was like, “How many people are coming?” Four of our friends were going to stay in a different house, so I was like, “8 of us.” The caretaker then asked, “3 or 4 more?” “No, there are 8 of us.” He went and got some papers for us to sign in and receive for orientation and then asked again, “2 or 3 more people?” I wanted to yell, “NO, man! EIGHT!! So 6 more!!” All that I did was repeat myself until two more people from our group came and then another girl who came by herself and left him once I was able to lug my suitcases up to my room.
Omg, and then the first thing I did was take a wonderful, very-much needed, long, and delicious shower. Then I went to another dorm room where some of my friends were gathered. Andrew, my boyfriend who was also put up in the same house, informed me of some of our friends from the other house wanting to go out and eat. I said something along the lines of, “Hey, Andrea and peeps wanna go out for dinner or something soon. You guys wanna go?” They stared at me and then laughed, “Sandra, it’s 10:30 in the morning!”
It wouldn’t be until the next Saturday that I would finally have the time and day right.
Anyways, we went out to eat, met new people, walked and explored the area around our dorm, bought food at the convenience stores (OMG AND THEY ARE CONVENIENT! They actually sell real food and things you actually need and can use), and got adjusted.
The rest of day felt like forever until it got dark and I went to bed around 9 pm.
WAIT! I remember what else happened.
I know I got my cell phone, and it cost like 7000 yen up front for a prepaid plan and from then on it will cost 3000 yen every two months for unlimited texts and emails and 30 minutes of actual phone calling LOLZ. Apparently, people rarely call here and just use email as our form of texting. It’s been super useful for getting people together to do things and just communication in general (DUH lol), but yeah, if you come to Japan to study abroad for at least a semester, get a cell phone.
I know we explored the clothing stores that are about 3 minutes or less by walking from the house I’m in. Japanese clothes are super cute and can be SUPER SMALL. My butt will probably never fit into most of the shorts and pants they sell there. I tried.
NEXT POST:
August 30th to September 2nd –Orientation Week
