I knew that the US economy was having a hard time but geez, I only got around 59 yen per every dollar I had, and I had nearly $3000. It totaled around 180000 yen. This was already pretty bad because my fee for the dorm was 175000 yen alone and I didn't know when I was gonna get my scholarship. As it turns out, not for quite a while. I finally got the scholarship today, I think, but it was put into my bank account here in Japan. I'll get into that more later.
From the beginning.
Leaving America wasn't so hard, I didn't feel too upset upon leaving my parents and even though my flight was canceled and I had to take another one in another two hours, I felt good. Man, that flight was horrible though. I couldn't stay asleep for very long and I may have been snoring on some guys shoulder. I arrived in the Narita airport in Japan on September 9th after a really lengthy flight.
Japan is really freaking hot!!! No one ever told me this. I live in one of the hottest places I know in America, and it never made me sweat half as much as Japan made me in the first few minutes of arriving there. Processing and getting out of the Airport took a while, they had to check my passport, I had to fill out some paperwork, then I had to walk all the way to the front with my heavy as hell luggage.
Upon leaving the airport, I was met with four Japanese students holding up a sign. They saw me and said...Nikoruuuu??? Hell yeah, I'm Nikoru if you're gonna say it that cutely! :> Anyways, my butt was sore, and I was tired, but they had been waiting for me for who knows how long! I couldn't let them down and tell them that all I wanted to do was sleep. Two of them went with me during the long trip to Reitaku U (no seriously, it took almost two hours just to get there, and I was sweaty and probably stinky....Good thing I'm not too fat!!). They were really nice and patient with me, putting up with my pansy choppy Japanese. They even helped me with the luggage, bless their hearts. We ended up meeting up with the other two and another ryuugakusei(exchange student) at the bus station which I soon got really familiar with. I thought that would be it, and I could sleep when we got to the college, but the Japanese students made us, as in the ryuugakusei, go and eat out with them. I got to know two named Amy and Daichi pretty well.
First meal in Japan.....? Italian food! Hell yeah! Hahaha, shame I'm picky as hell and short on cash... After they took us to Mami Mart, a place that I go to quite frequently now, for some basic necessities. They told us to buy shampoo, conditioner, detergent, and toilet paper! It seems that they don't even supply TP here in Japan! All in all, there went the 5000 yen that I had for my living until I got my scholarship! Whoops!
I cried when I got to my room.......ends up I was actually missing my parents and my home, go figure.
Oh, by the by, I hate Japanese pillows, they are hard as hell!
Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures of the first day of my life...
The next day I met a fellow American! I know, I know, don't get attached and all that Jazz, it hampers your Japanese growth, yada yada.... It really helped, I was wanting to go home pretty badly and it was only the second day! His name is Stephan.
He's from Hawai'i as it ends up. He introduced me to my favorite place, the 24 hour convenience store. It sure is convenient! Man, just walk out of the dorm and there it is about a minute of a walk away! I got my breakfast there, some good 'ol onigiri with the money that I had left.
All in all, pretty interesting second day, good thing I was feeling so lonesome and I decided to walk around a bit. We had our first orientation then but I don't really remember what it was about......-_- Not like I could really understand anyways. I do remember that we signed up for our internet though. Internet fees are around 3000 yen a month, but the first month (as in September) is free. Oh how nice, I thought, that's really kind of them. Now I know why.....you don't get your internet until about Sep 25th. It better be freaking free then!
In an update of my internet issue, we got our internet on the last day of September, and we still got charged a setup fee. They should have waived the flipping setup fee, they just flipped a switch and activated our flipping internet! Plus, 1 free day! Whoopdee-flipping-doo!
Oh we had to pay for a trip that we'll be taking in October. That was around 1000 yen.
There goes my dorm fee....... To make matters worse, we went shopping for some more essentials. Good thing we went to Daiso, at least I can afford their meager 105 yen items. I bought 7 hangers for 105 yen and a body soap as well as a cup.
We went back home where a real nice friend named Tomomi treated us to some Curry.
The focal point of the picture is Tomomi-san, on the left is Cho Ara, I call her Cho, everyone else calls her Ara...
I didn't think I would like it, but dayum, curry is tasty!
Doesn't it just look good? Makes me want to eat it again.
I got a taste of some alcohol too since the legal age is 20 here. Didn't drink much though, honestly! I really want to wait to actually drink on my 21st birthday. It was like a 1% alcohol content and the rest was soda, and I only had a quarter of a cup. That's how girl drinks are here in Japan, 1% alcohol content, ooohhh yeahhhh.
Here are some pictures of the night:
This place is located between the girls and boys dorm, a nice meeting place for people, it's where we met to eat.
A nice picture of Cho by the vending machines.
From the left: Elise, Cho, Tomomi-san.
Shtephan was a little drunk I think...
This is Sarah, from America, like me!
Finally, quiet Name from Thai. He's playing a game here...
The following days were a few days of orientation-ness. Oh, also a real nice long walk with Rifa to Kashiwa city. Kashiwa isn't all that far from where I am, Minami(south) Kashiwa. Oh, Rifa is the group that cares for us foreigners. They're a bunch of students that take it into their hands to make us feel welcome. They made us walk for four hours damn them! By the time we were done it was already 7pm!
Anyways, I'll try to update again soon. Till next time!
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