From West to East:
After a 3 hour delay at San Francisco Airport and 12 hours of above-the-cloud travel, I finally arrived at Osaka International Airport, JAPAN!! Getting off the plane, I met about 10 other students who were all on the same flight and heading to Kansai Gaidai. We were picked transported by charter bus and after another hour, we’ve arrived at the international dorms. I was just about beat and could have pass out as soon as I lay down on my futon if I wasn’t so excited looking at the orientation materials and exploring the dorm. Nevertheless, I knew I needed to sleep if I was going to be able to do anything so I finally drift off into my first night in Japan.
“Where am I?” was the first thing that I thought as I opened my eyes, awoken from my slumber. It was a strange feeling, I often go auto-pilot in the morning after waking up, but here, I had to pause and think about what I have to do. As I brushed my teeth, I met Stephanie, who wanted to go buy breakfast and so began our first excursion to the Japanese convenience store. It was similar but also different from the stores in the US, comparable to a 7Eleven, but in Japanese.
After a couple days and some orientation meetings, these are the things that stood out the most to me:
1. 1. Cars drive on the left side. You probably know that already but you will probably underestimate how confusing it is.
2. 2. Electrical outlets are for 2 flat prongs so buy those converters or you might have to go searching for an electrical store like I did -____-.
3. 3. Groceries are expensive, really, like 2 tomatoes for 4 dollars expensive.
We also went through placement testing in order to be placed in the correct Japanese language class levels and I am so excited for classes to start Monday. It is going a very different semester for me for I will have no science classes. Living in the dorms so far has also been an amazing experience since I have met people from all over the world and everyone is so friendly. Even though we have 4 different dorms, it’s really easy for everyone to mingle and make new friends.
All in all, Japan has been wonderful so far and I am loving it, minus the fresh foods’ prices, I am looking forward to telling you more about the classes next week!
