First Day

So it has been an incredibly long day and I have finally finished showering and unpacking. Unfortunately one of my luggages had to be delivered so no Oogi for me tonight.


My first flight was out of SLC and was supposed to leave at 7:25AM but there was apparently some kind of mechanical messup with the co-pilot's sound controls or something. Anyways it somehow delayed us 30 minutes which was mildly upsetting. But that is nothing compared to what LAX was going to throw at me.

Because you're thinking about how your face needs Advanced Night Repair at an airport.

WHY YOU NO OPEN

Ghetto board

When people say LAX is the worst airport my god do they mean it. The service was shoddier than hell and people would outright ignore me or step in front of me. This goes for passengers and airport staff.

What language is this in?

At first JAL had this lovely sign saying something about my flight and I couldn't decipher it. It was in perfect English but it made NO sense. I'd rather have it in terrible grammar that would get the point across. So I waited at the JAL line at about 9:00 or maybe a little before. All the signs said that no windows would be open until 10 which made no sense to me because my flight leaves at 12. Finally one of the staff come up and help me with it saying that even if it was a JAL flight they have some joint agreement or whatever and it was being flown by American. Now I go to the AA terminal and I just get sassed like I'm an annoying and possibly stupid foreigner.

So I have to wait in a non-existent line just to talk to someone to get them to help me (there were ONLY self-help stations). After being ignored and pushed aside for 40 minutes I finally get my damn ticket. It felt like Buddha was rewarding me for my hardship because I looked at my seat assignment and it said 24A! A window seat! In the smaller side row too! Ahhh thank you Buddha.

Boarded the international plane...

...I'm still boarded.

Excited... and nervous!

Monsters Unviersity on the plaaane!

Lunch... not bad!

Questionably good pizza. It tasted good but a little off...

LAND OH MY GOD

The international flight was incredibly smooth and I enjoyed it for about the first hour and then it became unbearable. During my 11 hr flight I never once got up. So yeah, my ass was numb beyond belief when I finally got off. The Narita airport is AMAZING and a complete 180 from LAX. NRT had signs everywhere in English, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. They even had vocal warnings for each walkway warning you that you should watch your step because the walkway was ending.

All the walks.

The humidity sank in pretty fast though and I started sweating like a baboon in heat. I had left my jacket on because the flight was so freezing and I didn't quite have the space to stuff it into my backpack because I kept the mini blanket and pillow from the int'l flight, so me with a jacket on + jeans + 80% humidity + mild nervousness = a lot of sweat. Everything went very well at NRT though. Even being the バカ外人 everyone was very helpful, polite, and patient. The “longest part” of me getting through NRT was my first stop at the passport check, and that was only because there was a line and they had to take your fingerprints, photo, and issue you a Residence Card. That took about 30 min (they even had a sign to let you know how long it would take... so thoughtful!). Then I went to baggage claim and the top handle on my large luggage was broken. Dunno how but now it's incredibly awkward to carry it hahah. Went through customs and previously I was very concerned with how long this would take and was asking everyone I knew about their experience with customs. Well I can tell you now it took less than a minute. I gave him my customs card that I filled out on the plane and my passport and he was like “Do you speak Japanese?” and I responded in Japanese “A little, hahah” and he just looked at my visa and said “Come for study?” I nodded, he smiled and told me 「ありがとう。頑張ってね！」(Thanks. Good luck!) and that was it. I believe it was mostly stupid fast for me because I have a student visa so there no need for explanation, though I think their customs just isn't that insane about foreigners.

This is what I stared at for an hour because bus.

They are really excited about it. Signs everywhere.

So I walk out the arrival gates and there's a lady holding a Waseda University sign right at the front. Asian universities really do take care of their foreign students. I went up to her and she and another lady helped me exchange currency, take my small luggage to get shipped,

The company we used to send my luggage.
ITS A CAT CARRYING A KITTEN.

tagged my luggage, and even wheeled it around and watched it for me. It makes me wonder if American universities even blink an eye at their foreign students. Seeing the international students that come to the U to learn English being crammed into the Annex and isolated from the rest of the school is heartbreaking really. I know it is a huge cultural difference and less of American universities not caring, but given how kindly and family-like I have been treated makes me a bit ashamed of our end of the exchange program. Granted, I don't know if they were received at the airport or not, how they were treated, and things such as that, but at the end of day one for me, my landlady already feels like a surrogate mother to me, and I somehow highly doubt we treat our international students like that.


Anyways, enough of that rant on culture. So my flight was the “last” to get in from our group of Waseda students and even after taking care of everything at the airport, it was only 4:55, and the bus was supposed to arrive at 5 so it was perfect timing. But somehow the bus was late or delayed or something, it wasn't exactly explained to me, and it arrived at 6. We pack on, drive in a circle, and then have to wait for some more international students (I'm not sure how this worked because they require on the Waseda site that your flight comes in before 4, but anyways) and so this sapped about 40 more minutes.

I'm not tired what are you talking about.

Pizzala! The first Pokemon thing I've seen.

Finally we are off and it's a 2 hr bus drive into downtown Tokyo, Shinjuku. Suddenly everything turns into a mess as the original 2 ladies from Waseda were switched to the other bus. Our guide wasn't sure of what to do and so we dropped the Nishi Waseda kids off first and it ended up taking 30 minutes. Then we finally leave for Houshien Waseda and we all got kicked off. Eventually someone helps the 3 students (including me) that are at the International Student House (South/North wings). There we met our landlady (she doesn't actually collect rent I don't think, but is there more as a helper), and 2 dorm leaders (I want to say, not sure of their official title). They were awesome and gave a tour but being inside the building was absolutely unbearable. For those of you unaware, in Japan there is no such thing as central heat/air. You have a heater/AC in your room and that's it. The public spaces like the halls, elevator, and entrance are just humid and warm (and then humid and cold in winter).

I couldn't wait so I took a bite first.

To cut it short, I met the other students in my dorm that arrived today and we went to eat at Saizeriya (like a Japanese version of Denny's... pretty cool) and I just had some “Italian pudding”, or flan, because to be honest all I wanted was to unpack, settle in, and SHOWER, like holy gods I have never wanted a shower so badly in my life. The flan tasted amazing though and then we headed to Picasso (convenience store chain) because it's nice to have things like toilet paper and finally we were headed back home. Theeeeen another tour of the place. I know they just couldn't keep track of who they showed what because people arrived at different times and even though I kept my patience and politeness, inside I was screaming SHOWER PLEASE LET ME SHOWER SHOWER SHOWER AHHHHSOGAOGNAGEGOE. Nonetheless like at 9:30PM Japan time.... finally I could retire to my room. I know I didn't take too many photos but I was exhausted, achy, and didn't want to seem too touristy. I'll take more photos tomorrow and show off my dorm.



Also there is no wireless internet in my dorm. I seriously don't know what I am going to do. There is an ethernet cable so I guess if I got my own little router maybe I could make my own hotspot. The internet I think I am stealing now is shoddy and only works sometimes. Damn you Waseda.