Orientation... Is it over yet?

Sorry I didn't make a blog post yesterday. It was orientation and it took a very unnecessary SEVEN hours, but I will get more into that later. I continue getting more and more mosquito bites and I did some research as well as talked to Rebecca, an old friend from my SoCal days, about it and have come to the conclusion that Asian mosquitoes are evil little bastards. Apparently they are more attracted to people who sweat more (kind of a no brainer, but being unused to humidity and a profuse sweat-er as is...) and those who have Type O blood. Well you can imagine what blood type I am. Every single time I leave my room (or sometimes without leaving my room at all) I get a new bite.

The mosquitoes here must be a lot smaller because I have never actually seen or heard one. Also I react very poorly to them or something (and because I am not used to them it is a LOT harder for me to fight the urge to scratch) and mine inflame to 1 - 2 inches in diameter and is mildly tender at first, then hardens like a rock. I have several bites from the first day and 3 days later they are still here. I need to buy some repellant and anti-itch cream or I will be covered by the time I leave.

 This is the night view from the balcony of my window. It's pretty nice and you can't see it in the photo but most all buildings in Tokyo have glowing red lights at the top so airplanes don't crash into them. I have slept every night with the curtains open and I really enjoy it. Speaking to students from the other dorms (including Nishi Waseda, the dorm with your own personal shower), I feel that I was actually placed in the best dorm room an international student can get. Nishi Waseda turns out to be a lot more cramped than I had initially thought. Because they are the only building without the need for communal showers, everyone jumps on those, but if you have a little more spending power, I would highly suggest going for Soudairyou, South Wing.

Here's a glimpse of our communal showers. I tried to take a better photo of the line of showers but frankly there just wasn't enough space. So as you can see they are shower ROOMS. When I first heard communal showers I thought "OH GOD it's going to be like the gym where it's a row of shower heads separated by a wall and that's it!" But they are actually quite nice. You walk to the back area of the first floor and theres a small hallway of showers with 3 showers on each side. The South Wing has 4 living floors (5th is the lounge/kitchen only) with maybe 7 or 8 rooms on each floor. I don't know if we are completely filled up but even if there are 30 people sharing 6 shower rooms, I have yet to run into a time where all 6 are being used. I also think they may be cleaned daily by the dormkeeper, Ms. Aya. My only quip as an American used to wasting luxuries is that the shower is operated by pushing down on a lever and there is no way to keep the lever down but manually. If you push all the way down it was continuously rain for maybe 30 seconds then you need to push again. Also beware the shower head is VERY powerful. The North and South wing are connected and the North wing feels slightly shoddier, but nothing too notable. They have 3 communal showers but they are actually welcome to use the South wing's showers as well.


I apologize for my lengthy posts as I'm not just writing for friends and family, but also for anyone that stumbles across this blog and is interested in studying abroad at Waseda. Looking up other SILS students' blogs is how I gathered most of my information before my trip so I try my best to mention important things that maybe other blogs don't touch on.

So here was the official beginning of my day.

Lipton is ripping off Americans and Aussies (according to Joanna) in terms of flavour selection.

I bought all of this at the local Family Mart which is about a 4 minute walk away from my dorm. It cost my under 500JPY or 5$USD (The current exchange rate is 100JPY = 1USD so it is easy to figure out costs).

Very friendly staff and will ask if you want your food heated.

Yakisoba dog!

So... yeah! Noodles inside of a hot dog? What? This is the Yakisoba dog, which is actually really really delicious. I really enjoy them. It seems a bit strange and may be a bit on the carbo loading side (I can't read the nutrition facts but bread + noodles... one can imagine) but I burn through carbs and the walking I am doing nulls it in my mind.

Just as a warning if you are doing the SILS program, you definitely want to eat before orientation. I was debating about it because I wasn't sure if breakfast would be provided and I'm glad I did because not only did we not have breakfast but lunch wasn't until like 12:30. 

Also you will need to bring...

1. A black pen. And maybe a few extra if you want to be nice and lend them to people.
2. Your Residency Card (though you are required by law to always carry it any ways)
3. Your dorm agreement contract and application
• You should have received a copy of this in an e-mail from NASIC I believe
• You need a photo of yourself and you should fill it out beforehand
• It does need your passport number so if you dont fill it out beforehand, bring your passport and photo with you
4. A paper fan
5. Something mindless and quiet to do for 1 hour

On to Orientation:

Dont get involved with crime, prostitution, or earthquakes.

Okay so the orientation was the longest, most grueling, most boring, and unbearable orientation that I have ever experienced. We went to check in first and got a large yellow binder filled with maybe 200 sheets of paper and a reusable Waseda CIE (Center for International Education) bag with books on course syllabi, living in Japan, Waseda 4 yr planner/agenda, and some more things. It's all fairly intimidating and is horrible to sift through because no one will tell you which section a paper is located, even though they clearly carefully organized the folder for you.

The first fourth or so of Orientation consisted of one person speaking in Japanese and one English translator. If you don't understand either Japanese or English, you may have a difficult time following. And even if you do understand English, sometimes you may have a difficult time any ways because during the entire 7 hour orientation, not all of the English "translators" had a native English-speaking accent (from England, America, etc.) Basically the orientation is Waseda firmly grasping your hand and walking you through every minor process as if you were blind and deaf, so don't stress about not knowing what to do or if you forget to bring something. They are incredibly accommodating.

During the orientation they mention a couple scholarships which you supposedly applied for before you arrived and there are dates for the "orientation" of these scholarships, though what they really mean is it is a meeting for the recipients of the scholarship, not to introduce or explain how to apply to it. JASSO was mentioned and I will write a little bit about it because that was the hardest scholarship to find information on and most commonly applied.

Everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) who is an international student studying at Waseda automatically "applied" to the JASSO scholarship. What JASSO is is a government sponsored scholarship specifically for international students. While it is true you auto-applied and have to do nothing in terms of application, the truth behind it is it is in fact a scholarship based on academic merit. I asked the JASSO lady about this and she said the application is taking the transcripts of every international student, putting them in a pile, and selecting from there. While there are many intl students, she still had about 4-5 pages of SILS JASSO recipients. 

Even though I did not receive it, my friend Joanna did, so I am happy any ways. :) I can live quite comfortably as it is so let's not get greedy.

About 3.5 hrs in we finally left the 100+ students and 90%+ humidity hardly air conditioned room (that's why I said bring a paper fan, unless you're used to this kind of temperature) for a campus tour.

SILS (School of Liberal Studies) Building #11
I found out this is also the newest building at Waseda. We international students are treated like royalty.

The 7th and 14th Prime Minister of Japan established Waseda over 130 years ago.
....I can't remember his name but his statue marks the center of Waseda University.
There's also a rumor that if you are caught climbing the statue you will be expelled. Kind of ruins my plans but whatever Waseda.

The Auditorium. Has an official name but I forgot.

Okuma Garden. Has oddly specific dates that it is open.
This is where you will run if you are out in the open on campus and there is an earthquake.
Also lots of parties here (but no drinking!)

When we came back it was lunch! They also had vegetarian options.

What was inside my snack baggy.
YEAH I KNOW I SEE THE HELLO KITTY JUST LEAVE ME ALONE.

I don't want to get too much more into orientation because I don't want to relive it anymore but let's just say when you do an entire orientation in multiple languages simultaneously and they are not all native English speakers, it becomes very time consuming and taxing. They also had like 5 international clubs come and give their own run down on their clubs and what they do. 

Now I told you to bring something mindless to do for and hour because for those who live in Waseda dorms, you have your own special orientation after the first one ended. So while everyone else left after lunch, you up for round 2 of torture 101. The first part of this orientation is the WORST. You get a maybe 18 page packet of dorm rules (about 6pgs per language - Japanese, English, Mandarin Chinese) and all they do IS READ WORD FOR WORD FROM THE DAMN PACKET. It was cool hearing everything in 3 different languages but the novelty wore off after the first 10 minutes. Not only did they already send some of the rules to you by e-mail prior to departure ALL THEY DO IS READ THE PACKET. Not a single gram of extra information is given and they read in monotone like they want to kill themselves, also the English "speaker" couldn't really speak English. I live for Engrish as I make fun of my mom on a daily basis for her Asian English accent, but it was not enough to entertain me for this really stupid and pointless lecture. After they FINALLY finish and you've prayed to Allah, Buddha, God, Vishnu, and the Universe for a gun they have you fill out 3 or 4 sheets to take to the Shinjuku office and register you for national health insurance either the next day or Friday, depending on what you have been assigned. This process is also lengthy, unnecessary, and stressful. All you fill out is maybe 4-8 sections per sheet and this consists of your first and last name, gender, writing "self", your dorm number... and that's about it. But this takes about another hour.

Now I made the mistake of not bringing my Certificate of Admissions so after orientation officially ended at about 3:30 (began at 9:20) I had to wait until 4 to meet with one of the ladies at the CIE office and get a new COA reprinted. As I said they are very accommodating to stupid foreigners--don't worry, you definitely aren't the only one who forgot something-- (I also did not bring a photo, or have the NASIC dorm application and contract agreement and they said I could bring it to their office by 9/19. Luckily in Japan they also have photo booths specifically for taking passport size photos and other official documents sizes. There was one across the street from the building where orientation was held and it only cost 700 JPY). 

This is what it will look like. You get 4 photos are they are pretty high quality. I was sweating like a menace and you cant even tell in the photos!

Now it's 4:30PM and I am finally free! I went back to my dorm to cool down and relax and then headed out for a food/exploring run.

Dorm entrance when I left

Also known as "Soudairyou" (早大寮）

It's adorable markers like these that help me remember my way back home.

MU towels!

There is like a 5 story high Picasso (convenience store chain) that's a 2-3 minute walk from my dorm. 3 floors sell stuff (1 - food items, 2 - toiletries, small electronics, candy, office supplies, 3 - bicycles and accessories)  and the other floors are staff only.

I think these are dried octopus tentacles...?
I usually enjoy them but these dont even look fried! Just dried!

Kigurumi! Or literally "wearable plush". So they're basically like a one-sie pajama almost. PIKACHU.

Another marker as I head back home.
There seem to lots of stray but non-feral animals in Japan.
People put plastic bottles with water in them and wrap this sign around the bottle.
Apparently it will keep stray animals away?

The lobby of the South Wing

Our little name plaque! You slide to blue if you're in. Slide to red if you are not home.
So convenient! I live in room 418.
I think I have met everyone on my floor and most everyone in my wing.
Everyone is really awesome, friendly, and pretty decent in Japanese.
Some have not studied for long but you will not find idiot weeaboo otakus.
Everyone's pronunciation sounds ranging from pretty good to better than mine.

Dorm map, everything is clearly stated. No guesswork.

My really horrendous and inflammed, itchy as a mofo mosquito bite.

What I got from my run!
The "Bow" tissue box was 125 JPY... there was a "Miao" version with a kitty on it.
JAPAN.

I was brave and asked Picasso staff in Japanese if they carried LAN to USB cables because the MBP Retina does not have an ethernet plug in (it ended up working out because LAN to USB doesn't work with Macs. You need a LAN to Thunderbolt, so I'm going to try and find the Apple Store in Shibuya). While I couldn't figure out how to say it's LAN on one end and converts to USB, they tried their best and didn't know much about computers so I apologized and just bought a fancy pen. Besides necessary purchases like my passport photos, shipping my luggage from the airport, and etc., that pen may be the most expensive single item I have purchase. I think it was 525 JPY. It's very nice and has blue, red, and black ink. (yeah I was one of those smart people who didn't bring a pen to orientation either).

いただきます！(Itadakimasu!)

I recognized this dish at the 7 and i holdings (Japanese 7/11) as one of those clam and spaghetti dishes my mom used to buy for my at the Mitsuwa Marketplace in Irvine, CA. I didn't expect to see it pre-made at 7/i so I just had to get it! It tasted amazing!!

It is now 5:51AM and I need to be out front by 7:20AM to go to the Shibuya station or something with my group so I will have the extra Yakisoba dog I got last night, relax, and make another post tonight!