So it's now 7:23 PM here in Tokyo and I am so drained. I slept last night at around 2 because my sleep schedule has been messed up by the flight and bus trips and then I woke at 5. I came back to my dorm at around 5PM after coming in and out and was supposed to meet a friend at 6/6:30 and I somehow slept until 6:40... I knocked at her door and she wasn't there and I walked around outside to see if I'd run into her, which was stupid not only because there's almost no way I would actually run into her and I accrued another mosquito bite on top of my 3. I seriously have no idea how I am getting these bites and it is driving me made. I don't hear any buzzing and the only sensation I get is when they've already bitten and I'm itchy. I would think I am just getting them from outside but I had a bite near the sole of my foot. I'm trying to stay up to see if I can't apologize to my friend Joanna so I can sleep at a better time and not be up late like last night. Tomorrow is orientation as well, though I have no idea what time it is (no one has told me or anyone I know) (UPDATE!! - It's at 9:30AM).

I did promise a tour of my dorm so here are some photos.

This is the view right when you walk in. It's very spacious and I think it's a bit larger than my room back home. In other words, I'm pretty spoiled for an exchange student in Tokyo.

 My bed and the right side of the room when walking in. I tried to "personalize" as much as possible with what I had to make it feel more homey. I'm dying for some kind of posters because I'm not used to white walls anymore. Also, mini fridge! :) It's really strange and has a knob inside that I'm still unsure how to operate.... Does not get too cold, but after a night it gets cold enough.

View from my balcony

 My "other" desk and the left side of my room when walking in. I try and keep all my electronics on this side. I finally found out who's Wi-Fi I have been stealing.... my own dorm's. There's one Wi-Fi spot and it's on the 5th floor while my room is on the 4th. That's why it is spotty in my room. Though I'm lucky, on any other floor you can't get the Wi-Fi at all.

Left side balcony view

Right side balcony view

 Talking to some of the other students sounds like I really lucked out in terms of dorm placement. My AC looks brand new, I have a pretty decent balcony view, and of course I got the nice spacious South Wing.Now we wandered off to a Japanese Buddhist shrine (I believe at least) that's right on campus. It's rather spacious and ornately decorated.

The Inner Gate

I call him Happy Buddha. There's a ton of stickers (?) on the inside of the roof.

Temple entrance. There was construction to the left, not sure what they're doing.

Inside the temple

I am a bandaged tree.

I came to the temple with a couple of my fellow exchange students. One from Germany (can't remember his name... sorry!) and one from Australia (Joanna)! It was kind of funny how there's this gorgeous traditional shrine right in the middle of a heavily industrialized Tokyo. Though I suppose that is the very essence of Japan-- taking the best of the old and new.

We returned back to the dorms after the shrine visit and I decided to take some photos of the rest of the dorm building. Here we have the communal kitchen. It's pretty spacious and very well equipped with whatever you need. I forgot to take a shot of it but in the room next door there's a lounge with a TV and an entire row of those Asian electric kettles, rice cookers, microwaves, and toaster ovens. Along with a mini Japanese library.

Decided to hang out in the lounge for a while and ended up watching an NHK program where they're trying to teach native Japanese how to speak English but in the "native" style.

I want to buy a long table.

Then suddenly another NHK program came on and it was called "Bittersweet Love" or something along those lines. There was a Japanese girl speaking not in broken English (because it was scripted) but clearly speaking English like it was written completely in Katakana. Then there was some American guy and he was fluent obviously and it felt like Twilight all over again. Actors unenthusiastic about their work filming a really fake and flakey love story. Me and some of the other exchange students, Alison (America), Michael (America), and Joanna (Australia), really got a kick out of it.

Then for some reason they had two Japanese people re-enact the whole thing. Yeah this actually happened. I pretty much died. The acting was god awful and it definitely sounded like Japanese- English, but you gotta start somewhere right?

Sassy cat butt

Yeah I don't even.

 Just like you would have imagined, I have seen quite a few cats just on the streets or sleeping on roofs. I can't tell if they are strays or are owned by someone but they are adorable and I'd take them all if I wasn't allergic.... and if we were allowed pets at all in the dorms. Maybe I'll get a plant.
It's signs like the one below ("FromHandToMouth") that make life so enjoyable here. Not only do I get a kick out of it every time I pass it, it acts as a visual marker so I can remember where I am. Though I haven't quite grasped navigation of the areas around here, I at least won't get lost if I'm going out for a quick convenience store run.

LET ME LOVE YOU

Aaaaand here was my lunch today. I picked it up at Family Mart (another convenience store). The Kodawari Curry plate was 298JPY and the Salmon Onigiri was 128JPY, making my total 436JPY. So my lunch cost me about 4.50USD and I was full enough that I don't think I could have eaten any more at that point. Gotta love it! It is unusual if eating out costs you 8USD just for the meal (at least that is what I have experienced at this point). I don't mind eating food like this. It's cheap and tastes amazing. I can't attest for how healthy it is, but I doubt it's that bad. Besides, with all the sweating and walking I'm doing, I'm sure it doesn't make much of a difference.

Seaweed is in a package!

Saaaaaaalmon

I didn't realize the seaweed wasn't already attached so when I rolled it up myself it looked a bit off. I also can't read enough of the kanji on this wrapper to determine what was inside and the picture wasn't too clear. But I wanted to get a salmon one and I got it!

Everything in this photo was 100Y except for the drink.

 We were given a mini tour of how to get to Waseda's University campus and I was shown the SILS building which is probably where all of my classes are. Then we made a quick stop to a local 100Y store and I picked up some plastic bins and small towels to make my life a bit easier at the communal showers. I love how cheap and high quality this stuff is!

Qoo! Apple juice!

 And of course you can never have too many drink in your mini fridge. The cake thing on top is some kind of cheese cake or something? Curse my limited kanji recognition! Everyone I have met so far that is an exchange student has taken at least one year of Japanese. There are a few students that sound like native Japanese students (though they are graduate students) and it is rather intimidating. Pretty much everything is communicated in Japanese so if you decide to study abroad here, it would be wise to at least take one year of Japanese before coming here. People are very kind and understanding if you are unsure of what they are saying, but if you can't communicate at all you may have a rough time. My Japanese skills are probably on the lower scale if compared with everyone else here.

The amount of sufficient touch I receive from this towel was well worth the 100JPY.

Also my luggage arrived! And Oogi was mildly displeased with me, but after a good nap and some juice he was back to his puppy-eyed self. I am trying my best to keep up with these blog posts but there require a lot more work than it seems. I am hoping I don't slack off on them. I think once I get a router so I have wireless internet in my room, it will be less of a problem. It kind of sucks to have to come out to the lounge where it's impossibly hot even with the supposed "AC" running. Anyways, I may go out and grab a late dinner or something... Until next time.

Oogi: I desire cuddles.

UPDATE!!

Joanna came by my dorm after she came back and gave me this!!:

Sweet Potato Taiyaki!!

Ahhhh she's so nice to me! I had eaten most of it (as you can see) before I remember to take a picture! If I ever go there myself I'll take a photo of an uneaten one hahah.

No Pikachus were harmed in the making of this curry.

Also I forgot to post my first Pokemon get! Pokemon CURRY! It's pork and corn curry and I gotta make it for myself someday hahah. So cute! I saw it at the grocery store and couldn't resist.

And after I got out of the shower I somehow have another bite so now my left foot has a bite on each side of the heel.... Lovely. The bite (or whatever the hell it is) on my face is hard and somehow turned into a poofy line instead the normal poofy circle mosquito bite... Regardless, I have NO idea how I keep getting bitten. It's pissing me off! Eat the mosquitos Oogi! :(

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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.

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So I have been wanting to make a new post for a while now but I have just been too lazy to do it (even though this entire summer was a lazy first-summer-off-since-I-began-college-four-years-ago summer where I literally did nothing, save for minor things I've had to do to prepare and requirements I needed to fulfill for my fellowship/scholarships).

So here I am. I am officially 7 days away from my departure. At first I was really pumped to just leave already since I've wanted to travel to Japan for as long as I can remember (not to mention being incredibly jealous when watching/hearing my friends go off living one of my dreams). Then as it crept closer I started freaking out like "Oh god I don't want to go! I can't accept change! I must stay here in the comfort of my home with my mom's delicious home cooking all the time!" etc, etc. Finally in the last week I think all of that has exited my system and I'm in the "just be over with already and take me to Japan" feel.

I've thought of a couple places I want to go to for sure and others depending on whether or not I can score a JASSO scholarship. If I am able to get the JASSO (which for those of you who are unaware, it's a scholarship funded by the Japanese government and they give a monthly stipend of 80,000JPY, so about 800USD, and it is only for foreign exchange students) then I will have my trip ENTIRELY paid for.



As of this point it is 'practically' paid for. As in, I don't need to dish out anything for tuition, dorm rent (includes utilities and fees and whatnot), round trip plane ticket, and possibly books depending on how expensive they are. But I am not covered on local transportation and money for food to sustain myself, which is actually a decent amount of money when you multiply it over 6 months. Now I have the money for this personal stuff but because the funding for my fellowship got cut in half (I won't make it back for the western academic calendar's "spring semester"... and it was a full-yr fellowship deal) I won't have any funds replenished when I go back. But if I get JASSO, there is no way I can eat through 800USD a month and it would probably cover my transportation costs too so everything I bring with me will just be frivolous spending money! That would be incredible because I could go wherever and basically do whatever without having to count every last dollar I spent by the end of the day. So less stress and more fun! But we'll see how it goes. I'm very thankful to have this much of my trip paid for already (though its not to say I didn't work my ass off for it), but my life would be set with JASSO.

Anyways, I somehow rant so much on these posts. I'm slowly doing a 'light' pack right now. So clothes, things I am not currently using but will take with me, minor toiletries, and medicine (dayquil, midol, ancient Chinese secrets) are going into my luggage. I know I'm not taking that many things with me and by the looks of it I may be going with an entirely empty luggage carrier. Which is fine by me because that means I get to take more stuff back with me. I'm trying my best to go over there with the bare minimum, so IE not taking things I clearly don't need like 6 pillows and my entire Pokemon collection. Maybe when I'm done packing I'll take some photos and post em here.

Now for my last haircut and new dye before I leave!

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