Monday, March 19, 2012

Long Awaited...

     Alright. I realize it has been a long time since I last posted and much has happened. Too much to talk about, really. I have several reasons why I did not post sooner, which I will soon explain. Although, to make a long story short, in case you don't have the time or don't want to read the following paragraphs: I'm in Japan. Everything's great.

Hard Rock Cafe Roppongi Tokyo
     Now, I believe the last time I posted was before I knew whether or not I was actually accepted. Well, surprise! I was accepted into Nagoya University of Foreign Studies. I spent months worried about paperwork and that something would go wrong to interrupt my plans to go to Japan, but they did not! Clearly. The only thing that went wrong was my mail sent December never made it to it's destination. That mail included my application for the scholarship offered by my new school. In the end, everything worked out. NUFS was willing to accept my application late and everything ended just peachy.

     The day before my flight to Tokyo was nerve-wracking. I was drowning in worry about what to bring, what not to bring, what fit, what wouldn't fit... In the end, I had to leave some things behind for my mother to mail to me later. Things I could survive without for a few weeks. The only thing out of that package I'm regretting leaving behind is a cushy pair of walking shoes. I have been walking around in flat shoes so much my arches scream with every step. BUT, I do not regret a single step I've taken so far.

     So, my adventures start on the plane ride to Tokyo. It was a 14 hour flight that in hind sight seemed to go by fast, but at the time felt like a lifetime. I imagine it would have gone by faster if the headphone jack to my seat had not been broken. Watching movies would have passed the time nicely. I watched a few, but I had to hold the plug to my earphones in at odd angles and hope the plane did not get too shaky. I played games off and on, but mostly just sat there. It was quite boring. Quite.

     Once we landed in Tokyo, I was still rather in denial of the whole situation. I filled out paperwork, went through security, exchanged money, got on a train... It wasn't until we arrived at the Nagoya station that it really started to set in. I was lost. I relied completely and entirely upon Elena, the other student I flew with, to guide me through the madness. She was a fabulous guide too. Elena and I had a room at a hotel in the Shinbashi area, quite close to the station. It was shortly after we arrived that I turned on my computer to discover the screen had broken. This was reason 1 that I did not start blogging right away. Reason 2 would be...there is just so much to do! Granted, one could not do everything there is to do in Tokyo in five days. I also spent a vast amount of that time rather ill, so while we did visit several places and I spent a large amount of money, I did not do all that much. It seemed like every meal I ate made me want to hurl. That is, until we went at ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. I had a greasy 'BBQ' Burger with fries that made my heart all a flutter (perhaps because I was clogging my arteries beyond repair), and I did not walk away with a stomach ache. So, as you can see, adjusting to the food and environment here is a task for me, but I am slowly getting over it.
View from Tokyo Tower


It was the day after our Hard Rock trip that we had to make the trek to Nagoya. We took the Shinkansen (or bullet train) straight from Tokyo to Nagoya. It was cool to see how quickly we were moving and even more cool to see the different architecture we were zooming by. We passed within viewing distance of Mount Fuji and actually drove through several hills which I would call mountains (since I'm not used to anything that tall being a 'hill'). Upon arriving in Nagoya, we had to transfer to the subway which was in itself a task. We were faced with even more stairs (we had to face many before this instance, but at this point we had done just about enough). Alas, when we finally arrived as far as trains could take us, we took a taxi the rest of the way to our new homes.

I will continue in the next blog about I-House arrival and what followed. For now, I will say またね!

2 comments:

  1. Hi, I just wanted to make you aware that non of your videos are working. Love your posts :)

    ReplyDelete