It's been a whirlwind of adventures so far, so I figured a blog would be a wonderful way to document these experiences.
The flight here was great. Well. Very long. 11 hours and 15 minutes to be exact. I didn't get a chance to sleep at all, thanks to 4 cups of coffee, but I did get to do lots of other things. Like trying to communicate with the two Japanese grandmas who sat next to me that barely spoke English and reading 2 books and 7 magazines and walking around the plane and watching 3 hours worth of The OC and eating tofu and watching ALL of the Japanese people sleep the WHOLE flight except when they'd magically wake up when meals were served and writing lyrics on plane napkins and watch the little moving plane on the little electronic map of the back of the seat in front of me slowly make its way across the ocean to Osaka. Yeah, you get the picture. It was a long flight.
The drive to the seminar houses (dorms) was another enjoyable (long) one. But we had a chance to drive across part of Osaka at night and it is gorgeous! It reminds me of a combination of Las Vegas (even though I've never been there), New York, and Los Angeles all combined into one.... if that's even possible. Pretty sweet. Finally got to the dorms and found my room which is so authentically Japanese and so cool.
The next day was a blur with trying to adjust to the time zone (though I thought the coffee/not sleeping on the flight would've helped....). Throw in a couple of crazy adventures at Japanese grocery stores where 0 English was spoken and I had no idea what any foods were, trips to and from the "uni" for orientation, and meeting awesome people in the program and I can already tell it's going to be a great 5 months!
I took a walk today throughout the neighborhood and took some amazing pictures of Hirakata-shi. It's such a beautiful little town with so many hidden gems. Pictures can't even do this place justice, it's so quaint and adorable. Hopefully I can get some up tomorrow. A bunch of us in my seminar house went to this awesome sushi joint that was sooo cool and unlike anything we have in the States! Japan is so awesome for stuff I've never seen before. Like heated toilets! That has definitely been one of my favorite things so far!!
Tomorrow brings another day of orientation and fun stuff like that. Kansai Gaidai has a program where they match you up with a Japanese student to practice speaking, so I get to meet my partner, Chika, tomorrow. She seems soo nice and we plan on getting lunch at one of like the 16 cafeterias at school. Not gonna lie, that cafeteria food here seems a little sketch.... even the McDonald's on campus serves like fried shrimp burgers and some other weird stuff. That should be an experience. Go big or go home, right?
Japan is definitely a culture shock but it's a good one. I can't wait for classes to start (next week) and to do more sightseeing and learning about the culture to fully enhance and appreciate my experience here. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity and I intend to make it the best! ....If the jet lag ever wears off :)
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