Campus and Orientation Day 1

I wish I could post pictures of the campus, but I still haven't bought a camera. Sorry guys. The campus is lovely and pretty small. There are two main classroom buildings, a cafeteria and shopping complex (bookstore and convenience store), a library, a gym, an administration building, and a building for international education.

*Side note about Japan in general* Japan is full of cute. Walking down the sidewalk along the Main Gate of the university there were pictures set into the sidewalk of different animals--cats, otters, cows, all cute. A lot of the signs and product labels have cute pictures. Hello Kitty is just the beginning.

My first day went smoothly and I got a lot done. I paid my fees, turned in my forms, registered for classes, attended a computer program oreintation that I needed to take before starting my Japanese courses, and I applied to open a savings account at a local Japanese bank. That banking session was amusing as they stressed that you must fill out the forms by writing your name and address exactly as it is in your passport even down to the serifs in the font. Any mistake and you had to fill out a new form. I was one of the few who was able to get it on the first try.

In between sessions I wandered around campus and even down the road a little ways to go with a friend to the 99 yen store. I had lunch at the campus McDonald's because I hadn't found the cafeteria yet. I decided to have chicken nuggets instead of one of the more Japanese options such as an Eel sandwich. As expected, the portion sizes here are much smaller than American sizes. The medium drink was smaller than an American small. I like it that way though. By dinner time I had found the cafeteria. I got some Udon soup and have decided that I don't like Udon noodles. This does not bode well.

It is a 20 minute walk from campus to the seminar houses. I spent most of the day walking around, and the trip to the 99 yen store and back took a little while and since I did all this with my laptop in my bookbag on my back I was very tired and sore by the end of the day, not to mention still jet-lagged. So unfortunately I did not do any socializing or exploring after I got back to the dorm. Instead I wrote my last post and went to bed--sound asleep by 7.

Now I am in the middle of day 2 of orientation which I will write about later--I have to get to another meeting. TTFN!

Dorm Life

As promised, here is my dorm room. The pictures aren't great because I took them with my Mac, and that is really hard to do, but I haven't gotten a camera yet so this will have to do for now. Anyway, the room is really nice. It is quite large, especially for what I was expecting. The rooms are meant to accommodate two students, but for this week of orientation there are three students to a room. This makes the room a bit more crowded and really awkward for the third person (me). Anyhow, there are shoe shelves right as you come in the door. Then the main area which is 8 tatami mats is where students put out their futons to sleep on every night and there is a table which can be set there during the day. Each student has a built in wardrobe and a desk and shelving unit which is built in in a third area of the room. There is ethernet in the room and air conditioning.

The rest of the dorm is fairly standard. There is a communal shower room and a communal restroom. The shower works like so many of those automatic sinks in public places in the US where you push the button and it stays on for so many seconds. It conserves water that way, but it makes showering more annoying, and certainly more business than pleasure.

The dorm also has a lounge area, a laundry room, and a computer lab, as well as a shoe room like so many traditional Japanese homes. The kitchen area is interesting. It is like walking into a locker room at first because for each room (I am in room 4211) there is lockable food pantry built into the wall and a small refrigerator unit located in aisles in the middle of the room. After the rows of refrigerators are rows of sinks which three rooms share. Along the walls at the back of the room there are a good half dozen or more stove tops and ovens which are unassigned. There are two microwaves. Maybe this is normal for some dorms, but for me coming from Mary Foust which had two very normal tiny kitchens this was quite something.

Honestly, after seeing the dorm I wish I was staying in a dorm rather than doing homestay. It is really nice and it seems like the dormmates do things together a good bit and really bond. Also, those living here are lucky to be able to fully settle in. I still have no idea where I will be living and what the commute to school will be like.

Well, that is all for now. I am exhausted from my day of orientation and in desperate need of a nap. Good night!

The Longest Day

The day started at 4 in the morning. Then I lost track of time. I just know it kept on going.

My flights were fairly uneventful. The first was a half hour, the second was 4 hours or so. The last flight was the 12 hour flight. They fed us two meals and a snack, all of which was decent as far as airplane food goes. Last time I was on a plane that showed movies it was the kind where they had one screen for the whole cabin and they just showed whatever movie they had--It was the live action Jungle Book movie, as I recall. This plane had screens for each seat and simultaneously showed multiple movies, each on a different channel. Throughout the trip I watched Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (unimpressive), Adventureland (strangely depressing), Wolverine, and The Great Buck Howard (I think that was the name of it anyway). I tried to sleep, but I think I only got an hour or two the whole trip. The plane arrived in Osaka at 3:50pm local time (local for me, not for you).

Immigration and Customs went ten times more smoothly than I had imagined. The lines weren't incredibly long and I got through in no time at all. I was finished with the whole process in just a little over an hour. I found a good dozen other exchange students and we all met with some staff who put us on a greyhound bus to get to the dorms. The bus ride was an hour and a half, but it was quite enjoyable as we got to look around at Osaka. There aren't a whole lot of skyscrapers or anything, but the buildings and houses are all packed tightly together and just keep going as far as you can see in all directions. I couldn't tell how they distinguish one area from another, it seemed like it was all just one big city forever and ever.

It was dark by the time we reached the dorm (I'm in Seminar House 4)--local time 6:30ish. An RA met me at the bus and helped me get my bags to my room. I was given a packet of information, which I still haven't fully looked at. I wandered around the dorm and was spoken to very little. Remind me to tell you about the dorm--I'll try to do that tonight. At 8:00 the RAs had a supermarket trip which I went on so that I could have something to eat. I was not very adventurous and just bought some fruit and vegetables and a danish type thing. When we got back I was too tired to do anything other than jump in the shower and go to bed. Hence I didn't write this post until this morning. I went to bed around 10 pm local time which would have been 9 in the morning Eastern time. So really I went from 4 in the morning to 9 in the morning the next day--which may not be a lot, but for me it really is.

Today I have some orientation activites to go to and some business to take care of--like finding my way around, paying some fees, etc. I am looking forward to seeing the campus. Hopefully today will not be quite as long as yesterday.

Thinking of home,

Stephanie

Here Goes Nothing

Tomorrow I set out on my grand adventure. I catch my first plane at six in the morning, go to Charlotte and transfer to another plane to take me to San Francisco. Then I get on my last plane straight into Osaka. Once there I will spend a week living in the dorms and doing orientation activities before I meet my host family and move in to their house. Classes start up September 7th.

I had never really thought about the phrase "here goes nothing" before until writing this entry, but I'm not sure I get it. It doesn't feel like 'nothing'. I feel like it would be more appropriate to say "here goes everything." We'll see.

Next time I write will be from across the world. Take care and don't forget me!

Sayonara,

Stephanie

Last Week at Home

I have one last week here in the states. I can already feel my heart preparing to beat out of my chest. If I don't have a complete meltdown before I get on the plane I will call this week a success.

Address Me

All,

I would like your mailing address so that I can send you mail (maybe even from Japan!).

Love,

Stephanie

Digging Up the Ole Blog

Hello hello. It has been a long time, a year in fact, since I last used this blog. This has happened with most of my electronic adventures from my first webproject to my Twitter account. So why am I back? Well, because I am about to go off on my study abroad adventure to Japan and I want to be able to relate what happens. I may even be able to use it to connect to some local elementary schoolers as they do their Japan study. Wouldn't that be swell?

Anyhow, a quick update since it has been a year. My junior year ended as busily as it began. I finished the Star Trek class and had fun doing it--we lucked out and were able to make seeing the new film the final exam. I finished up my term as Chief University Marshal and my time as an Upperclassperson Mentor in Warren Ashby Residential College. I spent the first part of the summer doing another internship--this time getting credit for it (hooray!). I worked for Encore Video Productions in Myrtle Beach doing everything from office work to script supervision and even helping develop their television show project. Now the summer is almost over and I must get ready to leave for Japan on August 30th. Life is crazy.