Finally In Japan!

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Wow, so I finally made it to Japan. I have been here for about a week so I will try to do one entry a week while I'm away. I always wanted to come to japan just so that I could experience the culture and learn the language. After a long flight, all of the students of the program I'm involved in (IES) were taken from the Tokyo, Narita airport to Kaihimmakuhari to stay in the Hotel Springs for a week to do our orientation week. The staff showed us around the city and thankfully showed us how to withdraw money from the Japanese ATMs. They had been so helpful up to this point of the journey so I'm very thankful for what they have done.

The first night I was in Japan, I went with some of my friends to Saizeriya for dinner. The restaurant was fantastic, and I got to eat yasai karee which ended up being very very good. The drink bar was also very interesting because it was an all you can drink bar for a reasonable price. Needless to say, Melon Soda is now my favorite drink. I think i prefer it over any other kind of cola I can find in the US. I did go home and get some well needed rest for the full day of orientation the next day.

Over the next couple of days I spent most of my time with the program going through orientations of the train stations and how to get around Makuhari, so those days were not as eventful as I would have liked them to be, but you end up learning a lot from them so I was great that they had them available to us. However, I did go to Shinjuku station after the orientation of Meikai Daigaku and Kanda Daigaku were finished. I went through the Harajuku district and saw the interesting sights and sounds of the street that anyone who Googled Harajuku would see. The E.G.L. culture is still thriving and well and I am so glad for it, I feel like it makes Japanese culture so unique. I took some photos in the store and the streets. I think that you will all find them pretty interesting. On my end of the stick, I bought some pretty nice outfits from one of the stores they have there, but I really can't believe how expensive everything is here! It really is not the time to travel from the US to Japan considering the exchange rate they have against us... >_>

This passed week, I also went to a karaoke place!! yay. I went with a few of my friends from the program and had a complete blast. I hope that I will be able to get a video of us in the room we sang in. The food served there was delicious as well. I ate my first bowls of real Japanese Udon, Gyudon, and some other dishes that I forgot the name of. Unfortunately I don't eat fish that often so if you like fish, come here. hahaha.

I got into the dormitory that I will be staying in for this semester two days ago..I think? Im not rly sure, but the dorm manager and his wife are very very nice people. The host mother provides us with meals twice a day five times a week and of course it's her own home style cooking...it is fantastic. The rooms and beds are nice and everyone in my dorm hall is very helpful. I am definitely glad that I met them.

I start my classes tomorrow, and I am very excited to see what type of atmosphere the Japanese classroom has. I can't wait to meet the professors and other students that I'll get a chance to come in contact with, I'm sure that my Japanese will be improving significantly during my stay. This is going to be awesome fun. I'll try to upload some pics for you all to see from my passed week here later because it's not letting me do that right now...hehehe.

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