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Published: September 18th 2015
Hi friends!!
Today marks my first official week in Japan, and SO MUCH has happened. I've registered for classes, visited a bunch of different places around Tokyo, and have eaten a very large amount of おにぎり(
onigiri--rice balls wrapped in dried seaweed with fish/beans/plum inside). Seriously, I've been eating at least two a day for breakfast every. single. day.
A quick disclaimer before I start: I do not have a working camera at the moment, so there will be no pictures for this blog post. I'm sorry! 😞 I will be getting a Japanese cell phone on Monday, so my next post will definitely have pictures.
Traveling here was quite the adventure: I woke up on Thursday, September 10th at 3am St. Louis time and left for Seattle at 6am. I had one stop in between St. Louis and Seattle, and that was Denver, but I was only there for about an hour. I eventually arrived in Seattle at 10:20ish Seattle time, and had a direct flight from there to Narita Airport at 1pm. The flight was about 10 hours long, but I was only able to sleep for a small bit of it. 😞 The rest of the time I watched TV and played video games (super exciting, I know). When I finally arrived in Tokyo, it was 4pm on Friday, September 11th. I was SUPER jet lagged. However, I was able to make my way through immigration and customs and found the Waseda students who met us at the airport along with all of the program directors. Once everybody arrived at the airport, we made our way on a bus to the hotel we've been staying at in Ikebukuro (a neighborhood in central Tokyo).
So far, Japan has been really fun!! Everyday has been chock-full of different activities, from various information sessions about living in Japan to language/culture lessons to hanging out in Tokyo. We've been hanging out a lot with the 虹のかい学生 (
nijinokai gakusei--students from the
nijinokai circle/club; a club with native Japanese students and international students at Waseda who help out with orientation for international students and who put on events throughout the year), all of who are super cool. All of the students are super willing to speak Japanese with all of us and want to help us with our Japanese, which is super nice. They're all very patient and 元気 (
genki--energetic) and are always down to hang out with us.
Up until this point, everyday has basically been leave for Waseda sometime between 8-9am (depending on when we need to be there) and travel by train. For those who don't know about the public transportation system in Japan, it's literally the most convenient, dependent, and advance public transportation system in the world. The trains travel super fast, ALWAYS arrive on time (seriously, they are never a second late, it's amazing), and the schedules are really easy to figure out. You also can travel around all of Tokyo on them, and Tokyo is a HUGE city. Oh, and the best part about the train system: IT'S CHEAP. For real. It cost ￥154 to ride from Ikebukuro to Shinjuku (which is what we've been doing everyday, and only takes about 15-20 minutes with one line switch), which is only $1.30 USD. I never want to drive a car again.
<address>After arriving at Waseda, we would have some sort of orientation activity (typically something having to do with obtaining a cell phone, setting up a bank account, registering for classes, etc.) and then we would be free after that to do whatever we wanted. A lot of times, the 虹のかい学生 would meet us somewhere and we would split up into groups and go to different parts around Tokyo. There was one day where I went with two other students from my program and two Waseda students to Harajuku and Shibuya for the afternoon and evening, and it was SO MUCH FUN!! We took プリクラ (
purikura--those photo booths that make your eyes look huge like an anime character's), went shopping, and ate dinner. I was really excited, especially because everything I ever heard about Harajuku was true: literally everything is cute, the clothes are amazing, and people have the craziest outfits. If you don't believe me, look at the Tokyo Fashion Facebook page: I saw a fair amount of crazy outfits just like the ones posted on the page. After eating dinner, we went to カラオケ (
karaoke--for you Americans reading this, we pronounce it completely wrong. The correct pronunciation is kah-rah-oh-keh) in Shibuya. Shibuya is INSANE--there are TONS of people and bright neon lights everywhere. It was a huge sensory overload, I just kept looking around like a kid saying " すごい！すごい！" (
sugoi--amazing) I simply could not process everything that was happening around me. Times Square has nothing on Shibuya at night time. For those of you who are shy about singing カラオケ, don't be. As long as you sing with confidence, it doesn't matter how bad you are at singing (*ahem* me) because you'll be having fun.</address><address>Speaking of カラオケ, I went to it the next day as well. The difference between the two days? One day we sang for thirty minutes, the next day we sang for three hours. Turns out that there are some kids in my program who are super talented at カラオケ and singing in general. We all had so much fun singing American and Japanese pop songs, and one of the 虹のかい学生 actually lost his voice because he was singing so loudly and strongly! He was awesome, but we all felt so bad for him because he seriously could not talk for two days after that.</address>
Another notable place I've been to so far is Asakusa and the SkyTree Mall. We all went on a day trip on Wednesday and it was so much fun!! Even the head of our program went, and it was awesome! I was so excited (of course; I've been told I'm very 元気 and かわいい by all of the 虹のかい because I'm very excited about everything we do/see) because not only was this my first time to Asakusa, but I got to eat だんご (
dango--soft rice balls on a stick covered in delicious goo)!! だんご is super delicious and you should try it if you get the chance. After praying at the temple and walking around the shops in Asakusa, we made our way to the Tokyo SkyTree Mall. The Tokyo SkyTree is basically this big tower that you can go up in, kind of like the Space Needle in Seattle. However, we didn't do that: we went to the giant mall right next to it. The mall inside is HUGE! There were so many stores, we simply couldn't get to all of them in a couple of hours. The SkyTree Mall is also where they sell the famous Tokyo Bananas, which in reality aren't even actual bananas: they're small banana-flavored cakes with banana-favored creme inside. Oh, and they're shaped like bananas of course. No one in my group got any, mainly because none of us didn't like banana-flavored things (I didn't because I can't eat gluten).
Though going to Harajuku and Asakusa have been fun, the most exciting part so far is finding out who I'll be living with for the next year!! We received our host family information yesterday, and move in tomorrow afternoon! I'M SO EXCITED!! I'll be living with a family of four in Shibuya, and they have one half-son who is a businessman (meaning he'll never be home) and the couple have an eight-year boy. It'll be really fun to have a little brother for the next year, especially since I won't have my own little brother to hang out with. I'm also just really excited to be in a family with a kid, something I really really wanted. Saturday afternoon cannot come quick enough!!
Oh, I almost forgot: today was a super big adventure as well. I officially became a resident of Japan (went to city hall and made it official--woo!), opened a Japanese bank account, and signed up for a Japanese cell phone plan. ADULTING OVERSEAS! To top off my big adult adventure, I went to the doctor because I have a really bad cold and needed some cold meds. I found a doctor who could speak English which was awesome, and there's a pharmacy right below the office as well. Also, for the record, Japanese doctor offices are the most efficient and cheapest things ever. I was in and out in 45 minutes, and only had to pay $10 for the visit, check-up, and prescription. That would NEVER happen in the states, never in a million years.
Alrighty, this is starting to get reaaaaallllllyyyyy long, so I'm going to end this post here. I'll see you all next week, and next time I promise I'll have pictures. 😊
まったね！
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Auntie Gretchen
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Adulting Overseas!!
Love that phrase, and you are doing it! Stay joyful, stay positive, it all sounds completely amazing. So proud of you and so jealous of the Japanese medical system. ???㊗️??????