Everything else... Part 1

As I didn't write about what happened from when I landed until around the 20th, I'll try my best to remember what happened with the help of my handy dandy schedule. So let's start off with the flight!

All Nippon Airways was a joy to fly with. The seats weren't as spacious as I would have preferred, but no one sat to my left. I always have trouble sleeping on flights and while I'm sitting, so I didn't sleep much on the flight. The 3 kids and lady behind me kicking my chair also didn't help much. I was still a bit hungover on the flight, but enough of my appetite had returned for me to eat the meals on the flight. Though the food on the flight wasn't gourmet quality, I did enjoy what was available and had a couple beers with my meals (yes while I was still a bit hungover). The movie selection was pretty good, even though I wished the screen was of better quality. I watched a couple episodes of Prison Break, Taken, Little Miss Sunshine, and some of Angels and Demons and Monsters vs. Aliens. I didn't find the last couple interesting enough to continue watching. Overall a good flight. As this was my first flight alone, I was quite worried as I tried to navigate the airport by myself in a foreign country. I somehow managed to fill out all the paperwork, grab my bags, and get through customs fine.

As I left customs, I looked for the Waseda student signs that were supposed to be there. I first looked to the right and saw a sign that said Waseda students, but I decided to also look to the left which had a sign that said CSU IP Waseda students. Instinctively I went with the left, and as I approached the Japanese students holding the signs, one of them called me by my name, which threw me for a loop. How does a student who I've never even met before know my name? To say I was surprised is an understatement, for I was bewildered at how they knew who I was. We got introductions out of the way, and it turns out they had printed out sheets with all us CSU students' faces on it. I was also surprised to find out my dorm mate Aiko was on the same plane as me. Well more introductions were made as all the people began showing up, and we all headed off with everyone towards the Sunroute Hotel where we stayed at for the next few days. The ride wasn't too long considering we hit traffic most of the time. As we arrived, we were greeted on the street by what seemed to be the entire Waseda International Club and Niji no Kai club. Imagine being greeted by about 75-100 Japanese students who you've never met, all offering to help carry your luggage to your hotel. We basically just ate dinner and went to sleep that night. Dinner was Shakey's pizza, if you can call what we ate pizza (no offense).

The next morning we woke up, went downstairs to eat breakfast, and proceeded to walk to Waseda University for the very first time. The walk was advertised as a 15min walk, but from recent calculations, the walk is more like a 20-25 min walk for us foreigners I guess. We basically just took our placement test there, which I totally failed. I got into level 4 out of 8 levels. I know I'm a major fail. We later met up in a classroom to get ready for lunch and an orientation. The Japanese students purchased bentou for us CSU students to eat, and we all walked outside to have lunch. We ate at "the Dungeon" which is this year's CSU student's nickname for the Okuma court. Finishing up with lunch, we attended our first of many orientations to come. The first orientation concluded, and the home stay students had to do their interviews. The dorms students went off on the first tour of the Waseda area, which is quite large I must say. We walked all over the place, and I definitely wasn't able to remember where all the places were. Japan is a very visually stimulating place with signs, lights, and color everywhere hoping to grab your attention. The tour was tiring, but overall very fun. The tour ended, and we all ended up going back to the classroom to have our interviews conducted. Our interviews were easier because it was only to inform us of our housing situations. It turns out that the CSU people knew where I was going to be staying for a while already, but they just hadn't sent the information to me. I stay at a international student dorm named SouDaiRyou among the students. After the interviews, the CSU IP students went to the welcoming party at a restaurant named Wan. I wasn't feeling very good, so I didn't eat or drink as much as I would have liked. I felt pretty dehydrated, so I didn't think drinking much would have been a good idea anyways. The night pretty much ended with us going back to the hotel across the street.

One thing I wanted to mention was I'm quite glad I opened up while I was here. I would not have had as much fun as I have been if I hadn't decided to try harder to get to know strangers and give them a bit of trust. I don't think I've ever made friends as fast as I have while I've been in Japan. I also figured the situation calls for us to rely on each other too as we are all the family we have while we are in Japan, though that really applies more for the students who are not home staying. I still consider you all my family. To my family in Japan, let's continue having a great year, and my family back in the states, I miss and love you all. Wish me a safe year. Thanks for reading as always.