Keeping up with a blog has been much harder than I thought it would be. Although, I really should not have been so surprised, I was never good at keeping a diary either. I have been living in Japan for about a month now and I have a lot to talk about. So, instead of writing one long blog, I am going to break it into smaller blogs focused on specific topics. Get ready! Blog overload begins….NOW!
The flight from DFW to Tokyo was not as bad as I had anticipated. I was very worried about my seat assignment, because I bought the cheapest ticket possible (woot student rates!). My seat was in the second to last row on the aisle right next to the restrooms…Turns out I had nothing to worry about. When I boarded the plane, I was astounded by the number of empty seats. I went ahead and walked all the way to my seat in the very back. One of the flight attendants approached me and told me to just wait until right before take-off and then find a better seat. I ended up with a window seat! and no one sat next to me : )
For you to understand how absolutely empty the plane was, sit back and imagine this. Grown men stretched across the five middle seats to sleep and there still being empty rows to be had. The flight may have been 12 hours, but it felt much shorter. On long flights each person is given a computer on the back of the chair in front of him or her. You can use it to look up flight information (where we are, how much longer, the time), play games or watch TV shows and movies.
The only disappointing thing about the flight was the movie choices. Usually the movies are movies that have recently been in theatres, but are not yet out on DVD. Sadly, I have seen all of them in theatres this summer and none of them were movies I wanted to watch again so soon. So, I spent most of the flight either sleeping or watching TV shows. I discovered some new shows I really like (SUITS for example) and watched episodes of some of my favorites (HIMYM, 30 Rock, Entourage).
When I arrived, two of my Japanese friends who spent last school year at Texas State were waiting to pick me up. They helped me check into my hotel and settle in. Then we went back to the airport to wait for our friend Michael’s flight to arrive.
That night we all went to the Beer Garden next to Michael’s hotel for dinner. It was so much fun! There were grills in the middle of each table and the servers brought us platters of meat and vegetables to cook on the grill. The food was amazing.
My hotel room was awesome! I stayed at the Nartia Hilton (I found a great deal on yahoo travel). I was given a room with a queen sized bed just for me : ) I slept really well.
The next day, we were picked up at the airport by the school. I, of course, was the crazy lady with too many bags, but I don’t regret it one bit. My room feels super homey thanks to all of the stuff I brought. One group left on the first bus, while the other waited for the rest of the students. I was in the second group. It was nice, because it gave me time to get to know some of the other students but more on them later.
After helping us move our stuff into our rooms, some of the Buddies (students from the university who help out the international students) took us to the 100 yen shop (AKA dollar store but way better) and a cheap grocery store. While we were gone, the other Buddies made us dinner. It was so nice not having to cook that first night. I spent the rest of the night unpacking my multitude of bags…
Oh yeah, one more thing. Remember how I was really worried about my money situation (if not go back and read my earlier posts). Well, that first night I learned that I have been awarded the JASSO scholarship. The JASSO is a scholarship given by the Japanese government to international exchange students. I will be receiving 80,000 yen each month! With the exchange rate where it is right now that is roughly $1,000 a month : ) To top it all off, the next morning I learned I have received another $1,000 for the year from the Texas State Alumni Association.
Over the next few days I will be posting more about my first month. So keep an eye out!
-Caitlin
