Post 1! 5 days in Japan.

Well hello there, eager readers. I've made it to Japan safe and sound! Now here's a crazy detailed rundown of the things I've been doing:

The night before I left for Japan I did not really sleep much because I was packing and trying to figure things out. I had to get up and leave at 7 for my flight at 9 am. Bleh!! It feels like all my time went too fast! *sigh* So I played Pokemon like my whole flight to Detroit from Manchester. Then, at Detroit during my 4 hour layover, I watched the new Dr. Who and played World of Goo. I then talked to my parents who told me my chances of getting on the flight were slim to none. Jackie showed up and we hung out and chatted. Then she got on the plane with everyone else and I waited to find out that the flight was, of course, completely full. :(

The lady sends me to the flight going to Nagoya which was right at the next gate! Lucky! I got on easy and I got first class. First order of business was champagne! Yum. We got a lot of meals and I watched Young Victoria, studied, and tried to sleep a bit.

I knew my bags were going to Narita without me and I was really stressed about entering the country and getting to Tokyo on my own. But when I deplaned, the three english-speaking Japanese ladies at the baggage claim helped me fill out some forms to have th bags shipped from Narita to me.

Then I had to figure out the time table for the Nagoya Airport to Nagoya City train and buy a ticket. Then I took that train to Nagoya city which was like 40 minutes. There was a guy reading shounen jump hehe and a school girl. I got off in Nagoya and then and bought a Shinkansen ticket. But she didn't tell me what platform so I wandered lost for a bit and then broke down and asked someone in Japanese where the train was. Platform 15. Then I didnt even know which train to take!

By the time I realized what I needed, I had already missed the train on my ticket by a half hour! And it was already 8:10 and the train is like 2 hours and I needed to be in Shinjuku by 10:20!!! Ugh!

So I asked a man who helped me figure out which train to get on. So I rode the Shinkansen between a business man and a cool woman. I was too nervous to even play pokemon cause I didn't know if I needed to get off at Shinagawa or Tokyo. So I broke down and I asked the business man in Japanese and he said it didn't matter, but Shinagawa was better. (I rode Nozomi, btw. They name their Shinkansen).

So I got off at Shinagawa, walked around lost for a minute or two before asking a guard guy how to get to Shinjuku. Then I got on the train to Shinjuku and proceeded to freak out as the time ticked down. At 10:10 I got to Shinjuku and ran/stumbled in my high heels, which hurt so bad at this point, to the building by the station I needed to be at at 10:20. I wanted to cry! I was just praying "don't let me miss the bus. I will have not only wasted over $100 on the shinkansen ticket when I could have gone straight to Kanazawa, but I'd have to find a place to stay at that late in tokyo (expensive)"

But I got there and everyone was waiting saying we were all way early. They gave me granola bars and fruit by the foot which I gobbled down since I hadn't eaten for almost 6 hours. Then we waited around and chatted till we got onto the bus. It was a large bus that had 10 or so rows of these odd seats. The reclined a bit but were rather small and uncomfortable over all. But they had little bubble shades for sleeping and blankets. And all the windows were covered in black cloth so we could sleep since it was an overnight bus. I think I napped a little bit, but didn't sleep much.

We got into Kanazawa train station at around 7 am and had no idea which bus or where to go to get to said bus to get to KIT. We wandered and used the restroom and tried to make out maps. We finally found a bus driver who took us to the right place and showed us exactly what we needed. So we waited and took our bus to right across the street from the school. My feet hurt so bad. We walked to the front and Kayo and two other ladies greeted us, gave us packets of stuff, and walked us to the apartment building. Then we were free to do whatever.

I luckily borrowed some of Jackie's shoes which were a goddamned lifesaver. I'm on the fourth floor of Nishikawa Heights and for some reason I have the apartment all to myself (the packet included a map of who is living where). So I have three bedrooms to MYSELF. I unpacked my little amount of stuff in my room and tried to take a shower, but I couldn't figure out the hot water. I had no toilet paper either. ;_;

Then I looked through the packet, visited Sarah and Jackie who live right near me, then all 11 of us (2 of the 13 in our group did not take the night bus) went out to find food. But it was still early at 10 am. Nothing opens till 11 except for convenience stores. So we went to a コンビニ and I got an onigiri, tea, and a melon bread. The onigiri was SOOOOOOOOOOO good!!!!!!! Much better than what I make.

We walked around a lot and found a LARGE コンビニ which just had..it had EVERYTHING. So I grabbed strawberry scented hello kitty toilet paper(lol) and hand soap with a fox on it. THen we walked back to the apartments.

They went out for lunch after, but I didn't wanna spend the money so I figured out how to use my air conditioner, looked around the apartment, and played with my budget and stuff.

THeeeen when I was bored I went and visited Jackie and we checked out the laundry room and the lounge. The laundy room has a TV and an ironing board. The lounge has couches and a TV and novels. We hung out in the lounge for a bit then went out to the dvd/cd store.

Dude. It wasn't just a store. It was heaven. 1/4 of the store was ENTIRELY Touhou. If not more] I almost died. It was insane. I freaked out. XD And I came away with some gashapon and a name card case with Meiling on it. I'm excited to go back.

Then we went to the library and found the media room where we used school computers and internet for a bit. After, we went to the cafeteria, which was closed, but grabbed drinks at the pastry shop there. We also checked out the huge outdoor pool, but it's not open for use yet.

I think afterwards the night was pretty boring. I've been going to sleep relatively early. So that brings us to Thursday.

Apartment orientation!! It was what you would expect. Rules and stuff. But they gave us a bus map and told us about a few good places to go. LIKE BOOK OFF!! I was excited to go so Jackie, her roommate, and I walked there. On the way we found a shrine and took some pictures. We also found a HUGE 24 hour arcade/internet cafe/entertainment building thing. Insane. And then. Book off.

This place was a nonstop spaz fan attack. Walls and walls of manga for just 105 yen!!! @@ I was so enthralled.　Then there were all the cds, dvds, video games, and FIGURINES!!! There was a big eva section! *-* I was in heaven. I bought all of Closer, the first Video Girl Ai, the first Ranma, a Do As Infinity cd and it was like $15 total. Heaven! Next door was a used clothes store which was also cheap, I believe.

On our way back, we stopped at a little Takoyaki restaurant and had cold soda, cold udon, and takoyaki. So good! We also found a little family run market like store. Ruyin bought a watermelon and Jackie got tangerines. Yum yum. We walked back and hung out a bit. Bleh, I can't remember much of what else I did that night. Oh yeah. Studied!! Or tried to. Also, my luggage finally got in. It was so nice to have clean clooooothes!

Friday we all got up pretty early. I ironed my shirt and had a コンビニ breakfast. Studied more and then went, in formal wear, to opening ceremonies. The president gave a speach and we were informed of some more information. Then we had a little tour around the school. The self study center is large, often packed, has internet, and is open all day every day! We all went to the cafeteria for lunch after. Really cheap and REALLY good! I had a large bowl of tempura udon for 290 yen. Then Jackie and I checked out the bookstore upstairs. I got the first light novels of Toradora and Shakugan no Shana and some little flash cards.

After, we all hung out in Jackies room for a little before the exam. Oh the exam. I was so scared. But it ended up being really easy, I felt. There was no kanji. I was really surprised. The oral part felt pretty easy and elementary too. All my worries were gone! Yay!

After that we had two hours to kill before the party and kinda just hung around. We waited in the lounge for the SGE Japanese students to pick us up from the lounge to go to the party. They finally came and we walked to the party. There it was pretty awkward for a little while. Then they gave us name tags and put us in a room with tons of food. Just when we started eating, they told us to stop! We all had to do introductions. There were lots of people there. The Hawaiian students, all of us, and lots of Japanese students.

Finally, after awkward introductions with a mic, we got to start eating and attempting to make awkward conversation. I was so scared after this one girl came up to me and we tried to talk but I couldn't understand anything she was saying. I would try to make the right answer, and she would stare at me. She finally walked away and I was thinking I didn't wanna speak to anyone else!

But I paired up with other gaijin and finally talked to a bunch of people throughout the night. I found people that liked video games and other things. Everyone was very nice and their English was as awkward as my Japanese. So far they didn't really speak any Japanese to us, just English. But we spoke Japanese to them.

After the party was over I wanted to karaoke but it didn't seem likely that day. We dawdled in the lounge and by the apartment entrance. Finally, a bunch of us americans went to an arcade just near by. So much fun was had! There was a ddr machine and lots of rhythm games that I tried. upstairs there were lots of mahjohng machines, fighting games, and even computers. There was Evangelion slots and Pachinko! I can't wait to go back. :3

I went to bed shortly after returning.

This morning, Saturday, we had individual evaluations to find out what level class we would be put into based on our exams. I got into the highest level!! Woohoo!! :3
Then we got our school laptops, and I've been in the self study room using the internet ever since lol I'll be off to eat and wander Kanazawa more though. I can't just stay in all day.

Mata ne~

Pictures to come.