The First Week

So, it's been a week since I landed in Japan and got settled in my dorm. My plane ride to Dallas was pretty uneventful. The woman next to me was heading to Mexico for a much needed vacation and when I told her my plans, she told me good luck and that I was very brave for doing something like this. I got thata a lot actually! Navigating the Dallas Airport was very easy since there was a sky subway that took me right to the terminal I needed to go so I didn't have to go through securtiy again! YAY!

My flight to Tokyo was long and my video screen quit working part way through but that was ok since there wasn't anything I particularly wanted to watch. The flight staff however, wasn't very nice and I don't think I'll ever fly with American Airlines again. Once I got to Tokyo, I went through customs and then got my extremely heavy luggage! Luckily, once I exchanged my money, I was able to pay around $30 to have it shipped to my dorm so that took a load off. Unfortunately, my plane was delayed by about an hour due to weather conditions which meant Sara's was as well, so I had to wait for her plane to get in. Once it did, we got her money exchanged and shipped her lugguage and then we called my host parents the Aoki's to tell them what happend. Apparently, my Japanese is good enough to talk over the phone. We then spent an hour on a ''limousine bus'' and met my host mom, Kumiko, at the train station.

It was so nice to see my host parents again! They were very excited to see us! They even have the calendar I gave them last year hung up in the house. We had a really good dinner of beef and vegetables that we cooked ourselves on a portable grill and then had homemade ice cream afterwards. They even gave me a CD with a bunch of Miyazaki music on it (he's like the Walt Disney of Japan). They asked both me and Sara a bunch of questions about school and life in America. The next day, they took us to the train station and made sure we got the right tickets for the shinkansen (bullet train) up to Yamagata. They were so helpful, I don't know what I would have done without them!

We arrived in Yamagata at around 3 pm last Friday and were greeted by our dorm supervisor who's name is Mariko. After filling out a bunch of paper work, Sara and I moved into our dorm. (I'll post pics later!). It's a nice sized place for what we pay. We are now waiting to have internet and to get our rental cell phones. We've meet other international students and some Japanese students as well.

Last Monday, we went and got registered as aliens in Japan and opened a Japanese bank account. I'll take pictures of all of my new Japanese things soon. We've mostly just gone shopping to get dishes and food, things to make our place feel like a home. We had our placement exam on Tuesday and I placed into intermediate level! On Wednesday, we had our orientation and got to look at the classes we could take. Classes start on Monday! On Thursday, Sara, Racheal, and I went to inquire about rental phones with our new friend/helper named Manami. She is a graduate student studying biology. Yesterday (Friday), we met with our Japanese tutors who can help us whenver we need it and with our advisors. We also met with two students, Rina and Hideto, who are coming to CSU in the fall, so that was exciting. I already knew Rina from last year...I've been running into a lot of people from last year!

Our big group has to make a video about Yamagata University and its surrounding areas in English and Japanese to post for prospective students to look at and see what life is like in Yamagata, which should give them an idea on if they want to come here or not. On the flip side, when Rina and Hideto come to CSU, they have to make a video about CSU and Fort Collins to show what this area is like to prospective Japanese stuents who would want to come to CSU. It all may sound confusing, but it also sounds really exciting and fun I can't wait to see the finished product.

Everyone has been so nice and very helpful. I can't wait to start school on Monday and to interact with my fellow classmates. A big group of us should be going to view cherry blossoms within the week so that is exciting!

This is me a bowl of Imomi- it is a stew of meet and vegetables. Every fall, Yamagata makes a giant pot of this stuff and serves it to all of the spectators!

This is part of Yamagata city. I love the mountains in the background!