Arrival

Hello. I’m in Japan.

Um… I really thought I had a lot to write about but now I don’t know where to start. This always happens: I think of all the things I’d like to blog about all the time but once I’m actually at the computer nothing comes to mind.

I said this blog would be more personal than my Korea blog.

Also, I have been thinking about my time in Seoul a lot and comparing things, which is natural on one hand but on the other I don’t want to be too preoccupied with that. I guess I will mention things though and therefore you may learn about certain things I experienced in South Korea that I never wrote about. Eventually I need to stop doing this though.

On Friday, after about an hour of sleep because I had a lot trouble falling asleep, I got up at 3 AM to get ready and go to the airport. First, I flew from the city I live next to in the U.S. to San Francisco. I slept the entire time. My next flight was from San Francisco to Kansai International Airport (KIX). Everything went smoothly.

I was hungry and tired while I was in San Francisco, but I didn’t have enough time to sit down to have a meal and I had trouble finding something small to eat. I just bought a bag of pretzels, which I don’t really like. I’m rather picky about airplane food so I’m usually hungry when I travel for a long time.

As I was at the gate for my flight to Osaka, I overheard several people talking. I was surprised to find out that many people on this same flight were also going to study abroad at Kansai Gaidai this semester.

The orientation here doesn’t officially start until Wednesday, though there are a few things on the schedule on Monday and Tuesday (my Japanese placement test, for example, is very important and is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon). Everyone is staying in university housing for the orientation week: in one of the several seminar houses. Saturday is basically the earliest you can arrive here without having to find another place to stay. There is no airport pick-up today (Sunday), but judging by the empty rooms I see I’m sure more people will be arriving in the next few days.

The seminar houses are going to be full this week. There are basically two options for residing in Japan during this exchange: a seminar house or a host family. There are off-campus options as well but I’ve heard it’s quite difficult and complicated to arrange that. I didn’t want to live with a host family because it’s not really for me and I’ve done a homestay in Japan before. I am happy to live in a seminar house, even though there are many rules and they seem strict.

I’m in seminar house 2. I’m in the same room now for the orientation week that I will live in for the whole semester. Students who will live with host families or off-campus are also staying in seminar houses for the week, which is why they will be full for the time being (until everyone arrives, that is). Rooms are for two people but there will be temporary triples just for the orientation.

Maybe it’s because we have such specific housing dates. That is perhaps why so many of us were on the same flight.

Time to talk about Korea. Unlike Kansai Gaidai, which has enough housing for everyone as well as a host family program, Korea University does have a dorm for exchange students but it does not at all have enough capacity for all of them, or even most of them. Many people applied and didn’t get in. This is not a problem though! It’s very easy to live off campus. In fact, there are many “one-rooms” and apartments and other housing options all around Anam and the university area for Korean and international students (though most Korean students live at home with their parents, even if they have a one-hour commute). There are dorms around KU that only permit international students to live there. They are not affiliated with the university. I lived in one of those and loved it. They’re not nearly as strict as the official university dorms (my dorm did have rules but were never enforced), they’re much more flexible (official dorms have official move-in and move-out dates, but with other places you can set the dates and choose how long you will live there), you might have your own bathroom, and you don’t necessarily have a roommate. My housing in Korea cost half as much as my on-campus university housing in the U.S., even though I picked a large room (careful about the small ones: they’re more like closets) and I didn’t have a roommate (I love having my own room). There are many options in Seoul and it was easy for me to set up housing on my own. I know of one student who lived in the official dorms her first semester and then chose off-campus housing in Hongdae for her second semester (about a half-hour commute). You can live anywhere in Seoul if you want.

That’s the other thing: Seoul is a huge city and I cannot compare it to where I am now in Japan. Kansai Gaidai is in Hirakata City in the region of Osaka. Osaka is a major city but I am by no means directly in it. I haven’t seen much of anything around here. I only arrived yesterday evening. The seminar houses are in a residential neighborhood. I did walk to a grocery store last night but I haven’t seen much of this area, let alone campus.

That’s another thing: the seminar houses are not directly next to the campus. I think I read that it’s a 20-minute walk to the campus from here, but I’ve heard people say it takes a half an hour. I like being close and until now I’ve always lived just a few minutes away from my academic buildings.

Anyway, last night I observed that I can’t pay with a card at the grocery store (cash only) and I couldn’t find any contact lens supplies (I’m going to need those soon).

In Seoul, I saw ATMs everywhere, as well as many shops and convenience stores and places where I could purchase contact lens solution. Again, I shouldn’t compare, but I’m thinking that things were easier in Seoul. If I were where I lived in Seoul earlier this year I wouldn’t have any of these problems. In Seoul I immediately saw where I could get cash, where I could eat, where I could shop. Of course, I’ve just arrived here and don’t know anything. But I do think I really like cities because they’re convenient. In Seoul I knew where to buy anything I needed and I got around the city easily right away. Everything was right there. It’s just a different environment. I went from a city of 10 million that has a metropolitan area that houses half of the country’s population to a quiet residential area in Japan. I just need to get used to where I am, figure out how things work, and get settled in. It will be fine.

I don’t know where I was. Well, I’m in the seminar house now and I like it here. There are many specific rules but this building is nice. Some things are a pain though. There are detailed rules for garbage and recycling, which is ok. What I don’t like is that we can only use a LAN cable to connect to the Internet during orientation week, and to be able to use the WiFi here next week we need to get our laptop or tablet registered at some office on campus. We can’t register iPods or cell phones so I won’t be able to use WiFi on them. That sucks because all my messaging apps are on my phone. I did download LINE for computers and KakaoTalk Beta for computers but I’ve never used them.

My seminar house has four floors. My room is on the top floor. A walkway connecting to seminar house 1 is on the second floor. A dining and kitchen area is also on the second floor. Everyone has an area for their shoes and food, because we have shoe shelves, food boxes, freezers, and refrigerators each labeled with our room number. The kitchen area has sinks, microwaves, ovens, and stoves. It’s a nice area.

We’re not allowed to wear shoes in the seminar houses. I like that many things here are so Japanese (I mean, obviously). My floor is a girls’ floor and we have a bathroom area and another room where there are showers, washing machines, and more sinks. The bedrooms are Japanese-style with tatami mats and futons. I have a desk as well. Each room even has a balcony.

I like that I walk outside and can easily tell that I’m in Japan. It’s kind of cool. It just feels different. In Korea, there weren’t many things that struck me as very different. At times I could have thought I was at home and not in a foreign country (maybe I was just comfortable there). Not that the physical differences in Japan are extreme or that Korea is boring or not unique. I don’t know how to explain. Well, for example, when I was in South Korea and I asked other exchange students why they chose to come on Korea, I often heard these reasons: they were interested in Asia, they picked Korea over Japan or China to be different, they picked Korea over Japan because they thought that Korea is not as expensive (Japan as a country is more expensive to live in), more people in Korea speak English, and/or Korea is more traditional than Japan. I can understand the first two reasons listed in the last part but when I heard that someone thought Korea was more “Asian” or traditional I had to disagree. I mean, there can be many aspects of this but I still disagree. Not that Korea is totally Westernized or not Korean or whatever, but being in Japan strikes me as a bigger change. Again, I’m not sure how to explain.

Where was I. Oh yeah, I boarded the plane in San Francisco. The flight was scheduled to take 11 hours and 35 minutes but we arrived a half an hour early. I watched three movies: The Berlin Files (a South Korean movie that takes place in Berlin), The Gifted Hands (a South Korean movie), and Rise of the Guardians (an American computer animated movie). The movies were ok. Then I decided I should try to get some rest.

When I got out I didn’t know where to go. I had signed up for Kansai Gaidai’s airport pick-up. Luckily there were other exchange students going to Kansai Gaidai everywhere so I asked them. There were people with a Kansai Gaidai sign right by the exit that I hadn’t noticed. I got a paper for taking the bus at 4 PM and paid money. Then I decided I’d feel better if I had more cash on me. I hear that Japan is cash-oriented but that wasn’t a problem for me before when I was in Japan before because I was in the middle of a city almost every day where I could find ATMs. Cards can be used for almost anything in Korea so that wasn’t a problem. I only had $40 in cash (no exchanging money with cards) so I had that turned into yen at the airport. Then I hung around and waited for an hour with other students at the airport. I also took advantage of the free WiFi. I guess a whole lot of students were on this San Francisco flight because there were buses for Kansai Gaidai scheduled for every hour. Some people on the same flight as me didn’t get on the 4 o’clock bus and had a bus that was scheduled for 4:30. I still think it’s so interesting that many students were on the same flight.

The bus ride was nice. It took over an hour. I talked with people for most of the ride. They came from all over the U.S., from New Jersey to New York to Michigan to Colorado to Idaho to California.

The weather was hot and humid, as expected. I felt gross. It was overcast and cloudy as well. This morning it was pouring rain for a while.

The bus stopped in front of seminar house 4, which is away from the other three seminar houses I guess. We all walked over to seminar house 2, where we checked in and received a packet. Everyone went over to seminar house 1 or 3 then, but I live here.

I got a room key but I don’t get my food box key and building key until next weekend, since the official move-in dates are then. That's when I officially check into this house, though I’m staying in the same room. Things are a bit different during orientation week.

I put my things in my room. There are three futons, so I assume someone is going to join us for orientation week. She hasn’t arrived yet. I could tell my roommate was already there because some of her things were on her desk. I haven’t met her yet. I went to bed early last night and woke up at 5:40 AM. It’s almost 10AM now but I’ve spent all morning outside my room. I’m in a common area on the first floor right now. I haven’t figured out how to connect my laptop to the Internet and how to do this proxy thing (whatever that is). I’ll do that in my room later. Now I’m just typing. I hope to put this online soon.

Anyway, from what I can tell based on the few books and files and things that were on my roommate’s desk, she’s a fan of Arashi and she’s Japanese. That’s cool, because I’m a fan of boy bands too and it seems like a great opportunity to have a Japanese roommate.

Like I said, I went to the grocery store, which is a bit of a walk, with many other people last night. That took a while. Then I got back and wasn’t sure what to do. Even though this place is supposed to be packed with people for orientation, it seems kind of empty at times. Rooms must still be empty because people haven’t arrived yet.

I woke up this morning and showered and then went to the kitchen area. I ate chips but I don’t like chips that much so I decided to eat a big peach I bought. It was very juicy and since I was making a mess I decided to eat it over a sink. I was almost done eating when someone walked in behind me and said good morning and something else in Japanese. It really surprised me. It was a custodian guy who came to empty the trash.

I’ve been on the first floor since then, looking through my packet, organizing my schedule, and typing.

There’s a computer lab here but it’s only for academic purposes. I used it last night to register for courses online.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do today. Maybe organize my stuff, study Japanese, and explore the area.