finally.

i made it!

after 13 long hours on the flight--from 1pm to 2 am est--and a 3 hour bus ride, i'm finally in my apartment in japan.

i don't really know where to start first... i sat next to an elderly couple who were going to visit their adopted daughter at her homestay family's house in taiwan for a week or so. they had hosted several exchange students over the years, from china and taiwan. the flight itself wasn't nearly as bad as i thought it would be; previous flights to arizona have seemed a lot longer to me. i read the stand by stephen king for most of the trip, and slept for a few hours towards the end. luckily my ipod's battery held up really well; i think i've got about half a charge left over.

once we landed it was pretty easy to hook up with other people from the program. we took the airport shuttle to customs, which didn't take very long to get through since it was so efficiently run. they scanned my fingerprints, took my photo and stamped my passport and i was on my way to baggage claim. once i had my two suitcases, i went through the duty-free and out the door to find the director and his assistant waiting for us. after that it was a 3 hour ride to hikone, which didn't seem all that long since i slept through most of it. i couldn't see much out the windows because it was so dark, but we did stop at a convenience store on the way to the dorms. the vending machines here are insane! they heat and despense hot dogs, sushi, french fries, whatever! there are also machines for ice cream, coffee/tea and other drinks. soda's not very big over here; i have yet to see any pepsi or coke products, which means dr. pepper's out of the question. boo.

anyway, the apartment i'm staying in is pretty spacious, and i have a room of my own! yesss. i don't think i could have gone back to sharing one after having my own room/bathroom last semester. all of my clothes are unpacked as well as the rest of my things. the only problem i've run into so far is the outlets! they're meant for two prong appliances, and my laptop battery is a three prong. oops. i talked to the director, though, and he says it'll be fairly easy and cheap to get an adaptor, so no worries.

it's FREEZING in here! my roommate, pamela, who is from georgia, was smart enough to steal the space heater from the lobby, but it's not nearly warm enough to keep the whole place insulated. guess i'll just have to wear a hoodie tonight. the weather outside is much more pleasant than michigan was when i left, though, which is awesomeee. there's no snow here! i love it.

tomorrow is orientation. hopefully it won't take all day; it'd be cool to get out an explore a little. we'll also have bikes assigned to us, and i'm really looking forward to riding around town. the cars and trucks here are so small, too! they've very compact. it's easy to tell that the japanese pride themselves in efficiency.

thank you again, uncle ted, aunt deb, jessica and jim, for the yen! it came in handy at the convenience store. :) and thank you, mom, dad, eli, zack and max, for seeing me off this morning.
it meant a lot. ♥

sarah