Arrived!

"I feel like I'm getting on a plane, getting off in a foreign country, and I don't know what's happening next."


The above quotation was said by my friend, just before he headed off to his abroad program. I believe his words correctly sum up my own experience heading to Japan. During the past few weeks, through packing and preparing, heading to the airport, and even boarding my first flight, I could not believe I was actually going to Japan. It was not until I boarded the shuttle, headed for my hotel, did it finally set in that I was in JAPAN. I thought to myself, "What have I gotten myself into, WHY did I decide it would be a good idea to sign up for a 6 month program to Japan - a nation where I feel so unfamiliar with the culture and language that Japanese class might as well be a Chinese class." 


But, those thoughts quickly melted away as I took in my surroundings. My travel buddy (another Stanford student) and I decided at SFO that as we leave behind America, we would leave behind English. While at first, this meant minimal talking, my Japanese-fluent buddy taught me many phrases and words along the way - and I must say my comfort level with Japan has indeed improved over the past 24 hours. From onomatopoeias like 'dokidoki' (nervous - the sound of your heart beating) to handy phrases 'motto ukuri hanashite kudasai' (please repeat, slowly) my vocab has definitely improved for the more useful. 


Tonight, a group of us explored the area surrounding our hotel - stumbling across a maze of shops and eatery stalls which we quickly lost ourselves in. Doing a 'tour de food' we tried octopus ball soup (あげたくやき), traditional rice balls with various things inside (おにげり), soba noodles and fried chicken (やきそば／かれあげ), and even boba! We finished out our night after wandering into a giant arcade - filled with all kinds of Japanese arcade games. Of course, we couldn't resist entering a Japanese photo booth - for those of you unfamiliar with these - they can whiten your skin, enlarge your eyes, and pretty much animate you to become the next Japanese anime star. It was a fantastic night - only the first of many more to come!


So excited to begin my 6 month adventure in Japan! いしょう！ (Let's go!)