The First Adventure

Hello readers, how goes it?

You ready? It's time. Time for the beginning of the adventures. Prepare your minds, buckle up, and hold on tight 'cause there's no turning back now. Do you feel it? The tingle of nerves all over your body letting you know that you're about to do something new and exciting and quite possible completely insane? Yeah, me too. But I'm going to do it anyway, 'cause that's the way I roll.

Alright, it's time to go.

Breathe.

Inhale. Exhale.

Lift-off.

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                This first adventure started at 6:15 this morning when Grandma Beth woke me up. I got Dunkin' Donuts and Oberwise chocolate milk in a mug for breakfast on the go! Traffic was annoying, but not too bad. We got to the International terminal at O’Hare airport only to find out that Japan Airlines is in terminal 3 for unknown reasons. (I mean really! Why is a large international airline NOT in the international terminal?? Someone please explain this to me.)

                We had left with plenty of time, so I was still doing check-in at nine o'clock for my 11:25 departure time. Goodbyes were said and Mom, Dad, and Grandma stood outside security until I made it through. Both my nail clippers and knitting needles made it through security! YAY!

                My on-time-is-late-early-is-on-time and really-early-is-better-and-hours-to-wait-is-best mind is at rest. I'm at the gate an hour and a half early for boarding, which means I'm 2 hours early for departure. I'm sitting here, and I've got my duty free bottled water and cheez-its and a book so I'm good to go. :D I'm at the very farthest end of the terminal, which means I get to see planes coming in from the runway - fun times!

                Well, that's all for now. I'm going to read a bit, watch the planes come it, and try to spot my plane. Talk to you in Narita.

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                Hey, Look! We're in Narita already! Isn't time travel great? :D Immigration was very full, but I made it through. It was mostly standing in line, exchanging some hand motions, handing over passport/boarding passes/visa/other forms, and then using my limited Japanese to say hello and thank you.

                After immigration, I got to find my bags, take them through customs, then check them again. Why? I don't know, but that's how it works apparently. I also stopped by the currency exchange booth and have now handled my first purchase with Japanese yen. I got a bottle of water, brand name Aquarius. It's got a refreshing citrus taste. I had it the last time I was here, and it's just as good as I remember.

                The flight was long and uninteresting. I got pretty good food, especially for airplane food. I watched some movies and read some and slept some. My favorite part was when we were landing. My seat partners had moved back to an empty row, so I opened the window and got to watch us descend through the cloud layers. In between flashes of intense white light, I saw fluffy cloud-scapes and blue sky!

                I've already ran in to quite a few other students who will be studying at Kansai with me. I'm sitting at the gate now. (Again near the end of the terminal...bit odd that.) I've got an hour to boarding time, which means it time to pull out my book again!

                I've had bad luck with the airport internet connections so I probably won't be posting this until I get to the Seminar House and guaranteed internet. Which means I'll probably write to you again at Itami airport in Osaka, while we wait for the pick-up service.

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                I'm here in the Seminar House now. The flight from Narita to Itami was very short, maybe an hour and a half total from boarding to disembarking. There were some kids from Kansai there already, and we had a good sized group on the flight I was on. However, there was another flight coming in around 8pm, so we had to wait for them. I went with a couple of students and we ate at a restaurant that was near our luggage pile. I had cold noodles with eggplant, shrimp, and soy sauce, with a side dish of rice and carrots. Yum yum! The green tea we were served had another flavor in it. Sort of coffee flavored. It wasn't horrible, but I'm not a coffee fan, so I didn't really like it.

                We had an hour bus ride to the Seminar Houses. I unloaded my bags into the room I'm sharing with two other girls. (Only one is here so far.) My roommate is also doing homestay, so neither of us will be staying in this room more than a week. It's quite small, even for only two students. The futon beds are odd. Neither of us are exactly sure how they are supposed to be put together, but I'm tired enough not to care too much.

                Some of the Kansai students (RAs for the seminar houses) took a group of us on a walk to the closest supermarket. I got some food and water for tomorrow, because the school's cafeteria isn't open until Monday. I'm still not having any luck getting an internet connection on my laptop. The check-in paperwork says that I should be able to connect in the Seminar House using a LAN cable, which I have. My computer says it's connected to the school's network, but not to the internet. I don't know, and none of the RAs seem to know what I or the other students mean when we bring it up. They just directed us to the computer lounges in the houses.

                Since it's past midnight here now, which means I've been awake for...oh...about....26 hours, I'm off to bed and this will get posted online sometime tomorrow.

Oyasuminasai! (Goodnight!)