Gakusei Travels

I made it to Tsuda! （＾∇＾）
Today was a bit of an overload, and I’m still trying to settle in and grasp the fact that I’m actually in Japan. Haha. I started my day with breakfast at one of the local cafes, Tulley’s Coffee. After a good night’s rest, cause I completely crashed once I stopped moving, my brain was finally functioning enough to speak coherent Japanese. It’s kind of weird. I’ve never had to use my Japanese in a literal setting before. It’s always been in a classroom, so I felt a little intimidated having to speak it. I hope as the summer I’ll gain more confidence. I think I honestly just feel like I stick out. I’m obviously American, and because American tourists get such a bad reputation of being obnoxious, I’ve been trying so hard not to be annoying. In public, I just kept to myself and tried hard not to be in the way of any one. I did call home and update my mom and best friend on everything. It’s weird, because they were getting ready for bed. I’m a little jealous that they got to watch the Solar Eclipse back in Indiana. Of course I just had to leave the day before it lol.

At 11 AM I checked out of my hotel and caught a taxi to the university. Thank god my taxi driver spoke English. If he didn’t I would’ve figured it out, but it made the ride smoother. The ride was about 15 minutes and in total cost 2,000¥ or around $13. It was strange to me how in Japan the driver sits on the right side of the car. Everything feels backwards.

Once I made it to Tsuda, one of the students came to greet me. Unfortunately, one of my Big Sisters was feeling a little sick, so I didn’t get to meet her yet, but I hope she feels better soon! Something different from America is the concept of taking your shoes off. Once I enter the dorm, I take my outside shoes off at the 玄関 (genkan). Think of it as an entryway that separates the outside from the rest of the building. I put my sneakers in a locker and I wear slippers throughout the dormitory.

My dorm room is on the 3rd floor, and my roommate is a student from South Korea. I also met one of the other exchange students who is from Taiwan. The Tsuda students gave us a tour of the building showing us where the kitchen, toilets, laundry room, lounge and showers were. The dorm is very beautiful and pretty clean, much nicer than the dorm I stayed at on my home campus lol. It was raining today though, so I haven’t seen all of the campus yet. I do have a lot of shopping I need to go do after orientation so I can get things to cook with and do my laundry. Again, I will have to get used to speaking Japanese. While I think I understand the language well and can follow along the conversations, I don’t always know the words to respond. Some of the students can speak English, but the whole point of me studying abroad was to learn and use Japanese, so I will push myself and do my best. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ

Also this time zone is still throwing me off. I was finished unpacking around 4PM (3AM EST). I couldn’t text my family or friends so I ended up taking a nap cause I was bored. I woke up 4 hours later to my mom calling me and I think I scared her lol.