The Benefits of not Knowing the Language

For all of those reading from Florida, I apologize for showing you something outside the realm of palm trees and sand, you will be burning with jealousy and here is what I saw on my first walk to campus:

This, my dear reader, is what we call a Sakura tree, aka cherry blossoms. These are the trees that greeted us on our walk and everywhere else in Tokyo, Thank god for coming in Spring, it is literally the most gorgeous time to be in Japan. During Orientation, there was a time where those who knew Japanese had to take a placement test. Due to my complete ignorance, I was able to have 2 hours of free time while the others suffered the grueling test of Kanji knowledge. What can one do with 2 hours of free time while in Tokyo? Why, go to Yoyogi park and enjoy viewing the cherry blossoms, of course!

No, this isn't a postcard. I really did take this picture.

Look, an American in the park.

Even after being here for one month, this is still one of my favorite memories. As I was sitting in the park and enjoying the company of others, I realized I was the only American there. I was sitting there with students from Japan, Korea, France, and Mexico. This is what I have always wanted from a study abroad experience, meeting others from other countries. Yes, I've been to Greece and, yes, I lived in Germany for 3 months, but both of those experiences were very limited to hanging out with other Americans. Not only other Americans, but other Americans from my school. Here I am hanging out with people from across the globe. Even in my apartment I am getting to know people from Italy and Colombia. I am not only experiencing Japan, but I am experiencing many different cultures and I am loving every second of it.

The Blogger that never Blogged

So, as you can tell there has been a bit of a radio silence from the DK House in Japan (aka the place where I am living). I may or may not have overestimated my ability to keep up with a blog while living in Tokyo. BUT, fear not, I have returned to update the interwebs of my ever harrowing adventures. Soon you will be able to read my exciting tales of waging war against the trains, challenging myself to try every food I possibly can (don't worry Rachel, there has been no turtle intake), traveling to shrines and temples, and, last, but not least, taking classes.

First off, let me give you a rundown of what it's like to finally arrive in Japan after a ridiculously long plane flight, something akin to 14 hours in the air. Well, you land at the Narita airport, you get the happy giddies of, "Yes, I finally get to get off this plane and go to sleep," with a slight hint of, "Holy crap, I'm actually in Japan."

But, your first priority is definitely finding some place to pass out for 12,000 hours.However, that is not what you get to do. First, you have to get your resident card, which is a lot of you starting at a Japanese official while the lookup things about you and verify you aren't some American terrorist or something. So, you give them your fingerprint, you stand there..and stand there...and stand there....and then they print of this shiny card that says you are indeed allowed to live in Japan. So, you finally arrive in Japan at 3:00 in the afternoon or so, and you have no idea what you are doing. Luckily, for me, there was a very helpful Japanese student from Sophia Univeristy that was there to greet me and guide me to my home at DK Matsudo. Her name was Ayaka and thank god she was there or I would have been hopelessly lost. You're probably thinking, "getting to your apartment couldn't be that bad, what, like a 30 minute car ride?" WRONG! Getting to my apartment included using a service to get one of my bags delivered the next day, buying a train ticket, getting on the proper training, transferring to another train after a 40 minute train ride, taking the next train for 20 more minutes, wandering around the streets of Matsudo with a rolling suitcase in the rain, and finally finding the DK House.

Even though sleep was the only thing I wanted, I ended up meeting a few other people in my DK House and having my first taste of Japanese ramen.

Ayaka helping us clueless foreigners figure out how to order food. You put money in this machine and get a ticket for your order.

Heaven in a bowl.

It was life changing to say the least. All of you college kids who think that instant ramen is the way to go, you have no idea the world of flavors you are missing. I have gone back and back again to this little place, Arashi, where I have ordered noodle specials such as the Monster and the Ghost. I dread when I have to return to the United States, the land without proper noodles.

3 AM....a normal time to start a story

And so it begins, I write to you from the Orlando airport via my phone. So when you see things such as "on Tokyo", "but me", and "ducking" you know what autocorrect is really trying to say. I started my morning at the bright and early....excuse me, the horribly dark and early time of 3 am. I feel for the unfortunate soul who has to sit next to me, they may indeed get drool on their shoulder. Soon, I shall be embarking on a journey to the far off land of Japan where I will be living in Tokyo for 4 months. I will be studying Japanese and taking a few other history classes while I am there (tbd). Now let me demonstrate to you my beautiful use of the japanese language


Yes, that is a blank space. No, I do not know how to write your name, or much of anything else, in Japanese. This will be struggle number 1 when I go to order ramen when I first arrive....here's hoping they have pictures. This experience is going to be full of cultural challenges and barriers, but that is why I chose to do it. So, if you want to keep up with my struggle bus tour through Japan, with a splash of adventure and the occasional blurb of intellect and wit, please follow this blog. I will be posting videos from time to time and, hey, maybe you can learn something from my travels, but first stop New York and then on to Tokyo!