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.
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.
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