So, since I don’t have a lot going on in my life at the moment that doesn’t involve lounging about the house, I decided to take some time out to talk about something that’s already happened.
It has been nearly a month since I returned to the United States after spending the better part of six months studying abroad in Japan. In that time, I have found it difficult to discuss in detail my experience to others, in spite of having had many people ask me. This is partly thanks to the fact that I am even now still getting used to the fact that I am really back in the U.S., and talking about my study abroad in terms of past tense feels a little awkward. Therefore, this post will be all about my first days in Japan.
The first of many photographs I took in Japan.
Above is the first photograph I took after stepping off the plane. “Welcome.” Seeing this sign made me fully realise for the first time that I had finally reached my destination. For the first time it really hit me that I was now alone in a foreign country, thousands of miles away from the country I had lived and grown up in and (most) of the people I had ever known.
I had a lot of other firsts during those firsts several days, a particularly important one occurring not long after I came out of Immigration: I got lost in the terminal. This was not, of course, the first time that I had ever gotten lost. However, it was the first time that I got lost in Japan, and it proved to me that no matter where I am or how much instruction I have I can and will get lost. And I did get lost many times afterward. In fact, unless I had an escort of some sort I got lost in every city I went to. Sometimes more than once. Even when I had a map. Suffice it to say, I spent a lot of time walking. But I was always able to use the time I spent lost to do some additional sight-seeing that I couldn’t have done if I always reached my destination right off (I try to look at the bright side of things).
In any case, after I found my way to the meeting place where I was meant to be I had my second big first.
Above is the very first thing that I bought in Japan, also marking the first time I used a Japanese vending machine.
Vending machines are one of Japan’s many famous technological advancements thanks to being able to do such things as serve heated and chilled beverages in the same machine (they are labelled “HOT” and “COLD”) and/or speak (I never saw one of those). But the really amazing thing about vending machines in Japan is that they can be found any- and everywhere. I passed as many as 20 machines on my way to school every day. Probably more. In the school corridors, in the train station, on the street–a vending machine in nearly every place imaginable. This phenomenon is often cited as an example of how safe from crime Japan is; because they are able to keep vending machines outside without fear that they will be vandalised or robbed. Indeed, the only crime I feared whenever I stepped up to a vending machine was the theft of ￥150 from my wallet (cue drum sting).
Returning to the subject at hand, my other firsts of that day include:
My first time riding the subway,
first time visiting the conbini,
the first meal I ate in Japan (purchased at aforementioned conbini),
and my first time seeing the dormitory that I would stay in for the next three months (more on that later).
And to top off the post, a picture of me from six months ago, excited to begin my adventure in Japan.
Good-bye for now ☆ミ
