This should not come as a surprise to anyone who has lived in Japan before, but there are, for the most part, cockroaches EVERYWHERE! I know that I had some in my dorm in Kumamoto, and here those little guys are again, in my life once more.
But let us not get ahead of ourselves.
Let us start where we left off... I actually can`t really remember where that is. Pre-apartment, definitely.
Well, apartment woes, then.
It has taken up until yesterday to finally get into the apartment that we have been looking at. This apartment has sort of been in my/our radar for months, and we have had all sorts of difficulties getting it. Finally, after many trips between the school and the realtor, we paid the money, got our keys, and were able to move into our apartment.
Which is great, and completely amazing.
There have been a FEW problems, though. None of them too big.
The first one was getting our luggage moved from our hotel in Tsurumi to our apartment in Okazawa. The train ride from Tsurumi to Yokohama station is about 15 minutes, which isn`t really a problem, and then the subway ride back to Mitsuzawa (our closest station) takes only about 5 minutes, so there was no problem with that. The problem was trying to haul all of our luggage from our hotel to our apartment in the crowded Yokohama trains and subways.
The person from the Tokyo Gas company was coming sometime between five and seven on the day we moved in, which meant that one of us had to stay and wait around while the other had to get the luggage. Since Kim weighs about as much as one of her bags, let alone having to carry my bags with hers, I decided that I should go. So I took the train from Yokohama station, where we were getting our phones (YES!) and went back to Tsurumi for what was to be more than just one trip. I grabbed my big backpack and one of Kim`s suitcases and headed out, back onto the train to Yokohama AGAIN, and then to Mitsuzawa.
Did I mention this was during RUSH HOUR?
So I get into a train... and so do five million other people. I get pushed by the sheer momentum of all the people, which makes me lose my balance, along with the already precariously-balanced baggage, which falls over into some poor man`s leg. I apologize (sort of because I actually didn`t care because it wasn`t REALLY my fault if you really think about it) and then waited patiently for my stop at Yokohama.
So me and the five million other passengers get off at Yokohama, and we all head down the stairs into the crowded main area of the station. I start looking for the line that should take me to the apartment (I had only been there once, and that was by car, so I didn`t know where the line was). I ended up giving up after about two seconds of looking, because the heat and weight of the bags was killing me, and took a taxi. I got a little lost finding the apartment even after the taxi driver dropped me off, and then I had Kim meet me at the hospital nearby, but actually ended up finding the apartment before that.
ANYWAY
We finally get the bags into the apartment and are on our way to do it again. We buy some futons to sleep on (which add to the baggage) and go through everything one more time. It`s definitely easier with three people (and a little less embarrassing), so no real problems there. We get back to the apartment and are STARVING, but exhausted so we decide just to go to the nearest conbini and get some food.
BUT THEN
Kim sort of shot up (she was sitting in her room), and said she saw a big bug. I thought that she didn`t really mean a very big bug, and so I was shocked to come face to face with THE BIGGEST COCKROACH I HAVE EVER SEEN. I mean, I`ve seen bigger ones in movies and stuff, but that was the biggest I had seen in real life. THEN, a SECOND HUGE ROACH comes running out of her closet. We high-tail it to the conbini and try to find some cockroach traps. There aren`t any. So we walk to the supermarket which is actually a good 15 minute walk (which felt like HOURS to our poor feet), and got some little traps. We laid the trap and after a little while (and a lot of mini-panic attacks from Kim), we finally saw one make another appearance in the BATHROOM. I found it particularly gross because I had showered and completely not noticed it. We set a trap by it and it was stupid and had crawled in really quickly. We thought it was caught so Kim took a shower.
BUT
IT CRAWLED IT`S WAY OUT OF THE TRAP. That little cockroach RIPPED its body off of the paper that BIRDS CAN`T GET UNSTUCK FROM and just sort of hung out around it. That`s when I decided that it MUST.DIE.
So I grabbed my handy converse (green kind) and had a good 30 second power struggle with the roach, in which he ran around really fast and I yelled a lot and slammed my shoe against the floor. My shoe finally made contact with the roach, and that did it in. One cockroach DEAD!
Kim and I decided to sleep in the same room and with the lights on, just in case. The next morning when we woke up, there was one more cockroach in a trap. After that we went to a home shopping store and got some roach traps and bug bombs and stuff (along with BIKES! And cleaning supplies), and spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning and spraying.
Hopefully they are ALL DEAD. Hopefully.
We also met with a fellow IUC student of ours for dinner, which was really fun. Lots of meat and few vegetables were consumed, and I became a member of one more thing. Great.
I will keep you all updated on the bug situation!
Bye!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Full First Days
I am going to try and catch everyone up on my first few days of being in Japan, and also so I can remember, because I am starting to forget already DANG.
So, yesterday (the 22nd), Kim and I woke up early (mostly because of jetlag and the fact that we went to bed fairly early the night before). We are staying at this really great business hotel, which is a hotel chain called Toyoko Inn (which I think I already said last time), and they have good breakfasts in the morning. They have Onigiri rice balls and bread, salad (for breakfast) and macaroni salad (for breakfast?), along with salami and miso soup. We ate everything because it was free. Also, there was this guy who I think was from India who just ate the jelly right out of the little container. He also ate about ten little bread rolls.
We then headed over to the department store near where our hotel is, because I had to buy a new suitcase (since my other one broke). I am now the proud owner of a red, rolly suitcase, which is very Japa
nese-y, if you know what I mean.
Doesn't it look GOOD?!?!
After that, we went to go and meet with our realtor, and to go and see the apartment that we are trying to rent. Our realtor, Saito-san, was surprisingly very young and very pretty. And funny. And nice. She drove us to the apartment. It was really hot so we didn't spend a lot of time in there, but enough to know that we like it.
Ok, so the pictures aren't very good, but I will take more later once we move in, which will hopefully be soon. We are talkin
g with the IUC tomorrow and then with the realtor again, so hopefully we can get everything sorted out in the next couple of days. My room is the best. Duh.
We headed back to the hotel after that, feeling a lot better, but also hungry, so we stopped by the Conbini and got some food. Kim got a "cocktail partner," which is essentially just a mix drink in a can. She ended up getting really tipsy and tired and passed out after half the can. It was completely awesome.
She managed to wake up a couple of hours later, just in time to
go and find some more food to eat. We decided earlier that day that we wanted to have yakiniku (korean barbecue) for dinner, which is exactly what we did. We had really great meat and lots of kim chi, too.
After that we pretty much passed out.
NEXT DAY: August 23rd.
We woke up at 5:00 a.m. and have been up ever since. We had breakfast again downstairs and there was this disgusting guy coughing in the lobby the whole time, and it seriously sounded like he was going to die. At least if he had he would have stopped COUGHING.
We then went to meet my friend Yukari, who I haven't seen in a really long time! Yukari used to go to UM, and then graduated and moved back to Tokyo. We met in Akihabara because both Kim and I needed adapters for our computers (there aren't any 3-pronged outlets here, so far as I can tell), so we decided to go to Akihabara, which is where you can find almost any electronic, nerdy, or perverted thing that is produced by Japan. I'm not sure why we went there, seeing as it was really far away for both Kim and I AND Yukari, but... I didn't think of that.
Then we headed down to Yokohama, and Minato Mirai to get a better picture of our school and the area around it. It's really pretty and I took some pictures but since adding pictures on here is really annoying, I will post them later. We walked around Minato Mirai for a while, and then headed to a Hokkaido-style Curry Soup restaurant that Kim had found online. It took us about 30 minutes of walking and a ten minute cab ride to finally get there, and the whole time it was only about a 5 minute walk from Yokohama station, we just ended up losing our way and getting lost and getting strange directions from lots of different people. But the curry soup was AMAZING, so it was worth it.
After that, we went to Karaoke for a couple of hours, which was the first time in 8 months that I've done that. Oh, karaoke, I've missed you so. Yukari and Kim and I had a lot of fun there, too. Fun fun fun. Then, we took some Puri-kura and headed back to the hotel, after saying goodbye to Yukari.
SIDE STORY BY KIM: On the train some nasty old dude was picking his nose like he was on some sort of treasure hunt...After completely BURYING his knuckles up his nose for about 3o seconds he flicked his boogers all over the train. Then later I saw a loogie on the floor of the train station. Who needs diet pills when gross Japanese old men are around to kill my appetite?
We headed back to the hotel, and decided that we needed to stay one more day here, just in case we can't get everything set up with the apartment tomorrow. The woman at the front desk also initiated me as an official MEMBER OF THE TOYOKO INN CLUB! This means that, for the small sum of 1,500 yen, I am now able to get awesome discounts on Sundays, Holidays, and then 10th of every month, as well as having a much simpler reservation process the next time I stay at a Toyoko Inn. Also, after I have stayed 10 nights in a Toyoko Inn, I am able to stay for free for one night anywhere in the country. And there are Toyoko Inns pretty much everywhere, so this is great. I wish I had gotten this before!
We tried to watch Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, but we are both too tired. I can't believe I had the energy to even write all of this blog out. I am trying to will myself to stay awake past 8 p.m., but I'm not sure how well it will work. We have to go and speak with the IUC tomorrow! Hopefully tomorrow will be a busy day, because that will mean signing of contracts and (hopefully) moving in to apartments!! Wish us luck!!
If we do move in to the apartment, we probably won't have steady internet for quite a while. But DON'T WORRY. I will use Internet Cafes or something to keep everyone posted, and to continue to remind myself!
See you all later!
So, yesterday (the 22nd), Kim and I woke up early (mostly because of jetlag and the fact that we went to bed fairly early the night before). We are staying at this really great business hotel, which is a hotel chain called Toyoko Inn (which I think I already said last time), and they have good breakfasts in the morning. They have Onigiri rice balls and bread, salad (for breakfast) and macaroni salad (for breakfast?), along with salami and miso soup. We ate everything because it was free. Also, there was this guy who I think was from India who just ate the jelly right out of the little container. He also ate about ten little bread rolls.
We then headed over to the department store near where our hotel is, because I had to buy a new suitcase (since my other one broke). I am now the proud owner of a red, rolly suitcase, which is very Japa
nese-y, if you know what I mean.Doesn't it look GOOD?!?!
After that, we went to go and meet with our realtor, and to go and see the apartment that we are trying to rent. Our realtor, Saito-san, was surprisingly very young and very pretty. And funny. And nice. She drove us to the apartment. It was really hot so we didn't spend a lot of time in there, but enough to know that we like it.
Ok, so the pictures aren't very good, but I will take more later once we move in, which will hopefully be soon. We are talkin
g with the IUC tomorrow and then with the realtor again, so hopefully we can get everything sorted out in the next couple of days. My room is the best. Duh.We headed back to the hotel after that, feeling a lot better, but also hungry, so we stopped by the Conbini and got some food. Kim got a "cocktail partner," which is essentially just a mix drink in a can. She ended up getting really tipsy and tired and passed out after half the can. It was completely awesome.
She managed to wake up a couple of hours later, just in time to
go and find some more food to eat. We decided earlier that day that we wanted to have yakiniku (korean barbecue) for dinner, which is exactly what we did. We had really great meat and lots of kim chi, too.
After that we pretty much passed out.NEXT DAY: August 23rd.
We woke up at 5:00 a.m. and have been up ever since. We had breakfast again downstairs and there was this disgusting guy coughing in the lobby the whole time, and it seriously sounded like he was going to die. At least if he had he would have stopped COUGHING.
We then went to meet my friend Yukari, who I haven't seen in a really long time! Yukari used to go to UM, and then graduated and moved back to Tokyo. We met in Akihabara because both Kim and I needed adapters for our computers (there aren't any 3-pronged outlets here, so far as I can tell), so we decided to go to Akihabara, which is where you can find almost any electronic, nerdy, or perverted thing that is produced by Japan. I'm not sure why we went there, seeing as it was really far away for both Kim and I AND Yukari, but... I didn't think of that.
Then we headed down to Yokohama, and Minato Mirai to get a better picture of our school and the area around it. It's really pretty and I took some pictures but since adding pictures on here is really annoying, I will post them later. We walked around Minato Mirai for a while, and then headed to a Hokkaido-style Curry Soup restaurant that Kim had found online. It took us about 30 minutes of walking and a ten minute cab ride to finally get there, and the whole time it was only about a 5 minute walk from Yokohama station, we just ended up losing our way and getting lost and getting strange directions from lots of different people. But the curry soup was AMAZING, so it was worth it.
After that, we went to Karaoke for a couple of hours, which was the first time in 8 months that I've done that. Oh, karaoke, I've missed you so. Yukari and Kim and I had a lot of fun there, too. Fun fun fun. Then, we took some Puri-kura and headed back to the hotel, after saying goodbye to Yukari.
SIDE STORY BY KIM: On the train some nasty old dude was picking his nose like he was on some sort of treasure hunt...After completely BURYING his knuckles up his nose for about 3o seconds he flicked his boogers all over the train. Then later I saw a loogie on the floor of the train station. Who needs diet pills when gross Japanese old men are around to kill my appetite?
We headed back to the hotel, and decided that we needed to stay one more day here, just in case we can't get everything set up with the apartment tomorrow. The woman at the front desk also initiated me as an official MEMBER OF THE TOYOKO INN CLUB! This means that, for the small sum of 1,500 yen, I am now able to get awesome discounts on Sundays, Holidays, and then 10th of every month, as well as having a much simpler reservation process the next time I stay at a Toyoko Inn. Also, after I have stayed 10 nights in a Toyoko Inn, I am able to stay for free for one night anywhere in the country. And there are Toyoko Inns pretty much everywhere, so this is great. I wish I had gotten this before!
We tried to watch Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, but we are both too tired. I can't believe I had the energy to even write all of this blog out. I am trying to will myself to stay awake past 8 p.m., but I'm not sure how well it will work. We have to go and speak with the IUC tomorrow! Hopefully tomorrow will be a busy day, because that will mean signing of contracts and (hopefully) moving in to apartments!! Wish us luck!!
If we do move in to the apartment, we probably won't have steady internet for quite a while. But DON'T WORRY. I will use Internet Cafes or something to keep everyone posted, and to continue to remind myself!
See you all later!
Friday, August 21, 2009
The Longest Day That Has Ever Been... EVER
And I'm not even kidding.
Last night (I guess it was last night), in Seattle, I tried as hard as I could to stay awake for as long as I could, so that I would be able to sleep on the plane. I ended up passing out around one and waking up before 7:00. I spent the rest of the morning (this morning? Very Confused) around Seattle with my parents. Bought some headphones, had some breakfast... tried not to cry. The usual.
We ended up getting to the airport at around eleven, and after a teary goodbye at the start of the security line (by the way, thanks for staring, EVERY SINGLE PERSON that walked by), I met up with Kim and her mom at the gate. Kim's mom flew all the way from Phoenix, Arizona to spend a couple of hours with her before she left for Japan. It was so precious and nice. Plus her mom is really great and funny. I got a quick massage and then it was time to board the plane.
Once we got on the plane (Boeing 777, if anyone is interested), we were sort of waiting around and I noticed this guy that was sitting in the same row as us, but in a different, like, section? The middle of the plane and we were on the sides. Anyway, he was coughing and his face was really red. The flight attendants came back and asked if everything was ok. The guy wasn't really responding to anything, and they ended up calling the paramedics and taking him off of the airplane. While they were moving him from his seat to the wheelchair, the paramedics said that they smelled something, and that they had a "possible Code Brown situation" on their hands. Subtle. After they changed the pad on the seat the guy was sitting on (just in case), we were off. The flight was fun. I slept for about 20 minutes (so much for my plan), and Kim didn't sleep at all. We both watched "17 Again" twice and played Nintendo. We also made friends with a cool flight attendant, who gave us leftover turkey sandwiches from business class. And we did some Yoga in the back of the plane. Eagle pose.
When we finally landed in Narita airport, we made our way through customs and immigration, which took longer than usual. After we got our backs, Kim wanted to consolidate her 5 pieces of baggage into 2 or 3, so she took started to rearrange. Once she was done, she realized that she didn't have her passport. She than began to frantically look for it for about 20 minutes, while I ran through all the possible options as to how we could get out of this situation without it taking too much longer. The best one I came up with was just to run through the customs line and hope they didn't see us. Fortunately, Kim finally found her passport and we didn't need my plan.
We got onto the Narita Express train, which we had paid for to get us all the way through to Yokohama. We decided, though, that since we were staying sort of in the middle between Tokyo and Yokohama, that it would be better to get off in Shinagawa and then go south instead of getting off in Yokohama and having to go back north again. So, with my big suitcase and backpack and Kim's two HUGE suitcases and one small bag and purse and laptop bag, we trudged our way through Shinagawa station (which, by the way, is very crowded around 7 pm). We finally found the right train to get us there, only to watch a couple go past and see that they were all ridiculously full people. We decided it would be better to just take a taxi to Tsurumi (where our hotel is) because "it couldn't be that far".
WRONG.
Tsurumi, it turns out, is about a $75 cab ride from Shinagawa. I won't ever do that again, but at least we got here in an air-conditioned car instead of a hot and stuffy train. Also, the handle on my luggage wasn't really working very well from the start, and when I was trying to push the handle down for the taxi driver to put into his car, it broke. So... I am now in the market for a new piece of luggage.
We finally got to Tsurumi station, and asked some nice "safety officers" where the hotel was. They pointed us the way, and I headed that way, thinking that Kim was right behind me. I crossed the street and got about half a block before I turned to see that she wasn't. When she finally got to me, she was being followed by the three safety officers, who scolded me for not waiting for me and called me "tsumetai" (cold). Ouch.
We are now in the hotel and have the air conditioner on full blast and the coldest it will go, and it will stay that way for the next few days. We are going to meet with our realtor tomorrow to go and check out our (hopefully) apartment, so I am going to go to sleep.
The heat and humidity might actually kill me. Montana's dry, temperate summer did not prepare me for this.
Hope you all are well.
Last night (I guess it was last night), in Seattle, I tried as hard as I could to stay awake for as long as I could, so that I would be able to sleep on the plane. I ended up passing out around one and waking up before 7:00. I spent the rest of the morning (this morning? Very Confused) around Seattle with my parents. Bought some headphones, had some breakfast... tried not to cry. The usual.
We ended up getting to the airport at around eleven, and after a teary goodbye at the start of the security line (by the way, thanks for staring, EVERY SINGLE PERSON that walked by), I met up with Kim and her mom at the gate. Kim's mom flew all the way from Phoenix, Arizona to spend a couple of hours with her before she left for Japan. It was so precious and nice. Plus her mom is really great and funny. I got a quick massage and then it was time to board the plane.
Once we got on the plane (Boeing 777, if anyone is interested), we were sort of waiting around and I noticed this guy that was sitting in the same row as us, but in a different, like, section? The middle of the plane and we were on the sides. Anyway, he was coughing and his face was really red. The flight attendants came back and asked if everything was ok. The guy wasn't really responding to anything, and they ended up calling the paramedics and taking him off of the airplane. While they were moving him from his seat to the wheelchair, the paramedics said that they smelled something, and that they had a "possible Code Brown situation" on their hands. Subtle. After they changed the pad on the seat the guy was sitting on (just in case), we were off. The flight was fun. I slept for about 20 minutes (so much for my plan), and Kim didn't sleep at all. We both watched "17 Again" twice and played Nintendo. We also made friends with a cool flight attendant, who gave us leftover turkey sandwiches from business class. And we did some Yoga in the back of the plane. Eagle pose.
When we finally landed in Narita airport, we made our way through customs and immigration, which took longer than usual. After we got our backs, Kim wanted to consolidate her 5 pieces of baggage into 2 or 3, so she took started to rearrange. Once she was done, she realized that she didn't have her passport. She than began to frantically look for it for about 20 minutes, while I ran through all the possible options as to how we could get out of this situation without it taking too much longer. The best one I came up with was just to run through the customs line and hope they didn't see us. Fortunately, Kim finally found her passport and we didn't need my plan.
We got onto the Narita Express train, which we had paid for to get us all the way through to Yokohama. We decided, though, that since we were staying sort of in the middle between Tokyo and Yokohama, that it would be better to get off in Shinagawa and then go south instead of getting off in Yokohama and having to go back north again. So, with my big suitcase and backpack and Kim's two HUGE suitcases and one small bag and purse and laptop bag, we trudged our way through Shinagawa station (which, by the way, is very crowded around 7 pm). We finally found the right train to get us there, only to watch a couple go past and see that they were all ridiculously full people. We decided it would be better to just take a taxi to Tsurumi (where our hotel is) because "it couldn't be that far".
WRONG.
Tsurumi, it turns out, is about a $75 cab ride from Shinagawa. I won't ever do that again, but at least we got here in an air-conditioned car instead of a hot and stuffy train. Also, the handle on my luggage wasn't really working very well from the start, and when I was trying to push the handle down for the taxi driver to put into his car, it broke. So... I am now in the market for a new piece of luggage.
We finally got to Tsurumi station, and asked some nice "safety officers" where the hotel was. They pointed us the way, and I headed that way, thinking that Kim was right behind me. I crossed the street and got about half a block before I turned to see that she wasn't. When she finally got to me, she was being followed by the three safety officers, who scolded me for not waiting for me and called me "tsumetai" (cold). Ouch.
We are now in the hotel and have the air conditioner on full blast and the coldest it will go, and it will stay that way for the next few days. We are going to meet with our realtor tomorrow to go and check out our (hopefully) apartment, so I am going to go to sleep.
The heat and humidity might actually kill me. Montana's dry, temperate summer did not prepare me for this.
Hope you all are well.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
ACTUALLY TIME JUST SPEEDS!!
I am leaving for Seattle in less than 6 hours.
I have not finished packing.
I have not finished cleaning.
I still have no place to live.
I still have no idea what the program will be like.
Ugh... this sounds so whiny.
I SHOULD be much more excited about the adventure that is about to start, and even more excited because of all of the uncertainty. And I am. I am excited.
Things I am excited about:
Getting to Seattle, shopping at H&M in Seattle (don't judge), getting new converse in Seattle, getting on the plane (actually not excited about that), LANDING IN JAPAN, getting to the hotel, buying a beer, relaxing.
The day AFTER I arrive in Japan, the mayhem can begin again, but that first night is MINE and mine alone.
Well, Kim will be there, too.
So, the total is excitement:70%, nervous: 30%. That's not too bad. Not too bad at all.
I have not finished packing.
I have not finished cleaning.
I still have no place to live.
I still have no idea what the program will be like.
Ugh... this sounds so whiny.
I SHOULD be much more excited about the adventure that is about to start, and even more excited because of all of the uncertainty. And I am. I am excited.
Things I am excited about:
Getting to Seattle, shopping at H&M in Seattle (don't judge), getting new converse in Seattle, getting on the plane (actually not excited about that), LANDING IN JAPAN, getting to the hotel, buying a beer, relaxing.
The day AFTER I arrive in Japan, the mayhem can begin again, but that first night is MINE and mine alone.
Well, Kim will be there, too.
So, the total is excitement:70%, nervous: 30%. That's not too bad. Not too bad at all.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Time Slows and Speeds
I had a semi-panic attack the other day.
I was at the video store, looking to rent Purple Rain (I had left my copy at a friend's house who was out of town). I was looking for it, and couldn't. Then I realized that even if I could find it, I wouldn't be able to keep it for the full seven days until it was due.
Because I was leaving.
I wouldn't BE there in seven days. And I wouldn't just be in another town nearby, I was going to be in an entirely different country. Prince's masterpiece would be there, sitting in my room or my car, not moving at all. No one would know it was there. Plus, after ten months, the late fees would be RIDICULOUS. I started to sweat a little bit, and my pulse became rapid, and I had to leave the store, Purple Rain-less.
In case this blog gets found by someone who doesn't know me, I am going to be leaving in a few days to attend the Inter-University Center for the Study of Japanese (IUC Yokohama), an intensive Japanese langauge course administered by Stanford, located in Yokohama, Japan. The IUC is a ten month program. It is actually still pretty much a mystery as to what kind of program it will be, but I am excited nevertheless.
The program itself is not what makes me nervous. Nothing really makes me too nervous. I guess the fact that I am no longer an undergraduate, and I technically have a degree (although I haven't gotten it yet), and I am supposed to be more of an adult now. I've lived abroad before; a year in Japan and a semester in Austria, but this is much more independent. The IUC has no dorms, and they seem to want to make sure that their students are strong-minded and able to figure out where they are to live, etc., on their own, which is really great. I'm just not used to it.
The preparations that I've made are few (as I write this I am sitting in my parents' basement, where I moved back into for the month of August, and there are still boxes all over from my apartment), but mentally I am very prepared to go. The rest will follow. I find that packing for a year is much easier than packing for, say, a two week vacation. Anything I forgot, I can have sent or can buy new, which helps the stress.
Up until recently, I was just sort of waiting around, waiting for the pressure to come and force me to do all the things that I need to do before I go. Well, the pressure is here now.
I'd better be getting back to packing. Apparently, if you roll your clothes, more will fit into the suitcases. Tricky, tricky.
I was at the video store, looking to rent Purple Rain (I had left my copy at a friend's house who was out of town). I was looking for it, and couldn't. Then I realized that even if I could find it, I wouldn't be able to keep it for the full seven days until it was due.
Because I was leaving.
I wouldn't BE there in seven days. And I wouldn't just be in another town nearby, I was going to be in an entirely different country. Prince's masterpiece would be there, sitting in my room or my car, not moving at all. No one would know it was there. Plus, after ten months, the late fees would be RIDICULOUS. I started to sweat a little bit, and my pulse became rapid, and I had to leave the store, Purple Rain-less.
In case this blog gets found by someone who doesn't know me, I am going to be leaving in a few days to attend the Inter-University Center for the Study of Japanese (IUC Yokohama), an intensive Japanese langauge course administered by Stanford, located in Yokohama, Japan. The IUC is a ten month program. It is actually still pretty much a mystery as to what kind of program it will be, but I am excited nevertheless.
The program itself is not what makes me nervous. Nothing really makes me too nervous. I guess the fact that I am no longer an undergraduate, and I technically have a degree (although I haven't gotten it yet), and I am supposed to be more of an adult now. I've lived abroad before; a year in Japan and a semester in Austria, but this is much more independent. The IUC has no dorms, and they seem to want to make sure that their students are strong-minded and able to figure out where they are to live, etc., on their own, which is really great. I'm just not used to it.
The preparations that I've made are few (as I write this I am sitting in my parents' basement, where I moved back into for the month of August, and there are still boxes all over from my apartment), but mentally I am very prepared to go. The rest will follow. I find that packing for a year is much easier than packing for, say, a two week vacation. Anything I forgot, I can have sent or can buy new, which helps the stress.
Up until recently, I was just sort of waiting around, waiting for the pressure to come and force me to do all the things that I need to do before I go. Well, the pressure is here now.
I'd better be getting back to packing. Apparently, if you roll your clothes, more will fit into the suitcases. Tricky, tricky.
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