I've been in Japan for 4 days and I already feel like I've been here for a LONG time. SO much has happened in the past few days!! I arrived in Japan with two other classmates at 6am Japanese time at Osaka and damn it was cold! It was the first thing I noticed and it didn't really hit me that I was outside of Sydney.
When people think of Japan they probably think of some high tech cities and also traditional oriental houses but in reality Japan isn't all glamorous or crash hot. To put it bluntly, it's damn ugly. Don't get me wrong they do have gorgeous places. But don't this is not a consistent part of Japan. If you are someone who's watched a bit of Japanese drama you may know what I mean when I say it isn't the most asthetically pleasing place in the world.
The area I'm staying at is Hotani campus of Kansai Gaidai, which is located in Hirakata city, Osaka. The campus is pretty nice from what I've seen. My dorm is super clean and organized (we'll see how long that lasts when semester is in full swing) and the people are SOOO friendly!
Ive spent a bit of time in the common room and kitchens cooking meals and there are two girls I keep running into named Sachi and Mia (my-ya, i think her name is). They are super friendly and so cute with how they talk!! I hope my Japanese will be good enough that I can speak with such personality one day! Mia is soooo kawaiii *please excuse my asian moment* and Sachi is always willing to be in conversation with me regardless of how awkward or cumbersome as it may be.
Not everyone here is like that however and I think that this semester will be a really tough one but I'm willing to accept the challenge!! One thing we've done a lot of here is learn how to become proficient with the Japanese buses which take us to the grocery store, city centre and train stations.
So far so good!! The shopping centre here is AMAZING! It's nothing like Sydney and we spent a good few hours scouring through the products and foods available. Contrary to popular belief fruit isn't THAT bad for price. Strawberries and bananas were pretty decent but veges were the bitch. They have a whole wall full of fish, fresh, filletted, sashima cuts, fried, smoked for so cheap! They also had a fried seafood stall in the actual grocery store!
The shops arent seperated by rooms like in Sydney but they do it by having seperate counters where you purchase your items instead. It works well at making sales especially if you have a wondering eye like myself and before you know it you're in a different area of this shopping centre checking out items completely unrelated.
You hear it all the time but I finally understand what people mean when they say Japanese people are really determined to do their job well. They service assistance were so lovely in helping us out and made sure they went out of their way to be understood and to understand us. They were so cute!! Especially the old lady who was miming quite animatedly something crashing into my new mirror as a friendly warning of how to hold it correctly.
It's only my first few days so nothing exciting as really happened just yet. Thursday night classes start however and I'm not looking forward to that!!!
Should probably rest. Full day off study tomorrow (or rather today >.<")
Bye for now,
xx
