22/09/15 - Kyoto

Going to Kyoto was one thing that I really wanted to do so badly, and finally I was able to do it. The trip was organised late in the kitchen one night and it just became a big thing, where only 4 of us going became 10. I think the extra people made it so much better, because we could all enjoy it together.

The day started early because the shrines we were visiting for Silver Week all close at 5pm, so we left around 9:30am. It took a long train set of train rides to get there with some running. I even experienced my first rush hour train (although not bad compared to Tokyo apparently which makes me really concerned). But, eventually we could all get off the train and that was a huge relief.

It was so hot outside, and I really wished that I had every form of sun protection out there (hat, sunscreen, umbrella, sunglasses etc.) but I only had sunscreen and if I'm being honest it didn't really feel like it worked very much. We walked through huge markets that were full of people and food before we even get close to the shrine. It all looked so amazing and I think a few of us wanted to stop and eat something, but we powered on. The shrine we went to was called Fushimi Inari and had over 10,000 gates up a mountain which we intended to climb eventually, so that is why we were walking fast. Before taking the climb we wanted to look around the shrine, so we cleansed our body and mind at Water Place by pouring water on our hands with a stick.

We went to line up at the offertory box at the shrine, and when it was my turn I felt like I had no idea what I was doing. The offertory box is where you offer a donation in order in return for a wish. You have to ring a bell and then clap 3 times after throwing your money. It's really fun doing it, but my first try I think I looked a bit funny. Maybe next time will be better. Afterwards we went and got our fortunes told! This is done by shaking a box with sticks in them and whatever stick comes out, the number on it you just remember and tell the person at the desk. Then, she gives you a piece of paper with your fortune. If your fortune is good, you keep your fortune. However, if your fortune is bad, you should tie it on the shrine. I got a good fortune apparently, but I can't remember what it says because it's all in Japanese. I remember it said I should be careful of my relationships though!

We started the walk and the Torii gates just amazed me! They're a bright orange and they're all individually made. Despite my poor fitness, I managed to make it to the top of the mountain somehow. There were some hard moments there, but it didn't take away from everything around me. There nature, the gates and the people I was with just made everything seem just a little bit special and I really would like to experience something like that again. When I got to the top I was really proud of myself. There were a few restaurants along the way, so we got ice cream at one point so it wasn't entirely hard work and no breaks. Though, when I say restaurants, I mean tiny wooden shed-like buildings with a few small options of food for the fatigued few. But, you can definitely still find vending machines! At the top of of the mountain is just another offertory box, but it's really beautiful. Going down was extremely, extremely hard! It was so steep. I thought it would be much easier because it's down hill but it really hurt my ankles. Eventually it became flatter, but mostly it was very vertical I think.

After leaving, we headed directly for Byodo-in, which is the building seen on the 10 yen coin. We got there when it was a bit darker so we couldn't see the best reflection of the building in the water. But, it's a really awesome building. It has a museum inside (with air conditioning!) and we got to learn some things about Japanese history.

We went even further into Kyoto after going there, but I don't know if anyone knew where we were going. We went into a shrine, but it was closed and it was just the eeriest thing I have ever seen. Because we were the only ones there, and it was getting dark I think it was just so creepy. I felt like I was getting cursed just by setting foot in there or something. But, thankfully because people were really hungry (it was dinner time and we hadn't eaten all day) we left pretty quickly.

The hunt for food was really tough! We had to take a train back to central Kyoto because I think we left at some point... I had a really hard time following where we actually were. We bumped into Yuri and ate at a really nice restaurant in the end. It took so long to find though! But, wow, sitting down for the first time all day was a really weird feeling. Especially then getting back to the dormitory, we all realised we had been walking for over 12 hours. I had ended up hurting my legs somehow, but it was such an amazing day I don't think I could forget it. Or at least, I don't want to forget it.

21/09/15

Shopping during Silver Week is a nightmare! I don't think I have ever been so overwhelmed by people before. It's a five day public holiday that occurs once every couple of years and so everyone is taking advantage of this and doing lots of shopping. Mei invited me to Umeda to shop with her, and we shopped for a few hours. The stores there are quite expensive so I didn't want to spend too much money there. It was a nice day spent out. I've found some really nice stores that I think I will go back to to buy some more clothes when I have more time. Spending days like this are really nice.

20/09/15 - Silver Week

On the 20th of September, 2015 I was woken up by people yelling through speakers and music outside my dormitory for the Silver Week festival. Despite being woken up by it, I immediately decided that I wanted to go. I found Kana (my RA and neighbour) in the multipurpose room and we decided to go together. It was held at the park just across the street, and it was only a small festival but there was so much energy everywhere.

There were tonnes of food stalls set up, and also little game stalls. One in particular that looked like fun was the catching the fish with the paper. Small children were playing it and some were really good at it! It was so fun watching. There was also a stall to get free dental check ups and Kana made me get one. I was the first foreigner to come through the stall so the dentist wanted a photo with me. Everyone should be happy to know that I have perfectly healthy teeth.

Afterwards, Kana had to leave for an RA meeting, but I met up with Mei at the festival and we watched dancing competitions for a long time. I couldn't believe how good all of them were at dancing. It was well worth sitting in the sun for hours.

Later that night I met up with Misaki and we went for karaoke. It was kind of expensive where we went because of the hour/day but we got to sing so much because it was just two of us. I going out and singing with friends so much and I love that everyone else loves doing it as well! Misaki said that people should only come to Japan for two reasons "karaoke and food." I feel inclined to agree.

19/09/15 - Trip to Osaka

Regardless of the Nomihodai the night before, everyone was awake to leave at 8:45 for an all day trip to Osaka for tonnes of activities which I wasn't completely sure I was ready for. The trip was payed for by the University and we were taken everywhere by bus, so I was really happy about that. It's nice to have these experiences - even some of the Japanese students haven't been to the places we went to on the trip.

First we went to a museum. They had completely recreated an old Japanese town that you could walk around in and be apart of. It was so cool! We were given quite a lot of time to walk around in it. I loved taking off my shoes and walking on the special wooden floors, because the wood was just so smooth. At one point, they had what I think was a special demonstration where it changed to night time and there was a thunder storm. The roofing went dark and through the speakers made the noises of thunder and once that was over the whole ceiling was covered in a rainbow covering. Unfortunately we had to leave that area while everything was happening, but it was so cool at the time. 

Then we went upstairs and looked around briefly and there were all these miniature displays telling the history of Japan. There was a large one just showing a battle that happened in Japan and another that was just an amusement park. Apparently the amusement park still exists today, but only parts of it. I think it would be cool to see it in person! 

After leaving the museum, we were treated to lunch at a cute restaurant. Everyone was given the same meal, and I ate as much as I could but I was still feeling a bit sick from the night before. We stayed there for a really long time because people just kept requesting more and more food and it didn't seem to be an issue because the University was paying for everything! Just say more and you get it! 

The most anticipated part of the trip ended up being my least favourite, unfortunately. However, I have my intense hangover to thank for that. The trip ended at the Yamoto Noh Theatre where we watched a number of different short performances to show us what they're like before seeing full performances. Unfortunately for me, most of them were extremely loud and used a lot of drums and high pitches flutes. Aside from the piercing headache, and not being able to stay awake for some portion of the performances, it was amazing seeing them perform. They had some incredible costumes and they really connected with their art form. Despite feeling terrible, I still enjoyed it. I'm glad I didn't stay back at the dorm like many others who couldn't recover from the Nomihodai. 

18/09/15 - Part 2

At 5pm everyone got dressed in their fanciest clothes so they could attend the the Official Kansai University Welcome Party of the year! The boys were wearing suits and girls were wearing dresses - or traditional clothing from their countries. We all had to climb mountains to get to the hall but thankfully they had escalators installed. I keep forgetting how big the campus is (and it's only one of them!) 

We had to scan our student ID's and write our name on a badge before going into the most beautiful hall room. There were over 15 food tables set out with amazing looking food, and the structure of the building itself was something to be amazed by. We all stood and listened to speeches by the leader's of the University's and it was really fantastic. I talked to lots of different students going to Kansai this year who I hadn't spoken to before which was also really good. But, still I wish there wasn't such a language gap. I just need to work hard! 

After the welcome party ended and everyone was full from the food. We all quickly gathered to go to nomihodai! Nomihodai is where you pay a certain amount (in our case 2,000 yen) and you can drink as much as you want for 3 hours! We all got really drunk and it was so much fun. There were around 77 of us in such a small bar I felt sorry for the workers. The german exchange students are especially strong drinkers. They even went clubbing afterwards! But we managed to make it home to the dormitory by 10:30pm where we could enjoy being drunk further. At 12:30am a few of us decided to walk to a really far conbini (convenience store) to get food. I can't remember why but it was good in the end! Everyone was so drunk, people went missing, someone slept in a bush, others couldn't walk. Very rough night but funny night! 

18/09/15 - Part 1

These past couple days I haven't written anything, and it isn't because I have been particularly busy. I have been eating well with many new friends I have made at the dormitory and staying up until late with them and talking. It's been a struggle not knowing much Japanese but I think once classes start I will learn Japanese quickly, and many people will help me learn.

Because there is communal kitchens everyone can eat together and lately we have been cooking meals together and splitting the costs. It's been more fun this way and I have been eating some really delicious meals! Much nicer than 100 yen meals from the supermarket. I miss cheese a lot, so when I come back to Australia in November I will have to eat a lot! Also, I have discovered that no one else except Australian's knows what chicken salt is? I was so shocked... Of all things? I can't imagine.

I've chosen subjects now, and tonight we're going to have the official welcome party of Kansai University. It's very formal and everyone is dressing up in suits and dresses! Then afterwards everyone is getting very drunk! I can't wait. Hopefully everyone is not too hungover, though, because tomorrow we have an all day excursion to Osaka with drum performances!

12/09/15 - Namba

Yesterday, I woke up expecting to just relax and study. After a long day before that I wasn't really planning on doing much (especially considering I had no plans with anyone). However, as soon as I walked down stairs I saw people gathering in the multi-purpose room and I was invited to go to Namba with them! I didn't refuse because I have always wanted to go to Namba since coming to Japan. I had heard of the shopping, the food, the atmosphere and the famous Guriko sign that people pose in front of.

We met Misaki at Senriyama who then became our guide for the day! Before going to Namba, we were going to Umeda for a little while where we were going to meet a Danish guy called Thor. Again, the first thing we did getting to Umeda was look for food. We decided on Okonomiyaki for lunch and while it was good for everyone else, it wasn't as fun for me. I never actually got to order, but someone ordered two of something, so they assumed that was mine? I ended up having to eat it anyway. It was good but I don't think I got to enjoy it as much because of the situation. Annoying!

Then we went to the Pokemon centre. Every city in Japan has a Pokemon centre and they're one of those places you have to go to, even if you don't like Pokemon that much. Misaki was getting angry because I kept saying the english names of the Pokemon, it was funny! I came to the Pokemon centre with Georiga the day before, and it was much less crowded! Still fun, though.

After that, I think we just decided to go to Namba! I can't really remember getting there. I just remember trains and being tired. I'm always tired here from walking. It's always hot as well. The heat is different from Australia, in that I am always feeling hot. But, I think it's because I came from Winter.

Entering Namba is so magical! Everything is full of large billboards and Dōtonbori is pretty much a street of large hanging objects. At night, it is all lit up and is beautiful. You can definitely find a large amount of cool shops there, and it's all so cheap as well. I had a great time looking at everything and taking photos. I saw the Guriko (Glico) man and everyone was posing! It was really funny. I decided to pose and take a photo as well, but I don't have the photo with me. Everyone else decided to start drinking at a bar, but I didn't want to so a few others who also didn't decided to go shopping for a few hours while we waited for them.

We were walking for a long time and I was still full from the Okonomiyaki, but we saw this really cute restaurant. It had all the menu in plastic form in the window so you could choose before you went in! We were instantly drawn in by the menu. It looked so yummy. I felt hungry again. We decided to eat there because it was also very cheap. I ate omurice and spaghetti with deep fried potato and a drink (it's two dishes and a drink deal). It was so tasty! I couldn't finish it, though. So filling.

When we met up with everyone, a few of them were so drunk! They got unlimited drinks for two hours on their deal! It was funny. Everyone decided it was time for Karaoke!!! I was so excited for this. Karaoke in Japan is a completely different experience to Australia. They offer you special deals for entering their bars. Our deal was for 3 hours and we got unlimited juice and french fries! The room was really large as well and you can dim the lights and put on disco lights! It was so good. The only down side was that I couldn't read Japanese so I couldn't work the machine very well. But, I had a really good time. We ran to catch the last train home, and it was really fun. A drunk man was blowing me kisses through the train window for 10 minutes after getting off. So funny! A good day/night overall.

11/09/15 - Umeda

I have lost track of my time lately and haven't been able to write anything down because I have been doing so much. I am really exhausted because of it. So, I'll tell you about my day in Umeda now.

For the first time ever, I had to catch the trains by myself because I was meeting Georgia at Umeda station. We both didn't have wifi so we also had to designate a meeting spot prior to. I was so scared because the trains in Japan are very complicated if you don't know your way around. Thankfully, when I was on the train, an old Japanese man asked to see my ticket and tried to explain (with the very little English he knew) that we had to actually transfer trains to get to Umeda! I felt so blessed that he was there because I would have just stayed on the train, I think. He stayed with me the whole trip until we got to Umeda and I thanked him a lot.

However, it wasn't as easy breezy when I got to the station unfortunately. When Georgia and I discussed the meeting spot she thought there was only one exit gate, however it seemed there were actually quite a few! I had gotten out at a different one and it took me over half an hour of asking train inspectors and walking in circles around the giant train station to find her. Luckily she stands out amongst the crowd. I think in the end we were both just so happy we found each other that it didn't matter how long it took.

Then, we could actually start to enjoy Umeda. Umeda is a large city. Adelaide is nothing compared to it. Even on a weekday during school and work hours, the streets were filled with people. The first thing we did was look for food because I was very hungry. We found a street that sold tonnes of cheap food, however we were too scared to go in because they were small places and we didn't want people to stare at us (people were staring at us a lot already). We actually found a "Japanese Italian Restaurant" and decided to go in because Georgia wasn't hungry and they had nice drinks as well. I cannot express how amazing that pasta was! I don't even think an Italian could make pasta better. The carbonara was just the right portion size for a person (although I did want to eat more), but most of all the single egg on top that you break and the egg just goops into the whole dish is just so yummy I can't stop thinking about it! If there is one thing I know, Japanese people know how to make amazing pasta.

Afterwards, we just did a lot more shopping around the shopping centres and I bought some things like Sailor Moon eyeliner and a cute mug. I've been bad at budgeting so far, I think, but it's been difficult with everyone doing so many things lately. It'll be easier to save money during semester when everyone is studying (I hope). Going to places further than our campus can get really expensive.

On the way home was when my good day turned very sour. Georgia helped me find the train, but I think it must have been confusing for her too (which is understandable because the station is so large), because I caught the wrong train home from Umeda! I ended up catching an express train to Kyoto and it didn't stop for a very long time. Eventually it stopped and I had to navigate somehow my way back to my station. It took 3 hours and several train stopovers for me to get home in the end. I was really scared because I don't have a working Sim card yet and I wasn't sure when I would make it home. But, I got there in the end. I'll try and take it as a learning experience and not too much as a painful memory.

10/09/15 - Placement Test

Finally, the day had come. The day had come where all 100 of us exchange students would be put in a single room to be tested on our Japanese abilities before being placed into our specific classes. I knew already what class I would be in but either way the feeling of a test always makes me nervous. It didn't end up being as bad as I thought it would be, but I think I still wish I was able to communicate more in Japanese. It's a bit disappointing. Hopefully from now on I can become better at the language, though. 

After the test we had a 3 hour break before we had to return, and since me and a few others were all very hungry, we decided to go to mos burger! Mos burger is the most amazing burger place I have ever been to. It is very expensive, and very messy, but really worth every penny. It was also nice to get out of the rain as well. I'd like to go back if I feel like I can splash out on a meal - although for now I think I will stick to my 100 yen meals. 

After eating I was so happy, but we had to walk through the pouring rain for a long time... We walked to this building and had to climb 6 flights of stairs or so to get to a computer room to look at our classes for the semester! Some of them are very weird... Like food safety and chemical engineering. I haven't decided what classes I am going to take yet, but I think it is going to be kind of difficult with the classes provided. I was a little sad that my friends are all in higher levels of Japanese than me, because I wanted to be together with them. However, I remembered that my exchange is about being more independent and so being in beginners Japanese by myself is probably for the best. I would end up relying on others too much like I normally do and I plan to break this habit. 

Tonight I cleaned my room for inspection tomorrow. It's to see that it's safe, just in case of fires, and that nothing is broken. I have only been here a few days so it should be a pass! (I hope) Tomorrow I am going to Umeda hopefully to finally see some of the cities of Osaka! I'm very excited. 

09/09/15 - Gyūdon

Today we had to wake up really early to start another set of orientation activities. These involved setting up banks, phones and other important things. I realised at this point that I am the worst at filling out forms! I had to fill out one form over again four times because I accidentally messed it up! I felt bad for the volunteer who had to help me, but it just ended up that way. It was boring mostly, but ended eventually.

Somewhere in the middle of the orientation, the RA's on my floor Erika, Kana and Haruna took us out to sushi. When we walked in, first we had to press a button on the machine to to request a booth and then wait patiently until one was ready. Luckily, we didn't wait long. Sitting down in the booths was really awesome as well. Everyone was lit up brightly and there was so much sushi going around the trains. But, probably the coolest part was that when you order food off of a tablet screen above the table it gets propelled to you on a separate train within a couple minutes! So cool. It was all so delicious as well. I ate 7 plates and it only cost 100 yen each! I'll definitely be going back there a few times I think.

 After sushi it was more of the orientation, but then I decided to go back to my room and make some dinner because it was around 6pm. I decided to try and work out the rice cookers here because they're a bit different than Australian ones... But, in the end I couldn't work it out. Thankfully, Amy found me in the kitchen and invited me out to dinner with Kana and everyone else again. They were going to get Gyūdon, which I now know is just essentially beef and rice, for dinner and I was ready to give up on my home cooked meal.

Going out at night in Osaka is so exciting because there is such a different atmosphere than Adelaide. In Osaka, people are still being active as if it were daytime and there are tonnes of neon lights and an excessive amount of large novelty objects hanging above shops. On the way to the restaurant, we caught a train and saw a bowling alley with a bowling pin out the front the size of a giraffe! I'd like to go bowling there one day.

When we arrived at the gyūdon shop, it had a similar system to the ramen shop. You have to go up to a ticket machine and put money in a slot, then press a button of what you want to order and a ticket comes out with your order. Then, you take the ticket to the counter to get your meal. Our meals came out in less than two minutes, it was so fast! I loved eating it as well, but I was so hungry so I gave up on the chopsticks and decided to eat with a spoon instead. Everyone also decided to do this because we were all so hungry.

After eating, we stopped by at the Senriyama campus of my new University! I was so excited walking through the gates for the first time. It's so beautiful, even at night. We had a tour originally planned for today, but they cancelled it due to the weather. There were lots of people leaving the campus from doing club activities, but there were still a lot of students practicing hip hop dancing there. We were going to go to the rooftop garden to see Osaka at nighttime but it was closed! Oh well. Either way, I was so happy to go there. Otherwise, my first experience seeing the campus would be tomorrow morning for my placement test... No thanks!

08/09/15 - Orientation Week

Today I woke up and I honestly felt very aimless. I don't have much confidence to walk to the shops by myself yet, and because I don't have any groceries there isn't anything to eat. I pretty much waited around for a few hours until I saw someone familiar. Eventually someone came out of their rooms at 11:30am and said they would walk me to the shopping centre so I could buy some breakfast, and I was so grateful. We both vented about the pillows and how their rice fillings were very uncomfortable along the way.

Upon arriving, I was surprised about how well laid out everything was. Not only did they have more cheap already prepared food than Australia, but it looked super delicious! I was tempted to get some but at that moment I decided to go for the cheapest option... cup ramen. There were too many options and eventually I just went with the one that had the most advertisements around Japan. It had mini shrimp and some yellow stuff in it? And some meat I think as well. It was surprisingly very tasty!

At 2:50 a group of us in the dormitory had to go to the government office and register our ID cards and also sign up for medical insurance. It took a while and was pretty boring. But, because of this trip we met a really nice girl. I can't remember name, but she was volunteering for the group and after everything was done processing she decided to come grocery shopping with Amy and myself! We went to the 100 yen store to pick up some essentials and then to the grocery store where I just bought eggs and rice. They have white eggs here! (They kind of look fake though) Also, they are so cheap. I bought 12 eggs for 92 yen! I also tried this strange sandwich that was just ham and mayonnaise. It was so delicious! I could eat a thousand probably.

Then tonight it was the first Welcome Party! It was more like an introductory night, though. We had a thorough tour of the dorms and got to know our RA's well. I love my RA's so much. They said they want to go clubbing together with me! The orientation was very scary because all 100 of us were in a large circle and we had to introduce ourselves. I was so nervous but I managed to do it. Hopefully my introductions get better over time, because I think I will have to do many in the future. Then, we played a game of fruit salad. People got very overexcited I think! But anyway, it was all really fun.

nce I hadn't had dinner, I was talking to Amy about cooking dinner and she mentioned eating dumplings with her RA and then I was invited to eat with them! A girl called Lindsey had made Chinese dumplings and given them to her to share and they were so delicious. I wish I wasn't still hungry. I think tomorrow is a big day because we are opening Japanese bank accounts and taking a tour of our University, but honestly I'm not entirely sure what's the plan. I've started making some real connections though I think. I just need to work on my confidence now. Wish me luck!

07/09/15 - Arrival

Arriving in Osaka finally, I don't think words can properly express how exhausting those 30+ hours of travel were. I hardly slept on the plane and because of that I couldn't eat. This didn't help me when I needed a functioning brain to fill out the declaration forms. Luckily, I was again sitting next to a kind person who was willing to help me out.

Before boarding in the line, a guy asked me if I was an exchange student and I said I was, and it turned out he was too! He was sitting a few seats in front of me during the flight and we caught up after the flight to talk more about our exchange. I was still feeling sick, so I'm glad I could talk to someone rather than being by myself.

Stepping off the plane felt amazing. It was humid, bright, and not normally the weather I would want to be in when feeling like that, but I felt so much energy trying to bust through the cramps. Everything was clean and beautiful like I expected, and we took a train to get to registration. However, getting through regulations to pick up our registration cards took forever. BUT, in that line again I met another exchange student and this one was actually going to my University! He is from Belgium and we both had a little panic together because we ended up being really late for our pick up time and thought we had missed it. Thankfully, that didn't happen. We stepped out through customs which was a breeze (totally unexpectedly), and were greeted by a sign that said "Welcome to Kansai" and I knew I really felt everything start to sink in. The pink airport, the vending machines and unfamiliar signs were all just little things I tried really hard to memorise - I never want to forget today.

Once we made it to the North side of the airport, a woman holding a sign saying "Kansai University" ran up to us and yelled our countries at us to make sure it was us. We were so grateful we had made the pick up, and to our surprise there were 20 something other students also there to be picked up. Then, to my displeasure there was travelling. We had to catch a bus, then a train and then walk for '15 minutes' (but that's questionable to the very least). That's how the travel time ended up being over 30 hours in total.

The walk to our dorm was suddenly beautiful when myself, and a few others with multiple bags were struggling, decided to go at our own pace instead of trying to keep up with the group. There were many hills and lots of pebbles and escalators. I think I must have lost 4kg on that walk alone! It was so nice. An old man just came up to us and offered to help and it was so nice. When we declined, he just walked with us and showed us the way to our dorm.

I was really excited to finally arrive at the dorm - although extremely sweaty by then. All I wanted to do was get into my room and settle in. We had a short tour of our floor and I think I honestly have the best room. It's very close to the toilet, washroom and the elevator which I prefer over being close to the kitchen and showers. I'm on the 3rd floor so I also have a really nice view of the greenery. There's a little bit of roofing in the way, but I don't mind. I love my room so much (especially now that I finally have Wifi).

For me, the highlight was definitely getting dinner with other exchange students and residents of the dormitory. I was feeling somewhat better because I accidentally fell asleep for 5 hours, so I went downstairs to look for Amy. When I couldn't find her I just started wandering around and bumped into some other students and they invited me to ramen and of course I accepted. Eventually a whole bunch of us went, including Amy! Never in my life have I felt such happiness from a meal! It was cheap but also you could get as many refills of noodles as you wanted for free. I got thick noodles and a second refill because I was hungry. Everyone was smiling and talking in Japanese. I feel really encouraged to learn. But, really I just feel good. We all stayed up and talked in the common area and I'm staying up to write this because I'm excited to have some time to myself. I hope the rest of the year is as good as this first day. There's so much I need to do still!

Tomorrow: Registering at the Government office and Welcome Party!

♪(๑ᴖ◡ᴖ๑)♪

06/09/15 - Singapore

Finally, after a year of preparation, and applications, and stress, I finally was able to say that I was ready to leave for Japan. I felt sick all the way up until I was in the air, even then my stomach was a bit grumpy. Saying goodbye wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be… But I think that more had to do with the fact that I was in such a rush. There was no time to cry about leaving for a year, instead I had to think positive – otherwise negative emotions really would win.  

Going through customs I had a minor hiccup where a security woman questioned me… I think I looked a little too nervous. I felt like I was on Border Security. That didn’t really make me feel any better, I have to say.

On the flight over, it started off being what I expected. Movies, TV, food. Singapore airlines is so generous when it comes to food and drink (and it’s certainly delicious) but I definitely didn’t need to eat the portion size they gave – not that that stopped me. Since I had some troubles working out the TV remote, the girl next to me on the flight offered me some help. Eventually we ended up talking and I found out she’s also an exchange student from Adelaide University! She’s going to London for 6 months and has done lots of travelling in the past.

We pretty much stayed together from there. She only had an 8-hour layover, but she let me be her plus one in her KrisFlyer Gold membership club and so we spent our entire time in there eating the buffet food and lounging about. We explored a bit before that, but the airport was too confusing and we didn’t want to walk for too long with such heavy bags. We said our goodbye’s already as I am writing this, but I’m sure we will see each other again some day! Not sure what I'm going to do for the rest of my layover (which is is 11 hours in total, 4 hours remaining), but it'll probably just end up be me consuming more food at the buffet. (Thanks Georgia!) 

I still feel anxious about the trip and it’s going to be hard settling in when I get to Japan. But, right now I also feel extremely happy and I know more good things are to come my way.

Next on the list: JAPAN!ヽ(^。^)丿