I haven't written in the spirit of recreation in years, so if this sounds like a term paper, I'm probably just a terrible writer. I've been in Japan for roughly three weeks, so it's hard to say anything intellectual about something so confusing. I can't read signs, and I have no idea what I'm eating.
While I've only been here a few weeks, it feels like decades. The plane ride alone was a hellish descent into the bowels of hell, complete with seat kicking and forced conversation. Being thousands of feet in the air and miles away from the people you care about is hard enough without having to watch Adam Sandler movies. I couldn't sleep. Upon finally landing, I was greeted with a two hour bus ride, and a brief description of my humble town for the next nine months. "We have a view of a beautiful lake, but you shouldn't swim in it. Also, we have Coco's, which is just like Denny's in America." 20 hours and 8000 miles away from Michigan, I was in the Japanese Port Huron.
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| Nagoya International Airport |
I slept decades. The next day, a typhoon had landed almost directly on top of us, deconstructing the university's orientation plans of a bike tour ride. However, I had met a brave adventurer or two, and we steeled our hearts with grit and metal against the winds and rain of the typhoon for candy and shampoo. After a successful venture into the unknown, I slept more decades. The following day, we found ourselves once again biking through Poseidon's typhooney wrath. It was cold, wet, and awful, but I've gone through much worse for the promise of playing Street Fighter. After a quick train ride, we'd made it. However, after an exhaustive search of the mall, Street Fighter was no where to be found. Someone asked me once what I thought would be the lowest point of my trip. When my humanity disappeared and all I longed for was home. This may or may not have been that moment.
Sunday, I'm sure most of my fellow students were dreading more orientation and the first day of classes, both of which were abysmal and took more time than they deserved. The classes are somewhat challenging, but I have no idea how kids with no previous experience are still breathing at this point. The majority of time I should've spent studying I spent watching Batman. On Tuesday, the typhoon finally let up, and I took the first opportunity I had to take pictures on moderately scenic Lake Biwa.
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| Crane, Lake Biwa |
I saved this post roughly a week ago, and I'm realizing I've been way too busy to keep an accurate log of what I've been doing. Notable events from here on out, and probably whining. I spent a day in Kyoto. It's a fairly interesting city, and after passing through culture shock, there's actually quite a bit to do. We spent a majority of our time in an outdoor mall, and I spent the majority of my time in an arcade getting stomped at Street Fighter. This was the first point in my trip I felt homesick, because I miss winning at video games.
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| Will, the roommate |
It's always hot. Kyoto was around 3000 degrees with 100% humidity. The trip was still an adventure to say the least. After getting lost for years and buying some totally kawaii anime goods, we made it back to the station in time to catch the train with no layovers in the boonies.
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| Kyoto Tower, Kyoto |
I think I'll separate into more posts because I'm an idiot, and I have absolutely no idea what I've been doing these last few days.
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