Tokyo: Day 1

Hello!! It’s my first day in Japan and I think I went from ‘I really like it here’ to ‘I kind of want to go home’ in the span of like, 10 hours. Apart from that, and the apparent need to snapchat what I’m doing every five minutes, I think I’m okay.

Maybe I should back track a little.

The university I’ll be attending is Meiji University in Tokyo. The visa process went really smoothly and I was honestly very surprised how quickly it was processed. I ended up buying a SIM card in Sydney before I left. It’s rechargeable on a monthly basis so it’s quite suitable. What I neglected was packing, which I left very last minute. I suppose it was because it took a while hit me that I was actually leaving and home wasn’t a train ride away? Fortunately, I don’t think I’ve forgotten anything (I haven’t finished unpacking) and the dorm that I’m staying is is really convenient. I also bought a polaroid camera especially for this exchange because I felt it was kind of fitting. Hopefully I use it lots!! I’m pretty bad at remembering to take photos…

I arrived in Tokyo around noon today. While going through the check-ins I had to get a residency card done and I was once again horrified at my ID photo. Otherwise leaving the airport was quite smooth and I made my way to my dorm.

My dorm is very nice!! It’s a sharehouse system with individual rooms. Also there’s wifi, which I’m extremely grateful for because I thought I was going to be stuck using an ethernet cable. The only downside would be that the toilets and washrooms are shared. The showers are also coin operated and timed at around 10 minutes of hot water per coin, which means no more half an hour showers for me. The dorm provides you with a map to the stores nearby but personally I feel like it’s really hard to read. Google maps is actually amazing. The neighbourhood is so nice as well!! I really like it here.

Despite everything, I miss home. I think it’s because I’ve realised that I’m on my own in an unfamiliar place? Also, I’m not sure how to go about meeting new people. Earlier today I heard someone outside my door so I just stayed in my room until I heard the voices pass, which I suppose isn’t the point of going on exchange and getting out my comfort zone. I left my room eventually and ended up bumping into one of my sharemates. She’s really nice!! I’m really glad that we talked and that it wasn’t as daunting as I thought. I think meeting new people should get easier from here. Hopefully by the next post I’ll be nicely settled in.

Orientation hasn’t started yet but I’ll be looking forward to that!

Leanne
12599078
Bachelor of Design in Visual Communication
University of Technology Sydney
Japan