1st week!!!

TOKYO!!! From traveling between hotels and finally settling in the dorm, this week has been nothing short of hectic. Packing the night before was interesting - I kept switching back and forth between staring at my empty suitcases and at my closet. I don’t think I started actually packing until like 11:30 p.m-ish? I was only allowed to bring 2 suitcases (no more than 50 pounds) and 1 carry-on (no more than 22 pounds). One of my bags ended up being like 3 pounds over the limit when I checked on my scale so I had to take a couple of things out. I finished around 4:00 a.m. and slept for about an hour and a half before I woke up and got ready. Then around 6:45 a.m., said my good-byes to all of my things and my room, and my dad packed my bags into the car.

We stopped at Starbucks before getting onto the Parkway and I was SUPER excited that I could actually get my coffee! No more shoobiesssssss!!!!!!! So I was happy that I got to leave on good terms with Margate =) 

I forget what time we finally reached JFK, but I think it was around 10:30 a.m.? My mom helped me push my stuff into terminal as my dad went to park the car, but I guess the lack of sleep got to me at that point. I was determined to be able to push my hard-case suitcase and balance my carry-on duffle bag through the revolving door, but the wheel got caught in the track of the door and my suitcase totally fell over. So I was standing in the space within the revolving door and my mom got squished by the revolving door as she was trying to help me stand the suitcase back up. I didn’t know what else to do so I started laughing and just stood there. My mom started yelling at me and got my suitcases through the door, but laughing seemed like the only thing I could do before I got myself together. But then I went to check in, give my bags to security, and meet back up with my parents. My flight was at 1:10 p.m. so I had a while to kill before I wanted to go sit at the gate. I had a little to eat and we talked for a while, but then it was finally time for me to go through security and wait at my gate. It was hard to hold back the tears, but I was surprised that I didn’t explode and cry so much that my make-up ran down my face.

Boarding started around 12:45 p.m. so I shuffled into the makeshift line and found me seat, 50C. I was anxious to see who I would be sitting next to… but then I found out it was 2 French Canadians (who were actually pretty cute) HELLZ YES <3 They were super funny – they said they were on a backpacking trip across Asia and Tokyo was their first stop. I thought you know, like they had a vague idea about Tokyo but no. The only 2 phrases they knew in Japanese were “Arigato” (Thank you) and “Onegai Shimasu” (Please). Another funny thing is that the only other question they asked me was if there were any gorillas in Japan… I said there were probably some in zoos, but I didn’t know if there were any native ones running around. Like really dudes? THAT is what you’re all concernicus about? It made me laugh though.

I was a little worried if I was going to be able to sleep on the plane or not because I tried taking 4 Nyquil the last time I went to Japan and it still didn’t work. I didn’t want to take more because I was afraid of like dying, but I found sleeping pills at the airport so I took a couple of those and I was good-to-go. Thank you Unisom for actually working <3 I slept for 9 hours of the 13.5 hour flight – pretty good in my book. The movie selection was also semi-decent - I watched Night at the Museum 2 and the beginning/end of Angels and Demons on the flight. I kind of dozzed off every time after I re-started the movie. I guess Tom Hanks just doesn't cut it for me anymore...

I think the time I finally got to get off of the plane was like 3:15 p.m.? So it wasn’t much to adjust to since I had slept on the plane. The only catch was, was that it was the next day, the 15th. Anywho, I walked down to baggage claim, got through Customs, and then met up with CIEE. They said I had to get myself from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1, but someone from CIEE was actually waiting for my outside of Customs. So CIEE shipped my suitcases to my dorm, and I met up with some other students on the program before we all got on the Airport bus to the hotel we were staying at for the first night.

Being at Narita (the airport) was kind of comforting though. I have been through there a handful of times, so I knew what was around there. It reassured me that I was going to be okay, and that I should look forward towards the next year. But I’m here now and things have been going well! So yay for that =) 

携帯 = keitai = cellphone!!

携帯!! So I don't know if I can be anymore excited about something in reference. Well yes I can, all of the cute and/or crazy food I see, but that's not the point of this post. I am super excited to have this phone because it's a legit phone - not like a pre-paid phone. My mom and I usually get the pre-paid phones that you can refill the funds with from Softbank when we go to Japan, but my grandmother decided to get me NTT Docomo. And I think her reason for choosing Docomo is the funniest - there's a store literally RIGHT across the street from her house. My grandparents+aunt+cousin visited earlier in August, and the original plan was for her to just get a Softbank phone for me and I would buy the phone cards to refill the funds. But she was nice and said she would get me a legit phone =) (part of it is because she bought my brother a laptop when he first went to college and I paid for my own) Thank you anyways grandma <3

          

Pretty =) I think it's funny/random that I have an animation of a beluga whale swimming around my screen when I first open my phone, but it still makes me smile. I still have a lot more to learn about it before I can be Pro at it though.

       

 The picture on the right is one of pre-set animated text                    messages I can send to someone - super cute!!!!! And the

one on the left is my phone in the stand they give me. The stand also doubles as a charging dock because I can plug the charger into the side of it. 

  Can we please compare the size of the screen to 

  the LG Rumor I have here? It's almost equal to

  my entire phone. But I can say that I will miss

  the QWERTY keyboard. Japanese cellphones      

  don't have T9 so I'll have to get used to 

  repeatedly pushing buttons to get to the next 

  letter. 

  In order to type in Japanese, you have to spell 

  the word out by each syllable and then press 

  Enter to select the correct conjugation of the 

  character(s) of the word that you are trying to 

  type. It may take me a little while to get used to

  texting, but I am super pumped to take advantage of everything my phone has to offer!

2 days... The last thing I have to do is get toiletries and TSA approved bottles for my carry-on. And I have to make sure to bring a couple extra quart-sized Ziploc bags. I got my travel-size perfume bottles thrown out at Customs in Tokyo because they weren't in an appropriate bag. Like really?!? I wasn't too upset because I had gotten all of those things for free while I had worked at Victoria's Secret, but still. I guess it's all fun and games until you forget your Ziploc bag...