Second Day/Errands

Within what seemed like days, I woke up. I had no idea what time it was, but it felt as though it was at least 10 am. I jumped in the shower/bath and got ready for my first day in Japan. After getting ready, I was really anxious to walk around the shopping street and find something to eat for breakfast.  

I grabbed some money and my keys to my room and headed down the stairs to the entrance. I glanced at the clock on the wall and noticed it was 7 am, which was a lot earlier than I had expected. However, what I did not know was that that clock was broken and hadn't budged in years and that it was actually only 6 am. Therefore, none of the shops were open when I took my stroll and the only people who were out and about were businessmen headed towards the station to start their commute to work. I tried to play off that I knew what I was doing and where I was going and continued to walk on through the shopping street, past the Gumyoji Temple, and walked up a hill until I spotted a McDonald's that was located just before the train tracks on the left. Being that it was the only thing open during this time, I decided to have my very first meal in Japan there.

McDonald's. Ugh. How American of me. ; p  

I entered and was greeted with irashaimase (welcome) by every employee. I had no idea as to what they were exactly saying to me since I didn't know keigo (polite form of Japanese), so i just ordered in Japanese which wasn't hard to do since everything on the menu was written in Katakana.  

“ホットケーキと小さいコーヒーお願いします。”（pancakes and a small coffee, please.)  

I ate my first meal in Japan alone while feeling as though all eyes were on me. I watched the other people to see what they were doing so I didn't make an idiot out of myself. I was mostly worried about what to do with the gomi (trash) after I had finished since they were so strict about it. Luckily, a man had finished before me so I watched him discard everything into the correct waste basket and then I followed his example. Not so difficult. Only plastic in one and only paper in the other.  

After disposing of my trash I headed back. It was around that time that all of the shops started to open so I bought a couple of things (a pillow, toilet paper and a couple of towels) and then headed back to my dorm.  I went through the entrance and asked the office lady for the correct time and then returned to my room, set my iPod's clock to Japan time and then took a nap before meeting with Erika.  

Erika met me at the dorms like we had planned and we headed towards the station to get everything I needed to done. First off, we went to Yodobashi Camera where I bought my keitai (Japanese cellphone) which only cost a dollar with my student discount. Little did I know at this point just how important my keitai would be. Before going to Yodobashi, I had told Erika that I originally didn't want a cellphone while I was there because I wasn't planning on making friends so didn't see the point of it. She laughed at me.  

We bought my keitai and went back on the Blue Line to our next stop in Maita where I took my picture in a photo booth; went to the district office to register for national health insurance and gaijin identification card; and then take a break to drink tea and eat lunch at a curry shop. That was my first time eating Japanese curry, and I loved it! Erika and I had small talk once again and she told me that she had never been to America but would like to live in New York someday.

After our lunch she said we needed to go to the university to pick up information about orientation and my Japanese placement test.  We hopped back on the blue line and got off at stop 22; walked 20 minutes to the 留学生センター（International Student Center, or ISC for short) and met with Kazoi-san* who was in charge of running the ISC office. She had me fill out a few forms for my student I.D. card and then showed me where my own individual pick up box was located. Within the box were a few more forms with information about the orientation and sheets that I would need to fill out after I had chosen the classes I would be taking that semester. Before I left Kazoi-san told me that I would learn everything I needed to during orientation and couldn't wait to see me around.  

Erika and I left the campus and she dropped me off at the station. She asked if I could figure out how to get back home on my own, and I hesitantly said I was able. Before I said' thank you' and 'good-bye' she reminded me of my stop number (12).  

My first train ride alone was very uncomfortable. I can't even begin to explain what it was like being a gaijin in Japan. All eyes are on you. It might not be blatantly obvious that people are staring at you (and yes, there are times when the person sitting next to you does turn their head to stare, making your entire ride awkward), but they are. Most people look away when you turn your face toward them and then continue to look at your from the corner of their eye. At times I felt like a celebrity and at others I felt as though I was some sort of asshole, invading their precious country and disgusting them with my gaijin-ity.  

I successfully made it back to the dorms on my own and had an hour to kill before the orientation. At the entrance of the dorms was a sign that had the names of the people attending the orientation along with what country they were from:  

Australia: 6 

France: 3

Sweden: 2 

and America: 1 (being me)  

I was extremely excited but nervous about meeting some of the people who would be attending the university through the same program.  

I went back up stairs to my room and waited.

-Ofilia