It's been really crazy getting back to Japan. Me and the three other Rose students left from Wilmette at 9AM Saturday morning for O'Hare. Jay got us a cab, and the drive down was pretty uneventful. The plane ride was long and boring. I slept most of the way since I'd stayed up the night before. We met our Japanese teacher, Hirotani-sensi at the airport and left from the to Aizu. That was probably the worst leg of the trip. It was about five hours on trains, about half of them local. Sitting there exhausted on a pubic train in the middle of a pile of luggage was definately not the greatest.

The next day we headed to the school to get acquainted with everyone. We met Orr-sensei, who is originally from West Lafyette, and heads the English department. He gave us a tour and introduced us to a lot of the important people on campus. For lunch we ate with the the international exchange faculty. It was really strange getting back into the swing of speaking and hearing Japanese for enitre stretches, rather than just during speaking exercices. Lunch was particularly wierd. Since everyone on the faculty was fluent in English and Japanese, the conversation alternated between the two. Neat stuff.

After lunch we met Nagashima sensei, who showed us our apartments and helped us buy things. Our apartments are actually really large. A lot bigger than I was expecting. The living room/dining room is bigger than at Rose (for those of you who know), although the bedrooms are a little smaller. The apartments were also really, really cold. So, after getting a look at them we headed out to buy things. Most Japanese homes and apartments don't have central AC or heat, so we had to buy electric heaters for our rooms. I managed to get a 900W floor model, realy cheap. Me and McNees (my roommate) also bought a rug for the living room and futons and comfoters to sleep with. Nagashima-sensei managed to round up some more things over the next few days, so we ended up most of a kitchen, and some dishes. An interesting note, apartments in Japan are completely unfurnished. So, moving in we only had heat in one room, and no refrigerator, stove, oven, etc. We now have a refrigerator, stove, and microwave. Still no oven.

On a side note, Nick McNees is from Advance Indiana, and also a Rose student. You can read his blog at hplinkett.blogspot.com/.

That night we went to karaoke with Yamauchi-sensei, a teacher from Aizu. He took us to Superstar (スパースター）a small place in downtown Aizu. The students last year had spent a lot of time after the program hanging out there. Most karaoke places in Japan have private booths that you rent out, and a phone to call for drinks. Superstar was much more personal. It had one small room with a short bar and an odd assortment of couches and TVs. The staff there were awesome, we met Kuma-san (a nickname, kuma means bear) the 'draftmaster' and Hoshi-san the owner. They both hung with us, popping in and out to grab food or drinks. I think we'll probably be back again sometime soon, it was a lot of fun, and everyone there was really great. Nick has pictures from superstar on his blog. None of mine turned out really well.

The next day we took care of some more business getting settled in, and Orr-sensei introduced us to some of the Aizu students, Endo Kunitaka, Noda Koichi, and Yuu Ito. They all spoke English really well, and we got along great. We went out to lunch with them at a katsu place and then headed back to the hotel. Noda DJs and invited us to a party this weekend. It usually has a lot of the enligsh speaking students and staff in Aizu. I'm really looking forward to it.

Wednesday we got tickets to the FIS Freestyle internation ski competition. It was being held in Inawashiro, about 15 minutes from Aizuwakamatsu near Mt. Bandai. The town was really beautiful. It was right between the moutinan and the nearby lake, and because of the higher altitude the town was still covered with snow. The ski competition was also amazing. I'd seen aerials on TV before, but in person the speed and scale of it was absolutely confounding. The number of flips that they were able to pull off seemed almost impossible. Really, really cool stuff. But, I forgot my camera so I don't ahve pictures. Again, McNees has a video: hplinkett.blogspot.com/

Thursday was pretty uneventful. We hung out and got things put away in the apartment. I savored getting internet back. We got orders in for cell phones. I ate pig intestine. (it was good)

Overall moving in has been amazing. I've been here less than a week, and it's already been great. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the trip. Everyone I've met has been really awesome, and the apartment is finally shaping up (we're buying curtains after this). Again, everyone should definately check out McNees's blog. He probably has a lot of things I've forgotten, and he has some good pictures. There are more pictures on Facebook, too.



Places in this post:
Nartita Int'l
Aizuwakamatsu
Inawashiro