Arrived and Separated

The day has finally come! After two days of sleepless nights studying for finals, I have finally arrived at Narita Airport! The program was nice enough to have my epal pick me up even though I came a few days late. (An epal is a Japanese student who you get paired up with before the program starts! They are basically a buddy you can hang out with and get help from! They can speak English so don’t worry about any language barriers!)  I really appreciated it since everything was so confusing once I landed! After getting of the plane, I was separated from my dad since we exited different ways. It was hard to find him and I had to ask several staff workers for help with the minimal amount of Japanese that I knew. I messaged my epal and she helped me figure out ways to find my dad, and there was a staff worker who was able to speak English and directed me to customs. I went there and thankfully my dad was waiting there looking for me! We had a mini reunion haha. I have to admit I was a bit scared and I felt so relieved after finding him! I was worried about my dad since he doesn’t know the language at all.

After we went through customs and got our luggage, my epal was waiting by the entrance! She was extremely kind and I’m glad I got paired up with her! I booked my dad a hotel near the airport since our dorms don’t allow males to come inside. There was a direct us that takes customers to that hotel but we didn’t know how to get to the bus. My epal went to ask the information desk and helped my dad find the right bus! After I said my goodbyes to my dad, my epal and I then went to the dorms. We took many trains that I couldn’t keep up with all the names. It was really confusing too since everything was in Japanese. I just followed my epal and eventually we made to the dorm! My program advisor was there waiting for me along with the dorm manager. It was really late at night (I believe around 9-10pm) and I’m really thankful that they waited to welcome me! I was the last student to arrive! They gave me a quick overview of the past 3-4 days of orientation that I had missed and I had a quick tour of the dorm! They then told me that orientation is still continuing onto next week. After they left, I went into my room and just went straight to bed. By the way, there is a sink in each of the dorm rooms!!! Can you believe it, a sink!! It’s so cool!! Okay I'll stop embracing in the coolness of the sink. Until next time then!