After a 12 hour flight, I have finally landed in Osaka's International Airport. Waiting for me at the airport was one of the staff from Osaka Gakuin's International Office who proceeded to explain the process of finding my housing and the school. He gave me a packet full of information about the school, the selection of classes available, and the schedule of the first week in which all the students would be tested, interviewed, and then placed into classes specific to their proficiency level. He also shared my assigned "buddy's" contact information and said that we would be able to meet once I arrived at my apartment. With that having been taken care of, I headed outside to find the bus that would take me to the city I would call my home for the next four months. After a 2 hour or so bus ride from the airport, I arrived at Ibaraki-shi Hankyu Train Station, one train stop away from where my apartment is. Outside of the station was the apartment landlords and my buddy. Unfortunately, my time with my new buddy was very short as she could only say hello and had to go back to school. She introduced herself as Yurika and explained that she was looking forward to assisting me during my time studying at Osaka Gakuin. With introductions out of the way, I hoped into a taxi with the landlords and headed to my apartment. The area it is located in is a pretty small but expansive neighborhood. Essentially I was living in the Japanese suburbs as Ibaraki-shi did not contain any large shopping districts. The buildings and roads are also very small compared to the spaciousness of America, but it wasn't anything I couldn't get used to. I was the first international student to arrive so I had the entire building to myself for a few days before the other two girls arrived in Japan. One girl, Melody, came all the way from France, a much longer plane ride than mine was. The other girl, Nan, is from Thailand. We were able to get to know each other better at the rules and regulations meeting set up by the landlords and the trip to the Japanese version of a dollar store where we stocked up on toiletries and other apartment supplies. School starts once the weekend is over; I hope everything goes well...
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Authorまいど!おおきに! Archives
December 2014
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