Beginning

It's the third day here already, and I just finally got internet access in my room. I've been going through culture shock up till now, so I haven't really even felt up to taking pictures yet. For those of you who haven't experienced culture shock, it sucks. A lot. I've waited my whole life to come to Japan, and I wanted nothing more than to turn around and go home as soon as I got here. That's normal though I guess. Things will hopefully get better.

Living conditions here aren't the best. My dorm is basically a prison cell with a window, and about as gross as one. It comes with a bed, desk, and sink. No closet or dresser or anything like that. The furnishings are all rusty and don't look like they've been touched since 1970. I attempted to wipe the floor up and then bought a rug cause it was still gross. Still just living out of my suitcase. They also decided to separate all the international students for some reason, so we live with the Japanese students. Would've been nice to make friends with people going through the same ordeal as me.

It's extremely humid outside, but I can't open my window or the spiders get in. And many of you know how I hate spiders. The spiders here are huge and disgusting. Since my room is like an oven, I rented an AC for the year, it's getting installed tomorrow. Also, the cicadas and ravens have a 24hr symphony going on outside. They're incredibly loud and annoying. If you're right under a tree with them you have to shout to talk to someone.

I definitely wasn't ready for the bathing and toilet situation here. First of all, most of the toilets are the holes in the ground, which are awkward and don't flush very well >_< Thankfully there's one western toilet in the community building. But the bathrooms don't have soap or towels. So you have to come back to your room to wash your hands. Also, the shower rooms are closed till Monday, so the only place to bath is in the bathhouse. It costs about $2 each time you use it. For those that don't know, everyone walks around naked in Japanese bathhouses and there's one room where you can bath and shower. I was a little shocked the first time and just left without using it. I just used the sink in my room. I got over it today in desperation for a real shower. It wasn't so bad I guess. You just can't think about modesty.

We had orientation today. It was helpful and at the same time not. We have mountains of paperwork to fill out and if it weren't for our tutors (the Japanese students who help us) I don't know how I'd manage. We have to go to all these government offices and fill out forms and I don't know what anyone's talking about. I just fill out what my tutor tells me to. She speaks a little English, but I'm doing alright communicating in Japanese. The bureaucracy here makes no sense. I'll explain more later on how stupid it is. I'm getting pretty tired now.

I also bought a bike today. It was about $170. This campus is so huge though, it's a necessity. And we need it to get around town, cause using the bus everyday gets expensive, and I haven't figured the bus system out yet. The last three times Tori and I got on we went too far and ended up walking. The buses hit the end of line at random times too, it makes no sense.

That's it for now. I'm getting tired and since the sun rises at 5am here and wakes me up I should get to bed soon. More tomorrow.