I made it to Japan! The flight was pretty easy. I didn't watch any in-flight films, which is unusual. There were some interesting ones playing too (Green Hornet, Going the Distance) that I would have wanted to see, but oh well. I mostly slept.
Oh, check out the in-flight veggie meal:
Ha this actually an after picture, I realize because the salad is gone. I was really hoping it would be noodles, but oh wells. It wasn't very tasty. I saved the fruit for later though, that was nice. I tried to keep well-hydrated, but that meant I had to use the bathroom several times. I think the lady next to me was really annoyed. :( She was such a sour-face.
Once we arrived at the airport, it was fairly easy figuring out where to go. Luckily there were several people on the plane who are also doing the program, so we went around the airport together trying to figure out things like where to go, how to get to the hotel, where to get rental phones, etc. I was just excited to get free internet in Narita, ha. Oh! And I talked a little in Japanese! We were trying to buy adapters for our plugs, and someone in our party asked the people behind the counter if they understood English in Japanese, and they said oh very little. So then I asked them in Japanese if they had adapters and that we were from America. Then I just went with the old tourist route and showed them the plug we wanted adapted. I think actually that they probably did understand enough English to help us, but were doing the Japanese modesty thing. Either way it was fun talking a little bit in Japanese.
When we got to the hotel, we checked in and sent baggage away to the host institutes. Then we had dinner at the hotel, a buffet-style place. OMG. Guess what they had? CURRY. They had the Japanese-style curry that I love love love. My Xavier friends know this. My first handle on AIM was ilovecurrytoo and that handle was born out of a random comment I made during a conversation we had had one lunch during high school. Meghan made some kind of comment about how much she liked potato bread, and in my head it made me think of potatoes and the only time I ate potatoes at that time was with Japanese-style curry which I love love love. And so I shouted out, I LOVE CURRY TOO. It was random and cute and funny and it was the first meal that greeted me when I landed here, so thanks friends. It was yummy and warmed my tummy and my heart.
I was so sleepy by 8:30. I just wanted to hold out until 9. I managed to stay awake until about 10. I slept until about 5 and got up at 6:30. I thought, hey that's cool. Maybe I won't be too jetlagged because I managed to get a decent amount of sleep. But then around 10:30 or so I got suuuper sleepy. Luckily we were on a bus at that point on our way to the orientation destination, so I was able to catnap.
I wanted to take a picture of the lunch we had here. I got a vegetarian meal which consisted of yummy pasta with fake meat. But I was so hungry I just ate it. Japanese presentation of meals is amazing, so I'll try to post pictures as they come.
I do have a picture of the place of the orientation and where we ate.
The restaurant is in that glass area. I'm sitting across from it right now. Doesn't it look so peaceful and serene?
Okay, I suppose that's all for now. Hugs and love for all!
Alyssa
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