Japan #003: Like a cat on hot bricks!

[amedamacherry]

I'm nervous!
Even if I was chosen by my lecturer's to participate the student exchange program, I cannot be 100% sure of being accepted as long as I don't have a written confirmation by the Japanese University.

The deadline for application will be December 15th and I hope I'll receive some good news even before Christmas! (Because I need to organize so freakin' much before I can go to Japan!)

I finished the application formalities in time. Even the Certificate of Health is completed. FINALLY! It was the hell of a trip, I can tell. I've never spent so much time in waiting rooms within such a short time!!! And it ripped a pretty big hole in my wallet so short before Christmas... (-__-)

There are so many things I need and want to do before I spend 11 months on the other side of the globe. Hopefully!

(The following list is still very short. There will be many more points lateron!)

1. Book a flight. It's not like I can go to a travel bureau two days before and book a cheap last minute flight. It's more that 1000€ I'm talkin' about and it's not as easy as I'd wished it would be. A one-way flight is twice as expensive as a round trip, but it's impossible to book a round trip 11 months in advance. That means, I need to buy a ticket that is valid for a whole year and alter the booking for the return flight lateron. That means extra efford and extra costs. What a pain... 
2. Financial support: I'll need to apply for Education Support provided by the state in form of a half-loan monthly payment. I hope that I'll be able to at least pay my accomodation costs with that money. (And afterwards I'll have thousands of euros of debts... yay! O_O)
3. A private health insurance for one year abroad. This is very important! I mean... in case I die, who else is gonna transport my corpse back to Germany?! =P No, just kidding. Of course this is important (and obligatory!) to have a proper insurance in case I get sick, have an accident, have to be hospitalized or whatever else might happen. The stupid thing is... such an insurance won't pay for any medical treatment that is to be expected before I go abroad. That means, my Hypothyroidism treatment will not be included in the insurance. So either I pay a small fortune for blood analyses and hormone pills there or I try to convince my GP to give me an annual hormone ration (~350 pills!) and hope my hormonal value won't change too much within that one year. But then, I need to pass through customs with those 350 pills and normally it's only allowed to bring medication for 3 months at most. I already asked the Japanese Embassy for information, but they told me to call the airport in Osaka. Yeah. Thank you very much...
4. SHOPPING! Godzilla's little German sister (--> my humble self) will never be able to find any clothes or shoes in Japan! I'm so tall, large, big, fat and HUGE that I won't fit into anything! The standard length of a Japanese women's feet is 22-23cm. My feet are 27cm! I have enough problems finding shoes and bras in Germany, but in Japan it will be hopeless. I'll have to think carefully and buy everything I'll need before I go to Japan.
5. More appointments with doctors: GP, dermatologist, dentist, gynecologist, maybe even orthopedist. I want to do an overall checkup to avoid unexpected surprises.

To be continued...

I just want to know if I'm accepted at Kwansei Gakuin University so I can start the real preparations soon! (>_<)