I'm here, I'm alright.
Japan is turning out to be exactly what I wished for, and maybe even more. I am really happy that I came here. That I made that decision and followed it through.
The first week was really hectic. I have made so many new friends, tasted amazing good (and cheap!) food, seen amazing things, and just had alot of fun. Also had some stressed and freaked-out moments/days. But I feel like I am settling in now.
Me on the plane. I was really hyped and stuff. I slept maybe 1-2 hours in total.
I took a flight from Umeå to Arlanda (airport in Sweden's capital, Stockholm). Where I met up with three classmates-to-be; Mats (who I had had some mail contact with), Gabriella, and Henrik. After that we have become really tight and meet up every day, eat together after school, do our homework together and stuff. Yay, new friends!
Wee, clouds and Japan from the air!
This is the first sight that meets my eye when landing. POKÉMON AIRPLANE? THE HELL! No doubt I'm in Japan now... lol. I still can't get over how awesome that was.
Me and Mats in the transfer bus that picked us up from the airport and brought us from Osaka to Kyoto. The driver was awesome, Mats took a photo of him with me which I'll have to post when he can send it to me!
Henrik, Gabriella, and me and Mats in the background, hehe :D
This is from the outside of the residence that I am living at. About half of my class lives here. Not all of them will stay for a whole year like me though. It looks pretty nice from the outside. But the quality is kind of so-so. Though it is very cheap, so I'll save alot of money to be used on more fun stuff!
My room/apartment from the inside. Small, but it did have a refridgerator/freezer, an airconditioner, a really small and kinda gross shower, and a practical but really uncomfortable bed. I'll have to buy a new mattress for the bed because it's seriously like sleeping on the floor (ouch my back).
And this is the view from my window. Very nice and all, but notice the railway there. Now, I have really bad isolation on my room. I can hear the others outside speaking very clearly, and hear when people move in their beds. That means I also hear all those trains passing by my window very clearly. In the night. And also when they pull the breaks. Right there. So not much sleep for me the first week. Starting to get used to it now, but a softer bed would really help.
The first day here me and Mats wrote contracts with the landlord for like 2 hours *sigh* Then tried to find the school with the shitcrap map he gave us. We looked for 3 hours without finding it D: Also looked for one hour for an internet cafe, which we did find. Next day we did find it though, and with it also Henrik and Gabriella, which we were supposed to have met there the day before. And with them were two other Swedes; Carina and Rickard. They have been here since October, knew no Japanese before they came and now they are brilliant! They have also helped us so much during the first days. Guided us to convenience stores, helped us buy mobile phones. Noone here knows English (and I mean NOONE) so they helped translating. So, we really owe them. Plus they are really fun to hang out with. I really look up to them! :)
The school is wonderful. I really like the teachers, the classrooms are nice and neat, and the class is great! We are 12 Swedes (4 girls), 3 koreans (2 girls), 1 french guy, 1 Austrian guy, 1 Hungarian girl, and 1 Spanish girl. I did not expect us to be this many Swedes, but it works very well. Everyone is so nice, and we go out to eat dinner together after classes. We start at 13:15 every day, and have classes until 17:00. We also get homeworks each day. The pace is really fast, but we do learn it all, and quickly! The five first weeks are also supposed to be a Japanese "crash course" hehe. Well, we study alot, but still have time for fun things. So I'm very satisfied with that.
I'm not going to write much more tonight, but I have loads of more photos that I'll post when I have the time. We always do fun stuff too, so maaany more to follow. Oh and we'll try out karaoke on Friday. That'll be exciting, hehe!
The first week was really hectic. I have made so many new friends, tasted amazing good (and cheap!) food, seen amazing things, and just had alot of fun. Also had some stressed and freaked-out moments/days. But I feel like I am settling in now.
Me on the plane. I was really hyped and stuff. I slept maybe 1-2 hours in total.
I took a flight from Umeå to Arlanda (airport in Sweden's capital, Stockholm). Where I met up with three classmates-to-be; Mats (who I had had some mail contact with), Gabriella, and Henrik. After that we have become really tight and meet up every day, eat together after school, do our homework together and stuff. Yay, new friends!
Wee, clouds and Japan from the air!
This is the first sight that meets my eye when landing. POKÉMON AIRPLANE? THE HELL! No doubt I'm in Japan now... lol. I still can't get over how awesome that was.
Me and Mats in the transfer bus that picked us up from the airport and brought us from Osaka to Kyoto. The driver was awesome, Mats took a photo of him with me which I'll have to post when he can send it to me!
Henrik, Gabriella, and me and Mats in the background, hehe :D
This is from the outside of the residence that I am living at. About half of my class lives here. Not all of them will stay for a whole year like me though. It looks pretty nice from the outside. But the quality is kind of so-so. Though it is very cheap, so I'll save alot of money to be used on more fun stuff!
My room/apartment from the inside. Small, but it did have a refridgerator/freezer, an airconditioner, a really small and kinda gross shower, and a practical but really uncomfortable bed. I'll have to buy a new mattress for the bed because it's seriously like sleeping on the floor (ouch my back).
And this is the view from my window. Very nice and all, but notice the railway there. Now, I have really bad isolation on my room. I can hear the others outside speaking very clearly, and hear when people move in their beds. That means I also hear all those trains passing by my window very clearly. In the night. And also when they pull the breaks. Right there. So not much sleep for me the first week. Starting to get used to it now, but a softer bed would really help.
The first day here me and Mats wrote contracts with the landlord for like 2 hours *sigh* Then tried to find the school with the shitcrap map he gave us. We looked for 3 hours without finding it D: Also looked for one hour for an internet cafe, which we did find. Next day we did find it though, and with it also Henrik and Gabriella, which we were supposed to have met there the day before. And with them were two other Swedes; Carina and Rickard. They have been here since October, knew no Japanese before they came and now they are brilliant! They have also helped us so much during the first days. Guided us to convenience stores, helped us buy mobile phones. Noone here knows English (and I mean NOONE) so they helped translating. So, we really owe them. Plus they are really fun to hang out with. I really look up to them! :)
The school is wonderful. I really like the teachers, the classrooms are nice and neat, and the class is great! We are 12 Swedes (4 girls), 3 koreans (2 girls), 1 french guy, 1 Austrian guy, 1 Hungarian girl, and 1 Spanish girl. I did not expect us to be this many Swedes, but it works very well. Everyone is so nice, and we go out to eat dinner together after classes. We start at 13:15 every day, and have classes until 17:00. We also get homeworks each day. The pace is really fast, but we do learn it all, and quickly! The five first weeks are also supposed to be a Japanese "crash course" hehe. Well, we study alot, but still have time for fun things. So I'm very satisfied with that.
I'm not going to write much more tonight, but I have loads of more photos that I'll post when I have the time. We always do fun stuff too, so maaany more to follow. Oh and we'll try out karaoke on Friday. That'll be exciting, hehe!