"Konnichiwa" from Japan!

I haven't made a blog post for awhile, so I figured my arrival in Japan would be a decent reason (given this is the reason my blog exists). Therefore, I'll start this magical journey from the beginning: the plane. The first almost-issue came with checking my luggage. I had two suitcases, and both were just under fifty pounds. No big deal for now, but I have four months of figuring out how to not make my suitcases any heavier on the trip back...

The plans were pretty simple -- take a plane from Kansas City to San Francisco, and then have 50 minutes to make my connection to Osaka. Of course, this plan doesn't work so well when my plane out of KC is delayed over an hour. So here I am, stranded in San Francisco without my luggage or my plane to Japan. Or a place to stay, for that matter. The latter was easily remedied with a visit to the United Airlines customer service, where I received a free night at the Doubletree hotel. My luggage, on the other hand, was a much bigger issue, as it did not make it to baggage claim. Over an hour of complaining to any staff that would listen, I eventually got that, too. And then I was off to my hotel for a night of sheer boredom.

The first issue when I got settled was food. I ate at 6:00 AM, and it was now 6 PM, and I was starving. That, however, was not enough incentive to buy a $15 ham sandwich at the hotel, so I figured I'd be witty and order Chinese to be delivered to the hotel. I'd like to note here that those people at Chinese restaurants are tricky. In my attempt to save money by avoiding the hotel food, I paid $20 for some noodles and soup. Lesson learned.

So anyway, after a night of rest and Family Guy marathons, I was ready to attempt going to Japan again. Check-in went well. Security went well. Waiting for nearly four hours in the terminal went well (I wasn't going to be taking any chances this time)... All that was left was a thrilling and fun-filled twelve-hour plane ride, where I learned that I STILL cannot sleep on planes. Which left one option for entertainment -- watch "Finding Nemo" in English. Then again in Japanese. And once more in French. It was fantastic.

Once we finally arrive in Japan, I had to go through multiple security checkpoints which went primarily without any problems, though we did miss our bus by only a few minutes, which meant we had another hour to wait. During this wait, we ran into a girl who, like me, had been delayed from Kansas City and had to stay the night in San Francisco. I suppose she wasn't nearly as irate as I, since she was stuck paying for her night in the hotel. Anyway, after more waiting, we took a bus to Hirakata City, and then took a taxi to our seminar house. This little leg of our journey was a hefty $40. Finally, we arrived. Check-in didn't take too long, and we got a tour of where we would be living, and the schedule for a crazy week of orientation.

So, at this point, we had two options -- go exploring, or go to sleep. Since I had been awake for nearly twenty-four hours, I chose the latter, which means my adventures are at an end for this post.

The Joys of Blogging, and Other Hassles

I have had a blog for a total of one day now, and have dreaded composing my first post. If you have never had a blog before, I suggest you create one -- there's nothing better for exploring one's own self-confidence than writing an entirely public diary. Truthfully, I've never actually kept a diary (even those of a more private variety), and thought that perhaps having people holding me accountable would encourage posting. Unlikely. I've already faced so many unforeseen issues with this blog than I could ever have expected. A title, for instance. I wanted something witty, yet professional. Catchy, but meaningful. Fun, but serious. Easy, right? Absolutely not... After a bit of thinking, I decided on "From Kansas to Kansai". You know, because I'm from Kansas, but I'll be studying abroad in the Kansai region of Japan? Hey, I already said I wasn't too impressed with my mental prowess on this one...

Another issue I encountered was the formatting. I am pretty unfamiliar with blogging sites, but Blogger uses HTML (I'm not sure if this is unique or not...). At first I was pretty excited, since I was pretty good with HTML in my day. Then I remembered that "in my day" was about seven years ago, and that I can recall virtually nothing about how to actually use HTML and must therefore relearn everything. That fact forced me to add yet another bullet to my growing to-do list, an event that results in a not-so-happy Leah.

Privacy settings are also causing me problems. I really don’t want my personal information floating around everywhere, but I also want the blog to be somewhat personal. This blog will hopefully serve two purposes – it will essentially be my personal journal, but I hope that it can also be a reference to other people who want to study in Japan, or go to Japan, or like Japan, etc. Anyway, serving as a guide and trying to remain anonymous are two conflicting ideas, but I’ll be trying to find a better way of not seeming too abstract, while also reserving what needs to stay personal.

Finally, I have come to the conclusion that I flat-out do not like to write. I love to read, and assumed it would transcend fields. I was very, very wrong on this account. Here’s my problem: I am simply not witty enough to warrant a lot of writing. I also don’t have the vocabulary required to sound any sort of intelligent. It had never really bothered me before – I can write shopping lists and refrigerator notes like a maniac, but anything more intense than a greeting card, it seems, is out of the question. Hopefully my writing will improve (or I’ll learn to ignore dignity, I’m not too picky) over the next five months that I’ll be forced to blog.

Now, this blog was created to document my experience studying abroad in Japan. I leave in less than two weeks, a fact that I have yet to truly absorb. I got my Visa in the last few days, which was a long and drawn out procedure I would recommend to only the bravest of souls. First I needed to buy my plane tickets, which lightened my wallet by about $1,500. Okay, my parents paid, but that’s beside the point. Then I had to send my travel and personal information to the school I will be attending in Japan, and they, in turn, relayed the information to the Japanese Embassy who cleared me for entry into the country. They sent the information back to the school and the school sent this special little "Certificate of Eligibility" back to me. This process took over a month. Then I sent the certificate to the Japan Consulate in Chicago in order to get my Visa, and received it nearly two weeks later (due to a combination of shipping and the Consulate being closed through the holidays). Okay, it wasn’t too strenuous, but it was certainly frustrating. But now I have a cute little page in my Passport that says I’m a bona fide college student.

With official matters out of the way, the two important necessities left are finances and packing. I’m doing my best to ignore both until absolutely necessary, but those days are certainly approaching. The financial aspect should be pretty straightforward – get enough money to live off of for a semester and open an account at a Japanese bank. Goodbye, college savings… Packing will be the more taxing endeavor. How does one pack for living out of a suitcase for a semester? I have a suitcase packed to the brim when I go away for a weekend, so needless to say, I might have to learn how to be a little more reserved with my packing. Getting back will be the more difficult issue – after all, I will have everything I left with, plus what I expect to be an endless supply of souvenirs. But we’ll face that bridge later…

Well, there it is – my first blog entry. Not too shabby, hopefully… So, what is the proper way of ending a blog post? Sincerely? Love? Best regards? Yes, I realize it’s not a letter, but I don’t much care. This blogging thing is turning out to be far more trouble than I expected.