Day 12-13: School Preparedness in Japan and Back Home!

(First of all I am sorry for the lack of posting I have been very busy these past few days preparing for school and seeing Japan so I’ll be updating the past few days in two parts, enjoy!) Om Day 12 I had a mug day at MGU campus. We were on campus almost all day doing different kinds of orientations. We all walked to campus as one big group which if you have eve traveled with a large group anywhere you know how long it stretches out (it was really funny sight seeing us wind through Japanese neighborhoods). When we finally got to campus we went to a brief Living Orientation on things we’d need to know about campus. Most of it was stuff I had already online so I was already prepared. They had planned an hour for the orientation but it only took 15 minutes so we just hung out in the room until our MGU Buddies we’re ready to give us the campus tours. If you’ve been reading my other entries you know that I have already meet my buddies so I was very excited to get to hang out with both of them. Once we were together as a group we went on a brief campus tour to all the buildings I would need to know. As always I needed out a little at the library it was really beautiful with big windows and all the books you’d need to have for your studies. They had a lot more rules than libraries in the US, you could only eat in some rooms. After the tour we ate together in the cafeteria. Much like UCA they had many different places to eat (including the International Cafe, Cafeteria, The Student Store, and more!). The most complex was the cafeteria so they helped me get my lunch. We had such a good time eating together talking about everything that came to mind. We even decided to travel together to some local places they wanted to take me to. For lunch I had a friend chicken rice meal with miso soup and a rice cake. It was all amazing and i makes me happy to know I won’t starve for lunch on campus. After lunch I went to my Academic orientation (my Buddies didn’t have to go to this) I learned about how to register and look up classes and all the classes offered. When I was finally able to look at the list I learned they had yet again changed what classes were offered so I had to change my schedule again. (My fourth time doing so). I also learned about different extra academic programs you could participate: such as an internship, and special economic class based on a specialized Japanese business, and becoming a Volunteer TA. Out of all the programs I reached out to the Volunteer TA program because it was very similar to my work with SI back home and it could help me meet more Japanese students. I have my interview later this week so I hope to update with good news soon. Also after much debate I’m not sure I’ll end up joining a club in Japan, most of them meet on Saturday and cost a lot of money so it might not be worth it. I’ll still try my best to get to involved on campus. Also I got my Japanese Placement Test results back! I’m in Level 1 as I expected (it’s the lowest level). I hope being in this will help my Japanese.
The next day I had the welcome party at the MGU campus in Tokyo (they have two campuses one in Tokyo and the other in Yokohama). After a crowded train and bus ride with all the other ISP (international student program) and UC students (University of California) we finally arrived at the Shirokane (name for Tokyo campus) campus. It’s apparently the second oldest university in Japan so it was really cool seeing all the old buildings on campus! It was really beautiful. After a little site seeing we went up the party where there was the most mouth watering food waiting for us. (It was last lunch time and I hadn’t had lunch). We sadly had to wait for all the introduction speeches and ice breaker games to get to know other exchanges, Japanese students, and faculty. I got to meet the Vice President who was really nice and offered for me to join him for yoga, and an art teacher who teaches traditional Japanese art. After that we ate some, though there wasn’t enough for everyone so I was still hungry. While we were still eating some more speeches were needed to be made. One student from each university was asked to spread on behalf of their university. I was asked to do it for UCA and let’s just say it was funny to watch because they never told me what to say so I was rambling as I do. People said it was good though so let’s just go with that. After that the party was over and we were free to go. A group of students I knew from all over agreed we should find something to eat since lunch was weak. The whole thing ended up being a mess though because too many people came and we could go to dinner at the vegan place they wanted to go to (I was open to try their dessert to cover me until I got to dinner at MISH). After walking around exploring Harajuku accidentally we ended up at an ice cream parlor and a Boba Tea Shop. I was convinced to try BoBa Tea and honestly it was pretty good! I got strawberry tapioca flavored, and had s great time hanging with some new friends. Sadly I had to pull a Cinderella and run off from the group since I had to register for my UCA classes at 7pm. I was going to make it on time with some friends but then the train like we use to get home is suddenly canceled! I start freaking out that I won’t make it back in time. So we dashed to the nearest McDonald’s to use their free WiFi. After I was set up we found there were too many people of the WiFi so I had to use my data to register for classes. Luckily after all that trouble (and some fries from my friends) I managed to register for 4/5 of the classes I needed. Which is honestly a pretty good record. Once the train was reopened we tried to rush back to MISH to get in time for dinner. This mean we experienced our first shoving on a Japanese train. You’ve seen them the videos of people getting shoved on train it’s real and I’m a survivor. Luckily I had been smart and put my bag in front of me so I had some decency but let’s just say I was very close to everyone around me. We eventually got to MISH had dinner and I was finally able to sleep after a very exhausting day. The next day I planned to go do some major sightseeing in Tokyo so I’ll update with that later (I have to get ready for my first day of classes right now) ((The pictures are of my buddies and my boba)