The experience begins.

Alrighty, so...here we are. My first full day of living here in Japan's been, well...uneventful. The Summer Gateway Program doesn't start properly until tomorrow, so I've been laying about my first dorm room, getting everything all laid out right. Getting to where I am right now though was no short task.

Tuesday, June 1st, 4:30am, got to RDU with Cass, mom, and dad. Checked in, said the goodbyes, and went through security to my gate. I rather quickly found out that my 'medium' sized luggage bag was a hair too large to fit into the carryon bins...yay. A quick few moments of shuffling things about (notably, my laptop to my shoulderbag), then have them check the bag in as I walk down to the plane.

The first leg of the trip was pretty well uneventful, just a short 2½ hour flight to DFW. Having gotten maybe an hour's nap the night before on one of the Magic Couches™, my brain had a bit of a panic attack about making my connection before we landed and I remembered we jumped back an hour -__-; Finding I had the better part of an hour to kill, I made my way to the other side of the bleedin' airport to my terminal (it seems like they plan things that way...), find the gate I need to be at, then wander some. Change the last of my large bills into yen at the unfortunately unfavorable rate that TravelEx offers (yay surcharges and a ~15% cut on the rate), and buy a drink and something to snack on.

Boarding time rolls about, and I get on the big bird, a 9-seat wide 777. This plane was actually pretty neat; every seat had its own little touchscreen monitor with access to movies, tv shows, games, audio stations, and an in-flight map of the progress that alternated between English and Japanese. I got asked by a Japanese couple next to me to trade seats with their son in the row ahead, but unfortunately I needed the aisle seat to myself so my crappy knee could stretch. Though the flight itself boasted a large Asian contingent, there were a number of other American groups as well, including what was apparently a rotary club group taking a trip to Tokyo. We leave Dallas/Fort Worth for the ever-so-wonderful 12½ hour flight, packed to the gills with people. Unfortunately, being in the aisle seat, I can't reach the friggin' air nozzle that blows cold air down on me, so I just wrap myself up all cozy-like in the provided blanket, and peruse the movies offered.

Since they seem to offer 2 showings of any given movie, starting only at certain times, I first opted for a recently-started Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief. I fall asleep after about 20 minutes, and wake up occasionally catching other parts of the film. The flight attendants rolled by with the first meal offering, which I simply wasn't hungry for yet, so I went back to sleep. Waking up again after Percy Jackson, I move onto Shutter Island...which I tried watching 3 times, and kept falling asleep...I'm still not altogether sure of what happens. Another meal rolls about: cold sammiches this time, and I switch over to some TV offerings...an episode of Bones and the Mentalist later, I'm dozing off again. The rotary club people across the aisle from me have been playing musical chairs a good bit of the flight, so there's yet again someone new sitting there talking with someone else. It's here where I first decide that I really don't like traveling alone...even having one person you know to talk to makes a world of difference.

About 2 hours later, having flown from Dallas, NW towards Vancouver, and along the coast across Alaska and the Aleutians, the in-flight map starts showing a little bit of Hokkaido and a decent bit of Siberia. Closing in on the final hour of the flight, a third meal rolls along...pizza, some fresh fruit (greatly appreciated), cookies, and a plastic jello-cup container of water (a little weird). Finally, we're descending into Tokyo's Narita airport. Though the flight technically went overnight, due to the way the timezones and our flight pattern worked, we just chased the dark across the Pacific, running through roughly midday sun the whole way; we had all the shades drawn against this the entire flight. First glimpses I got of Japan were tiny, through the window across the aisle and the 2 rotary club kids, and much more rural than I'd have expected of Tokyo. We left Dallas at 10:15am 6/1, arrive in Tokyo 12:45pm, 6/2. Oy.

Narita airport is kinda in the boonies of Tokyo, far off to the east of Tokyo proper. The terminal we landed in seemed smallish, and not really what I was expecting. I catch a tram running from the satellite terminal over to the international terminal proper, and run into 2 people, one of whom I recognized. I'd seen this girl at one of the study abroad seminars at NCSU; she and the other guy were doing a 2-month language intensive program as well, but in Kanda, not Beppu as I was. Alas, no familiar faces for me yet .___. Immigration was fairly easy...fingerprinting and photographed, passport stamped and I'm through. Claim my 2 bags, take an easy walk through customs, and then walk around a little confused before going to an information desk to find my JAL domestic check-in. Thus directed, I get to walk the full way down the terminal, check in for the domestic flight, and then make the mistake of walking back up the terminal to what I thought was the proper gate. Corrected by helpful gate personnel, I go all the way down the terminal a third time, off to another satellite terminal to await a bus to my plane to Fukuoka.

A nice, hour and a half (felt short compared to DFW -> NRT) flight on a surprisingly un-full flight to Fukuoka, I grab my bags, and walk out to the person holding the "APU" sign. I confirm that yes, I am me, hop on the bus to the international terminal, and get to wait another hour-ish for the highway bus to arrive. Conversation with my arrival aide is decidedly limited, she speaking little English, and me being too tired to have confidence in my 8-years-rusty Japanese. I've been studying the past month again to get up to decent snuff, but reading a book to oneself and actively speaking with a native are 2 wildly different things. The bus arrives late, I stow my luggage below, and hop aboard.

The bus ride was also about an hour and a half trip from Fukuoka, across the main island of Kyushu, and down to Oita prefecture; a very nice trip through scenic mountains. The Beppu-wan stop comes up, and I'm off the bus greeted by 2 people from APU: a Korean girl by the name of Sun, and a guy from Malaysia who I can't for the life of me remember. Fortunately, their English is very good, so I don't have to strain my tired brain to talk with them. A delightfully brief taxi ride down the hill from the Beppu-wan waystation, and we arrive at the APU Houses. A nice short check-in there, I'm issued my APU Student ID card and my room key, and I'm shown to my room. Surprisingly, I was assigned a single occupancy room, as opposed to the shared room (with a sliding door divider between roommates) I was expecting. Sun and otherniceguy show me about my room, then introduce me to the RA for my side of the hall, Fatemee. From India, studying at APU, Fatemee shows me around the dorm a little more, showing the computer rooms, the laundry, baths, showers (traditional Japanese baths vs. more western-style showers), the kitchen, and in-dorm convenience store. I have to cut this a bit short as I'm wavering slightly on my feet at the time, and bed is sounding might nice.

I return to my room, unpack my stuff into the closet, its drawers, and the mini-bathroom I get, and look at what I get to call my 'bed.' It's the height of a bed, sure, but it's a plain wood platform with a layer of the same carpet tile that covers the floor. My bedding is a proper futon...the fold-out mattress pad that's about as thick as an overstuffed duvet, a slightly shorter one as a cover, some sheets, a beanbag pillow (it's stranger to sleep on, believe me), and a blanket. 9:45pm, I konk the hell out.

This morning, I wake up at 5:45am to the sounds of people and things going on outside...I promptly dismiss these things, and go back to sleep. 10 rolls around, I roll out of bed and over to my clock...which displays 10pm, yet it is most assuredly light outside. Unsuprisingly, I set the wrong am/pm when I set the clock up itself. However, I then check my watch...which for some reason, it shows the date as the 5th. On the one side, I know it's done this before...jumping ahead a few days for no apparent reason. Nonetheless, I'm a wee panicky, and as I haven't set up the internet yet, I'm not sure my computer has the right time. I wander through the dorm halls a bit, until I get up the confidence to ask someone who's speaking English to a pair of other students what day it was, explaining I was fighting jet-lag. To my great relief, it's only the 3rd, and I haven't slept for the better part of 3 days.

Reassured, I spend the rest of my day setting up the modem in my room, finding out that, despite having a single power outlet in my room, the one odd-looking hinged contrivance occupying one of the outlets was actually a 3-way splitter. So now I have my desk lamp, laptop, clock, and modem all happily powered, and I have access to the world at large again.



I'm considering going out to the vending machines in the hallway and grabbing some foodstuffs for dinner, then chilling back in here studying, or simply relaxing my mind with some games or reading. But...I'm here in Japan, thus far a bit surreal of an experience. I'm dying for the program's start tomorrow at 1pm with orientation, as it'll start to provide information and structure, 2 things which I feel have been a bit lacking thus far for me.

Here's hoping it all goes well.