I flew from London with a friend of mine who is at the same university for the same semester, so at least I wasn't alone and worrying too much. The flight to Japan was good, and the staff on the plane were genuinly helpful. I remember I was hungry so wanted to buy some chocolate or something small as I would normally do on a plane. When I called the stewardess and told her this she quickly ran to the back of the plane and came back with a small box of sweets and biscuits and basically told me to take my pick. What's more is that she didn't expect any money from me, and simply gave me the food. Whether that was included in the plane ticket or not I do not know, but it surprised me, even making me a feel a little uneasy about just being given this for nothing in return.
Getting to the university from Kansai airport was scary. We had instructions from the university about how to do this so we boarded the bus from the airport. An hour or so later we arrived at Umeda station, where we had to try to get a train to the nearest stop to our dormitories. This was so confusing, seeing a row of different coloured machines and having no idea what the stop names were or having a reliable map (as the one sent to us was pretty much useless). Eventually we sought help from one of the guards/station staff and found the right stations to get off at.
On the train it felt odd. Looking out of the windows you could see us passign all these buildings which are pretty close together, some looking nice and others looking a little run down. People on the train kept looking at us too, which is somewhat understandable as there are not many foreigners in Japan, but it was also completely unnerving!
My stop was one before my friend's so I had to get off first. Lugging my suitcase and heavy bag, I climbed the stairs out of the train station an was greeted by a big sign and gate saying "Kansai University" in Japanese. The dorm must have been closer than what it had looked like on the map. I went to a big map of campus and tried to figure out where I had to go.No luck. Didn't understand it, and neither did the few Japanese people I stopped to ask. Finally a nice Japanese woman helped me to the dorm, even though it was the opposite way she was going. It was not tha close at all. Lots of slopes, very heavy luggage and hot weather do not mix, so I was feeling tired and light headed, meaning that on reaching the dorm and being greeted by my roommate and others, all hope of speaking a little Japanese was gone with my energy.
Probably one of the first big differences between living in a dorm in Japan and accommodation in England is that in Japan, whenever you pass or see someone in the dorm, you would have to say hello and excuse yourself. Also, going into a room you would have to excuse yourself (and have everyone excuse you too), and then do the same again on going out. It took a bit of getting used to but now I do not really notice it that much. It's not such a surprising thing.
Despite this exaggerated courtesy in the dorm, walking in the street outside is a completely different thing. I have had a few cases where I accidently bumped someone, and when I turn to apologise the person is jsut walking off and not paying attention. People walking in the streets are not deterred by anyone else they don't know, so no one apologises either. Even now this seems very strange.
Well this is getting a little long now, and that is about all that happened on my arrival, so this is where I shall end it!
γγ、γΎγ
Alex
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