Each term students from chronicle their experience abroad through the DiversityAbroad.com Blog.Click on a country and learn first hand from students who are currently abroad or recently got back from being abroad.
On Sunday all of the home stay students had additional orientation. It was nice to hear everyone’s stories and share common worries that we had about living with a family. I met someone who goes Depaul and lives a few blocks from my older brother in Chicago. He missed orientation the day before because his flight to Tokyo was overbooked, and he was forced to fly over the Atlantic. As a result he had long layover in Amsterdam.
It was nice to hear that I had not been the only one to have gotten lost in the short time that we had been in Japan. Afterwards, my new friend from Chicago (or at least a student in Chicago) and his roommate, another home stay student living with the same family, all went to Roppongi and walked around for a bit. We browsed around Donkehote for a little (Japan’s version of target) and tried to find a store that was not sold out of Prepaid phones. With no luck in Roppongi (or Roppongi hills), we hopped on a train to Shibuya. Shibuya crossing is the famous intersection that has thousands of people crossing at a time. Times Square on steroids. I finally felt the enormity and density of Tokyo. It is impossible to walk anywhere without constantly bumping into someone. Oh yea, be sure to walk on the left side of the side walk or you will be unsuccessfully trying to swim upstream. I finally found a phone and my friend found a camera. We ate some Gyoodon (Japanese fast food—shredded beef, onions, and honey over rice) and grabbed a drink at a standing bar where Happy Potter was playing on the television.
The next day I met up with a Vandy grad who is currently working in Tokyo. We had a few mutual friends from school and she was nice enough to show me around her area. We grabbed some nabe (what Americans call ramen) and walked to a park behind Tokyo Midtown Tower. The park is now famous after a popular J-Pop singer ran naked through it. There were some really pretty lights covering the trees near the park and apparently tourists come from all over just to take a peak. I also saw an ice rink for the first time outside of the U.S., which was nice having been raised in a hockey family. Unfortunately everyone was wearing figure skates. I got home pretty early and went to sleep with the dreadful thought that classes start tomorrow.
