2010 January 5^th - hotel room evening - The first wait at the gate at Lambert’s wasn’t bad. Lambert’s has these cool rocking chairs in it and I sat in one for most of the time. I got on the first plane to LAX. I had an aisle seat. During the four hour flight I slept for most of it. I used my earplugs at first but decided that I really didn’t need them after a while. Head phones were available but you had to buy them. I didn’t buy them because I didn’t want to spend the money and I didn’t really care if I saw the movie or not (Love Happens). This was American Airlines. Once I landed at LAX I asked an employee at the gate as soon as I exited where to go to switch to Asiana Airlines. He said I had to go outside and one building over. It was 70 degrees in Los Angeles. I got to the right building and the right line for Asiana airlines. I got my next two boarding passes and was told where to go to get to my gate. I somehow wound up at the family security check-in instead of the regular one. You were supposed to have kids with you to do this one but the guy looking at the boarding passes and forms of ID took pity on me and said I could go through that one anyway. Security was painless and then I found the right gate fairly quickly (120). I saw that there was another flight about to leave going to Taipei. I was clearly very early for my 12:30am redeye and was in for a wait.

I started looking around for payphones and didn’t have to look far because there were some just at the back of the gate waiting area. I went up to one and put my two bags down in front of me. I looked on the phone and it said which number to dial to call collect. I called my parents and talked to them briefly. Then I went and hunkered down in a corner on the floor to wait(pretty much all the seats were taken). I watched the Taipei flight passengers board and then read some in my book. Then after a bit it was Seoul’s turn to board and I got on smoothly and found my seat no problem. It was a middle seat between a man who had the aisle and a woman who had the window. The flight attendants were all young beautiful Asian females except for one guy. There were really friendly and helpful. Almost immediately dinner was served. Our choice was steak or a Korean dish with rice. Yours truly, of course, got the rice dish and it was DELICIOUS. I slept for a while and then watched the different channels on my tv. Yes, each passenger had their own personal tv on the back of the chair in front of them. The head sets were free this time and I watched a Korean drama, the movie Up, a Sandra Bullock exposé, and part of Love Happens the one from the first flight. I also listened to the radio stations a lot. We got a sandwich for a snack. I dozed and watched. I got up and went to the lavatory. I walked the length of the plane. I was just getting antsy when breakfast was served at around 4am or so. This time our choice was French toast or scrambled eggs. I got French toast. It was, once again, yummy. I slept and listened to music and chatted with the man sitting next to me. Finally we arrived in Seoul. I followed signs to the security screening. The metal detector went off for me and a security guard ran the stick thing over me. My metal jeans button set it off and the piece of metal in my elastic hair band. I then proceed directly to the information desk to find out what my gate was. It was gate 31.

The airport was beautiful and looked like a mall because it had so many stores and things. Practically all the employees were female and it was probably the most efficient and easiest transfer I've ever made in any airport. Hmm, coincidence?? At the gate I met 8 other students who, like me, were going to Nagoya to study abroad for IES. (Dorothea, Adam, Alec, Dragon, Appiah, Marissa, Vivian, and Megan). We all talked and they were from all over. I asked one of the girls(Megan) if she would watch my stuff for me and I went off and explored the terminal. It really was a nice airport. It felt like a mall because there were so many stores and restaurants. I could even email a bunch of people because the airport had free wifi. Roseanne(my godmother) had sent me an email and I answered it. We eventually boarded the last plane and I had a window seat. Even though it was only an hour and 25 minute flight we were served a small meal of rice, vegetables, tea, and beef. I found it scrumptious. I swear the food alone on Asiana is worth flying with them. We landed in Nagoya and went through customs and got our baggage and then walked out to the outer area where our two IES representatives were waiting holding a sign. After confirming that all nine of us were present and accounted for we each sent our luggage to either our dorms or our home stay. We then got on a lovely train and rode for about a half hour through Nagoya to our hotel. I sat next to Megan (our seats were assigned. She gave me a banana chocolate bar!!!) The sights were amazing. And the weather was in the 40s so not too cold. After being hot, hot, hot and sweaty, sweaty, sweaty in airports and airplanes for 25 plus hours I was all too happy to feel a cold breeze. We got to the hotel and checked in. We each have our own room and my room is room 602. The hotel is Daiichi Fuji Hotel and it seems really nice. My room has a mini fridge, a complimentary set of slippers and PJs, a nice bathroom with a toilet that has a bidet and many other features, and many other cool things. There is an alarm clock and an easy chair and a great view from the window. It has a nice counter type desk and a TV. When we arrived at the hotel our director (Satoshi Tsukamoto) told us to speak to the Piccell representative who was there in the lobby and gave us a packet of information. We are to meet him tomorrow morning at 9am in the lobby to leave for Inuyama. We all planned to meet in the breakfast area at 8:15 to eat. Satoshi Sensei gave us a coupon for breakfast there. He said we were on our own for dinner.

The 9 of us found the one other student who was already here (Erin) and went walking around the area of town where the hotel is. We eventually stumbled on this underground mall. Not underground as in secret, underground as in below the street. It looked like a subway entrance but low and behold it was a mall! A huge mall under the street. We walked around and then ate at this little place. I got miso soup, daikon (pickled radish), sashimi (raw fish, tuna), rice and a couple of things I couldn’t identify but were egg type things and another type of soup. Everything was fantastic and it cost me 850 yen. Which is close to $8.50. No tax and no drinks. You get endless refills of tea and that’s it. I finished three other girls’ meals too… :d It was all so good. We walked around the mall some more and then went back to the hotel. The coolest thing we found in the mall was a Totoro and Ghibli store!! Several of the female students, yes including me, had a massive geek freak out feast in the store for like half an hour. We were actually taking pictures of the merchandise and everything. The woman at the counter looked shocked and amused all at once.

Once back at the hotel we all took turns talking to the cell phone lady. Apparently to rent the Softbank phone is free and receiving texts and calls is free. Calls between other Softbank phones is free to as long as you set up the connection fee of 20 yen (roughly .20 US). The other rates vary. Here is the chart:

Incoming calls - free

Friend to friend (piccell to piccell) - free

National net (domestic calls from Japan and toll-free numbers - 63 yen a minute

Voice mail (calls to one’s voice mail while in Japan - 63 yen a minute

Zone 1international (Calls to USA and Canada) - 198 yen a minute

Zone 2 International (Australia, Europe, South America, Asia) - 275 yen a minute

Rest of world - 425 yen a minute

Outgoing text messages - 7 yen per message

Outgoing international text message - 215 yen a message

GPRS (wireless internet connection via cell phone) - 3.75 yen a minute

You are billed on a monthly basis and must mail the phone back at the end of the rental period. Pretty straight forward, we all got one except for Erin who just got a sim card to put into her American phone so it would work here in Japan. After retrieving my key from the front desk I went back to my room. On the way there I ran into another student (Lin) who had just arrived. I invited her to breakfast with us the next morning. She told me that Satoshi Sensei told her that he would be picking up 10 more people this evening for the IES program. There are 27 of us total and three of those are continuing from last semester.

And here I am in my room, bone tired and wanting to sleep but thinking I should wait until it’s normal bed time here so I can minimize jet lag. But despite my crushing fatigue I feel so exhilarated to be here!! The little I have seen of Japan so far has been so so great. The vending machines, the buildings, the fashions, the shrines, the toilets and showers! I love how there are cartoons everywhere and how the people come in so many different varieties, some almost looking cartoonish themselves. Oh yes, it is great to finally be here! I can’t wait until tomorrow! :3 (19:00 - Nagoya time)