September 2, 2010: It was a long flight and it was a dream ten years in the making but I've done it... FINALLY!! The story starts in the airport in which I was able to snag a 1 pm flight time from Cleveland Hopkins stopping in Minneapolis (where I made it just in time to start boarding) to Tokyo, then to Nagoya. The trip started on August 31, 2010 at noon, and ended on September 1, 2010 at 8:45 PM Japan time. It was then a two hour bus ride from the airport to the school in which I will be studying in Hikone, Japan, of the Shiga prefecture. All of this means little to someone who hasn't heard me talk about it before so I will, quickly explain. JCMU stands for Japan center for Michigan Universities. It is a 4 level intensive course of studies in the Japanese language that is through Michigan State University.
As I arrived in Nagoya it became clear rather quickly that most of the students had all started in the same area as they were all chit chatting, but never one to be deterred by such frivolous things, I jumped right in introducing myself as the foreigner. I received many confused looks and I explained that seeing as the vast majority of them are from the Detroit area or Texas it would appear I am the only Ohioan, making me the foreigner among foreigners. This of course was comical and someone from Detroit quickly asked if I'd seen the hastily made Cleveland tourism videos on Youtube, and I replied with an enthusiastic "OF COURSE!!!" This got everyone laughing as I continued to say how true it was too, and then had to retract my statement and be like minus the ending. This received another chuckle because through out the video it is made to seem as if Cleveland is the worst city to ever inhabit the states, but at the very end they come back with a but "hey at least we're not Detroit!!" Everyone replied that it was true though and I was on the fast track to making nice with my soon to be classmates.
We made the trek to the dorms and arrived at around midnight Japan time (minus 13 hours for the Ohioans reading this) were given an orientation packet, room assignments, and a thing of water and cup noodles to hold us over till breakfast the next day. I quickly retracted to my room anxious to see if I'd gotten the Japanese roomate I'd requested. I was not graced, however, with such luck as to receive a Japanese roommate but I did receive Delia. She's a very nice girl from the Detroit area who came over from Dublin Ireland, instantly giving us some common ground as little over a year and some ago I had visited Dublin on my adventures through Europe. The night ended with the beginnings of unpacking as my larger of the two suitcases was shipped over and should be arriving any minute now, and facebook notifications before bed. It's only day one of my dream come true but I have a good feeling.
-No matter the distance in miles, there is no distance between you and I in my heart-
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