Osaka - the first morning.

7am Osaka time I woke up, that was 2pm home time. I somehow was able to sleep from 12am to 7am Osaka time, which was 7-2pm home time. Granted I did wake up at 2am Osaka time and lay in bed for half an hour, but thats still a great start for anyone fighting 17hour jetlag.

Flying for 12 hours straight is ridiculously and surprisingly tiring. You sit there, in a cramped and uncomfortable airplane chair until either your bladder screams for relief or your feet lose feeling and your brain offers a stretch break. Man, its so dull sitting down. Sure, I had two books, two ipods, a laptop, and five different United Airlines In-Flight movies to entertain myself, but somehow I still found the attention span to be bored. (or lack thereof)

It’s 7am, my legs were telling me to up and go for a pre-shower run! “Oh, no. That’s not possible. I decided not to bring my tennis shoes, so you can’t run, not today at least.” This was my brilliant brain’s response. As a compromise, I slipped into my new suede boots and took a walk!

Off I went up the road, taking pictures and listening to my ipod all the while. (see my fb for pics) As it turns out, Vampire Weekend (any song) and ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION (Kona Yuki) make awesome soundtracks for walking around in Hirakata City. It must be the spunky beats and crazy lyrics.

One thing that is and was rubbing me wrong the entirety of the lovely walk is that the side streets leading from the dorm to the main street that takes you to campus has no side walks. Consequently every car, motorbike and bicycle coming down the road looks like its charging for a collision. Dealing with that last night was especially difficult considering the blinding effect that headlights have on pedestrian eyes… Note to self: wear sunglasses at night.

Osaka, Predeparture.

Friday. Friday, January 22, 2010. At 11:30am I depart from SFO and begin my adventure in Osaka. My adventure, like any other, has already begun with the anticipation. Freshman year I was super excited to go on study abroad in general. Sophomore year I was still excited but felt some apprehension because my beloved classmates would be separated for an academic year as every 3^rd year student must go on study abroad for a semester.

As a departing junior, the excitement is still there but the person who will leave SFO will not be the same person upon homecoming, this makes me nervous. I anticipate the adventure itself with excitement but anticipate my reintegration into American culture with nervousness. This is because the people I am leaving behind may not appreciate the altered version of myself, or perhaps we will lose contact completely.

On a lighter note, I’ve been craving greasy, fatty American foods for the past two weeks. Yesterday, the Japanese food cravings started kicking in with a yearning for Tonkatsu, today it’s Yakisoba, tomorrow, maybe Katsuage, who knows? To my stomach’s dissatisfaction, I will be staying in a dorm for the first week, probably without access to a cafeteria meal plan, so maybe those cravings will be satisfied, not by a wonderful host mother who can cook like no other, but by a 7-Eleven microwave dinner. Speaking of 7-Eleven, I’ll need money for the first month of existence… I’m broke, damn.