visa! hooray!

Got my Visa~ whew. So all set on that front. Just have to get the re-entry ... thingymawhatsit once I'm in Japan so I can travel around Asia and whatnot.

Also ordered my phone for Japan (through PicCell), which was offered through Waseda. No fees apart from calling rates, which is good, but unfortunately rates are rather expensive. Calls in *Japan* are about 65 cents a minute. Texting is just 5 cents for in Japan though, so good thing I do that more anyway... Not going to be doing any international calls with it though, 'cos ouch. Going to get the Skype package that allows me to call cell phones and land lines as well, because it's ridiculously cheap and sounds amazing. Skype is wonderful. $4 for 10,000 minutes to the US (... I think that's the rate for even if I'm not in Japan. Doesn't seem to have prices for if I'm in Japan, just general calling US/Canada, the UK/Europe, Japan/etc. But would be calling the US, not Japan... it's a bit confusing. Ah well. 

Still have to look into the bloody Japanese encephalitis vaccine. I hate shots. :(

Dorm information at last, and Visa application

I have a single room at the Waseda Hoshien International dorm, right in Shinjuku.

... Japanese dorms have a curfew. We have to be out of other residents' dorms by 11 pm, and out of the common areas by 1 am. Not sure whether we have to be back at the dorm by the curfew like I believe some dorms require. I hope not! It looks like guests aren't allowed into the dorm at all, especially not for overnight. It also mentions internet in the common room, but not in individual rooms. If we don't have internet in our rooms I will be most displeased. I'm planning to Skype a lot with people back home since calling is expensive, prefer not to do that in a common room. =p Happy to get a single though - a roommate would help a lot with socializing, and maybe not being as lonely, but I prefer not to risk getting someone I don't get along with. Wouldn't make things at all fun.

I e-mailed Waseda for confirmation on the pick-up service for when I get there, since my flight gets in 5 minutes before the cutoff time. They haven't gotten back to me. What is it with study abroad offices and being useless at e-mails? Going to e-mail them once more and then call if I don't hear back.

Also went to NYC to drop off my Visa application, which took about two minutes. Whew. We were expecting it to take longer than that! We have to go pick it up again on Thursday or Friday though, which is a bit of a pain - they won't mail it to us since Boston is the "resident consulate" for Connecticut, but NYC is an hour and a half from us, versus at least three hours to Boston, so it's worth it.

Nervous nervous nervous!

Edit: Talked with someone who went to Waseda a few years ago. We do have internet in the rooms, and they aren't too strict about curfew and guests can be snuck in. That's a relief...

Just about a month 'till Japan...

So here's my blog for recording my various escapades and travels in Japan. We'll see whether I grow to like fish and how I manage to embarrass myself in Japanese (hey, it's one of the fun aspects of learning a new language, always provides entertaining stories...)

Anyway. I leave a month from tomorrow to go to Atlanta, where I stay overnight with my aunt and uncle, before heading to Japan on the 15 of September to arrive on the 16. 

People keep asking whether I'm excited. So far, I've been mostly stressed - the study abroad office at GW, Waseda has not given me any information beyond the day I am supposed to get there... Oh, and the day I'm supposed to get there they have a pick-up service that takes you from Narita Airport to your dorm or homestay. However, your flight has to get in before 1:30 pm, and you can't check into your dorm after 5. ... I found one flight getting in at 1:25; most flights from America get in much later in the afternoon/evening. I sent Waseda an e-mail making sure this would still be okay, but I haven't heard back yet. Sigh. 

I go to get my Visa next week, right after getting home (as I'm in Colorado and they just sent the Certificate of Eligibility to my house a couple days ago). Eek.  I need to figure out what to pack when I get home, and seriously brush up on my Japanese. Apart from very basic stuff with the many Japanese tourists who have come into my work at Boulder, I haven't practiced at all this summer... Should be interesting!