About a day since the last entry was written (arrived to Narita on Tuesday night, now Friday morning - 5AM right now haha, still not on a regular sleep schedule yet).
Domestic flight went without issues. Arrived to Sapporo/Chitose airport right on time, met up with Rad-sensei (English professor at Sapporo University) and the other Ball State students and rode to our apartment complex - maybe two hours at the most. Got keys, paperwork, next week's schedule, etc then went to eat. Place called Victoria, which is a family restaurant (famiresu as they're called in Japan) that specializes in steaks, but they had an all-you-can-eat salad/soup/curry(!!!) bar so everyone just got that. I'd say curry's an inoffensive first meal - tasty, fills you up, easy on the stomach.
Went to a convenience store after the meal to get the next day's breakfast (of note: everything on the first night was paid for by the university…super nice of them), some tuna-mayo onigiri and a bottle of water. Was hoping to find the milk tea I'm so fond of, but didn't see it so water was the next best thing. After that, went back to the apartment, hopped on the internet of one of the students who's been here for a while to message mom and let her and dad know I'm alive, then organized my room (which came fully furnished and more, actually, which was a concern I was glad to have off my mind) a bit before going to bed. Orientation began at 9 the next morning.
Second day began interestingly. Set my iPhone to an alarm for 8AM, but since it had yet to connect to any network it reset to US time at some point in the night. Luckily I woke up just a bit after 8 and decided to check my phone or I would have been in big trouble. To summarize the day quickly, we:
- Got registered with the local government office
- Opened bank accounts
- Ate at Kiwami, a ramen restaurant(!!!)
- Signed up for internet in our apartments - won't be installed until Sunday though
- Went to the university co-op and paid rent, etc
- Bought cell phones
- Went to do some shopping - looking around at Book-Off, buying some things at a 100yen shop, looking around at a huge media shop place, buying groceries
- Returned to the apartment
So yeah, busy day to say the least. Everything up through buying cell phones was accompanied by a lady named Sayaka, who's the Ball State exchange program organizer at SU or something to that effect, and she was a HUGE help. Made sure we got everything we wanted/needed, helped with any and all communication issues, explained a lot of things for us, paid for our lunch(!!!) and so on. Super, super nice person and I'm looking forward to seeing her around campus.
Highlight of the day was, of course, Kiwami. Got the spicy miso ramen and it was everything I could have dreamed of - but, sadly, it seems Kiwami will be closing on the 6th because the owner needs to head back to his hometown for some kind of family issue. Planning to eat there at least once a day until he's gone…expenses I don't particularly need, but it can't be helped since I've only got a few days until he closes.
Also of note - planned to go with Tristan (one of the other BSU people) to the SUICC (Sapporo University Information and Communications Center) on campus to hop on the internet after buying groceries but they were, sadly, closed. So, instead, we went back to the apartment and hung out in Tristan's room - watched TV, ate cheap sushi, drank beer. Good times, and a nice way to wind down at the end of the day. Popped down to the room of one of the other exchange students to see about eating at Kiwami again the next day for lunch and find out Kaname (a Japanese friend)'s contact info. Messaged Kaname, came back upstairs, watched a bit more TV and went to bed.
It's the next morning now, Kaname messaged back in the night but I was asleep, so will get back with him a bit later about joining for Kiwami and golden week plans. Need to figure out what to do for the next 4 days, since it'll be golden week and we don't have class or anything until Tuesday. So anyway, that's the gist of what's happened since arriving to Sapporo. Will probably update again after golden week ends.
前回の更新からやく１日。（水曜夕方に成田空港到着で、今金曜朝）
国内フライトが無事だった。札幌／千歳空港に到着してからラッド先生（札大の英語の先生）と他のBSU（ボールステート大学、僕の大学）の留学生とも会って、２時間ぐらい車でアパートまで移動。部屋の鍵、書類、これから数日のスケジュールももらって、食べに行った。Victoriaというステーキがメインのファミレスでライス、カレー、サラダ、スープの食べ放題をみんなでがっつり食べた。カレーなら悪くない初食事。美味しいし、食べやすいし、腹に優しいし。
それから、コンビニまで行って次の日の朝ご飯を買った。（ところで、今までの食べ物などは大学が払ってくれた。さすが日本サービス）ツナマヨおにぎり二つとお水だけでw 午後の紅茶が欲しかったんだけど、なくて結局水にしちゃった。コンビニからアパートに戻って、他の留学生のコンピューターで両親に無事着いた事を伝えて、部屋の整理をしてから就眠。次の日は９時からオリエンテーション。
２日目があまりにも忙しくて短文にする。
・区役所での外国人登録
・銀行口座をオープン
・きわみで昼ご飯（ラーメン！！！）
・アパートでのインターネットの申し込み
・大学の生協で家賃などを払った
・携帯を購入
・買い物（ブックオフ、100均、デパートなど）
携帯購入まではしんぶちさやかという札大国際センターの人が全部つれていってくれて、通訳でも説明でも何でも、ご飯までご馳走してくれてすごく優しい人でみんな助けられた。キャンパスでの安心の存在になりそう。
一番印象的なのは確かにきわみだった。大好きなめっちゃ恋しくなったラーメンで、その上に辛味噌ラーメンで激ウマ。けど、残念ながらきわみはオーナーの家族の関係で６日に閉店するらしい。６日まで少なくとも一日一回食べるつもり。お金的にはキツいけどなくなるからしょうがない。
で、買物の後に札大のSUICCというコミュニケーションセンターみたいな場所でトリスタン（同じくBSUの学生で知り合い）とネットで家族や友達に連絡するつもりだったけど、開いてなくて結局トリスタンの部屋でテレビ見たりコンビニのお寿司食べたりビール飲んだりしたw 美味しくて日の終わりで癒される事をして良かった。それから、他の留学生と明日きわみで昼ご飯を食べる予定作って、かなめという仲間の連絡先をもらった。それから部屋に戻って、かなめにメールして、もうちょっとテレビを見てから爆睡。
今、次の日の朝６時で夜中にかなめから返事が来て、もうちょっと遅くなったらかなめに返事する。ゴールデンウィークだから来週の火曜日まで何もないんで予定を作らないと。では、次の更新まで。
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