Friday, January 26, 2007

I have arrived

I'm here! (again!) I got in at around 5pm Japan time last night and I text messaged Erica as soon as I got off the plane because I was so excited. I'm so glad I did because she was in the airport too. She got in an hour before me and what's funny is that I didn't know she was there, since I thought she was texting me from the dorm. So you can imagine my surprise as I'm just getting out of customs trying to find the bus and I get side checked by a blonde Erica. Later that night I was jumped by Tracey, hugged by Drew and today I was full on body checked by Maria. So needless to say I've had a very warm welcome.

Erica and I chatted like crazy while we waited an hour for the bus, then we chatted like crazy on the bus, then I hung out in her flat for a good portion of the night. I filled out the paperwork and I'll be moving from Floor 5 in Seminar House 3 to Floor 2 where Erica, Tracey, Drew and my new roommate DJ (she's Korean and from Canada) and flatmate Mareta (from Holland, no clue on the spelling) are going to live it up this semester.

I'm so happy to be back, the niceness and warmth I get from my buddies here makes up for all the awkward coldness I get from the staff at Kansai. Because you see, I missed registration, my placement test, everything because I didn't know everything was on the 23rd and 24th. So I'm registering at 2pm, I've spent the morning getting my ass handed to me on the placement test (because I was the ONLY one taking it I had to sit in the hallway outside the room where they were grading it and get a personal interview). Now I'm going to go pay more fees and hopefully get my laptop registered. I have it hooked up to the coffee shop's wifi, which is a super blessing since I had to renew my Norton anti-virus and they wouldn't let me register until it was done, but I couldn't use the internet until I registered. So it's an endless cycle of Japanese b.s. that I thwarted with my advanced knowledge of the internet.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mando

I'm glad to hear that you arrived safely and had such a warm welcome.
I'm not yet used to the time change but if I remember correctly you got in around 5 pm on 1/25 which translates to 5 am on 1/25 here at home.

Write soon. We miss you like crazy but we're all excited that you're getting settled in and are surrounded by friends that care deeply for you.

I had my CT scan this a.m. (Thurs. 1/25). Both Dr. Mitchell (the radiologist that interprets the scan) and Dr. Lepore were pleased with the results. They are improved from the last one. Dr. Mitchell said that he didn't see anything that looked like a tumor but that there was still some fluid in my lungs. He didn't seem concerned about the fluid. I talked to him after he had time to review the scan and he said that it looked good. Yippee!!!!

Love you... more... mean it.

Mom (Dad, James, Boots, White Face, Billie, Jemma and Scout too)

Hali said...

I was wondering when you were heading back to Kansai! Glaad to hear you are back in one piece and not letting The (Japanese) Man keep you down ; )

Anonymous said...

Amanda,

Don't know if this will make it through since the instructions are in Italian .....

I'm so glad you are back and that you have so many friends waiting for you. Sounds like you'll be in the dorm - different from being with a family, and more fun.

We only have a month left here and are thinking of all the things we still want to do. Milan and The Last Supper is at the top of the list. Carnivale in Venice is next.

Holly