Tomorrow morning I leave for Japan! I am very tired right now – I’ve spent the last three hours packing. I guess that can be thought of as a decent amount of time spent packing since I’m going away for three months. I’m none too satisfied with the ultimate weight of my backpack, though. But, what are you gonna do? Shoutout to my mom for masterfully helping me cram everything into neatly zipped containers. (She just asked for a shoutout so I gave her one). Well deserved, though. :)
Last night was the first time in the run-up to this trip that I started to get nervous as the reality of my trip hit me. I started the application process for EAP (Education Abroad Program) way back in January, and this entire time it never felt like it was really going to happen. It just felt like an event that was in the distant future. But now it’s here, and I have to say, it still doesn’t really feel like in 24 hours’ time I’ll be in Japan. Luckily it’ll be 2PM in the afternoon there, so perhaps it’ll be slightly less disorienting than if it were nighttime.
My main concern is the trains – I saw this video a couple months ago that showed a Japanese train station during rush hour that had people who were hired to push people into the trains. The “pushers” shoved an unbelievable amount of people into this train. I did not understand how something like this was possible – how does one get off at their station? I wonder if I’ll encounter that during my time in Japan. I just hope it’s not when I take my first train ride from the airport to my hotel!
I am very grateful to have this opportunity to study abroad, and every time something makes me nervous, I try to think about why I want to go in the first place. I hope to travel a great deal in my life, and hopefully Japan is the first of many extraordinary places I’ll see.
Sayonara!
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