I've been in Japan for a week now! It's now March 29th, and I arrived on the 22nd :)
As for events, I'll start with the AFS USA orientation in Los Angeles before leaving Japan. I arrived in LA on the 19th and I was the third person there. The orientation was actually incredibly fun! Even though the orientation went from the 19th to the 21st, I was never bored. The people who ran it were really into it and cared a lot about preparing us! When we were all leaving at the airport, the person who ran the orientation specifically called me out and said "I'll be looking out for you." The kids were incredibly nice, funny, amazing, EVERYTHING! I will remember some of them for a long time! I'm also excited to have the same type of experience as them, which will bring us closer together.
The plane ride was long but good! They had a really nice movie selection, and I didn't get any emergency bowel movement types of things (which could happen!). Not really a lot of talking happened on the plane ride, because everyone was sleeping or watching movies.
Then we arrived in Japan! I was amazed by everything at first. We took a bus from the airport to a fancy hotel, where we stayed one night. From there, we went to three different orientation sites. There was Tokyo, for people staying in Tokyo, near Tokyo, and above (like Hokkaido), Nagano for people around Nagano, and Osaka for people from Osaka and below. Since I'm in Miyazaki, which is on Kyushu, the southernmost island, I was in the Osaka group. Osaka group was lit!!
We took a 10 hour bus ride from Tokyo to Osaka, where I discovered the wonderful items in Japanese convenience stores. The ride was fun, long, and brought us closer together. At this point, there are people from all over the world. The Osaka crew really made me want to learn Spanish, which is actually going to be my next target language! Anyways, once we arrived in Osaka we stayed at a youth hostel for 2 nights. No wifi, 6 people per room, and group bathing! I discovered that a community bath is actually fun, and I have no problem getting naked with strangers ahaha. Of course boys and girls are separated.
After that, I took a 1 hour plane ride with the other Miyazaki and Miyazaki-Minami people and I arrived in Miyazaki! The more I see this city the more I love it. It's been a little cold the past few days, since it's winter, but the building have a nice aesthetic. I met my host family, and I love them! My host brother and mother are both lively and funny! I'm not really sure how much I can say about them because of privacy reasons. But yup! Today I went into my school and received a tour as well as important documents. And OMG my school is so high tech. There's 3 buildings, most doors are automatic sliding doors, and the toilets are the ones that have tons of options. I'm excited to start attending!
じゃ、またね〜
Camilla Pernell
