Japan!!!!

Greetings from the Land of the Rising Sun! I am still alive and doing well here in Japan. I live in the internation dorms and have met some great people here! There's 3 french, 3 americans (including me), 2 germans (one hasn't arrived yet), 1 english man (that's him in the pic above), 2 icelanders (vikings!), and 1 austrian (hasn't arrived yet). There's also about 20 chinese people that we haven't met because they keep to themselves and a couple of koreans who we HAVE met and are very nice to us.

My dorm here (more pics to follow) is very nice, I have a bed, a desk, plenty of storage space, my own bathroom and kitchen. And I'm on the second floor so I have a great view of the ocean and the mountains from my room (also to follow). I arrived at about 10 pm here in Otaru and was very tired and hungry. I couldn't sleep on the plane ride over and was too anxious to eat so when I arrived I was frazzled and upset. In that moment I hated Japan and all things Japanese. I had no food, no dishes, no pots and pans, nothing. So the next morning I got up at 5:30 am, got dressed, and went out in search of food and a phone. Later that day, I met the other residents here and they helped me to get dishes, etc. It appears though that most of the other residents had dishes and stuff left to them by the previous occupants of their dorm rooms so I must not have had anyone in my room before.

Still working on getting a stable internet connection here and a cell phone so within the month I should be completely hooked up and my posts can be longer and more frequent. :) Until then ja matta!!!