Although this is technically my only blog post describing my orientation experience it is the second orientation I had to experience so i’m going to title this post according to that.
So yesterday on our bus ride we were each given a little booklet(called
shiōri) that helped identify us as AFS students, gave us the schedule and contained other helpful hints. Each of our booklets had a plastic lanyard through the bottom corner for us to be able to wear them around our necks and read them without having to take them off. Each was personally decorated by our orientation group leaders and gave us our room assignments and host community destinations. The theme of the orientation was “Try Everything”, based on the
Shakira song of the same name from the animated movie Zootopia. Definitely cheesey but I feel like the message of it is an important aspect of engaging in a study abroad program.
Breakfast on the first morning was buffet style served in a big cafeteria where everyone staying at the hostel ate. AFS students all sat with our respective orientation groups. Since we had arrived a day later than the rest of the international students, our orientation groups we were just split among the Americans and didn’t really get to interact with the other students at all. I was kind of disappointed about this because they got to do fun cultural activities and got to know each other more.
Typical Japanese breakfasts differ from the classic American breakfast in the way that there is no strict ‘breakfast food’ in Japan, typically what you eat in the morning is what you would eat any other time of the day. I enjoy this because it meant I got to have rice and miso soup for breakfast. Lunch and dinner were styled partially buffet style, with each person getting to pick out one main dish and then choosing side dishes from a buffet. I thoroughly enjoyed the meals and even though not everything looked appealing I made sure to try it all. I was encouraged to try the infamous
Nattō and although my friend informed me it tasted like “wet dust”, I was brave and went for it. One of our group leaders gave us the advice that we should try things 3 times before we decide if we like it or not. So keeping that philosophy in mind I cannot say Nattō was an instant hit but we’ve got 2 more tries left to go.
After breakfast we were all assembled in a big presentation room where various staff went through the program rules, tips for immersion, and various safety topics. I wasn’t really paranoid about earthquakes before coming to Japan but after becoming aquatinted with the tectonic situation happening beneath my feet as I type this i’m slightly convinced I should be wearing a hard hat all the time.
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Japan is conveniently located at the intersection of three major tectonic plates
which is why there is such a high frequency of earthquakes and tsunamis. |
Because the cost of utilities are so high in Japan, only individual rooms are equipped with AC and there are no public water fountains(still wildly confusing to me?). This being known I am proud to say my first purchase in Japan was....(*drumroll*)...bottled water! My first couple days in Japan it was about 80°F with an average humidity index of 60%. I was less crabby about the weather than I had predicted but it was definitely an adjustment. To combat the incessant moisture Japanese people all carry around mini towels with them whether it be for forehead sweat, a wet bicycle seat or drying your hands after using the bathroom(because some bathrooms are just not equipped with functional hand dryers and I have yet to see a public paper towel dispenser in this country). Since I'm all about not having to use my shirt as a rag I decided to hop on it and get myself one when we visited the gift shop.
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| Was appropriately chilled and did not taste like plastic. 5/5 stars for Irohasu, I feel pretty brand loyal now |
After our big group info session we did more activities in our small groups. We talked about how to navigate conversations with your host family about not liking foods we are served and the importance of engaging in your host family’s routine. Our group leaders spoke a decent amount of English but it was still a good immersion experience in practicing casual communication. After that we did some goal setting. Although I have lots of goals for my experience in Japan, I chose one related to connection through language because that’s what I feel is a core opportunity provided by this trip.
