Day One-ish - Part Two

Hello again folks!

This time I am typing to you from perhaps the most comfortable internet cafe I have ever been in. I mean, I have my own little room with a huge comfortable chair, a TV, headphones, and a foot rest so that I can put my feet up. And, just outside, there is a huge selection of Manga and Anime for me to read and watch.

But that`s a story for another time. Back to the beginning we go!

SO... Where was I? Oh yes, I had just arrived at the airport.

Okay, so, after meeting up with the larger group of international students and the volunteers, I quickly realized that I was the only non-white person there aside from the students from China and Korea. Also, because I was wearing my hat and was perhaps the tallest person there by a foot, I stood out like a sore thumb. Immediately thevolunteers began asking me questions which they later realized that I couldn`t understand 100% and switched to English. It was good to say the least.

After the meet and greet with the volunteers and the other students, we quickly boarded a bus that took us to Umeda. As I have found out, Osaka is not a City but a State. It is just so populated that the city limits just blur into one another. Umeda just happens to be one of the cities. The bus was rather small, I ended up hitting my head on the roof which has never ever happened to me back in the States. I felt a bit silly because of it, but oh well.

The bus took us to the bus station in Umeda and we quickly got off. I found myself helping a lot of the student with their luggage when it came to getting it up the curb of the sidewalk.

The train station is perhaps one of the biggest, if not only one, I have ever seen. The oddest thing about it? People are organized. I mean, it was like watching ants gonig back and forth. Everyone had their own little path and line to follow. It was very effective given the sheer amount of people in the train station.

Anyways, we bought our tickets from this little vending machine. I`ll have to show you those pictures later. we got on the train and quickly became the center of attention. I would like to think it wasn`t because we were foreigners, but because all the luggage we had was blocking the aisle.

After what seemed a rather long train ride, mainly because by that point I had been up for close to 38 hours or so, we arrived at the next train staition. Now, funny thing about local train stations, there is no escalator or such. We had to carry our luggage up the stairs.

Now, before I boarded the airplane back home, they weighed my luggage. Adding the luggage plus my carry own, I was carrying close to 135 lbs up a flight of stairs. After I got up the stairs, I had to walk for 20 minutes or so across town going up and down hills. It was not pleasant... Not at all. I thought I was going to drop dead. Still, I made it to my dorm in one piece.

I`m going to have to stop at this point because my time is almost up.

Until next time folks!