The First Week of My Dream- The Arrival

I never thought I would actually be here. I mean, for years I have dreamed of being in this place that I have studied about passionately. One of my life goals was to come here not just to visit, but to spend at least a year.

Well...I'm here. In Japan. For a year.

The plane rides to get here weren't bad actually. I had already been on a plane recently, so I was ok with it. Even though lugging around baggage all by yourself is a bit of a pain. I had like a 3 hour layover in LAX, which was good because I had to get checked-in with Japan Airlines and eat lunch. There were already lots of Japanese people around me. After I ate, I sat in a corner by a window and there was a cute Japanese family with a toddler boy and like a 5 year old boy. They were taking pictures and being so cute. I kept wanting to try and start using Japanese, but I chickened out. Even though it was LAX, in the international flights area and on Japan Airlines I was getting curious looks. It was a little uncomfortable at times, but I was prepared for this.
My long flight on Japan Airlines was actually really neat. I was reminded of a J-drama called "Attention Please". It is about Japanese flight attendants, so I was reminded repeatedly. Each seat had a personal t.v. in the back of the seat in front of it and a remote. I thought I was going to have to entertain myself for the whole flight. I had no idea that there would be an entertainment center in front of me. The tv thing did soo many things. You could watch the flight map and times for destination and stats and stuff like that, Japanese and American tv shows, all kinds of movies from lots of countries, listen to music (all kinds), play games, and shop the airline catalog. I ended up watching two Japanese movies (with subtitles of course) to start practicing a bit, I also listened to Jpop. I actually didn't sleep much at all. I wasn't sleepy. I dozed off for maybe 30 minutes and then they turned the lights on to serve our second meal. The meals weren't too bad either. They had lots of side dishes that there had to be something there that everyone likes. I even used a bit of Japanese to the flight attendant and the business man beside me.

I didn't get emotional until I saw the Japan coastline for the first time. 

I had to stop myself from actually crying because I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of the Japanese business men beside me. Good thing I had a window seat. I stared down at Japan getting closer and closer until we landed. I was smiling so big at everything I could see, from the cars going on opposite side from America to the farming lands. After landing, everything went by in a blur. I was surprised I made it through everything so quickly. I went through immigration and then I wasn't sure what to do next, so I went to the bathroom because I hadn't gone the whole duration of the flight. After that I was going towards customs but I realized I had to have the rest of my luggage first. I saw that there were carts to use by the baggage claim. I put that to good use because lugging around 3 suitcases and a backpack and turtle and blanket all by yourself in a big airport is a little difficult. The cart was my friend. lol I had it while I exchanged money and I even got to take it down an escalator to buy my Suica card (used to charge money on to use for train and bus fares, also some stores accept it) and N'ex ticket (Narita Express train) and had to leave it at a spot right before I got on the platform to wait for the Narita Express which came a few minutes after I got there. It was a good thing that there was hardly anyone on the train, because I really had to wrestle with my bags. They have spots when you board to leave your luggage, but all the bottom and middle ones were taken and I couldn't lift my big suitcase high enough for the others and the train was pulling out. I ended up just going to my seat(it is assigned when you buy it for N'EX) and since no one was beside me I put the bags there and in-front of me. I couldn't really enjoy my first train ride ever because ever since Narita airport I realized I couldn't contact Risa to make sure she was there to meet me. I was freaking out and trying so hard to figure out how to connect to Wi-Fi...but it wasn't free. I finally gave up and just rode the rest of the way to Yokohama trying to calm down and enjoy my first Japanese purchase...a coke from the train snack cart.

I got off the Narita Express and just kinda stood around the platform and looked around. I wasn't sure where to go or what to do. I went downstairs from the platform and just stood by a random pole about to breakdown. I looked up as I heard my name called out. Risa was coming towards me in front of me. I couldn't believe she found me so quickly. God definitely had a hand in that. I hugged her and almost started crying, I was so happy and relieved. I had to take a few deep breaths before we continued on and ate at Yokohama station. Everything else started to fall into place after that. I'm easily catching on to things and I haven't had trouble with much of anything yet.  

Next I'll talk about the rest of my first week.
Until then...
Byebye!    ~Laila~