After the long flight and traveling halfway across the world, I was pretty tired. One of the first things I noticed when I stepped off the flight was the humidity and heat. I knew Kofu, Yamanashi was hot in the summer, but nothing would have prepared me for this. I landed at the Narita Airport in Tokyo, so it was still a two hour drive to Kofu, where I'll be living in a dorm with other international students for ten months.
My first week in Japan was a lot of running errands and getting things set up, like my insurance. There was a welcome party held at the dorm for me and a few other residents who arrived a couple weeks before me. That was a lot of fun because all of the dorm residents made food from their native countries. I met a lot of other residents and made some friends too.
That night, the dorm residents and I went out for a night of karaoke. I've always wanted to do Japanese karaoke and it was as much fun as I imagined. Japanese karaoke is a bit different than what I'm used to, instead of standing up in front of a huge crowd at a bar, you have your own room with just your friends. It's a lot less nerve wracking that way!
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| At the welcome party, residents of the dorm and their friends |
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| Picture of me taken by the dorm manager on my second day in Japan |
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| Karaoke |
