Finally!

After a sleepless night of my friend Alex and my mother pretty much packing for me, hour-long car ride to the airport, plane-connection-plane-connection in Narita with internet and melon slushies-plane-bus-train-car ride, I am finally home! It feels so weird to be in Japan again, but it's not even a "surreal" feeling type of thing anymore. As soon as I walked off the plane in Narita, I knew that I was in Japan simply because in about 2 seconds I felt as sticky and disgusting as everyone should when they arrive in Japan in the summer. It's just weird, but I'm sure it'll start to sink in... probably later today.
I also would like to say that I am, honest to blog, super beyond amazing. I managed to drag more than my weight in (2)suitcases-basscase-duffelbag-overstuffed(fashionable)fannypack across Shin'Oosaka station to the shinkansen. People at trainstations/airports stared 'cause I mean. White chick running around with suitcases that are not only bigger than Japanese people, but also bigger than herself. Some people even volunteered to help me! Amazing.
My host family's house is... amazingly unchanged. Not only does it look the same and feel the same, it SMELLS the same. I walk in, and right away it felt like I got punched in the face by a wave of natsukashii.

I don't have anything coherent/exciting to say yet, perhaps on the account of the fact that I have slept for about 9 hours total in the last 3 days and I can't sleep anymore. Or maybe because I was on planes/trains/buses for about ten billion hours.

Gasp - news!

I have received the most amazing email a couple of days ago. It reads as follows:

"I'm writing with great news for all of you: we have just been notified by Kansai Gaidai University that you have all been awarded the prestigious JASSO scholarship from the Japanese government. This is exceptional thanks to additional funding for the year 2009-2010 so you are all extremely lucky. We usually receive one award per year.

The scholarship is very generous ($8,000+) and will contribute greatly to your experience in Japan. You will be receiving official notification and more information about the scholarship directly from Kansai Gaidai in early August. But I wanted to let you know right away!

Congratulations!"


The only thing I have to say that is - hell YES! With the exchange position and everything, my tuition was pretty much the same as the tuition here, at an in-state school. My 1500 dollar scholarship covered my airfare. And this? Well, this pretty much covers my life expenses.

CONCERTS HERE I COME.

New and exciting things (now in list form and calcium-fortified!)

1. I have received my CoE, which is this document I need to get my visa. The one I have been freaking out about for the past couple of months. YES! I just got it on Friday and tomorrow or Tuesday I'm going to go get my photos and apply for my visa!

2. And now that my CoE is here, I can book my plane tickets! Almost. My parents are temporarily away in Mexico, leaving me here all on my own with a limited supply of food and money, so I have to wait for them to come back to finance my flight. But the date I've got my eyes on right now is the 17th of August, so I would arrive in KIX on the 18th, get my butt on a shinkansen and go chill in Okayama with my host family for 10 days before heading for my Osakan adventure.
This is going to be interesting, because even though I have travelled alone before, I never had to take shinkansen without people literally seating me down, haha, and Japanese train systems confuse me.

3. The reason why I'm not leaving earlier is because I'm waiting for the week-long dance intensive thing that is gonna take place in the second week of August and the Atmosphere concert on the 14th. Also, Aesop Rock is opening for Atmosphere and he just happens to be my favourite MC in the whole entire world so - yeah, I can't really miss that.

4. a. Speaking of concerts, me and my bestie Dana might be heading to see our favourite band in the world - Dir en grey. Right around the orientation dates. The shows are in Osaka and Kyoto, and we're trying for both of them, hopefully everything will work out and we won't have to skip anything too important. /fingers crossed/
b. Speaking of hip hop - I have a new obsession thing going on. Japanese underground. Now, I've always had an affinity for King Giddra, but most other Japanese hip hop never did it for me... Well, I just wasn't looking in the right places. KREVA? Yeah, right.
My new obsession is 韻踏合組合 - Infumiai Kumiai, an Osakan underground group.
Yabai, hamatteru- They sound so old school *_*


I'm going to be the coolest freaking kid in school.

Dramas...

Being an unemployed couch potato that I am and bumming off of my parents for my everything, I have copious amounts of free time now that summer is here. Since I got back from my "Let's go follow a Korean hip hop band!" adventure in California (which ran me a pretty penny but SO worth it) almost a month ago, I have absolutely nothing to do.
The first 2 days were spent on re-arranging and cleaning my room. I lost my motivation about half way through, so all of my books currently remain in the basement and my clothes in plastic boxes.
The first 2 weeks were also spent sleeping about 12 hours a day - since with the exception of power naps and weekends I was only sleeping on every other day through out the semester - what can I say, college education breaks lives.

Now, though, I'm all caught up on sleep and I can't sleep more than 8 hours a day. Pity, really.
I have been reduced to doing nothing but watching Japanese dramas all day.
I am currently following Atashinchi no Danshi (which I can comprehend without subtitles for the most part), Mr Brain (which I can't understand more than half of and am so completely lost when there are no subs) and also watching Mei-chan no Shitsuji, Bloody Monday, Galileo and Binbo Danshi when I'm bored.

And trust me, I am bored, although I'm sure that the sheer number of things I am watching is pretty indicative. I have spent about 4 hours today watching Bloody Monday - and let me tell you, it is the most intense Japanese drama ever made. Russian terrorists, terrorists in general, an artificially created extra-deadly virus that, pretty much is a modern day equivalent of the black plague and can wipe out Tokyo in a week and to top it all off, the main protagonist is a highschool-aged genius most-brilliant-in-Japan hacker played by Miura Haruma (Koizora anyone?) The intensity of it all pretty much breaks my brain, and I think I might asphyxiate to death because the entire drama is hold-your-breath moments.

All I can do for now is claim that it helps me with my Japanese. It does, right? Right? More so than reading Koizora.

INSURANCE!

"The University of Colorado at Boulder has submitted a roster containing information about you and your upcoming trip with their Study Abroad Program. Our company, International Educational Exchange Services (IEES) is the Administrator for your insurance coverage for that trip"

Behold, I am now insured in Japan! Just in case I, I don't know, walk into a running vehicle. Or get into a terrible biking accident with another bike. Not that either of above have happened before...

Now all I need, basically, is my Certificate of eligibility and then I'm good to go to get my visa and finally go to Japan! Except they said that they're probably going to get my COE in mid-July, so I guess I won't be leaving earlier than August? Messes with my plan of leaving on the 1st of July just a bit. Hopefully I'll get to visit my friends before I have to go back to school.

I'm just a little bit restless - I'm so bored!
I just want to go to Japan already.