Day 1 (8/26-8/27): Chaos, Excitement, and Lost (with a little more excitement)

did not proof-read, did not make tl;dr, did not post pictures yet, did not spell check. have fun!

Helllo family and friends! Today was the official first day of my 3 month trip to Japan. So many emotions were felt in this single day, and so many awesome things were going on. Well... I thought they were awesome... I tend to blow things out of proportion when it comes to excitement.

To start the day off, (August 26th)  during the previous night I had pulled an allnighter so I was basically sleep deprived. The excitement, nervousness and stress from packing and going almost halfway around the world, however, sort of kept me awake. Despite having zero sleep -- I WAS PUMPED.

Anyways halfway through the night (circa 4-5am and day of my departure) I decided thati t was finally time to finish packing! I had spent the time earlier hanging out with freinds and family before having to leave for the great beyond, and I knew packing wouldn't take that much time once I figured what I was going to bring (Thank god for being a guy). At some random point in the night, It dawned on me how much of this I'll have to do alone! I started becoming nervous about the customs, security check in, luggage, documentations, utilizing the Tokyo subway system, and finding my way around the airport(s).

When the time came, however, I felt rushed and stressed (with a tad bit of excitement) due to the fact that we were leaving with 1hr45min left before my flight departed (and it was luckily delayed). Annie was talking about how, depending on the line, the luggage check-in and security could take +2hours which rightfully made me hella crazy nervous.

I spent the delayed time from the flight talking to Brendon before I had to go on my flight. Surprise, surprise, once I got on the flight, I knocked out so freakin' fast.... speaking of which, I am falling asleep right now -_- ANYWAYS the SFO to LAX flight was a piece of cake. It was a 2 hour flight and I don't remember much of it because like I said, I was asleep.The LAX to NRT flight however was a doozie. It was a whopping ~11 hour flight!! Annie was right when she said there was no legroom... and that it was a bad idea to take window seet, but I definitely enjoyed the view of ocean, clouds and the melding of the ocean and sky and 21 hours of sun.

During the flight I watch Iron man 3 (twice b/c I fell asleep the first time), Epic (Pretty cool), and the Croods (GOOD). The quality of video, however, was really inonsistent and the stewardesses weren't very enthusiastic.

The Japanese women making announcements sounded like a robot when making speeches in English, and the video quality would go from normal to black and white to spazzing screen. It seemed like I was the only one so lucky however. I would give AA a 5.5/10. They did their job, it was cheap, but it wasn't great. Then again, I have nothing to compare it to. (FALLING ASLEEP AGAIN).

Anyways, here comes the intensity part of the trip. Upon arriving at Narita Airport in "Tokyo," I realized that the wifi on my phone didn't work, and that it had about 6% left... Also -- I didn't have the address to Nui. so I was kind of SOL

. I did know however that I needed a courier service to transport my baGs, and needed to exchange currencym and had to get to Nui one way or another. Trouble with that, though, was I DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO DO IT. In the end it was easy to do, but I automatically assumed that I was going to just keep walking forever looking for a bag delivery service and my hostel. The information desk helped tons and even asked "Would you mind me asking what your nationality is"  (Prob b/c of my height, but I thought it was flattering) In time, however, I found the bag delivery person (they didn't speak English at all... I had to use my broken Japanese on them... just 1 word answers and questions...) and I also found the money exchange machine. 

The last hurdle was honestly the train ride / locating my Hostel. The Information table gave me specific insructions on which train to take, but this STRANGER who defitely made my day helped me locate where it was. While waiting for the train, he asked if I was thirsty and even bought me a drink from the vending machine. HONESTLY I WAS AWE STRUCK. I mean, I heard from freinds who visisted Japan before that they were crazy generous and helpful, but this was just rediculous. He was taking the same train, so he walked with me through the whole thing, got me through buying a ticket, and brought me to the right train. While talking to him, I accidentally stopped talking suddenly while looking out the window just because of the sheer AWE and realization that I...ME.... ANDREW LUDWIG was in JAPAN. many thousands of miles from home. by myself. SO INTENSE. 

He got off at the 1st stop, but I knew the name of the station I (think) I had to get off at (since I didn't see the address since I had no internet and no battary and no time and I WAS STRUGGLING) and the time that it was going to reach that destination so I thought I was fine. Turns out -- my memory held out, but I just couldn't remember where in this area the Hostel was. By the time I got off at my stop in Kuramae, Taito, Tokyo, it was 7:20PM, but I didn't find my Hostel until about 8:30 and after asking / speaking broken Japanese to a store-clerk. This is ALL besides the fact that it was literally 3 blocks from the station, but in a brand new environment, and already a poor disposition with homework, I'm sure you'll find it.(<-- was falling asleep)

After the 1hr5min trying to find the Hostel, and asking 3 diff people, I finally found it. I felt so releaved b/c my phone was just about to die, and my computer had no juice, so yeah, was pretty intense.

Anyways, The hostel is really nice. the ground-level is a bar lounge and the 2nd 3rd 4th 5th are all rooms for hostels.

I'm in a 8-person mixed dorimitory and My bed comes clad with a lamp, and outlet, one hanger, (luckily) the fan for AC right to my bed, and bed sheets with Japanese futon and a super comfy pillow.

Upon arriving they showed me that there was WIFI here so I was ecstatic. My Iphone's wifi, however, didn't work (OF COURSE) There were so many things I wanted to do after setting my luggage down... Ironically it wasn't anything touristy -- I just wanted to shower, sleep, and eat. After setting my sheets up and stuff, I got some food from a convience store (Pork over rice, Green Tea kit-kat, Milk tea in a plastic bottle all costing a little less than $6.75 USD.

After that I took a shower and now I'm writing the blog, falling asleep.... I'll post pictures. Maybe i'll insert them in this blog post at the appropriate point...

Anyways I think that's it. I met my dorm mates. 3 of them are korean and don't talk much, and one was ironically a person that was in the same program as I am, and was one of the people I have been facebooking about pre-departure stuff. Another one is chill and then i'm not sure about the last spot. I'm tired anyways. My computer says it's 7:21AM on 8/27/2013, but in Japan it's 11:21PM on 8/27/2013. CRAZY RIGHT? stupid International Date Line. Anyways, congratulations to you if you read through all of this... It's pretty much stream of consciousness... MAYBE ill add a tl;dr and photos to help you little kids out. Anyways until next time.

さようなら !