steph's blog

It’s been a long time, right? I’m finally settled in and feeling happy enough at my homestay to write here without making people reading this worry too much. I actually thought I was completely adjusted and happy, but then I started listening to some NZ music earlier and cried (well, it was ‘Welcome Home’ by Dave Dobbyn so it’s the kind of thing that’s going to make overly-emotional expats cry!)

Anyway, it’s my second Japanese birthday! It seems strange that in total in my life I’ve been in Japan just over a month, and celebrated two birthdays here. Well, I say ‘celebrated’, but it’s not like I’m actually doing anything for it XD

The first week of classes has flown by. Somehow I tested into level 5 Japanese classes, but I’ve changed down to 4 so that I don’t go insane. All my classes have been good. I’ve already had homework and tests, and have essays to write… It’s actually more work than my classes back home were.

… I shouldn’t have let this much time go by without writing, it’s impossible to remember everything now!! Anyway, I’ve been to both Kyoto and Osaka, though I haven’t seen much of either yet. I’ve even taken a train into Osaka (3rd busiest station in the world!) at rush hour, which was an interesting experience XD I’ve met my speaking partner (who’s lovely) and obviously my host Mum too. I’ve bought too many manga (it’s just so cheap!). I’ve gotten skinny the first week, and fat since I’ve moved into homestay (though I think I’ve managed to convince my host Mum to feed me less now! Hopefully it sticks).

This weekend’s a long one (5 days!) so I’m going up to Tokyo with my friends Laura and Pa Kou. We haven’t planned exactly what we’re going to do there, but at least we’ve booked our travel and accomodation. We left it kinda late and didn’t have many options left, but luckily we were able to find something. And my host Mum was lovely and phoned the bus companies for us so that we could get home!

Next time, photos!