Settling in

The past few days have been pretty busy. I've now moved into my dorm room at Somei House. I share a common area and bathroom with twelve other people, and I've already met two of them. Even with our limits on each other's languages, we're managing to communicate efficiently. I also went out bowling last night with a friend I met here last year (also from America) and his friends. It was a decent start to my social life here.

I also spent plenty of time yesterday shopping for things. The university supplies everything apart from food, linens, and dishes. I only had to go to four places: Yamada Denki for electronics, Nitori for linens, York Benimaru for food, and Daiso, a 100-yen store, for everything else. Speaking of York, they're owned by Seven & I, which is the same company that owns the convenience stores, of which there has to be one every kilometer in this city. (I checked; there are 14 of them in Aizuwakamatsu alone.)

I also met with a foreign personnel advisor here at the university yesterday. I received my inkan for legal transactions, and also met with a representative from Gulliver, which is like Carmax in the states. Their cars were pretty far out of my budget, and because they don't buy from auction, the prices are higher. (Oddly enough, they'll sell the car to auction if they can't get it off their lots in more than three weeks.) The cheapest one was 5 man over my budget, and even with the shaken, I'd have to pay for shipping all the way from Kyushu. The rep was also not from Aizu, but from Fukushima City, which is well over a hour away. I felt bad that he came all that way, but I still need to pay for shaken and insurance.

I've decided to start looking for the car in dealerships farther south, as Eunos Roadsters or Atenza wagons aren't very common in Fukushima. Worst case scenario is that I have to go get it myself and drive it back up north. But if that's what it's going to take to get it, then so be it. I can wait for a deal. Most of the stuff that I need has now been picked up anyways.

To close, here's the tag that was on my room key at the Onyado Toho.

I'd better get used to the typos.

-wp

The road to Aizu

It's getting late here in Aizuwakamatsu. I'm sitting in the lobby of the Onyado Toho, a nice hot spring resort on the edge of the habitable city. It's definitely been a long journey; I was on a plane for 14 hours, and drove for four to get from the hotel in Narita to here.

First, the plane. I flew premium economy on Japan Airlines. That meant two things. The first was that I was allowed to sit in the Air France Lounge for the 90 minutes before I had to board. I had never been in an airport lounge before, so I felt pretty excited. The TVs were set to CNN, still collecting information about the recent bombing at the airport in Brussels. Certainly picked a day to fly.

From the lounge window

Nice lounge

The second was the seat itself, which was much larger compared to the one I sat in on Cathay Pacific last year. It also had a lot more legroom, especially as I was up against the wall dividing business class from premium economy. I'm talking about I can expand my legs all the way!-type of legroom. But while the seat reclined more, it was built into a plastic shell, which merely shifted the seat down. Not too comfortable, but at least I got some sleep on the plane this time.

My legs breathed a sigh of relief.

After exchanging cash in the terminal, I called for my rental car, and a representative from Nissan Rent-a-car brought it over. I had originally booked a Nissan Dayz for a week, which was about $600 [exhales painfully] for the whole week, including a one-way fee but not tolls or gas. The rep took me out to the parking lot on the side of the terminal entry to head to the car. I saw a Dayz in the parking lot close to the curb and got excited. That excitement quickly turned to confusion when the rep unlocked my actual car, the Nissan March.

I asked the rep about the possible mix-up. After a brief pause, he told me that there were no Dayz available. The March is one tier up from the Dayz, and for no additional charge, I had nothing to complain about. We went over existing damage and I took pictures of it. Then I got in the car and went to my hotel for the night.

The trip up today was a nonstop push for Aizuwakamatsu. It was supposed to snow starting in the evening, so the goal was to get up there by the afternoon. I made the same mistake that I did the last time; instead of merging onto the expressway towards Tsukuba (north), I merged onto the expressway towards Narita (south). My guess then, and now, was that the road is relatively new, and as such, the GPS didn't get the update, because my entry point on the expressway only had the option to go north, and did not warn me about the merge. So I wound up spending an extra 300 yen on tolls, which brought my total toll bill up to around 7300 yen ($65). By the time I got off the highway, I had to stop at a local McDonald's, because my legs were starting to annoy me. In a few days, I'll make a post about the car.

On my way to dinner tonight, I got stopped by a group of people who wanted to take a photo with me. This is actually the first time that this has happened. The last time I was here, I mostly stayed in cities, where there are plenty of 大きな外人 around to the point where it's a common sight. Maybe they're from an area where that isn't the case. Still, I was a good sport about it.

Tomorrow I'm moving into my new dorm. I'll also have to get food and linens. Here's to hoping that it all goes smoothly.

And finally, because this is Japan, an obligatory of course, this exists in Japan moment: Kit Kat-flavored Japanese sake.

-wp

About to leave

Tomorrow is the big day. I get on the plane and head to Japan. I still have that feeling of excitement and unease, and now that surreal feeling of oh, shit, it's happening is getting mixed in, especially the day before. I'm halfway through packing; the latter half comes tonight, when I secure the last of my electronics.

The car to take me to the airport comes at 0345 hrs tomorrow, and the flight takes off at 0915 hrs. I can't guarantee that there will be Wi-Fi on the plane. I can guarantee, however, that this blog will now be more active, especially as I'm settling in. I'm not going to bore you with exact details of everything I do, but I'll try to keep things entertaining.

But before I go, I want to say thank you ありがとうございます to everyone who provided me words of support leading up to this. I especially want to thank my totally awesome mother, Joanne, for assisting me in achieving my dream of studying abroad. There aren't a lot of [single] mothers out there that can do what she has done for me, and I am eternally grateful. It's a shame that we'll be apart, but at least now she has an excuse to conquer her fear of flying and come see me.

Bye, Connecticut. I'll miss you plenty. 行ってきます！

-wp

Back to the roots

Today I went back to visit my band teacher, Jeremy Taylor, at my high school for the last time before I leave for Japan. I brought him some lunch to, and I'm quoting him, "save [him] from school cafeteria food." Over lunch, I showed him some pictures of my trip to Japan and discussed my plans, and got him to determine whether the $250 soprano sax I bought off of Amazon wasn't broken (thankfully, it was not).

It was very nice seeing him again. It honestly felt like we hadn't seen each other in a matter of days. One of things that I've always enjoyed about him was his ability to come up with hilarious one-liners. He can make just about everything he says funny, and I hadn't laughed out loud like I did in a long time.

The school had remained about the same, save for the increased security, new TVs in the lobby, upgraded equipment in the recording studio, and some new instruments in the lockers. Even after five years (and man, does it feel like it), it all felt familiar. I had an interesting time in high school, and a lot of that time was spent in that band room. I may not have the chance to go back ever again, but I hope that whomever is in that band room now makes the most of their memories like I did.

I still play the saxophone, and want to continue playing in Japan. Before I visited, I was nervous about asking to join the wind ensemble at Aizu on account of my 下手な日本語. But Jeremy gave me some reassurance, just as he did before when I was in high school. That gave me the confidence boost that I needed; I'm going to reach out next week.

T-minus two weeks to the big hop.

-wp

Dry heaving with a stick

This past weekend, I was up in New Hampshire visiting relatives. While I was there, I figured that now would be a very good time to take up my cousin's offer. Her husband, Gerry, offered to teach me how to drive a car with a manual transmission, something that I have been trying to learn how to do but have had no car or nearby friend to teach me. It is my intention to own a car with a manual transmission when I'm in Japan, so now would be a perfect time to get the basics down.

Gerry took me to a secluded lake association, complete with twisty, hilly, partially-paved mountain roads. This was not my first time in a car with a manual transmission; I had been with two other people beforehand. My issue was getting the car going; I would release the clutch too quicky, and the car would stall. Before I made Gerry take the wheel and bring me back to his house, I had managed to get the car going from a stop on a flat plane with a bit of extra torque a couple of times. And then I had to work on the hill starts. That was where things were really getting out of hand.

My only regret was not taking motion sickness beforehand, even though I had the pills in the Mazda. Every jolt from stalling the car made this sickness worse. And there were plenty of stalls. It was a good thing that I had nothing to eat for lunch, because twice, I had to get out of the car and dry heave. I had underestimated my lack of experience from driving a stick and the true nature of the roads I was practicing on. But now, I felt like I had a better understanding of how to work a clutch.

I was allowed to take the car back to my aunt's that night, where I was staying. It was about a forty-minute drive (because New Hampshire), so I tanked up at the gas station down the street and set off. I stalled once leaving the gas station, and everything was fine as I took I-93 S towards Sutton. But as soon as I got off that exit ramp, things went wrong.

My nerves were really building up as I kept stalling at that stop sign. I lost track at 12 stalls, and was especially freaking out at the white smoke coming from underneath the hood. I finally managed to get the car moving again after stopping and counting out loud, but when I tried to move from the last stoplight later on, I stalled again. Right in front of a pickup truck. Which blared its horn at me in a sign of disapproval as I put my hazards on and the light went red again. But the guy wasn't a dick about it; he pulled up next to me and asked if everything was alright. I told him that I was new to a stick, and he understood. I've never had that happen to me before in any other state for any other reason. New Hampshire drivers are pretty chill in my book now.

The next morning, I took the car out for a drive again. I went up and down Routes 103 and 114 for a few miles without issue. Then I took a side road with a steep incline to work on my hill starts. This time, I only stalled seven times. (Progress!) After some more driving on some back roads, I went back to my aunt's farm, with just enough confidence to convince myself that I could do this in my own car in Japan. (Also, VW, if you're reading this, your "hill start assist" does not really do as advertised. But at least your ESC worked on the unpaved hills.)

That afternoon, I reached another milestone as I drove home with my mother. Even with all the hills, sticking to the posted speed limits managed to get me to 43 MPG in the Mazda just as we hit the New Hampshire-Vermont border, the highest it's ever been. I made it back to Old Saybrook in one drive, no stopping, all on half a tank, with a trip average of 40.6 MPG. (Only nine miles left for range when I made it to the pump.) I'm going to miss this car when I go to Japan. (I technically could take it with me, but it would cost about $4-5k after all said and done just to get it there.) 

Not bad for a 2.5L inline-four.

At least it will be waiting for me when I get home. Hope it doesn't mind the "affair."

-wp

Getting legal

The past few weeks, I've had to get my paperwork together for going to Japan. The university e-mailed me my Certificate of Eligibility, which is essentially a piece of paper proving that I'm heading over for a legitimate purpose. I had to take that with a visa application and my passport to the consulate in Boston to get my visa. The New York consulate is closer, but only covers Fairfield County.

The day I went up, we had a snowstorm. The plan was to drive, but after enough hemming and hawing from Mom, I ended up driving to New London instead to take a train, as there were none that would stop back in Old Saybrook by midnight. Now, there was a plus to this. The Japanese consulate is in the Federal Reserve Building, which is conveniently located next to South Station. That, unfortunately, was the only plus.

No photos of the consulate allowed, so here's my security badge.

Boston weather is worse than Connecticut weather. I also did not bring my jacket, so needless to say, I was freezing outside. In addition, I booked a large gap of time in between train trips, and ended up not needing it. I ended up wasting time in the station for over four hours. There was a CVS and plenty of restaurants in South Station, but nothing else.

Humans weren't the only ones seeking refuge from the storm.

I drove up to Boston the next week to pick up my visa. It was actually easier and cheaper for me to drive there and back compared to taking the train. Plus, I prefer the road over the rails. There's something about driving that brings me calm, even with all the people out there that don't use their blinkers when changing lanes.

The Federal Reserve Building, from the road

I also had to send in a form to receive a "yakkan shoumei" for my anxiety pills so that I could take them through immigration. I had to book a quick appointment with my doctor [which was during, you guessed it, another snowstorm] to get the prescription and form for that filled out. $60 in postage and one week later, I got the form through e-mail, which should be good enough for my trip.

I had booked the plane ticket beforehand, so I am all set for the actual trip. I also found out that I got into the dorm on campus, so I have a place to stay. The only things I need to figure out are the car and the week that I have between arriving and moving in. Everything else is going according to keikaku, and now that I'm done at my internship, I'll have greater flexibility in fixing any issues that pop up.

-wp

Graduation

Yesterday, after four and a half years, I graduated from the University of New Haven. I went out to dinner with some of the family afterwards, and my cousin turned to me and said, So how does it feel to be a college graduate?

My answer: kind of weird.

The whole day felt kind of surreal in a "wow-I-guess-I'm-an-adult-now" kind of way. My relatives from New Hampshire had to back out at the last minute due to both a medical issue and a rainstorm that left ice on the roads, so it was just the two of us. Joanne and I got there quite early, and she got me a Class of 2015 (yes, you read that right, and no, I'm not) t-shirt and sweatshirt. We parted ways so that I could check in. I met my friends from the College of Engineering upstairs, and we sat together throughout the ceremony.

The commencement ceremony was about two hours long and went without any relative hitches. Nothing really stood out about the event. The speaker was a Malaysian oil pipeline service exec with a BS and MBA from UNH who led his company to the top of the field. The undergraduate student council president talked about Bartels and the graduate student council president talked about Google. The graduates got their degree placards in a single-file motion, stopping before and after the stage for a picture. The end. Afterwards, the graduates filed out together, and then everybody pushed their way out the main doors at once. It took a while for my mother to get out, and I ended up getting separated from my friends.

After a quick visit to a professor, I got my picture taken with Joanne. It had to have been the first time in years that we had our picture together. Looking at it now moves me a bit. It felt like yesterday I was a cool college kid heading to the beach on the mo', and now I've actually become an adult. I looked at my high school graduation photos and compared the two. We've both aged; just noticably, but the changes are there. That was almost five years ago, and it makes me think about just how much life has changed. One of the people in those photos, my grandfather, is now gone. I still miss him, even as the one year anniversary of his death is next week. I know he would have wanted to come. I just wonder if he would've been chewing gum in those photos as well.

Me at my high school graduation, 6.24.2011

Me at my college graduation, 1.16.2016

But enough waxing poetic about my family. What about my college life?

Well, it was definitely something. Two bachelors of science degrees with an overall GPA of 2.94. (The CS degree was a 2.85, and the CEn degree a 2.90.) If I had to redo anything, it would be all of sophomore year. I took a laid back, oh-I'm-at-my-dorm-way-off-campus-so-I-can-now-turn-my-brain-off approach to my studies. That did not work out so well for my GPA. I was able to catch up on most of the knowledge as I progressed, but hindsight can only be so useful.

I met a guy at an afterparty for a band I saw the other week, and he was transferring to UNH as a CS major. It felt weird as I was giving advice to him, like we were on some mountaintop overlooking the adjacent prairie, and I had my arm around his shoulder with a large grey beard and was saying in a raspy old man voice, Behold, my son! All of this you see I shall pass unto you. I gave him some advice on what he should do and how. Sometimes I wish I could pass this onto my younger self, about to enter his freshman year of college. Maybe things would be different if I could. But then again, I feel comfortable with the way things are now.

I made plenty of good friends in school, and received generous support from the greatest single working mother in all of history. I've got a bright future ahead of me, as I prepare to take the next leap in my life to go get my master's on the other side of the planet. I tried things, failed at them, tried again, and figured out how to make them just passable, which to my surprise, happens a lot more than expected. Here's to hoping that my master's thesis is a bit easier.

A decent quality school, or as the kids like to say, "some good shit right there"

Thanks for everything, UNH. I'll try to repay the favor someday. Or at least pay it forward. You get the idea.

-wp