Second post from Japan

I guess I'll write something here now.

I've gathered some random thoughts that I've written over the last couple of days, just remembering what the first few days were like.

For the first couple of days I was extremely jet-lagged. I arrived in Japan in the morning, and a whole day went on. Everything felt surreal.
I am so happy that Yamauchi-san came to greet me at the airport.

He guided me to my dormitory - a long way with buses and trains and everything. 

Thereafter he took me to a restaurant close to the Aobadai station. Ever since then I think I have had rice for maybe 90 % of my meals, and the rest have been with noodles. A bit of an adjustment for the western stomach.

There are so many people on the train. Even late in the evening. Though the train is very punctual and everything works fine, and it only costs us like 21.000 yen (1400 SEK) for 6 months (with student discount). We can then travel between two stations for free. It’s called a commuter pass.

Many people sleep on the train and it is very quiet inside. One really annoying thing about the Stockholm subway is that it is very noisy during Friday nights and other party nights. Everyone is talking on their phone and talking louder and louder so as to overpower the next group of people talking to each other. Here phones are not allowed in some seats. You are also asked to keep your phone in silent mode and refer from speaking on it while on the train.

In my laboratory we are two YSEP students, me and Vesa-Ville from Finland. We will be working on somewhat related subjects.
Most people are very polite and happy here. The people from our laboratory (The Fujita Laboratory at O-okayama Campus) are very kind and include us in most of the activities. Many days everyone goes to lunch together, and we have joined them for a few activities.

Last week they were going to celebrate some people graduating and getting their Masters degree. So we all went out to a restaurant and thereafter some went on to a karaoke place.

That was a night to remember.

Another example of how happy and friendly everyone is, is the one night Homestay orientation at O-okayama campus at TITECH. So many happy families with their children and friends. The people who make this homestay possible is the Hippo club. They are people all over the world who are interested in language exchange. So everyone there was very happy to hear everything you had to share - and it was very easy to ask them any questions.

The Homestay is actually this weekend, on Oct 5-6. Hopefully I'll get some new pictures and post them on my Tumblr.

Will probably write something on here as well.