Getting Settled

The last three days have been REALLY busy; I've been running all around Tokyo and Yokohama trying to get settled. Happily, I'm pretty sure I'm about done with that part. Now that I've got a phone and my room and a bank account and I'm all moved in, I can finally focus on school orientation and exploring my surrounding areas.

Yesterday and today were our first days of orientation. Inga and I are taking a really neat route to school -- you can see Tokyo Tower in the distance as we approach campus.

I took this picture on the way to school this morning!

Yesterday was our day to try to open bank accounts; this involved getting lost in Shinjuku on our way to finding the bank I opened an account with... On the bright side, we did find a neat building, so I decided to take a picture of it.

Isn't it NEAT??

The bank account was opened and then we decided to go find the English-speaking cell phone store in Shibuya, home of the world's biggest crosswalk, where I promptly tripped over the curb (LIKE I DO). Shibuya is probably the worst place in the world, by the way. A million billion people and there is like NO sign of what should be a large-sized cell phone store. So instead of buying a cell phone yesterday afternoon, I took a picture with Hachiko.

Such a good dog.

Today after orientation, Inga and I were determined to finally buy cell phones. We got off the train and went into the mall at our station (a mall whose magical properties include having EVERYTHING EVER including PEANUT BUTTER), and, after some grocery shopping and a stop at the 100 yen store, Inga's attempts at buying a phone were shot down on account of her still being underage by Japanese law (she is one month away from turning 20). So we brought our purchases back home and went back into the shopping area by the station a few hours later and hit up the Softbank store in hopes of my being able to acquire an iPhone. Two hours later, I did, and we're currently planning our weekend. Tomorrow we're off to the Ueno Zoo and then hitting the Tokyo National Museum! Exciting stuff.

Also for anyone who has been wanting to talk to me via Skype chat/video call/any other means of communication, it is now a lot easier to get in contact with me now that I have a phone. By all means, please contact me!