頑張れ私！Good Luck Me!: Food and More

God where to begin. This day has pretty much been amazing. Although I only got about 5 hours of sleep, not consecutive, that did not stop me from enjoying this day to the fullest.

After waking up at 6ish, I went to breakfast around 7. And it was wonderful. Egg bread, tuna bread, somen, miso, and rice balls:

Everyone at my table got seconds:

After breakfast I took a short walk around Ikebukuro with two guys in my program. It wasn't even 8am yet, though the weather was humid and hot. We didn't go very far, but it was a nice walk. I saw places such as the Beer Saurus bar (which hopefully I will get to visit soon). When I first got here the neighborhood surprised me a bit. I was expecting big wide streets, but the roads around my hotel are small and cute. It doesn't really feel like I'm in a metropolis of 13 million.

After the walk we came back to the lobby at 8:30 to head off to Waseda for orientation with the Waseda student helpers. And I got to ride on my first rush hour, overly packed train. The whole experience was comical; so many people squeezing into such a tight place. I couldn't help but laugh. At Waseda the first orientation session began. Our directors went over basic information, and since I barely had any sleep it was hard to stay completely aware. Thankfully I got to get outside for a bit and explore Waseda with our Japanese helpers (I don't know what else to call them at the moment lol, they are members of one of the circles specifically for foreigners) and some other students which was nice. I also took my Japanese placement exam today (which could have been better, but wasn't horrible).

For dinner we went to this "Italian" restaurant called Saizeriya. Pretty much everyone was exhausted. So my table was a bit slap-happy, laughing at the stupidest things. It was so much fun. The meal itself was six courses (salad, tater-tots and mini hot dog things, chicken wings, cheesy rice, pasta, and tiramisu). Needless to say there was a lot of left over food. Waiters kept bringing out thing, but no one was eating since we were all full. But the meal was already paid for by our program. We couldn't believe how much food there was:

After eating way too much, and about to pass out from a lack of sleep, I was ready to crash. But instead of going back to our hotel most of us decided to check out a small local matsuri (festival) taking place at a shrine. This was my first festival and I was pretty excited. My tiredness quickly faded away. There where stall with food, games, and dancing. A couple of us (myself included) decided to join in. We didn't really know the steps, but we sorta caught on. Basically everyone dances in a large circle around this stage thing (I don't know the name) where music plays. I felt a little out of place, not really knowing what I was doing, but I'm so glad I decided to join in. So far it has probably been my favorite experience in Japan. For a couple of songs a few of us awkwardly danced around. I guess it's my first experience of being a part of a group in Japan with Japanese people. I've heard that it's very rare for a foreigner to truly be accepted as a part of the community. Even though it was just dancing, for those few minutes I somewhat felt connected to everyone else there. I wasn't just an onlooker, but I, and a few friends, were participating. And I think we were the only foreigners who were dancing. It's a small thing, but it was nice to feel somewhat as a part of that group for a short time. An older Japanese man, who was sitting by the circle watching the dance, complimented us on our dancing and gave us a free drink. I was not expecting that at all, so it made me really happy. And before we left the matsuri, one of the Japanese ladies who was also dancing came up to us and complimented our dancing as well. That was really an amazing experience. I'm sorta babbling. Anyway I hope this makes some sense.