Japan Diaries: Day 1

ZenZen
Jul 30, 2017
4 min read

"おはようございます" (Good Morning) was the first thing I heard when I woke up suddenly in the plane. The flight attendants were waking us up for breakfast. I smiled and I lifted up my window shade and saw the beautiful sun rise as we soared up in the clouds. I checked my phone which still had Thailand's local time so pretty soon my phone will automatically switch timezones to match Japan's. For breakfast I decided to go for a pork and rice set because I had a bad experience with egg on the plane last year and decided to go for something new. Was super satisfied with taste likewise and almost finished everything! That's just how good it was and Thai Airways is honestly always improving at their services. Then later as we almost reached Japan we were given our Custom's Declaration and Arrival Cards to fill in. I was mistaken as a Japanese therefore was given the Japanese version of the cards to which I requested an English version because my level isn't that skilled yet haha. I filled it in like so and then sat on the plane a bit more as the pilot announced that we were to land in Japan soon! I was excited and took lots of photos of the beautiful Sea of Japan. I can't believe I've reached my destination alone. I can't wait to meet everyone at APU.

We landed and then I got a call from Andrea, a friend who I was supposed to send off but because our flights clashed on the exact same day we couldn't say our final goodbyes. But she called when she reached Korea for her transit and since I was in Japan we fell on the same timezones and that was the best part! I had to pass a high tech security scanning session and then immigration once again. I claimed my baggage hella quick this time unlike last time where my bag took FOREVER to reach. Finally when I walked out to the meeting area I saw the APU TAs (Teach Assistants) in charge of this year's ACE Camp. I did not know who they were but later greeted them. One of the TA's (later I got to know her as Emika) where so nice as she said since they are still waiting to pick up someone else who was also on my flight (which I didn't know at all) I could grab something to eat at 7-11 and so I did. Her "いってらしゃい！ " (Take care!) warmed me up inside and I instantly felt welcomed. I went and bought a drink and a snack and headed back.

While waiting for the bus stop I hadn't engaged in a conversation with literally anyone and felt too awkward to talk which is unusual since I am a huge extrovert. Suddenly a girl came up to me and introduced herself as Isabella and she was the one who was on the same flight as me! We instantly clicked through the topic of K-pop and literally chit chatted on the 2 hour bus ride to APU. Later we reached and met two more TA's Devi and Game. They showed us around and guided us into APU. I was shocked since APU was literally in the outskirts of the mountains and picked at such location. The campus was HUGE and I was dying of excitement. We were guided to the AP house where another TA, Allison said we could chill in the lobby for a while. That's where I met the Vietnamese squad: Trang, Nhi, and Ha. How we clicked? Mystic Messenger and K-pop once again. We were shown to our rooms which were called Seminar rooms. I opened my door and found that it was only me alone. My other roommate who's in the ACE camp as well had yet to arrive.

There were a total of 4 double decked beds and I was told that the group of Japanese summer students will join us later on so I decided to take the last bed. The AC seemed to be broken down and it was just so hot. I immediately took a bath and rested where I finally met my roommate "Nakla" from the Indonesian squad. I went to the convenience store "Co-Op" and bought us some water only to find her asleep. I decided to chill at Isabella's room but it seems that she and everyone else were napping. And so I decide to nap as well lol. We were woken up by Allison who called us for Dinner. Our dinner was quite nice and we chatted and talked. We then later in the evening were beginning the opening program by Mrs. Atsue Pingleton, the person who's been answering all of our

Emails and sending us info about the Camp this entire time. We introduced ourselves and then gave a little speech on what we expect to achieve within this camp. I clearly remember saying: "I know this camp's a week long, but let's give it all we've got and make this camp memorable." It was finally bed time and we were all happy, tomorrow will be filled with more surprises!!