The first days in Yokohama🇯🇵

Good evening – or for those of you in Germany, rather good afternoon,

it's currently 10 PM for me, and since a lot has happened since the last post was completed, I thought I would write the next one today.

Last time, we ended with my arrival at the dorm and the related tour of the place I will call home for the next few months. After this tour, I first went to my room, bathroom, and the small kitchen to rest for a few hours. Because after almost 29 hours of travel time door-to-door, I was quite exhausted despite the relatively good amount of sleep I managed to get on the plane.

Additionally, I unpacked my belongings and realized that while I have a clothes rack, I have no hangers and a hot plate but no kitchen utensils. Therefore, I've added an item to my to-do list:

⚪️ Buy household items

After I had recharged my energy a bit, I looked for the nearest supermarket to buy some groceries.

While my dorm offers breakfast and dinner from Monday to Saturday, I wasn't sure if I would get something vegetarian there, so I preferred to play it safe. I made my way to a supermarket 20 minutes away on foot. It turned out there’s one right around the corner, which Google Maps did not show. 😅

I walked to the supermarket and successfully completed a small shopping trip with my dear friend, the translator, which included a kitchen knife and the most important item – toilet paper.

As described in the picture above, I realized on my first evening in the dorm that even though the variety was quite limited for me, I could still get dinner and, as I was to find out the next morning, breakfast without meat or fish.

Now for dinner, when I eat at the dorm, I have rice with miso soup and soy sauce, and for breakfast, a slice of wheat toast with chocolate spread. Besides the food, the meals here are always a good place to connect with the other international students. So, on the first evening, I also met a few very nice people. It was funny to observe how on the first day, there was initially a separation between male and female identified individuals. Luckily, this did not last long.

The next day, Wednesday, there was a small organizational event for the dorm in the morning. Afterwards, I went with Rika and Selenee, two students also doing a semester abroad in Yokohama, to the department store right next to the dorm to buy a few things for our rooms.

After we dropped off our stuff in the dorm, we went for a little lunch. On the way to our actual destination, we passed by the sushi chain Sushiro and spontaneously decided to stop there. Unfortunately, my first order was an eggplant soup that was fish-based. So, as a second order, I played it safe and just ordered plain noodles and ate them with soy sauce. In the end, I found cucumber maki, which were really delicious. I also enjoyed and drank a lot of the free tea they offered.

After the last international students arrived on Wednesday, Thursday was the Orientation Day at the university in Yokohama. We started at the dorm at 8:15 AM and all went to the university together by bus. There, we had to wait briefly in a sort of cafeteria before we were taken to a large room where a seating plan and three nice staff members from the International Office awaited us. For the next hour and a half, we spent time dealing with organizational matters that were supposed to prepare us for our time at the university.

After the official part with the university was finished, we were divided into groups and met our buddies. These are students from Japan who will assist us during our stay. Brief introductions were made, and then we began a tour of the campus. Just like during the dorm tour, it quickly became clear that there were some communication difficulties. However, it was very nice and exciting to explore the campus. I also learned that on a clear day, Mount Fuji can be seen from the university grounds.

After the tour, there was a welcome party with food, drinks, and small games where we got to know each other a bit better. I also got to give my gifts – Katjes – to my buddies. The welcome party was seamlessly followed by a Japanese placement test to determine which Japanese course we should take or can take. Since I don't know much Japanese besides