The Prologue: Twelve Days

I'm sitting here in my parents' house, my home when college isn't in session, and it's twelve days until I leave for Japan. I've been counting down the days since I got home, and my departure has slowly gone from being about sixty-seven days away to twelve. Twelve is a lot smaller than sixty-seven, but the days are still crawling by....

From September 2009 until July 2010, I'll be studying at a university in Nagoya. Even though the school year will end in July, right now my plan is to stay in Japan and work until the end of August so I can get a flight straight to my college at the start of my home university's school year. That way I can save maybe $200-400, by not flying back home for a month and then flying back to college. (Hey, I'm a poor college student. Saving even $200 helps.)

Lately my nights have gone like this. I reread the following portion of an email for maybe the fiftieth time:

Details of your accommodation, including your room
number, will be notified by the beginning of
September.

I look at the calendar to verify that it is the beginning of September, and then I spend the rest of the night refresh my email inbox every half hour or so. (I should also mention there's not a lot do where my parents live.)

I don't know if I'll keep this blog going during my time in Japan. I used to be the kind of person that would spend hours and hours on LiveJournal, typing out entries about the insignificance details of my life. I've slowly been steering away from writing about my life over the past couple of years. That includes my personal journal, too -- I stopped writing in it a little over a year ago. I became embarrassed to write down my feelings, because then I could go back and read how I used to think and see how wrong I was. But this past year didn't go too well (when considering my emotional well-being), and so I thought I'd better start writing again this year, especially since I'll be in a foreign country for so long.

I was also hesitant to even attempt to keep a blog about my trip because I don't want to be another story where the gaijin who knows a smidge of Japanese goes to study in or travel around Japan, says, "Wow, it's so different here," and then goes back home. There are already so many blogs like that out there right now (no offense to them), and I don't think I could bring anything new to the table. Also, my year in Japan isn't just a study abroad experience. This is also my chance to spend time with my long-distance boyfriend. We're planning out our post-grad future together, and right now that future includes living in Japan. So, living in Japan for a year is testing my ability to live in Japan long-term, in a way. It's a chance for me to prepare for my future, I guess. I don't know if what I'll have to say are things people will want to read about. I don't feel comfortable writing about my relationship with my boyfriend, and without that, my blog will probably be white noise against other blogs.

Well, we'll see what happens. :)