Nagoya Update

Greetings all!

My sincere apologies at not getting back to you all sooner; but I've seen more of Japan in the last 24 hours than I did by airplane. Yesterday was very busy: I woke up in Osaka, had breakfast and walked around the city a bit, then got on the train and traveled about 2 hours to Nagoya with 4 other people (including a guy who lives upstairs from me), and moved into my apartment! I even met one of my roommates before I got inside! He was on his way to the store to get some groceries.

My room in the apartment is one of the larger ones, 6 tatami mats (about 9x12), but doesn't have a closet. It makes up for it by having a window on one wall, and a sliding glass door to the balcony on another. So for the summertime at least, that will be very nice. My apt is on the 5th floor (hence the #503) of 8, located right along a main road, two blocks from the subway station, two blocks from the local gov't building, and about 6 blocks from Seiyu - the Japanese Wal-Mart (literally). So we definitely have a good location! The only downside is that the traffic goes 24 hours a day, and is pretty noisy. My roommates, Alwen and Devon, are both pretty cool; Alwen is from New Zealand and has been here since January, and Devon is from Chicago and had been here since March. Devon is actually originally from the Cities (Wayzata, I think) and graduated from Macalaster last year.

I'm doing pretty well settling in; I took a *nap* last evening - 6:30pm to 1am - but slept again from 3am to 8am. Hopefully I'll be adjusted by the time I start orientation on Monday!

I have more stories to tell, but I'm paying 400 yen an hour at the International centre, and hopefully I'll have internet in about a week. But no worries Mom, I'm writing it all down! ("No worries is something that Alwen says a lot, along with "Good on ya!")

I love you all, and I'll write again as soon as I can!

Always,
Thom