Preparing for Japan

Life is so crazy. I still don't believe that I'm going to be in Japan in 18 days. I feel as though this is a dream and I am the fool who has confused it with reality. I'm in the final stages of preparation and its nerve-wrecking. What if I don't get things done in time? What if I find that I am unprepared or have forgotten something critical? What do I do if something goes wrong abroad? All of these what if's with no reassurance. I'm going to be living in a country that I have never been to before for 4 1/2 months... that alone is scary. Right now, I'm waiting for my Certificate of Eligibility (COE) to return from japan so that I can get my student visa so that I can actually enter the country. To get my student visa, I still need to apply, but can't until I receive the original copy of my COE. Then I need to have an interview with the Consolate of Japan in Denver and then wait five days to get it... I'm scared that I won't get it done in time.

I'm also waiting for my loan to come through. I especially need that money now that I found out that I still owe CSU money, because I didn't get my COF fund this semester. Since I'm not going to be going to school in Colorado, I'm not eligible. I have a bit of money saved up, but not enough to let me rest easier at night.

I also discovered a virus on my computer and I need to get that taken care of before I leave. I also need to do my taxes, apply for FAFSA, figure out my cell phone situation for while I'm in Japan, figure out where I'm staying the first night there, figure out the Shinkansen (bullet train), get the photo for my International Student Identification Card (ISIC), find out where I'm living when I get back, try to find out what to do if I get jury duty notice while I'm away... and stay sane... It isn't working.

There are so many things to do. I wish I had more information. I wish things would go faster so that I could get them out of the way, such as waiting for my COE to arrive. Waka Koyama, my contact at my Japanese university, said that it should arrive by the 16th or 17th. I want it now. My nerves are heightened by the infamous bad luck of Friday the 13th and I'm sick of doing prep work for this trip. I just want to be there, settled in and experience a different side of life and be forever changed by it. This is experience is worth it, I just wish it wasn't such a pain in the ass to get ready for.

On the bright side. I did yet another practice pack and all of my stuff fits this time! But how much does it weigh? I bought a scale to try and figure it out, but who knows? Also, Christina is talkinging to her host parents to see if I might also be able to stay that first night since I'm having such trouble contacting my hotel in Yamagata about a late-check-in. Also, she and I were thinking of rooming in a townhouse with two of her friends when I get back for only $300 a month. It's just a bit far from campus and my two jobs being that its on Shields and Horsetooth. We'll see how everything goes.

I'm getting sentimental now and looking at all of the things I'm going to miss and realizing that when I get back, a lot of my comfort may disappear into the mists of foggy memory. A turning point of my life is breathing at my door and in 18 days I close my eyes and open it, hoping it won't be too feral.