Author: Christopher

A brief update, sorry for the lack of Internet-connectedness.

Last Wednesday, I finally moved out of South Carolina. My classmate and trackmate Alex was awesome in helping me move from one storage place to another. It’s amazing how much “stuff” you can amass in a few years. I didn’t realize I had so much. There were a few things I “donated” too since I really didn’t have much room left. After a long day of packing, I took Alex and I out for a good round of sushi at Camon and headed on my way up North. Leaving at about 7:30pm, I made it to somewhere in the backwoods of Virginia and caught a bed for the night before finishing my journey up to Connecticut arriving the next afternoon.

The next few days were spent catching up on work related tasks and visiting family. This weekend has been spent mostly with my girlfriend and her family – saying goodbyes, making plans for the future, and trying to take in a bit of everyone before I leave. Right now, it’s Monday March 12th. I’m sitting at a coffee shop in New Haven, CT getting a bit of free Internet and quiet before I leave. It’s the first time in this long week that I’ve just been able to relax and power through tasks I’ve had stacked up.

At this point, I think most of the odds and ends of moving overseas have been taken care of. It’s amazing how many companies don’t know how to handle someone movie overseas. For now, I’ve been putting my parents address for those types of places and proudly putting Japan for companies who have the ability to operate internationally. Right now, I think its about 2 out of 30 total address changes I’ve had to go through in the past week.

I think this may be the third of fourth time I write one of those “Hey, I’m getting up and moving” type emails to my friends. Except this time around, the network of friends that I share has expanded and the email is more of a “Hey, I’m getting up and moving to the other side of the world” type email. In the coming months, I will certainly miss my family and friends.

So I will be sending out “the email” shortly. I’m going to expand it to the few friends I’ve met through this blog as well. I know there are readers that I don’t know yet too. So, for those interested more in what this blog is truly about, get ready because the real-deal starts in about 4 days. I started this blog to be about Finding Japan knowing full well that the first few months were prep. The next 18 months will be the main course.

Japan finds me in about 96 hours.

This week has probably been the most difficult week for me in Columbia. Not because classes are difficult. In fact, all of my classes with the exception of my Japanese language classes are already finished. Rather, I think the reality of leaving the country for a year and a half is hitting me. I’ve grown so much since beginning this program and know I will only grow more after experiencing Japan for an extended period of time. But there are still a few things that are on my mind:

My family will be difficult to see. Both of my sisters are in college still and can’t really afford to travel too far. My mom and dad will most likely come out and see me, but I’m not sure at which point they will – or even if I can get my dad on the airplane. LOL.

Dealing with administrative things in Japan may be difficult. I’m still in the process of finding an apartment, I need to open a bank account, I need to get a phone, I need to get an alien registration card, etc, etc. It all seems like a lot right now and I know these things will be even more difficult with my lack of fluency in Japanese.

In particular, I’m not looking forward to being so far away from my girlfriend for that period of time. Even apart, I felt like I have grown so much closer to her and feel awful being apart from her even now. I’m looking forward so much to being back already, and I haven’t even left yet.

So with all of these things, I still look forward to going, though a bit hesitantly at this point. Most things I have done in my life have been relatively safe or predictable at this point, so this whole thing is truthfully, a bit scary right now. I’m hanging on tight at the moment.

Sorry for the lack of video and audio lately. I’m preparing for my move to Japan and tying up a bunch of last minute things like taxes, insurance, blah blah. I did want to let everyone know that I have come up with a pretty neat video project that will make the videos a bit more entertaining. Rather than post some boring video about Columbia (which is where I am now until March 16th), I’m collecting material that will make for a more interesting “watch” or “listen” depending on the format.

On a “leaving for Japan” note, everything is now in place. The airplane tickets have been purchased, my visa has finally arrived from the consulate in Atlanta, and I am officially admitted to Waseda. Please stay tuned, more to come after the next few weeks of craziness subside.