Reaching Osaka University

Usually it takes about some 7-8 hours to get from Indonesia to Japan. However, MEXT somehow managed to book a ticket with a layover at Denpasar (Bali) and so I had to spend a total of around 14 hours on the trip. In addition to that, it was a weekend and the airport was awfully crowded, I ended up spending almost an hour queuing for the first security checkpoint.

After the long, excruciating flight, I finally reached Kansai International Airport! ヤッタ！ The joy didn’t last too long though as it seemed like it was a 入学 season, many of them coming to Japan were new students and the line was insane at the immigration. As new students are required to process the 在留カード (residence card) there, it took a while for every person who has a student visa and I ended up spending more than an hour there. Oh, you’d have to show your MEXT certificate and for normal students some kind of certificate of eligibility which is different from the one if you’re a MEXT scholar.

Once done with the card, we head to the university by bus (Airport Limousine) to 蛍池 (hotarugaike) or Itami airport and go to Shibahara station (柴原駅）by monorail, which took about 2000 yen in total. It’s also possible to go by train but then it is less convenient when you have a lot of luggaeg with you.

Upon reaching the University, we had to firstly come to the office and receive some papers regarding the entrance ceremony and also regarding living in Osaka and etc etc. Lastly… off to the dorms!

The dorms we are given is called 国際交流会館 (kokusaikouryuukaikan) or International House in English. there are several parts to the dorms, the A and B wings, where researchers and I guess graduate students stay, and also C wing where I will be spending the next 12 months in.

Alright then, gonna sign out now, haven’t updated this blog in a long time, guess i’d want to sum up my first semester in my next entry, see you!