1st Day on Campus

So Tuesday was our first day going to our designated campuses. My team of 7 went to Hitotsubashi and the other team of 8 went to International Christian University (Just because they go to this school does not make them christian.) So it took about 40 min to arrive their by train I think. Everybody in Tokyo uses the train to go from one place to another in Tokyo. Tokyo is really big and I haven't even left Tokyo since I've arrived in Tokyo 5 days ago. Anyway, I went out with my friend Kylan as we split up into groups of about two. Kylan had actually gone to this school a year ago when he did study abroad for UC Berkeley. We started out at the dining hall where Kylan saw someone that he had met before. The two were talking for about 30-45 min. This was a really cool experience as this was my first real interaction with a Japanese college student.

After this conversation we went back inside the dining hall because I was still hungry and wanted to eat more chicken. So we both went inside and I got more chicken but instead of rice I got french fries! :) I went up the cash register and put down my notebook to get out all of my japanese coins. When I finally found enough yen (Japanese money), I went over to get some water. It was at this point that a Japanese student came up to me and handed me my notebook as a I had left it at the cash register. I then responded with the correct response, Arigato Gozimasu. (That means "thank you" in Japanese... haha) So Kylan said that we should go sit with him so that's exactly what we did. At first, talking to Tomita Kouhei wasn't going so well because he couldn't understand everything I was saying but then Kylan ended up translating which was really cool. (Kylan studied Japanese at UC Berkeley). Kylan was able to tell him about the Christian Ministry that we are working with in Tokyo and why we pray before our meal. He said that he gives thanks for his food before he eats because the food, such as chicken, use to be an animal. This was a really cool opportunity to tell him why we pray and who we pray to. Also, while talking to him I realized I had many similarities with Tomita Kouhei. We were both from small towns of about the same population, we both travel about 6 hours to go to our University, we both use the train to get back home, we both like to run, we both like to run around the track, and we have both wanted to run in a marathon in the city we attend college but never got the chance. So I thought this was really cool so I asked if he would ever like to go running with me around the track. He said yes and gave me his email. I'm really excited to meet him again next week if it's possible!