One Day More

In less than 24 hours I will be on a plane over the Atlantic Ocean en route to Prague, and it still feels like I’m in a dream and that I’ll actually wake up tomorrow and be back at New Paltz. I can’t believe how lucky I am to get to experience a semester in the Czech Republic and I’m hoping to make the most of it. Most of my last day in the US was spent packing because I’m such a procrastinator but once I got started it wasn’t too difficult. However, I must say, the fact that my checked bag is under 50 lbs is probably a Christmas miracle. Along with that bag I’m bringing 1 carry on and 1 backpack with me to last 4 months. I tried to pack as logically as possible but there were some things I just couldn’t not bring. As excited as I am, I’m definitely nervous too. This is the farthest I’ve gone & the longest I’ve ever been gone for but I know it will be okay. I had a job in Colorado this summer on a ranch and when I boarded that plane I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I just went with the flow of things and it turned out to be the most amazing summer of my life so if I can keep the same attitude in Prague I know it’s going to be as great as I’ve always dreamed it would be. Wish me luck!

-Paige

♫Tokyo, I’m on my way♫ Wait… I’m here!!!

First of all, I have to say that Japanese Vending Machines and Toilets are incredible. I know that’s a weird way to start off, but they really caught my attention.

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I’m FINALLY here!!! It was pretty surreal saying goodbye to my parents at the airport (with my mom crying the whole time), and I thought it would sink in once I stepped off the plane, but it really still feels like I’m in a dream. My friend picked me up at Narita airport on September 1st with her mom and one of her super tiny puppies.

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They were kind enough to treat me to Sushi on my first day in Japan, and let me just say that we have GOT to get some Conveyor Belt Sushi places in New York. It’s basically a dollar a plate and it’s amazing I really don’t know why we don’t have these things back in the States.

kaiten zushi

sushiiiiii

I was lucky enough to relax and catch up for couple of days before I went to another friend’s house in the city of Nakano, right next to the campus I’ll be taking classes at. Naturally, we went and visited the campus, and it was incredible.

meiji 1

meiji 2

meiji 3

I honestly didn’t expect it to be so nice and HUGE. We explored the building and my friend showed me what classes were where, where to go if I had any questions, and so on. Then we went into town, walked around and did some window shopping.

nakano 1

nakano 2

nakano 3

A few days later, I went to Shibuya and met up with one of my best friends from High School. She took me to all kinds of different places and stores around the city and it was so incredible. I had been to Shibuya once before, but I didn’t really get to do anything. This time, we went to the Hachiko statue, all kinds of stores, and even took some Purikura!

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(They make your eyes HUGE in these things)

After a few days of practice, I think I’ve gotten a better hang of the trains than I thought I would. Here the ticket costs depends on the distance, and you have to adjust the fare if you have to transfer. There’s something pretty similar to New York’s Metro card, but I don’t know much about it yet. Hopefully after I move in they can answer the questions I have about it.

Being a New Yorker in a place like Tokyo can be pretty strange, with how incredibly friendly the people are and how safe the city is. I thought it would be hard to get around without my smartphone or the map applications on it, but it’s much easier to ask someone for directions here than it is in New York, at least for me. That plus people leaving their bags and items unattended is definitely the biggest culture shock I’ve experienced so far. That being said, it’s not a bad one.

Today my friend who lives in Kichijoji, a few stations away from my dorm in Izumi, picked me up and took me to her house (I’m really lucky to have so many great friends here already). She said there’s a bunch of restaurants in town so we’re gonna go look now. It’s only, or rather, already, been a week since I got here, and I’ve been loving every minute of it apart from the muggy weather. I have a few more days before I move into my dorm and start orientation!!!

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Departure

Before I left, I was really excited to come to Australia. I spent forever planning my trip. I took a detour before arriving at University. That detour took months of planning, but it was well worth it. I traveled along the east coast of Australia for about 10 days with my dad. I will get into my awesome trip in my next blog. The feeling of leaving the United States for longer than a few hours by myself was interesting. It wasn’t scary or nervous, but a weird feeling of the unknown. I didn’t know how I was going to like it, if I would make friends, if my classes would be hard, if I would just sit in my room all day, or if I would love it and want to stay there. But the unknown is what made it exciting. If I didn’t know how it was going to be, then how could I think it was going to be bad.As cliche as this sounds, the hardest part of leaving, was saying, “See you in 8 months” to my friends at New Paltz and “See you in 6 months” to my friends and family back home. I would see my family and friends often, but my summer was cut in half. I didn’t see some friends as much as I wanted to, but I know we will still remain friends. Hugging my immediate family bye was the hardest, especially my Mom; I didn’t want to see her cry because of me. But I knew the experience would be worth it. Anybody even slightly thinking about Studying abroad for any amount of time, I say go for it! Or at least look into it, because it could change your life.

Backpacking the Balkans

Before I arrived in Prague on September 4, I decided to take a month long backpacking trip through the Balkans (Greece, Albania, Montenegro, and Croatia). I had never explored this part of Europe before and only had a basic idea of what it might be like from my high school mythology course and silly Hollywood movies like “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” and dare I say it, “Taken.” Well over the past month I learned that there is much more to the Greek islands than donkeys and beautiful sunsets, and Albania is one of the most interesting countries in Europe with the best hidden beaches, Montenegro has the most stunning landscape, and Croatia has some very wonderful people.

I have spent time in the UK, lived in Central Europe for quite some time, backpacked western Europe , but something about visiting where it all started seemed to be major piece of the puzzle I was missing. Walking through the ancient city of Delphi, where people would pilgrimage from Egypt, Persia, Athens, all over the ancient world, was mind blowing, I couldn’t even wrap my head around how incredible it was.

Delphi became the center of the universe for these people and they would walk from all corners of the ancient world to ask the Oracle of Delphi their most heart-wrenching questions. The Oracle would only answer questions once a month so you can only imagine the amount of time these people had on their walk and then waiting for the Oracle to discuss, share ideas, trade goods, learn about one another and where they came from.

After the tour of Delphi I just wandered around the ruins trying to imagine the types of conversations that happened here and the enlightenment that must have occurred. People from all over the world meeting in one place, to ask one question, and then I thought about study abroad. And here we are, people from all over the world, meet in one place, to learn from our professors and from each other. As long ago as Delphi was and as different as we are now, human beings are still curious, still want to learn, and we travelers can almost begin to feel the excitement of walking to Delphi and learning of places and people you never knew existed.

So needless to say my adventures through the Balkans were a great start to my next adventure studying in Prague.

Ancient Delphi

Albania

Albania

Sveti Stefan Island, Montenegro

Sveti Stefan Island, Montenegro

Krka National Park, Croatia

Krka National Park, Croatia