Global House

I got two big pieces of information today about my study abroad. One, I received my certificate of eligibility from Japan, which allows me to get a visa which allows me to stay in the country for more than 90 days. Yay! Very important paper. Grand Valley is sending it to my mom's house, so I should have it within a week, then I have to take it to a Japanese consulate either in Detroit or Chicago.

The other thing was that my dad got a package from ICU about my housing. Apparently, I've been accepted into the Global House, which is an on-campus dormitory. It's kinda cool, but I was actually assuming that I'd get an off-campus student apartment in downtown Tokyo...which is what I applied for...I thought...but anyway, the dorm requires a lot more community living (like having chores, group meetings, and wearing giant teddy bear costumes the first week of classes), but I think I'll be alright. I look forward to it.

The Global House is the newest building at ICU. It's also the biggest dorm, housing 64 people. Which isn't a lot in Grand Valley standards. Most of the dorms at ICU have around 24 people. It's insane. Anyway, about half of the people staying in Global House are international students, so I can only hope that I'll be living with people who are going through the same new experiences that I am. We may even have the same classes, since there's only one class for each level of Japanese!

I've been feeling a lot better about going lately. Ever since Kanako-san started e-mailing me (the girl picking me up from the airport and showing me around the first day), I've been much much more at ease about the whole thing. I've even had a lot of good dreams about it. Plus, I've been chatting with this French guy on Facebook who is also going this fall. It's very reassuring to know that I will at least have a couple of connections when I go there. ^_^