First Arrival

I've arrived at my hotel at Shin-Osaka. The airports were completely easy and most everything had an English sign or the people working there could speak half English- half Japanese to me. I slept from Raleigh to Chicago, but only slept 5/12 hours on the plane to Tokyo.  I talked a little bit (in Japanese) to the girl who I sat next to on the flight over to Tokyo, and even helped translate a few tiny things for people (telling them to "push" the bathroom door, etc.), but as soon as I was off the plane all confidence was gone.

I took the train from Kansai International Airport to Shin-Osaka station (thanks to the help of some awesome people who I recognized me from the flight from Tokyo to Osaka). Once there I easily got a taxi (the guy spoke no English at all), and showed him the address that was printed out. He had no idea where it was. He just drove for a few minutes muttering in Japanese "I don't know..." I thought he had figured out where we were when he dropped me off as Studio Shin-Osaka. Well, of course it couldn't be that easy. Thankfully someone pointed me in the directions using the map, and I found the restaurant connected to the hotel I'm staying at for the night.
Soooo happy to be here.
The elevators are small here (much like in Europe), but wicked fast. Oh, and of course the room is really really small. But its Japan. They gave me tons of bath-body stuff, free water in the fridge and like most Japanese hotels they provided slippers.
After figuring out how to use the toilet and the shower (not the same as American ones), I set out to find food. Delicious. I regret not bringing my ipad so I could have taken a picture. It was a small traditional little Japanese eatery. I got Edamame (soy beans) and Tonkatsu (breaded and deep fried pork cutlet). Oh, and I ordered an alcoholic beverage from a public place for the first time! I sat at the bar with the laughing patrons, and had a giant Asahi beer all to myself. The place (Watamin-chi) was super lively, friendly and very fun. The host gave me an English menu, but spoke to me in Japanese the whole time (it must be pretty obvious I'm American, oh well).

The hotel I'm staying at also provides me with a beautiful breakfast with my choice of either Japanese, or western style breakfast (Japanese, duh).Tomorrow I'll check out, take a taxi (hopefully he'll know where he is going) and go check into my Dorm and meet up with the other NAU girls.

But now that my belly is full, and I've alerted the internet that I'm still alive, its time for bed.