May 12th: Travel day & first hours in Japan

It's the start of another wonderful study abroad program at Osaka Metropolitan University! I'm writing the first post for our class blog on the flight from Dallas, Texas to Tokyo, Japan. I can't believe it's already time for our program after all of our work preparing this academic adventure for our students. 

This summer, we will experience university life in Osaka, Japan, partnering with students, faculty, and global education staff at our host university. I'm looking forward to learning how my perspective changes as a second-time member of the study abroad program. Will Osaka still feel totally foreign, or did a month living there change my perspective on Japan? I can still remember vividly the excitement and culture shock of the first day in Japan last summer. I'll include an excerpt from my class blog post then to compare:  

"This morning, the jetlag had me wide awake at 3:30AM, despite a long twenty-plus hours of travel the day before. One of my favorite ways to explore a new city is to take it in on a long, meandering run. So once the sun finally rose, I laced up my sneakers and hit the pavement in search of adventure. 

At that hour, the streets were relatively empty of pedestrians, cyclists, or cars. As I ran beneath the ginkgo biloba trees that line the wide street, I felt giddy and more than a bit overwhelmed. Everything felt new and bright and strange, from the signs in hiragana and katakana to the beautifully decorated manhole covers interspersed every so often throughout the sidewalks. One of my favorite buildings had an intricate glass design that created the effect of the wake left by a canoe paddling upstream. Threading my way through narrow side streets, I jogged past rows and rows of closed shops with brightly colored signs. Eventually, I made my way to the river and headed uphill to what seemed like a park. Turning into the carefully landscaped park, I saw the terraces of Osaka Castle surrounded by an immense stone walls and the turquoise waters of a moat. As I slowly jogged past, I was greeted by an man enthusiastically shouting "Good morning!" in English."

After a long travel day filled with several delays and missed connections, I finally arrived in Osaka! Even with significant sleep deprivation, I was surprised at just how familiar Osaka felt, despite it only being my first day back. Just like last time, I found myself running through downtown Osaka when the jetlag work me up before 4. While last summer, the dense, warm humidity made running feel more like swimming, the weather today was chilly and misty. As soon as I started to run, the rain came down in earnest, soaking the colorful awnings surrounding the many shops near our hotel. As I slowly jogged in the early morning rain, occasional Japanese cyclists passed me, effortlessly balancing their clear umbrellas over their shoulders as they commuted to work. A few miles into my run, I realized that I forgot my pocket wifi! Thankfully, the surrounding streets soon became familiar as I passed the Dotonburi canal with its numerous illuminated flashing signs. 

It's time for another fantastic program at OMU! I can't wait to see what the next month holds for our Embry-Riddle study abroad crew.