Arriving at the AGU I-House Dorms

Finding my way to the dorms for the first time was quite the adventure. It was my very first time traveling to another country alone, with little to no internet upon arrival at the airport, and limited vocabulary when it came to the Japanese language. I was honestly scared that I wouldn’t know where to go and what to say, but luckily I was given a guide on how to get from Narita Airport to the Aoyama Gakuin University (AGU) International House (I-House) dorms in Musashi-Kosugi through my welcome package before departing for Japan-- in both English AND Japanese. This guide was literally my best friend from point A to point B because, although there were many employees in the Airport that spoke English, once I stepped foot outside of the airport, not many people were able to understand what I was saying. And after dozens of questions on what trains to catch and giving my taxi the address to where I need to go, I had finally arrived at my destination… At about 9pm… approximately 6 hours after landing ^^; Once I had arrived at my dorms, I was assisted by another student who lived in the building, which was very kind of him because I later found out that he didn’t go to the same school as I was going to. When I took my first step into the building, I was in awe at how modern and new the building looked. It made me really excited to see the rest of the dorms, though I was a bit nervous to meet everyone else. Within a couple minutes, a Residents Assistant, or RA, greeted me with open arms and welcomed me to what I was going to call my home for the next 4 months. Her name was Giwon, and let me tell you now, she is literally one of THE BEST RA’s I have ever met in my LIFE (and that’s including my experience dorming at HPU, too!). Giwon, with her happy and uplifting spirit, gifted me with a welcome package from the university, my room key card, and documents of important information I needed to know while living in the I-House (such as WiFi, my mailbox combination numbers, etc.). Then, she helped me with my luggage and guided me to my room. I was honestly shocked when I entered the room. It was not what I had expected, AT ALL. There was one desk, one bathroom, one closet, and one bed… This room was obviously made for just one person, and I found it hard to believe that it was all mine. I didn’t know that these dorms provided us with our own private rooms beforehand. I had assumed that I would be given a roommate, just like how I always did back at HPU. I don’t know if I missed that information or wasn’t told this at all about the AGU I-House in advance because this was literally a jaw dropping moment for me. But I honestly don’t want to complain since it was my first time having my own room, which I was really blessed to have. After getting a feel for my room, Giwon had suggested that I went down for dinner before they ended serving food at 9:30pm. I had barely made it in time, 9:28pm, and I was SO thankful because I was actually pretty hungry after all of that traveling. We had some sort of ramen, and it was really nice to have something warm in my stomach on a cold March day.

My first dinner at the dorms after a long day of traveling!