The journey

Finally I'm able to write to my blog! I asked my neighbour if he can help me with my computer problems and he was so kind and solved my BIG problem!! You cannot imagine how happy I am!

So now I'm in Yamaguchi. I've been here since last Tuesday so not even a week yet. First I want to tell you about the journey that me and Henna had to make to reach this place on the other side of the world. It was a long way, as you can imagine!

First I went to Helsinki-Vantaa airport by bus. I travelled during the night and reached the airport in the morning. I don't like the airport at all. It's the ugliest airport I have ever seen! But I didn't have to look at it for long because soon we were already on our way to Paris.

Some famous French actors I presume

Shooting

Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport is soooo huge and in the beginning we didn't have a clue where to go. It was all so confusing! And if I asked for information they always replied in French even if they understood my English very well. Luckily I know some French because I studied it at high school! You can have an idea of the size of the airport if you think that we landed in terminal 2D and had to take the connection flight in 2E and still we had to walk for kilometers....

Charles de Gaulle

But we managed to arrive at the gate on time! We even saw a very funny thing: they were shooting a French movie or tv-series there. I tried to take some pictures but it was very difficult because there were so many people there.

When we were waiting for our flight to Japan, I actually realized that I'm really going to Asia. I was so excited but my excitement got killed when I got into the plane. Everything was fine there, I even got the seat near the window. But actually on a 12-hour flight it was the worst place to sit at. There was so little space there for each of us that it was really impossible to move, especially your legs... my legs hurt so much!! And the guy sitting near the corridor was sleeping so I couldn't go to the restroom without always waking him up... problems... ;)

This is what I saw from my window.

South Korea

First sight of Japan (see islands)

But, after a very long flight we finally made our way to Japan! You can imagine what I felt like when we landed! My first impression was very good because I saw many beautiful mountains and the glittering sea. The security control is quite strict here and apparently they are quite worried about terrorism in Japan. At least there was an elephant-size sign at the airport saying something like that. I wonder how many terrorists want to be in an airplane for 12 hours...

Osaka suburbs

Osaka suburbs

Arrived in Osaka, we took the bus to the station. It was 30 minutes late, which meant that we lost our first shinkansen. More problems appeared when we arrived at Osaka Central Station. We had no idea where to take the bullet train. We were complitely lost and there was no one to ask directions. But we didn't have to wait for more than a couple of minutes when an old local couple came to ask if we were lost.

We told them where we wanted to go and the man just took my friends suitcase and told us to follow him. He and his wife walked with us through places that we wouldn't have founded alone! They were so helpful!! And finally we managed to take the bullet train, though it was very close that we didn't miss it!

Some photos that I took on the way to Yamaguchi.

Unfortunately you cannot see how beautiful the mountains really are from pictures! They really are breathtaking!

In Yamaguchi, a university worker came to pick us up with his car. He didn't speak English, like most people here. But it was not a problem, like it has not been a problem here so far! I will try to learn as much Japanese as I can!

I live quite near the university in the houses for exchange students. It's quite a pity that we are so separated from Japanese students, but my house is very nice. It used to be a one-family house and it's very traditional.

The living room with tatami mats

Kitchen

What I see from my window

What I found in the living room

This area where I live is very quiet except for the junior high school as our neighbour. It is very nice to wake up to the sound of playing or singing kids. They have orchestral practicing hours almost every day so I can also hear beautiful music very often.

My house

I have two flatmates, one from China and one from the US. They are both very nice. There are not many exchange students here and only a few from western countries. Actually there are only four from Europe and they are all from Finland. And moreover, there are very few foreign people in this city and surroundings so we really are something very strange here!

School kids often wave at us and say konnichiwa or "haroo", which is the same as hello ;) They are so cute and nice! I cannot wait to go and visit their school!