I.. Declare.. BANKRUPTCY!!

So, I've been to the disgusting city of Amsterdam today, where the whores stare at you from behind the windows and where squats are present on every vile corner of this gross city. I actually managed to pay a grand for the first time in my life and honestly, I died a little bit on the inside as I stared at my check with the incredible amount of 1015 €. I then realized that there was no going back and that I had officially bought my ticket to Japan! September 24th is the big day as I'll be flying from Schiphol to London with British Airways and after that a fourteen hour flight to Tokyo awaits me. I'll arrive in Tokyo a day later, as there is a time difference between Holland and Japan. It's about nine hours later over there. I'll be travelling with four guys and a girl and we'll be staying in Tokyo until October first.

The six of us have actually become a relatively close group: the hardcore Nagasaki partners in distress. Our spectacular team consists of the Buddha: our cooking talent (I don't know for sure, but I sure as hell going to find out). He is also our awesome travelguide (his mom actually got us the "cheap" tickets). Oyeah he also has a divine body. :D

There's also the guy who we (well..me) refer to as Blonde God. I came up with this awesome nickname as I and the Buddha waited for him at the train station. His lucious blonde locks stand out in the crowd. Go figure. As I was certain that the Japanese chicks are soo going to dig his Aryan looks.

There's also the guy we call the Musketeer as he looks like he was born in the 1600's. This guy has a huge room in Leiden, so we decided to watch the football match Holland - Romenia at his crib. As the Blonde God kept staring at his desk he found some strange pieces of paper with Dutch and Japanese sentences written on them. The phrases were awkward as the following stuff was written on them: "She must be smart, physical contact, he does everything I ask of him.."

Haha. So we laughed and asked if he was preparing himself for the red light district in Nagasaki and he replied that those cards were part of a game which he played with a Japanese girl. Riight. It was some sort of game to describe the ideal partner. He also was responsible for an internet riot as he joked about sharing a room with the girl that also was traveling along with us. She was not amused as she took it literally. And I enjoyed myself by watching that interesting quarrel.

Now, moving on. The other guy who's travelling along: people tend to call him "The Shoe" Why? 'Cause it's his last name? What ever. He doesn't speak much anyway.

The girl's being called "The Sneak". Why? Not sure yet.
I'm the only one who hasn't got a cool nickname :(
I'm soo interested to see how the group chemistry will work out!

Eventhough I hate Amsterdam with all of my heart (such a disgusting city) I actually had a good time today. There was this guy in our train with real life Super Saiyan hair! (You now, Dragonball Z). We saw this guy again as he stood next to a smoking pole. I nonchalantly joined him as a picture of me and him was taken. That made my day and I can't wait to see the picture.

I also bought a Daruma-san at a Japanese store. As you read this you're probably wondering (or not) what the hell that is. Well, it's a matroushka-ish little guy with no limbs with a huge mustache and no pupils. You have make a wish or set a goal and color his right eye in. As the wish comes true you have to color the other eye. Traditionally you have to burn it afterwards, but I'm not doing that. He's based on a Buddhist monk who cut of his eyelids because he kept falling asleep during meditation. He also kept meditating for years and years as his limbs eventually have fallen off. Isn't that a lovely, heartwarming story?

Now I'm bankrupt and sleepy and I'll be leaving for Japan in about three months. I'll head back to Holland on August 15 th 2009. Dude.

We've also booked a little hostel at Asakusa (the old district in Tokyo) for about 20 € a night! The rooms are in a traditional Japanese style which means that we have to sleep on the ground with futons. It's all good, as long as this high maintenance chick has her own bathroom and shower.

There Is No Justice!

I still have a week and a half of classes, final exams in two weeks and then I'll have all the time in the world to worry about stuff I want to bring along to Japan. Impulsive as I am, I bought, without looking at the pricetag, a travelguide book for Japan. It's a colorful, 300 something page book with the most awesome tourist attractions and adresses. I seriously want to dress up like a tourist, with the cap, map and camera at hand and want to see every corner of Japan. My plans for now are: fly to Japan at the end of september, hang out in Tokyo for a week and then take the 新幹線/bullettrain all the way south to Fukuoka. Tokyo is redicilously huge and loosing one self in the crowd isn't that hard to achieve. The London subway map got me biting my nails a year ago and now I have to conquer the most complex subway system in the world. But still, being lost in a huge city has its appeal. I remember being lost in Prague and London and feeling really awesome as I found my way back.

Anyway, the bullettrain stops in Fukuoka and not in Nagasaki. After that it's a two hour train ride. But, Fukuoka is also huge and my trustworthy travel guide states that it's awesome because of the 300 something nightclubs. In Nagasaki, the ten of us are supposed to be picked up by our mentors (older students of the university) and they are supposed to show us around the city, get our alien registration cards, hold our hands or what ever. I hope I'll get a hot guy, but 'll end up with a girl most likely.

Our program will provide field trips to Kyoto, the Shimabara region and Okinawa (I hope! Can't wait to see the American millitary bases n_n ). Okinawa is like a desert at sea where one could get sunburned instantly. Going to Kyoto has always been my dream as I pictured myself walking down the philosophers' road all covered in pink sakura tree leafs..

About the scholarship, it wasn't me.

So, no generous financial resources for me, maybe the Leiden University Fund will pay off. They're willing to pay us 100 something a month as long as we come up with an interesting studyplan and write a report about the program as we return to Holland.

About the motivation essay, I finished it in about fifteen minutes, but apparently some people have been struggling with it for like forever because it's oh so difficult to write a tiny little essay of 500 words in which you have to motivate why the hell you wish to go to Japan. Come on! How difficult it that.. I am so pissed off!

Ew, I'm lacking study motivation and am still living in a rum rush of yesterday. I'm soo lazy and don't feel like doing anything. I should get employed or something.

Bureaucracy

Ok ok ok, so I am still busy with all sorts of preparations for my Japan trip. So much to do, so little time. The following monday I have to hand in my application forms, but some requirements were rather bizarre in my view! I was nuked.. (nuked sounds naughty in Dutch..) because I needed an x-ray picture of my lung capacity. Can't wait to see that.. last time I checked I smoked a pack of cigarettes a day. Anyhow, as I entered this obscure doctor's office where the nuking takes place, the nurse asked me to undress. Slightly shocked, as I never hear requests like that from women, I asked sheepishly "How undressed should I get?" She raised an eyebrow and looked at me like I had the IQ of a brick wall and asked me if I was by any chance pregnant. I started feeling fat. How dare she insult me bluntly like that! I then realized that radiation might cause damage to a pregnancy, so I decided that I wasn't being insulted.

So, why a health certificate? It is necessary to reassure the Japanese government that we, freeloaders, won't mooch off the taxmoney, paid by the Japanese citizens. Anyhow, healthchecks suck, because you find out things about your physique that you probably don't wanna know, such as.. weight! and poor eyesight! I, for instance didn't want to know that my right eye sees poorly. I frantically tried to guess the smallest letters that my physician showed me on the light board. I didn't see shit and tried to make sense out of the stains that supposedly should be letters. I actually guessed correctly and my physician announced in euphoria that my vision is excellent if not perfect. He also made me pee in a cup. Which is difficult as hell! Oyea, and I apparently have low blood pressure, what ever the hell that means. It's actually quite common among females with the age of twenty something and the symptoms are: wanting to sleep.. like forever! Hating crowded places, some occasional migrane. See, I'm not lazy! I have low blood pressure and therefore have to sleep for at least ten hours a night!

Part of the application forms was also a motivation essay. Why do I ever want to be part of the exchange program? Why oh why? I seriously could write a book about it, but I'm soo lazy that I'll write something on the day before submission.

As for the nine people who are also going to Nagasaki, I sort of got used to them. We agreed we should hang out (because that's good for team spirit or some other bs..). We're going out to dinner, have a drink or the usual cliche stuff. I should participate, because I really want a travel companion and I don't want to get all lost in translation at Narita Airport. O yes, I do picture myself standing at the arrivals lobby with a bigass bag and looking around like a lost puppy desperate that someone'll take me home. Maybe I'll become friends with some Japanese in the plane. For instance, a nice old couple who would adopt me, feed me, love me and show me around Tokyo. Or I could stand around with a huge piece of paper which would state "ADOPT A STUDENT! WILL DANCE FOR FOOD!"

So it begins.. Yoshu!

I am very much aware of myself and the fact that I am very lazy concerning things such as blogging and keeping contact with email friends or what ever, but I've decided to blog anyway. All that effort for an incredible reason!

On a wednesday night, after a long day of classes in Leiden and dance classes I took a peek into my embarassing charming_villain inbox. As I looked inside, my jaw dropped because the examcommitee has announced that I was chosen as one of the lucky candidates who'll be going to Japan! I, after a lot of doubt, decided to enroll myself in the Nagasaki University exchange program! (Yeah, the city that was bombed into smithereens about 60 years ago. I keep hearing jokes that I'll have four arms due to radiation when I return to Holland, or I'll die in an earthquake, I'll be killed by ninja's or samurai or I'll be abducted by vicious pirates u_u ..). Ok, besides those utmost creative reasons not to go, the plan de campagne is the following: I have to live for a year at an international student dormitory and take courses at the Nagasaki Daigaku (University of Nagasaki) such as language and culture.

I was suprised by the fact that I got chosen, because the competition was fierce! Mainly, because 33 other people also wanted to go to the land of the rising sun. And there were going to be interviews, in freakin' Japanese, in which I suck balls eventhough I have excellent grades and have studied Japanese for about two years now. Anyhow, the people who know me know that I'll get a seizure only by the thought of such gruelling ordeals! The criteria for being invited for such an interview were first of all grades, so I secretly anticipated an interview because my grades are freaking awesome! And I also knew that they would save me, because when it comes to speaking in Japanese I am a total disaster for some strange reason. I pictured myself sitting in front of four professors, failling immensly and looking like a complete idiot or a deer caught in the headlights.

But then, that email, in which was stated: congradulations miss B, don't bother coming for an interview, you can just hop on a plane in september and go to Nagasaki, Japan! bladibla.. don't disappoint us.. live up to our expectations.. bladibla.. DUDE! merely the thought of me sitting on the other side of the globe and managing all of my stuff as no one would help me made me anxious. I still live at home and such a great adventure would be such a challenge for me! I don't think I'd starve to death though..

Now, all of this stuff that I have to take care of.. get a loan, get a job, insurance here, health statement there. And how the hell am I goint to get to Nagasaki from Tokyo seeing that Nagasaki is located on a different island! Also, who would be the other nine people that would accompany me on this journey? I really wanted that people which I'm fond of would come along or people who make me laugh, but unfortunately.. The people that are going are strangers to me.

Moving on, one lucky basted will receive a scholarship containing about 500 euro per month. Well, I'm all in! Hellsyea I want to have that resource! A certain someone believes that he'll receive it, but over my dead body.

So, I am going away for eleven months, but this is an amazing opportunity and I such cling on to it for dear life! I'll keep posting about my struggles and other stuff!

Greets!

赤毛の!