I am the luckiest girl in the whole entire world

I found a bakery! It's true! A French bakery! It's in the train station! It was there all along! Oh my goodness, I am the luckiest girl in the whole entire world! Um, maybe not wholly because of the bread- though it looks amazing. I almost want to take a picture of it. If you want one, I totally will. That is how excited I am about the bread. 1/2 loaf for $2.50ish, so $5/loaf? I think that's a moderate price from an actual bakery.

Oh, I figured it out in my mathy head, and apparently I've been eating for around $7/day. I think Tokyo's pretty reasonable, so long as you don't go out drinking/eating every night. I've only eaten out once >.< Oh, I also got a whole container of cafe au lait, so I'll be saving money on that too. Hoorah.

Anyway, today was very busy. I actually was asked to go to a concert as well, but I needed to get back. We had orientation today, which was very very boring, and then a party, which was GREAT. I met this Japanese girl who studied at the UW and has a boyfriend at Seattle U and we clicked, I think. We both like reading and we had a random fact connection- like we've both read (or tried to read >.<) Tale of Genji and The Pillowbook of Sei Shonagon. The authoresses HATED each other, and poked fun in a very mean way at each other in their masterworks. So, we talked about that and how amusing it was, and I think we clicked. She said we should go out, and she invited me for dinner at her family's home. ^______^ YAY!

I met many people today. My Japanese monitor student is kinda quiet tho... And I saw the guy who took me from the airport to my apartment again. He's very nice (he was wearing the same shirt O.o and I noticed. Does that mean I'm hyperobservant or maybe his shirt is just awesome. It says "You can't stop the motion" in English). I was invited again to English-speaking club, because a lot of them are working on American slang >.< I guess it is very difficult to learn American slang because it depends so much on random pop culture references. I.E. "I've fallen and I can't get up!" "I'll be back." "I want to believe."

Before going to orientation, Ed, Isabel, and I went to get our Alien Registration Cards in Warabi's downtown. Whoo, what a walk! We were late for orientation a little bit, but everyone was, but I'm now registered-ish. I have the document saying that I registered and am now waiting for my Alien Card. Nonetheless, I'm going to Harajuku tomorrow. It's a bank holiday, so I'm not sure how that will go. I also need to find a bank O.o but not tomorrow.

Harajuku's where I need to get my cell phone. I can't remember if I wrote about this, but I needed my student ID and Alien Registration and Visa and Passport to get it last time @.@ and all I had was a copy of my visa and passport and my credit card. So, I might as well try again, right?

My guidebook says that there's a shrine in Harajuku, close to the store. Maybe I'll go visit the shrine tomorrow, either in addition or instead of actually getting the cell phone. Either way, Mayumi (the girl I met at the party, among others, btw) says that I can get clothing in my size in Harajuku, because it is an international area. So I could potentially buy clothing, though I'm extremely cheap in this regard O.o because I feel for some reason that all the cash I have on me is all I have period.

My Japanese monitor student had me and two others assigned to him. So, I'm sorta paired with him, a girl named Ariel from Paris (she's really nice, and beautiful!), and a guy from Boston named Tyler (I think....). We gave all our e-mails to Tyler and he's supposed to cc us on a big e-mail, so we'll have each others addresses.

All the paperwork that we got at Sophia is very daunting. @.@ However, I did learn one cool thing: You can attend classes for up to ten days without registering, and then choose what you want to take. Like, the first day of class is the first registration day, because you attend classes you're interested in, and if it seems a good fit, you register for it later. And you keep taking classes till you find what you want! But the Intensive Japanese program I plan to take is supposedly very difficult. I don't want to be terribly busy, but I think it will be fine, since I'm in Japan and the language learning should come quickly anyway, as a necessity. Like reading the train stations @.@

I got a commuter pass- I need to switch it to a student commuter pass later for at 20% discount, but it is still very nice not having to figure out fare. Also, I think I'm figuring out the trains. I at least know how to get to and from school:

Nishi-kawaguchi (my station) to Akabane via the Keihin Tohoku line
Akabane to Shinjuku via the Saikyo line (or Shonan, which I found out today)
Shinjuku to Yotsuya (school station) via the Chuo line.

To get to Harajuku, I transfer at Shinjuku to the Yamanote line, which goes in a circular route (so I can't get on going the wrong way).

I'm pretty excited to have met so many people today, who seemed very nice. Also, Isabel was very very nice to me today, though her and Ed apparently took all of my maps O.o Holy smokes. I'll have to e-mail them and ask for them back >.< Er... or I'll just ask for another map at the office. If I can't get one- then I'll have to be a punk and demand they return my stolen property, OR ELSE BWHAHAHHHAHA.

I need to eat, I'm delirious and insane.

Loves!

edit: Oh, I found one of the maps. So only two are now missing. I think I'm ok with that. Or am I?!