The KCP Dorm for the Summer full-term program is in Ikebukuro. It’s a ten-minute walk from the Ikebukuro station’s c3 exit.

I have a room to myself, with a burner. The dorm also has a shared area that also has a burner, but this common area also doesn’t have an oven. This was a small problem because I only really know how to make spaghetti with a burner, but I’m sure I’ll learn how to cook other things. I wish I researched more on things to cook on the stove

 Arrival: Host Country & Cultural Immersion

Ikebukuro’s transportation system to Shinjuku

is a lot better than the transportation in Bellingham,

but it is also more expensive.

While I am not the one paying for my transportation to and from my dorm to my school, it cost about $50 a month.

In comparison, the bus system in Bellingham is about $30 a month.

The Tokyo Subway maps tends to be easier to read, even in Japanese, than WTA’s maps.

The trains also come more often than buses do,

with WTA’s buses coming every 15 minutes at popular stops and the trains coming every 5-15 minutes depending on the train.

Express trains are also nice, which are trains that skip unpopular stops.

For transferring with in the railways, you do not have to pay extra

(but you do pay for how far you travel)F

For example, The Marunouchi line takes about a half an hour from Ikebukuro to Shinjuku Gyouen Mae station, while transferring to the Fukutoshin line and taking the Express train will shorten the trip to 10 minuets, but if I transferred on a WTA bus (without a day or month pass) to potentially shorten a trip, I would have to pay extra for transferring.

KCP has classes 5 times a week, 3 and half hours every day, with 3 teachers that alternate every day, teaching the next days coursework. 

The level 3 class I was in had 2 male teachers and one female teacher.

I had the hardest time understanding the female teacher.

KCP

The had classes start with announcement’s, announced of course in Japanese,

and each teacher tended to announce the announcements differently.

For example, some would use a power point presentation.

After announcements, we would do a short conversation practice without neighbors,

then go over past vocab and learned items, then we’d go over 6 new kanji,

take a short 10-minute break, and lastly we'd be taught the new grammar.

Somedays we’d write essays and if we had a test, we’d take them right after announcements.

KCP did have toast 4 clubs you could join, but I wasn’t interested in them.

I am unsure if this counts of culture shock or not, but in Japan, bicycles can have a baby booster seat stuck onto them, and whenever I would see one I would feel extremely uncomfortable, because I cannot ride a bike, and I can just imagine what would happen if the bike tipped over...

In America, the closest thing we have to this is one of those attachable bed things that people tend to but their dogs in.

Culture Shock

This is probably caused by the fact that in Japan most people don’t have cars, and how else are you supposed to bring your baby with you when you go shopping?