On August 4 the AFS summer students in Japan left Japan.
I should have done this weeks ago, but here's a map of Japan:
I took the map from Google Maps.
The AFS summer students are placed near one of five cities: Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Fukuoka, or Sapporo. I highlighted these cities with a red dot on the map.
All of us came and went through the Narita International Airport in Narita (which is near Tokyo). The American students flew to and from Los Angeles together, which is our gateway city in the U.S.
In Nagoya there were people from the U.S., Italy, Bulgaria, Sweden, and Hong Kong. The students from Bulgaria left Nagoya for good a few days before the rest of us left because they're all on a special scholarship, so they traveled to a Meiji museum and went to Tokyo and maybe did some other things before leaving Japan on Tuesday or Wednesday.
The students from Italy and Sweden left Nagoya last Tuesday. I heard that their flights were early on Wednesday so they had to leave Nagoya a day before and then stay at a hotel near the airport for a night.
The students from the U.S. and Hong Kong left Nagoya on Wednesday. Before I mentioned that our flight was around 1:00 pm or something. That's completely wrong. I don't know why I wrote that.
I left the house sometime after 9:00 am on Wednesday morning. My host grandparents and host mom went to Nagoya station with me. We arrived fairly early, so we briefly went to a cafe in the station.
Some of the others were already there when we got to the platform. The American students and the girl from Hong Kong who were placed in Nagoya were going to take a bullet train from Nagoya to Tokyo. The time on my ticket said 10:53 am. Eventually the train arrived, but it didn't quite occur to me that we'd have to hurry. I said goodbye to my host family and then crowded into the train. Then the train took off. It really hadn't been in the station for long. I had to cry, and I certainly wasn't the only one.
We found our seats, which were all in the same area. Later on, a girl who lives near L.A. who was placed in Osaka walked in, followed by some other people. It was the Americans who were placed in Osaka! I started recognizing most of them from the gateway orientation in L.A. In fact, one of them was the person whose seat was next to mine on the flight from L.A. to Japan in June. I was so surprised to see them! We discovered that the students from the U.S. and Hong Kong who were in Osaka were on the same train as the Americans and people from Hong Kong who were in Nagoya! It was a little strange at first.
I've said that essentially it all comes down to the city you're in, because that's where the people who you spend time with are. It really doesn't matter if some of the people come from different countries.
You see the American non-Nagoya people for a day or two, and that's it. But it still felt nice to see the other Americans again, although I didn't know any of them very well. Because we have something in common: we're from the U.S. and we went on the AFS summer exchange to Japan this year. We may not have spent any time together and may have had very different experiences in Japan, but I still felt that that fact links us. To me it felt like little reunions that afternoon.
It turns out there weren't many people who were placed in Osaka. I found out that only 12 students were in Osaka (five from the U.S., four from Italy, one from Bulgaria, one from Sweden, and one from Hong Kong), while Nagoya had 23.
Anyway, the train ride from Nagoya to Tokyo took two and a half hours, but for me time flew by.
When the bullet train arrived in Tokyo, all the Americans and people from Hong Kong who were in Nagoya or Osaka were greeted by two AFS volunteers on the platform. We made our way to another area, where the JR trains were perhaps. Well, there was a train there, and what do you know, the people who were placed in Tokyo were already on it. I recognized some of the people. It was weird but great, because we were in different cities with different people and we had our own experiences but now we were seeing each other again, after all this.
So the students from Nagoya, Osaka, and Tokyo took the train from Tokyo to Narita, which took an hour or so.
I was told that there were 21 AFS students in Tokyo, including one Bulgarian girl and one person from Hong Kong and one person from Canada (and Americans of course).
I had actually asked some of the people in Nagoya about numbers. I was told that five people from Hong Kong went on the AFS summer program this year, but that they were evenly divided up among all five cities (so there was one person from Hong Kong in each AFS summer program city). There were four Bulgarians: two in Nagoya, one in Tokyo, and one in Osaka. There were six people from Sweden: two in Nagoya, one in Osaka, and at least two in Tokyo but I'm not sure... There were 18 people from Italy who went on the summer program. Apparently there were also Canadians, which I wasn't aware of, but I don't know if any other nationality was represented. I find all these numbers interesting. ^_^
Anyway, things went slowly once we arrived at the airport. After checking in we had some free time (during which some of us ate lunch). The flight to L.A. was scheduled to leave at 5:20 pm, so we had to meet at the gate an hour before that. An AFS volunteer was there again to take the same flight with us. Once I got to the gate I hung around with some of the others before going downstairs to the waiting area. We had to say goodbye to the people from Hong Kong. I only started to see some of the Americans who were in Fukuoka and Sapporo once I was at the gate. I know the people from Fukuoka took a bullet train when they arrived in Japan, but I heard that they flew from Fukuoka to Narita for their departure. I assume the people from Sapporo also took an airplane.
I wish all of us had had the opportunity to spend more time together or something. I enjoyed seeing everyone else again. We were all on the same plane to L.A. for ten hours, but our seats were fairly spread out.
I wasn't especially tired when we landed in L.A., just a little sad that our time had passed by so quickly. We made our way through customs and all that. Everyone stood around for a little while after we got our suitcases. It was then that the AFS volunteer who had flown with us came over to me and said that my connecting flight was one of the earliest ones, so right after we all left that area and had our passports checked again I had to go to the other gate right away, so I should start saying my goodbyes. I really wish I would have taken her more seriously. I kind of lingered, and when we all gathered the volunteer announced that we were going to leave the luggage area and that me and another girl had to leave right away so we should say our goodbyes, and she read the names of a few people who were being picked up at the airport. I started to cry a little, but I didn't rush over to the Nagoya people to say goodbye because I thought we'd still be gathered for a few moments after we exited, or something. I was wrong.
I ended up at the end of the long line to have passports checked, but I was with two other people from Nagoya. I was the last one through, so once I got through there was no one to be seen. Everyone was already gone. Ground transportation was to the left and connecting flights to the right. Nicole, Ben, and I walked down the hall to the right. We ran into a few of the random Americans, and when I went further there was an AFS guy who had envelopes with everyone's connecting flight information. I had to hurry down to the right gate. I was upset because none of the other AFS students were around. I didn't get to say goodbye to the people who were in Nagoya with me. It made me feel sad. I wish I could have properly said goodbye to everybody.
I didn't have any trouble finding my way to the connecting flight. I really didn't have much time between my arrival in L.A. and the departure of my connecting flight, but I didn't give it any thought. It wasn't on my mind at the time.
The flight from L.A. to Boston was long. I didn't do anything. I slept uncomfortably sometimes, and otherwise I just watched the screen in front of me. It was about 10:00 pm when I arrived in Boston. It was still Wednesday.
Of course it feels a little strange to be at home. I'm not in Japan anymore. I can accept that it's over, although it is saddening. All good things come to an end.
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