Sophomore and Hawkeye staff writer Stephen Cuplin is a now a foreign exchange student, living in Sapporo, Japan. He reflects on his first day of school and life so far away from home.

Second Week, First day of school!

Japan truly is a fantastic place, I see this more and more everyday. Everyone is so nice here, you wouldn’t believe it. Earlier today, I had my first day of school, and I’m somewhat sorry to say, I got lost on the way there, mostly because I got on the wrong bus at the bus stop near my house. Realizing this, I called my LP (Liaison Person) and with the help of a kind stranger, she helped me to get re-oriented, and to school (and on time!) Even though I got lost, with the help of my LP, and Japan’s highly efficient mass transit system, I got there with 10 minutes to spare. Everyone at my school was so polite and nice to me, I met a few people who i’d like to call my friends, though we didn’t get to talk much seeing as how today was a short day. Their names were Suguwara, Kenta, Yuta (I think thats how to spell it..) and Yoda (Also, thats how I think how to spell it, [If anyone make a starwars joke….]). Getting home was much easier than it was getting to school, and as a pleasant surprise, on the final bus home, my friend Rino was on the same bus, so we sat together.

All in all, even though I got lost, I still feel like Sapporo is my home now (and I also feel like I know it better than Seattle, which is weird….)

Cuplin’s blog can be found here.

(Photos credit of Stephen Cuplin)