Our program at Osaka Metropolitan University has officially begun! This morning, the jetlag had me wide awake at 3:30AM, despite a long twenty-plus hours of travel the day before. One of my favorite ways to explore a new city is to take it in on a long, meandering run. So once the sun finally rose, I laced up my sneakers and hit the pavement in search of adventure.
At that hour, the streets were relatively empty of pedestrians, cyclists, or cars. As I ran beneath the ginkgo biloba trees that line the wide street, I felt giddy and more than a bit overwhelmed. Everything felt new and bright and strange, from the signs in hiragana and katakana to the beautifully decorated manhole covers interspersed every so often throughout the sidewalks. One of my favorite buildings had an intricate glass design that created the effect of the wake left by a canoe paddling upstream. Threading my way through narrow side streets, I jogged past rows and rows of closed shops with brightly colored signs. Eventually, I made my way to the river and headed uphill to what seemed like a park. Turning into the carefully landscaped park, I saw the terraces of Osaka Castle surrounded by an immense stone walls and the turquoise waters of a moat. As I slowly jogged past, I was greeted by an older man enthusiastically shouting "Good morning!"
Our official school day began with an orientation at the international student building. OMU's campus is much larger than ERAU-Prescott, so it all felt a little disorienting at first, but the kind OMU students, faculty, and staff put us all to ease. Our very own Professor Jules Yimga had recently attended an economics conference in Kobe and was able to give a fantastic guest lecture open to ERAU and OMU students. All in all, a fantastic start to our time in Japan!
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