With its shimmering neon lights and slightly futuristic ambiente, Tokyo is a popular place for movies to be set. After having spent two weeks in this city, that doesn’t surprise me. In fact, sometimes I’d like somebody to remind me that my life here is not a movie set but the reality of studying abroad. Even after two weeks, it still feels surreal to be here, and it feels even more surreal, that for the next five months, I call this place my home. 

Before coming to Tokyo, my friend Ava and me have been travelling through Nepal for a month where we’ve been busy trekking through the foothills of the Himalayas, witnessing scarce animal species in dense jungles and getting an insight into Hindu and Buddhist culture. Even though Nepal is 5000 miles closer to Tokyo than the Netherlands and both countries belong to the same continent, both countries are worlds apart. I still remember nostalgically looking out of the cab window on my way to the airport in Nepal, trying to take in the image of the bustling streets with its overcrowded buses making their way through the traffic and the various street vendors trying to sell goods ranging from meat to jewelry, the smell of a mixture of dust, spices and incense accompanying these images. During that moment, I could have never imagined that I was about to set foot in a completely different world. 

24 hours later, the familiar sound of car hooting in Nepal’s streets had been suddenly replaced by the sounds of commercials and anime flashing on huge screens overlooking one of the most famous places in Tokyo: Shibuya Crossing. I’m contrasting Tokyo to Nepal now, but the thing is, you can compare and contrast it to any place in the world, and you’ll realize, it’s just nothing like any other place in the world.

In Nepal, I learned that in Hinduism, there is a god called Ganesha, who is honored as the god of new beginnings. It shows how important new beginnings are in life. Moving to Tokyo has been a new Start but at the same time, it’s also been  like a time lapse into the start of my first year of Uni at UCG. In a way, you start from square one, and do it all again: The basic questions, the social boundaries, the anxiety of missing out on the opportunity to make friends. But within all that lie a lot of chances: A new setting allows you to reinvent yourself and escape old patterns, and this is exactly what I expected from this exchange semester. In my last 2 years at UCG, I have built an amazing community of friends, I’ve learned how to formulate an opinion on academic matters and I’ve come a lot of steps closer to the person who I aspire to be. However, there comes a point where you feel too comfortable, and that’s the moment where it’s time for a new beginning. Changing the environment will be an opportunity to put all the perspectives and foundations to test that I’ve built at UCG. Luckily, my exposure to many internationals at UCG has already prepared me for an environment as diverse as this. When I came to Uni first two years ago, so many things were only starting to get shape... Political opinions, taste in music and art, values, academic interests.. My time at UCG thus shaped all these things, and thus, within our community and friend circles, a very homogenous student culture evolved. Meeting people from different universities in different countries has so far been a really interesting experience as it’s shown me how different and unique student culture can be, and how the university and the country you study in shapes that. 

Moving to a new place however does not come without challenges. My first week in Tokyo was an emotional rollercoaster - In one moment, the overflow of stimulus in the busy streets of Tokyo would make me absolutely euphoric, and in the next moment, the difficult act of buying a metro ticket would nearly frustrate me to tears. My idea was to arrive a week early in order to already settle in and get more acquainted with everything. Yet, I hadn’t anticipated that I was going to be all by myself for a while. Being alone for an entire week grants you a lot of time to doubt your decisions and to get overwhelmed by questions such as “Was it really the right decision to come here?” or “Were my expectations of this semester completely unrealistic?”. A lot of the feelings I had were sensations I felt in the first night I spent in Groningen when I moved there two years ago. However, even though starting over in Tokyo brings me back to the beginning of my first year, it’s different due to two things: First, there’s less insecurities to battle with - We’ve gone to Uni two years now and by now at least most of us know what we care about and what interests us, secondly, we’ve already gone through this, and you get better at it with every time. 

So far, we’ve only had orientation events as University is only going to begin next week. Thus, life here has been quite surreal as we are all still in holiday mode. I start every day excited about which adventure awaits us today. Tokyo is a place where technology seems ingenious (Car garages turn to save space and you can order flying sushi) eccentric fashion is normal and 40 million people thrive to live in a perfectly clean, organized and harmonious way.. I could live in Tokyo my entire life and still encounter new things every day. It’s fun to be startled by things as trivial as seeing a person who is hired only to cover up graffiti stains on Trash-cans in the shortest amount of time possible. Being a sociology student, I am probably even more inclined to observe things that strike me about Japanese society. Together with a group of friends I’ve made so far, we go out and explore the different parts of the city every day. What differentiates Tokyo from other cities, is that is is not just one city, but it is a compilation of many different cities, which all have their own municipalities and their own special attractions and atmospheres. So far we’ve discovered the diverse corners of the city ranging from it’s scenic parks and peaceful temples and shrines to bustling alleyways with bars and fashion stores to its various museums and markets. Friday we are finally taking a trip out to one of Tokyo’s scenic beaches. With the mindset that the clock is ticking, you conquer every day like it might be your last here, and I already know that this is an attitude I will be taking back home to Groningen. 

My next Vlog will then also cover more things concerning university life + courses here since then I’ll have more information!! 

Sayōnara!