Leaving Japan

I had to wake early on the day I left Japan after my 9 month exchange, there seemed like so much to do even though I had already spent the last 2 days preparing. Packing boxes for home to organising the repair of my laptop to researching what exactly I was to do when I finally left and arrived in Busan, there was just too much. Yet the day came (and went), the day where I left Japan for what I think will be a few years at least. Like I said, I woke early and packed my stuff and organized giving my suitcase to Jace so he could fly it home with him. Australia doesn’t allow packages as big as my suitcase so he really saved me there. I took my two fat boxes down to the post office and tried to send them, I say try because Charlie called me while I was sending the boxes and they heard it ring in the box, so I had to unpack it all to find it because you’re not allowed to send phones in the post.. thanks Charlie. =)

Osaka to Busan!

Eventually I was ready to leave and was downstairs saying my good byes to the people I’ve spent the majority of my time here in Japan with. You know who you are, I miss you all know and will continue to remember the good times we’ve had  together and then I’ll miss you some more. Ange escorted me to Cosmo Square where the ferry port was located nearby, I was going with PanStar and I have to admit now that I’ve done it, it was really great. With my student ID, I was able to get to Osaka to Busan for around 13000 yen which is really cheap in comparison to a plane ticket and the ferry ride in itself was a treat!

Pan Star "Cruise"!

Okay, so the ferry ride. I boarded the ferry at around 3pm in the afternoon and having bought the cheapest accommodation available I didn’t think I would be getting much but as it turned out I was put in a room with 3 other beds 2 of which were actually occupied. So I shared my room with 2 other people! I met a young Korean called Jinmi who was on a working holiday in Japan because he didn’t study hard enough to become an exchange student (Japanese major) so we were able to have basic conversations which was really nice. Not only for me practicing my Japanese but there was only one other foreigner on the entire ferry and he happened to be a musician that I didn’t quite have the chance to meet. Me and Jinmi hung out and talked about various things that we could talk about with my limited Japanese, we ended the night with a couple of beers watching a magician performance and listening to random people taking up the stage for karaoke. I had a really good time on this little cruise, something I thought would just be a mode of transport actually became an enjoyable trip.

This guy was great.

Would recommend this ferry to anyone trying to escape the country! I found that all the plane tickets to China and Seoul were pretty hefty, and for the same price I was able to catch a nice ferry and a train to Seoul plus do a load of things on the way. Buffets, entertainment and good people made this trip completely awesome for me. Made me a little less lonely in this world where no one spoke any English and I was out of contact with the people I had become to accustomed to having around.

It dawned on me that I had left behind Japan, the comforts I have known for the last two semesters studying at Kansai Gaidai and suddenly the places I was to sleep the next night and the nights after that completely unknown. With my departure of Japan, my adventure had began!