I had the honor of receiving a scholarship for my semester abroad from the Honjo International Scholarship Foundation which offers a shared housing facility for recipients in Kita city, Tokyo. Because the dorm accommodations at my host university, Waseda, were quite competitive for international exchange students, I elected to live in the HISF Shunpu-so house instead.
I moved in about a week before classes were scheduled to start so that I could settle in and explore the neighborhood, and this ended up being quite a smart move since it took some time to memorize my train route to school. Although the Tokyo public transportation system seems quite complicated, it is actually quite easy to traverse! Even if you cannot speak Japanese, many signs are written in English and Google Maps is an easy guide in a pinch. For me, I was able to master the 30 minute ride from my closest train station to Waseda in a few days.
During the Waseda Opening Ceremonies for new students, there was a school organizations teams fair held throughout campus where different academic, artistic, and personal interest clubs as well as various sports teams held information booths and handed out fliers. I attended a couple events with the Waseda Intercultural Communication Center (ICC) which resembles the International Student Association (ISA) at UH.
During the opening ceremonies, I was also able to reunite with a friend who is a full-time Waseda student and who helped show me around campus and give me recommendations for facilities and restaurants. With her help, it was a lot easier finding the quickest travel routes between buildings and I was able to discover areas of campus I likely would have otherwise overlooked. For other students traveling abroad, although it may be difficult to find, if you know someone currently attending a foreign university you are interested in exchanging at, I highly recommend considering the benefits of having an "on-site" connection.
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