Sorry for the title of this week's post, but this week's topic is about some boring, but necessary stuff. Ok, so I have a little over two weeks until I head back to Haneda airport and begin my travels back to the states. Finals are under way here (most of my classes have opted for final research papers rather than exams, so that's given me time to work on them without too much panic). However, aside from finals, there are a number of procedures I need to follow and complete before leaving Japan in those two weeks, so this post is about that.
So, aside from finishing up my finals and preparing for my Japanese final exam, I've been busy filling out forms, going to city hall, planning my move-out, etc. It's a lot of tedious and boring stuff, but it's likely something you'll need to deal with if you choose to study abroad, so I figure one boring post won't be too bad if it's at least a little helpful right?
Now that I'm nearing the two week mark to my return to the states there are several time sensitive things I have to complete, the first was scheduling my move-out inspection and completing the paperwork necessary for move out. The form was relatively straight forward, generally just asking what day I plan to move out of the dormitory. I also had to email the student adviser about room inspection (which will happen Christmas evening) to ensure that the dorm is left in a good condition for the next inhabitant. This was strictly an iCLA procedure, however, I expect that such procedure is common for other abroad universities as well, so it's something to be prepared for.
The next (and far more tedious) task that needed completed was a trip to Kofu city hall which I embarked on with two fellow Americans, Michelle and Nate, early Thursday morning. In Japan, if you will be living in the country for more than 90 days, you are required to sign up for the country's national health insurance program, this is quite an irritating experience considering most of the students had already paid for and had international coverage through their own private companies or universities. Many of the students here ended up signing up for double coverage and paying monthly insurance bills, luckily for me I was able to explain that I had been required to buy insurance before coming abroad and was not forced to apply for double coverage. Anyways, within two weeks of departure students are required to go to city hall to cancel their insurance plans and file a change of address form. That brings me to our trip Thursday morning, me and two friends headed to the train station around 10:30am bound for Kofu.
Rather than take boring pictures of confusing forms, George and Tom came along to illustrate all the waiting we did in various places, here they are waiting for the train at Sakaori Station.
We arrived at Kofu and headed to the city hall, unfortunately I was the only one in the group that spoke any Japanese and while my Japanese has improved quite a lot since being here, it was still a little frustrating and difficult to convey specific things (as we were all slightly early for the "within two week deadline" that the staff there kept saying), however, with finals coming to an end, the three of us will be traveling around to different places and would not be back to the city during another weekday that we could do this, so thankfully I was able to ask for special permission to submit the forms early. After that, we were stuck in a waiting room for a while until we were called to a different room for submitting Michelle and Nate's insurance forms and paying off their remaining balances.
Here's Geroge and Tom waiting patiently for their number to be called before submitting the insurance cancellation forms, such well behaved citizens.
The Presidents also met a really nice dragon in the second waiting room who insisted on taking a photo together to remember their time together in city hall.
Finally, we were called up and I was surprised how well I was able to understand/communicate with the woman at the desk in order to help Michelle and Nate submit their forms and pay their balances. Although this was a stressful experience (considering all three of us had classes to get back to by 12:30pm, which we were almost late for by the time we made it back), it was something that needed to be completed independently of the college and I was really quite proud of myself for being able to handle such a situation in a foreign language. So for anyone planning to study abroad in Japan, please be aware of the various deadlines (both academically and beyond) in order to ensure a smooth transition from living abroad to traveling back home. Your host country's university will likely convey these deadlines to you, but ultimately it's your responsibility to make sure that these deadlines are met in a timely manner to prevent any issues upon departure.
George and Tom enjoying the train ride home after all that stressful business stuff was taken care of.
Not long now until I get back to the states and good old DubJay! Next week's post will likely be about packing and taking a break from finals to go out to the city and enjoy some shopping/get some delicious ramen with Michelle and Tyler. Sorry for the somewhat boring post, but hopefully this will be helpful for anyone considering studying abroad in Japan.
Until next week,
また来週。(mata raishuu)
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