Today I got the bank account thing into order. Quite a relief. This was again one of those things for which you aren't given too much time - I heard of getting the scholarship Thursday evening, Friday was the orientation day, then came the weekend... and everything had to be done in a week, by this week's Thursday (tomorrow, that is), or there'd be no monies for me. Monday I got my residence card stamped, and Tuesday I was going to get myself a Japanese phone number but it got complicated, so today I went to the post bank after all (they don't demand that you have a personal phone number), together with my tutor.

In the end I guess I would have survived on my own, because these people were clearly used to getting totally lost exchange students as customers, but it was still great to have her there to check that I had understood everything correctly. And also, reading the contract over my shoulder. I guess she would have told me if it was about selling my soul or whatever... I just did what I was told, crossing things here and there (checku this and checku that), without any idea what all those things were about...

So, now I've got a Japanese bank account, and all should be in order. *touching the wood*

The weather was quite nice today, to my taste. It has been so hot and humid, but today temperature went down a bit, and it was also a bit windy, which helped with the humidity. Here's one photo I took on the way to the dorm:

I returned at the dorm in the afternoon, so I decided to drop in at a nearby cafe for a cappuccino to celebrate my new bank account. It was a bit different place than I had thought from the outside. At first I thought I'd come into a bar, as there was a strong smell cigarettes and people hanging by what looked like a bar counter. As I stood by the door, hesitating a bit, a couple of old, hunched ladies gestured to me to come in and sit at a free table, so in I went and had my cappuccino. Cappuccino that cost more than my lunch today. xD And was fancier than any I've ever had. But very very good, still. I'll go there again, some day. (But not often, with those prices. Not even with the scholarship.)

Hmm, in this photo it looks like a perfectly ordinary cafe... (That's a cinnamon stick sticking out of the cup.)

Last night I dreamed about winter and snow. We got snow here (except that "here" was for some reason Italy), not much but enough to cover everything. Am I already missing the white winter...?