When I look at my timehop app on my phone, I see a recurring theme. Although I had a lovely boyfriend in Japan, lived in a 2 bedroom house (Anyone who has lived in Japan knows how rare it is to find and afford one!), lived an hour from Tokyo and spent free weekends travelling…
Read More
It’s weird to move to a country you’ve never visited isn’t it? Let alone one on the other side of the world with a unique culture and one of the worlds most difficult languages. The differences just made the move seem all the more exotic and exciting. Like any great love story mine starts with…
Read More
When I opened the email I suddenly felt numb. I was moving to Japan! Now I`ve travelled to many countries in the past, but never actually lived in a different country. Now I just needed to decide what to pack in my 30kg of luggage. Japan is an extremely developed country yet surprisingly many things…
Read More
My hands shook as my fingers tapped on the keyboard, my knees crashed together nervously. Usually I`m never lost for words, however I now couldn`t remember what I was supposed to write. How does one hand in their notice on a job that you`ve done for over 5 years, a career no less? One that…
Read More
My jet lagged eyes struggled to open, it was as if they were stuck together with a viscous glue. I sleepily turned and looked out of the oval shaped window and saw a tall, triangular snow-capped mountain. ‘Mount Fuji’, I thought. This meant that I was finally in Japan. My heart started to beat fast….
Read More
January is such a depressing month. The days get shorter, the nights get longer and the weather gets colder. Despite this there is a strong feeling of anticipation as soon as the clock hits 12 on New Years Eve and the sight of luminescent fireworks fills the sky. The feeling that anything could happen. A…
Read More
My suitcase lies in the corner of my room. It looks so small and insignificant. Just a suitcase packed with a few summer clothes and Christmas presents. Eight months ago the same suitcase looked very different. The first time I saw the suitcase in my room I thought it was humongous and imposing. My whole…
Read More
I was sat on my comfortable corner couch in Liverpool city centre; the 42 inch plasma TV screen that was usually blasting out noise was turned off. Outside I could hear children playing, but I wasn’t paying attention to them. It was my first attempt at meditating. Anything to rid myself of that horrible feeling…
Read More
The previous night I ironed my suit and layed it out carefully ready for my first day at school. After five days of intense training in Tokyo and a whirlwind few days of filling out forms and setting up my tiny apartment I was nervous, apprehensive yet excited for my first day of school. I…
Read More