My parents and I stopped in at the Westin LAX and moved my considerable luggage to a room. I had heard that the rooms were to be shared between three people, but as I write this, no one else has shown up. It’s a little hard to get comfortable in a hotel room when you don’t know if the door is going to open and have a total stranger walk in. I figure I’ll deadbolt the door before I go to bed.
I said goodbye to my folks, which was more difficult than I thought it would be. They’ve been so supportive, it’s going to be tough to get out on my own again. I hadn’t realized how much I relied on their advice and support over the last year. They were heading north up to coast, to perhaps stop at a beach or get a hotel near the ocean.
As for the orientation, it was pretty boring. The coordinator that moderated had trouble keeping things moving, and it really became a big Q&A session. I thought it was interesting that so many things that they had told us before had changed, and I ended up spending about an hour repacking some things between suitcases. My favorite speech was by one of the consuls, who told us “not to have sex with students”, called on us to “not use illegal drugs”, and various other common sense type things that I guess must be said anyway.
After the Q&A session, we had a reception outside, where several VIPs, over the sound of landing airplanes, gave short speeches urging us on to great things. The beer was free, though, and we even got a run through a buffet line with Mexican food. While I was in the food line, the consul that I interviewed with stopped by to say hello. He said that he remembered me during the interview, and he wished me the best of luck. He said he remembered me as a “businessman”, and hoped that I enjoyed the upcoming experience.
I spent most of the time with a guy I met back in the pre-departure orientation, William Williams. He was fun to talk to, and he had an amazing amount of information to pass on. He’ll be living in Saitama, near Tokyo, so I’ll have to get out there to visit sometime. He talked about setting up a microbiology lab in his apartment, which sounded pretty crazy. If anyone was to do it, William Williams sounded like the guy.
Tomorrow I’m going to head to the airport fairly early, as it sounds like a real chore to get through security. I’m wondering what items are going to cause the most stir during the customs search.
