I’m marching up one of the main streets of Chalandri, doing my best not to twist my ankles on the broken sidewalks. Cicadas surround me, seemingly screaming at me from the trees. Squinting through the haze of the Greek summer heat, I see a white flag with a big red circle in the middle of it, waving like a wet towel over the Embassy of Japan. I clutch the bundle of documents in my hand, praying that my sweaty palms have not damaged them… 

Oh, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Hi, I’m Vikki. I’m pursuing a double major in cultural anthropology and Japanese culture and language at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada. I am just beginning my third year, which will be spent on an exchange year in Tokyo, at Sophia University (上智大学).

This blog will appeal to you if…

1. You’re thinking about going on exchange yourself.
2. You like anthropology/Asian studies/gender and sexuality studies.
3. You’re a super cool person and like to read stuff written by a reasonably together writer/student.
4. You need a laugh at the end of a long day, reading about me stumbling through yet another new culture.

I’ll try to make this blog informative as I can as I go. It’ll also help me out, writing down my experiences. This ain’t my first rodeo, but it will certainly be my longest. Before I get this party started, let me give you a little background on who’s writing this thing.

I am a Greek-Canadian dual citizen who worked in retail for five years before deciding she should probably go get a Bachelor’s degree or something. So now I’m in my third year, pursuing the aforementioned double major. It was always my dream to attend school in Japan, as I taught myself the language’s basics when I was twelve. I’m hoping to get into research, preferably about gender and sexuality in Japanese media.

Eh, but we’ll get to that later. Where’s the fun in telling you everything in one go anyway?

For now, let’s start at the beginning.

May, 2016. I had just left Canada and landed in Reykjavik, Iceland. Why? Well, I was on my way to London and Icelandair asked me if I wanted a free stopover. I said, sure, why not, put me down for four days. Turned out to be four days full of geological beauty, cheap outdoor thermal baths, and wonderful new friends. Then I hit up London, Paris, and Brussels, mostly visiting friends and sightseeing. It was fabulous. I’m making a video of it, so I’ll save it for when I post it when it’s done.

Anyway, I then came here to Athens. I thought it was important, to come back to the motherland to see my family. I also made a New Year’s resolution to take the most indirect route possible to get to any destinations I had. So I had that done. Again, the video will show it in detail, but let me just say it was the best resolution I’ve ever made. It was well worth keeping.

Now, as far as the paperwork is concerned, being in Greece has made the entire process very interesting. Most of it has been online work, thankfully. When I was in Vancouver, I got all the medical physicals and stuff done, so I was prepared. Also found out that I don’t have TB, which was cool. (Why they asked me for a chest x-ray is still beyond me.) However, I did have to receive some documents here before I could get my visa application done. I was also away for two weeks on a road/camping trip with a friend through a bunch more countries, and it got a little scary waiting. Why, you ask? Because Greece: total mess when it comes to snail mail.

Also a mess at everything else that would be convenient in any other country.

I digress. Despite all of my stressing, documents showed up, including my acceptance letter and the Certificate of Eligibility (COE) (the thing that makes the entire process way smoother and faster), and that’s where we come back to my sweaty trip to the embassy. I landed back in Athens last night from Amsterdam and went first thing this morning, dressed in the lightest yet most decent-looking outfit I had lying around. I’ve been backpacking, which means I’ve looked like a homeless person for months. So it felt weird strutting down the street in a decent blouse and nice pants. I entered, stumbling through security with my limited Greek, which has endowed me with the eloquence of a five year-old, before finally being able to speak Japanese and sound like an adult again. The air conditioning was a welcome relief as well, not to mention the quiet, although the cicadas’ cries still rang in my ears like a fire bell.

Let me tell you, reader, the visa process itself is pretty easy. If you get a COE, which your university takes care of for you, it’s a cake walk. I can’t speak for everyone’s experiences since I am in Greece, but the embassy here only needs a week to process. In the past, I have also gotten pretty big visas, especially for China, and it was similarly straightforward. It helps to have a plan though. As soon as you know what you want, research and set up for the future as much as you can, especially when it comes to finances and logistics, like where to get your visa picture taken and lining up appointments. I find making lists of all of the stuff you have to do ahead of time very helpful. It’s also very satisfying to strike each item off of said list.

I hope it’s going well for my fellow exchange students. I’m sort of cut off out here, being in a country in economic turmoil where people barely get to go on exchange. I mean, there is Erasmus, but still, I’m unbelievably lucky.

Anyway, I better wrap this up, I got studying to do. It’s exactly two weeks until I leave Greece, and I need to review my Japanese grammar and whatever. And before you ask; no, I am not going directly to Tokyo. That would be ridiculous.

Where am I going?

Let’s save that for next time, shall we?