MEXT Scholarship Journey [Finale]

Finally, we get to the last part of the journey. Waiting for the itinerary and flying to the land of the rising sun. Nothing much happened but a lot of packing and online shopping spree! Stocked vitamins and supplements for 2 years ahead. Hahahaha...

Facebook Group

Those who passed the secondary screening will be invited to join the MEXT Scholarship FB Group of that year. (You will not find anyone from the previous batch or another program). There they will announce about the pledge, visa, and ticket.
Itinerary, February 12th
Yes, they issue the itinerary first. This is not the e-ticket as it will be given later in March. But actually, it is better because we can find the information about the airline we will be using and start packing according to the rules of each airline. Also, we can give confirmation to the campus that we, for example in my case, need another orientation because we arrived later than the designated date.

Pledge, February 13th

This is some kind of documents that you need to sign and send to the embassy stating that you will respect the rules of Japan and will not do anything against the law during the scholarship. The deadline was on March 12th.

Visa Application, February 23rd

Actually, I can take care of this while in my city, but I am planning to go for the farewell party held in the embassy on March 12, so I just went there and submit my visa application after the party. I got my visa on March 16th.

Farewell Party, March 12th

It started with an orientation given by 3 seniors of MEXT scholarship recipients from early 2000 maybe? I don't remember clearly about the details. They gave information such as what to do as a research student and how to behave in Japan in general. The ceremony then started with a speech from the ambassador and closed with a photo session and lunch.

Ticket, March 19th

We got our e-ticket sent to our email for April 1st departure. Lucky for us that it was not an April mop prank.

Departure, April 1st

Ah, okay. The flight took a total of 9 hours because of transit. Nothing much happened here. Just sat and wait and watching free movies...

Arrival, April 2nd

Yeah, we arrived safely at 8.30 AM and guess what, the immigration took a 2 and a half hour! The next bus to Ikoma was at 11.40, wrongly pronounced the destination name from 'Gakken' to 'Gakuen' which leads to a wrong stop. I went to Starbucks nearby led by a stranger and contacted my tutor to pick me up. The stations are 30 minutes far, so we went to the campus like crazy because I missed the orientation already.

Ah, I will continue my one-week life story in the dorm in the next post. じゃ、また