Since I spent most of this week booking transportation and scouring maps of Kyoto, I thought I should make an entry about how that's been.Well, besides really damned expensive, haha.
Once you get an email from Rits confirming your acceptance, they should direct you to a part of their site where you can get a PDF with details of all the types of accommodation they offer. They had a lot more options than I expected, but some are strictly for students studying at Rits for one semester (Freepia Narutaki, Ryuugakusei house, etc) whereas House 50 and Koraku Heights are full year students only. I'm not sure if the two I-houses accept both, I just know they accept full year students.
Rits then sent me an online form-thing where you select your preferred accommodation. Their deadline date was July 13th, which gave me about a week or so. I remember hearing somewhere that it's first-come first-serve but it's a bit vague--I'd say be quick anyway! My first choice was House 50 then Koraku Heights because I had issues with aspects of the I-Houses and the apartment type accommodation suits me better.
Unfortunately, I didn't get my first choice, but I did get into Koraku Heights, which is more or less the same (except you need to sort out your own internet, but you get a private washing machine and rent is slightly cheaper I suppose.) It is still ridiculously expensive though, being about ¥48000 (£392-ish) a month (including maintenance fees.) Also you have to pay for gas, electricity, water, etc, on top of that. House 50 is around ¥53000 (£433-ish) a month. Well, wasn't expecting to have any money upon graduating anyway. (sigh)
In terms of moving in, House 50 and Koraku Heights were very rigid with their dates--there were only three dates you could pick to move in, all at 9:30am which is annoying if you can't get a hotel near the campus. They do recommend you stay at a nearby hostel or hotel (like hotel Chrysantheme, which I have booked for a night before I move in on the 12th) so you can make it. As far as I remember the I-house I and II dates are a bit more flexible.
Since I was waiting for my accommodation to be confirmed, I didn't book my flights until a few days ago. I was originally planning to fly with KLM since they had cheap flights (around £600ish return) to Kansai International that took around 14 hours, but I wasn't able to book a return ticket for August 2013. When I went to STA in glasgow the guy told me I could just make the return date a random day in June and then change it later with a multiflex pass that they offer for £59. In the end I got a much more expensive flight of £800ish, but my dates could be changed up to three times which would be useful. This flight sounds classier than the KLM one too, which doesn't hurt. Fancy plane food is fine by me!
I booked Yasaka's shuttle taxi service to pick me up at the airport and take me to the hotel I'm staying at. It cost about ¥3500 (¥3000 if you book online I think) but I didn't really want to brave the express train after getting off a long flight. Another day perhaps. You get one suitcase and your hand luggage on the shuttle free, but there is a fee for each extra suitcase you have. Ritsumeikan recommended this service (along with MK shuttle's taxi) as means of getting to Kyoto, so hopefully it's efficient enough.
I bought my university's travel insurance which came to about £190. I'm not sure if that was a good deal or not, but it was recommended by our international office so I'm assuming it's better suited to my needs. I am pretty sure Rits make you take their medical and liability insurance when you get there. Since I have no scholarship I'm hoping SAAS will refund me in full...
Orientation begins around the 18th of September, which gives me a few days to adjust, get together some stuff and see some sights study hard for the placement test. I am fearing for my life at the thought of having to do an interview in Japanese, but I'm hoping it'll die down once I've become accustomed to everybody speaking it around me. My accent kinda sucks and it's making me paranoid but that should improve with time. Maybe.
Classes don't start until the 26th so I'll have more time to go sightseeing and whatnot between then and the 21st, which is when orientation ends. Looking forward to putting my camera to good use again and taking some photos of Kyoto! My girlfriend also arrives around then since she's staying with me until her accommodation opens so I won't be getting lost on my own either, bahaha. I am getting pretty excited now, scared too but y'know.
Monday, 6 August 2012
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment