I have been in Japan for four days now, and already I have experienced and learned so much. There is already so much to tell that I don't think I can remember it all, but I will try.

My first thoughts of Japan were not positive. I arrived, tired, jetlagged and moody, to a large but bare room infested with cockroaches. Kisako, who volunteered to be my tutor, tried to make me feel welcome and secure, but I was feeling too exhausted, overwhelmed, frightened, worried and generally homesick to really be comfortable. All I could think about was how much I was already missing England, my family and Phil, and how I wanted to be home. I remember, as the University staff kindly drove us from the airport to our accommodation in the night, looking at the surroundings and thinking that, in the dark, Japan looked so much like England. Only, it wasn't England. I was a long, long way from England, and I wouldn't be seeing my home again for a long time. That thought brought a lump to my throat.

The next few days were tough too. The jetlag had not passed, which didn't help improve my mood, plus everything was still too new and strange. I kept feeling that I would not be able to cope for a whole year here, in this very alien country. No familiar English food, no pubs, etc. etc.

But slowly, things have really begun to settle down, and now I am beginning to open my eyes and realise that my situation really is not that bad. Far, far from it. From what I've experienced so far, I can say that Kumamoto is one of the most interesting, happy and fascinating cities to be in, and the people here are perhaps the kindest I have ever met.

I don't know where to start, but I'll try and break down all my experiences so far:

ACCOMODATION: As I said, the room IS full of cockroaches (and as I found out last night, gigantic spiders). However, the bugs (or mushi, as the Japanese call them) only come out at night, so they're not a problem during the day. And there's lots of very cool bugs around too, like the praying mantis I found on my first night I stayed here (the Japanese students said it was very cute to see me so fascinated by a creature that's so common here). But I digress...the room. It is big, much bigger than the room at Durham, with tonnes of storage space, a little electric hob, a fridge/freezer, a cooler, an ensuite toilet and shower, and even a balcony! Luxury compared to Durham. The rent's cheap too. Each room also has a phone with which we can telephone each other within the campus grounds.

One thing that bothered me a little though is that, unlike in Trevelyan College, the rooms are arranged in long corridors, with doors that swing shut, which means that socialisation is not as easy. Coupled with the fact that there is no student bar of any kind!

THE CITY: Is something very, very different. I still haven't been around most of it (it’s huge), but what I've seen so far has been incredibly interesting. We have spent most of our time in the city along two roads, Kamitori and Shimotori. However, when I say roads, what I mean is something like a cross between a road and a shopping mall. The roads are set up like shopping malls, long and straight roofed corridors with shops on each side (and each shop is massive, most have at least two floors and some have far more). However, the road opens up to the outside, and cars even drive through! It’s quite surreal to be walking through a shopping mall, and then have to stop at the traffic lights as a line of cars pass (one thing about Japan in general is that jay-walking is illegal, and is not done at all)!

Even though Kumamoto is not a major city by Japan standards, it is clearly lively and far, far more advanced than anything in England (like the rest of Japan). You can get pretty much get anything you want in the shops, and in Kumamoto prices are incredibly low, normally much cheaper than England! Our favourite shop is probably the hyaku-en shop, where almost everything costs just 100 yen (about 50p!). We've stocked up on crockery, pots and pans, stationary and pretty much everything else there.

Transport around the city is very efficient. Bus services are excellent and the buses themselves are clean and have announcements to tell you where the next destination is.

FOOD: One snag about the university accommodation is that, unlike Durham (but like most universities), you have to cook for yourself. I'm not good at cooking, so up to now I've been living on Cup-Ramen (like pot noodles, but larger, more nutritious and more tasty). But I'm attempting to be more adventurous in the future. At Ace Supermarket, where we all go to buy food, I bought rice, noodles and vegetables with some vague idea in mind that I'd try my hand at some cooking. Ace Supermarket is pretty good - the food's not too expensive, and there is western food like pasta and (hooray) breakfast cereal, although the western stuff is more expensive, naturally.

I've also eaten out quite a bit too. Tonight, our tutors took us out to Ringerland, a Champon noodle restaurant, which was delicious. In fact, so far I've loved pretty much all the Japanese food I've tried so far - onigiri (rice balls), ramen, bean-paste buns, hell even the short-grain Japanese rice is somehow nicer than the long-grain rice back home. Although I do miss my good old cup of milky English tea in the morning, I know that I'll miss Japanese food very much when I get home!

PEOPLE: Before I came to Japan, I had one very clear expectation in mind - that Japanese people would be cold, strict and generally not friendly towards foreigners (which is like English people, I suppose). But I've come to realise that nothing could be further from the truth.

Firstly, our tutors, particularly mine, Kisako. They have been unbelievable. They have volunteered to give up all their free time to show us around, help us fill out millions of forms, give us information, take us out on shopping trips, take us to restaurants and so on. And they have been nothing but exceptionally kind, patient, cheerful and helpful the whole time. I think Kisako has been the best of all. She has been so patient with my poor Japanese and so eager to encourage and help me, and to take care of me in general. I really don't think there's a way I can thank her enough. I only wish I was just as kind and helpful when Kisako came to Durham last year.

Then there's the teachers and people in charge of the Kaikan. I've only met two so far, the ones in charge of this international building, but they have been so helpful and friendly so far - more so than most English tutors I think! They've always made sure that we understand exactly what's going on, to the point of saying everything in Japanese and then in English for the benefit of us poor, language-deficient Brits. And they don't make you feel small or stupid for asking questions, or for needing help.

And then the people in general. One thing's certain: all the nice things you've ever heard about Japanese people are all true. The ones I've met are immensely polite, and will bend over backwards to help you, even if you are a bumbling foreigner with a handful of Japanese phrases, and all with a big smile on their faces. This was a shock after coming from England, where people in shops treat you more as an inconvenience rather than an honoured guest. Everyone bows to thank you, welcomes you and offers to help you when you enter a shop and apologises profusely for not being very helpful or quick (even if they were!). Their warmth, politeness and hospitality really does put England to shame. We could learn a lot.

One other thing I was expecting was for all Japanese to be trendy, label-loving clones with no individual quirky tastes, hence I was worried that my dress sense might be regarded as very strange. Once again, I was in for a surprise. The Japanese dress perhaps even more individually than the British, yet more stylishly. And there is such an eclectic mix of styles and tastes too. Along the streets of Kumamoto, you can all kinds of people, from kids in school uniform to girls dressed in American fashions to Punks and Goths to women in full kimono (that's really not an unusual sight, to see kimono-clad women walking along with a mobile phone in hand. Surreal, yet very Japanese!). One thing I won't forget was, at the city hall, seeing a guy wearing a yellow and black striped T-shirt with a fishnet top on over the top, bondage-style trousers complete with spiky studs and zips everywhere, piercings all over the earlobes, tenderly and proudly playing with his baby son/daughter. It was perhaps the cutest thing I've ever seen.

And last night, I experienced the greatest random act of kindness of all. Coming back from the supermarket in the evening, I got separated from my friends and ended up losing my way back to the campus. Before I knew it, I was completely lost. Using terrible Japanese, I tried asking directions from people, but nobody could help me.

Eventually, I ended up at a building which I later found out to be Toukai University. When I asked the attendant for directions, he led me into the university itself. There, he told my problem to one of the teachers, who, after a long time, emerged from the office carrying a map which had obviously just been printed from the Kumamoto University website (he'd gone and looked it up for me). He asked me, "How are you getting there? Bike? Car?" When I told him I was walking, he left again, saying "Chotto matte kudasai" (please wait a moment). When he came back, he was carrying car keys, and said, "Come on...my car." He actually gave me a lift back to the campus in his car!

I couldn't believe how kind he was, and although I thanked him and apologised profusely, I didn't think that was enough for the help he'd given me. I asked for his name, hoping to write to him and thank him properly, but he wouldn't tell me. Clearly, he didn't want anymore thanks. That was probably one of the kindest things a stranger has ever done for me before. Something like that would probably never happen in England.