Mapping My Way (Victor)

Being as timid as I am, and that my friends were far away from me, living on the college campus while I lived in a building thirty minutes away, I explored as little as possible at first. I only went to the small grocery store five minutes away the next day out of necessity for food, and after it was acquired, I didn’t leave the building again until orientation a couple of days later. I was absolutely terrified of going anywhere by myself. Despite there being a bus stop right outside my building that took me straight to campus, I opted to walk my first several trips because I was too nervous to take the bus alone and I didn’t get a bus pass for almost two weeks because the thought of getting to, and navigating a train station alone was also scary. I didn’t go anywhere I didn’t absolutely have to, and I tried to rope in my roommate or friends for every trip I went on.

My understanding of the world around me represented by sticky notes.

This fear of exploration, particularly by myself, meant that I didn’t have any understanding of my surroundings and even though I walked to campus several times, I was so glued to Google Maps that I didn’t absorb any landmarks.

My small world

Even now that I’ve been in Japan for a few weeks, I still haven’t done much exploring, which I regret because I now have less and less time to go out as the semester ramps up. I have my major landmarks, like Himawari, the very bright and bold pachinko parlor that signals where I need to turn right to get to campus from where I’m living. The Top World Market is where I do more extensive grocery shopping trips, and it signals that I’m getting closer to home but my bubble is still so small. For example, I’ve never turned left at Himawari, I take the bus whenever I can, blocking me from taking in information from my environment, and I’m still not comfortable taking the train alone.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to take some bigger steps on my own soon.