I am back!
With some news and some things I would really like to talk about today!
Let's start with university!
As I already said I am studying at Aoyama Gakuin right now - and I really like the university until now!
Sadly I am not allowed to take any pictures -sorry for that - if you have time please make sure to visit the campus in Shibuya!!!
Everybody may go there and it is awesome! Looks a little bit like some park!
Anyways let's talk about the orientation!
First of all we met at a room above the IEC - it was pretty easy to find even though the campus is quite large!
We got to meet the staff - and their english is just amazing!
Over three days we got to know them better, got to know our tutors, wrote a placement test and got information about living in Japan, mobile phones and insurances (I will come back to that later again though ...)
All in all I think the orientation was quite good!
Of course there were some things we didn't get any information about but .... can't be helped...
the Placement Test was pretty difficult - or at least this is what I thought.
I really felt like a loser at the end of the test. I can't even tell you why (oh maybe because I forgot all of my kanji in a second?! :D) but I was quite sure I failed.... though I got into level 3- which is pretty good as I will study for JLPT 2 from now on Oo
I am already afraid though ..
There are 4 japanese classes I have to attend to and also culture and politics and japanology...
We also got a calendar! :D
I took a picture - actually I kinda like it! I will show you the pic next time though! stay tuned !At the "fan-shop"(i call it like that) you can get everything with aoyama gakuin logo on it - for example a HELLO KITTY!!! I really want to get that one :D
Sooooo yeah
I needed to get back to the City Hall to get my National Health Insurance card and I was pretty nervous - as you might know japanese people tend to hate talking in english and it was not different at the hall - and for me the japanese spoken there is pretty difficult!!!
I had to wait for about 20 minutes until I got to the desk - luckily the woman there was really nice and helped me out a lot! And also she talked in a way I could easily understand!
As a matter of fact after about 30 minutes I finally got my card and now i am officially in the insurance
BUT
and this is a big but here! So this is the problem:
When we arrived in Japan i kinda cought a cold (or something like that) and instead of getting better it got worse and worse and I really wanted to see a doctor as (mainly in the evening) my throat is swollen and I can't breath properly anymore.
As I wasn't part of NHI I would have had to pay a lot of money so I waited and waited until I was able to get the card -
as my japanese is not too good until now I really wanted to meet a german or english speaking doctor which is why i tried to get information about international clinics - and I got them
a lot of them (not to say most of them) don't accept the NHI!!!!!!!!!
I was really shocked when I got to know that =_=
I was so angry
Because normaly you would like to understand what they are telling you, right?
Ok so in the end I decided that I would even go to see a japanese doctor BUT then i got to know something else:
in a lot of clinics the doctor has exactly 3 minutes time for a patient with NHI insurance ! you might say "that's a lie, right?"
but it is not. it is the truth. without the insurance you may have about 20 minutes.
With NHI you can't even get examined. If you would like to have this "special service" (excuse me?!) you need to tell them before and pay more at some clinics - like.. seriously?! what the fuck ...
Anyways it's not all clinics but a lot of them.
So I decided on two and wanted to make appointments there but then I got a mail -
A few days ago I wrote an e-mail to a half-japanese doctor in tokyo and asked him for advice.
He was really helpfull and told me to come on friday - they accept NHI and I don't have to pay too much even though I am there for the first time! (a lot of clinics charge money if you go there without medical letter....)
so i only have to pay the 30 percent AND will be able to understand what the hell is going on with my body :D
I am really happy about this development - as you can see I was really stressed by this kind of thing. It's not like I feel deadly ill but I am just so tired and feel a bit weak and my throat hurts so I just want to get things done - and I think it's good to get to know a doctor in case you need one again ....
so anyways please consider one thing before coming to japan : which insurance is the right one??
If you go to Aoyama you need to join the NHI though but remember:
- the insurance pays only 70 %
- you might be charged some "first time visit" money at a hospital
- international hospitals often don't accept NHI
- if you are member of the NHI some international insurances will not work anymore
I am planning on updating tomorrow or the day after tomorrow again!
Stay tuned ♥
