I moved to Nara, Japan, on August 3rd of this year. I've been here for two months now, and I only just got in-home wifi about two weeks ago. During those two months, I learned a lot about myself and how I like to spend my time, and I overcame my crippling fear of making phone calls to people I don't know.

For the first night I was here, I had no wifi, no cell phone, and no way to contact anyone around me. The closest wifi connection to me was only a five-minute walk away, but there was a time limit on how much I could use it, and I honestly was so tired that I didn't even want to make that short walk. You don't know tired like travel-all-morning, orientation-all-afternoon, and speak-a-foreign-language-for-multiple-hours tired. I turned my TV on, curled up on my couch, and promptly passed out.

Using the convenience store Internet the following day while I waited for a ride to work was just about the most emotional experience I had during my first few days in Nara. I sat at a table and ate my breakfast while my American phone connected, swallowing against the lump in my throat as I sent messages to all of my friends and family back home. I was connected. Granted, I was only connected for twenty minutes, but I was connected.

Imagine how happy I was when I got a Japanese cell phone that evening! I had Internet wherever I wanted, for as long as I wanted to use it. I blew through my first gig of data that same night video chatting with my mom. Looking back, it was completely worth it. I had decided to go with a five gig plan, with an extra gig of buffer data ready to be added to my plan if I was close to going over for the month. I had no idea how much data I used back in the States, but I knew that other people used 5GB plans with little trouble. If they could do it, why couldn't I?

I believed I would have wifi in my apartment within the month. I used a proxy service that connected me to a Japanese Internet company because I wasn't confident in my Japanese abilities, and they warned that anyone using their services could expect the setup to take longer because so many new assistant English teachers were moving to Japan at the same time. Even so, they hinted that setup would take four weeks, maybe six maximum. I thought it would be even faster when I sent all of my information in within two weeks of signing up for the service.

Man, was I wrong! Two weeks turned into four into six, and I wasn't contacted by the service. I learned that the first company that the proxy tried to use was no longer accepting foreign credit cards, so they had to re-do the entire process with another company. And then the other company needed information that I had already sent with my application. Did you know that people still fax things? In Japan, they do.

After basically playing phone-tag for two weeks with the company, I got in touch with them and they told me I had two options: I could have them send a tech guy to set my Internet up for me (at about $100), or I could try to do it all myself (for about $20). I figured I could hop on Google--using my phone, of course--and find directions myself, so I opted for the second option.

It took me three hours to set up my Internet, and then to connect it to a router and establish usable wifi in my apartment. The set-up process was stressful, and mostly in Japanese, and I still wonder how I managed to translate all of the tech-speech and arrange everything myself. I almost gave up so many times. If I hadn't hit the point where I desperately needed wifi, I probably would have.

During the two months of no wifi, or as I like to remember them, the darkest of Dark Ages, I spent way too much on data. I went over my data plan with plenty of change both months. I tried to limit my Internet usage as much as I could, but I had a lot of days off and Reddit sang its siren song to me. I video called my family at least once both months as well, and I tethered my phone to my laptop a few times. Was I wise with my limited Internet? Not at all.

Every time I received a warning email about my data usage, I stopped using my phone for an entire day and tried to find other ways to entertain myself. I watched so many Japanese game shows, I think I'm finally starting to understand the point of them. I walked around Nara city a lot, and bonded with the deer in the park. Basically, I used the time to familiarize myself with my surroundings and the country that I decided to dedicate my life to.

Even though the two months of waiting for wifi were overly stressful, I learned a lot about myself and my new home. I had to chase people down over the phone enough that I overcame my fear of phone calls (temporarily, they're still pretty scary). I think it was a good experience. I say that now, but if I had to wait another month for Internet, I might have gone a bit crazy. I never realized how grateful I am for things like Google, Facebook, and Netflix until I didn't have them for a long time. Now, I'm back to my regularly-scheduled overuse of the Internet. I binged Luke Cage in three days (I recommend it!), and, given the free time, I'm sure I'll find another new show or blog to dedicate a day to. Pinterest calls!