Hadleigh Parkes column: World Cup dreams, snoring and sushi

In his latest BBC Sport column, Wales centre Hadleigh Parkes looks forward to his first World Cup, waxes lyrical about sushi and talks about his search for a new room-mate in Japan.

Now the wait for the squad announcement is over, I'm so excited about my first World Cup.

It's going to be an amazing tournament: a lot of fun but also a lot of hard work. To hear your name read out is something very special and I'm just excited about getting out to Japan and getting stuck in.

No matter who you are and what your status in the squad, you certainly have those nerves when you're waiting to find out if you've been included.

You'd like to be confident but, until you hear your name read out, you don't get that sense of relief. You have to be on edge a little bit and that's a good thing because it shows how much depth there is in Wales at the moment.

We found out on Sunday, live and at the same time as all the fans watching online. Then on Monday morning it was back to training.

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When we all saw each other, there were a few 'congratulations' here and there and a few handshakes or fist-bumps. It's a pretty special thing to be able to go to a World Cup.

Then we had our team photo and got given our new training kit and bags with the World Cup logos on them. Those little bits of detail help it all sink in.

We'll need to pack that this week because it will go to Japan separately from our flight. A little bit of organisation will be required, which could test a few of the boys!

We have to organise a big bag for Japan and then a bag to go to Ireland for this weekend's game - hopefully the boys will be able to plan ahead.

Mixed emotions and the search for a room-mate

All 31 of us selected were delighted on Sunday, but we were all disappointed for the nine guys who missed out.

You feel for those boys and, to be fair to them, they all sent us a message on our World Cup WhatsApp group to wish us all the best in Japan.

There were some tough calls for the coaches to make, having to give those players that bad news. Difficult decisions are part of the job for coaches, and it's our job as players to make those decisions difficult.

One of those who missed out was Owen Lane - my room-mate, 'The Lane Train' - and I thought he played really well against Ireland on the weekend. He scored his try and put in a great effort on his debut.

Owen Lane scored a try on his debut as Wales lost 22-17 to Ireland in Cardiff on Saturday

The competition is pretty fierce on the wing and, unfortunately for him, he missed out. But I do think he has a massive future.

On a personal note, it's another roomie down for me after my original room-mate, Gareth Anscombe, was ruled out of the World Cup because of injury.

We'll have to wait and see what happens now.

I heard that James 'Cubby' Davies said he doesn't want to room with his brother Jonathan because he's too "boring".

I couldn't possibly comment on that, but it could mean I'll be on 'Cubby Tours' in Japan. Maybe he'll lead me astray!

As there's an odd number of players with 31 in the squad, the captain Alun Wyn Jones gets his own room.

That's always the case, unless there's a big snorer! If there is someone who snores a lot, they tend to sleep in a room on their own.

Bring on the sushi!

Apart from the rugby, what I'm most looking forward to about my first trip to Japan is the food!

I'm a massive fan of Japanese cuisine. I like sushi, chicken teriyaki, salmon teriyaki - all that kind of stuff. I think we'll be looking at a few food blogs, seeing what's out there. Hopefully the weight I've lost this pre-season won't come back on!

When you're touring, it's all part of it, experiencing different cultures and cuisines. In Argentina, for example, the steaks were amazing.

And then you go to South Africa and you try the meats and the braai and stuff like that. It will be awesome to experience some Japanese culture.

Sometimes we won't have seats at dinner time and we'll be sitting on the ground, so you've got to embrace that kind of thing.

You don't always have to eat at the hotel. The way I look at it, at the start of the week, I like to eat somewhere a bit different, but then towards the end of the week in the lead-up to the game, I tend to eat at the hotel.

You're not always going to eat out - we are there for a purpose, it's not a jolly - but you do want to experience new cultures.

My parents will be flying over, as will my three brothers at different times, but my wife Suzy won't be able to come because she's expecting our first child in November.

It's gutting because it would have been amazing to have her there, but both of us were very keen to start a family, so it's only a small sacrifice to make.

To go to a World Cup, with all the fans from around the world and all the teams, it's going to be really exciting and something you have to pinch yourself about.

Hadleigh Parkes was speaking to BBC Sport Wales' Dafydd Pritchard.