First Week!

I was really sick at the first orientation in Tokyo, so I sadly couldn't talk to the other students so much. But then we had a seven hour bus ride to the Nagoya orientation, and I met a girl from New Zealand. Her name is Bess and she's the greatest!!  Her accent is awesome, too. (Sadly, I can't see her anymore since she now lives an hour away by bullet train, but we still message each other!)

The orientation was not so much fun. Unlike the other two groups (Osaka and Tokyo) who got hotels and their own rooms or at least beds, ours had 15 girls in the same small room on tatami mats. The facilities were okay, but they forced us to use the sento (public bath) and I hated it so much, and there were about a million different rules...but, it's over now!! I was so happy to be able to spend time with my exchange friends, no matter how many rules there were.

I made friends with Krizel Ann and Mina from Norway (they are both so nice and cute oh my gosh and their accents are great too) and also Ingrid from Sweden (which is in my top 5 favorite countries). Ingrid is actually in my district in Nishi-ku, and hopefully tonight I'll figure out where exactly she lives so we can hang out. She reminds me of a girl I know from home named Lynna! and Lynna is the nicest person I know so that's a plus hahaha! It's pretty funny because I've seen Ingrid twice around the city already, even though there there are about 2.27 million people here! Pretty much no foreigners. I've seen maybe 2. Weird.

I was refraining from writing because 1. this computer is so hard to type on and 2. I'm kinda homesick but I won't go into detail because I don't know who reads this blog! Japan and AFS have so many rules and I've been taking some time to adjust. School starts on April 8th! I'll update when I can find time :) 

IM IN JAPAN!!!

I'm still on mobile hahaha

BUT IM IN JAPAN!!! At last!

The plane ride was 12 hours and then we had an extra 5 hours of waiting time. And I'm sick so it was awful. Now it's  4:30am and I  am awake  with my roommates Zoe and Lizzy! We have to get up around 6:00am to eat and then get on a bus and go to Nagoya.

There are so many people here!!! From everywhere around the world! I think there's are probably  over 200  students.  :)  And they are all so nice ! I'm sad that we have to separate tomorrow morning, but we will all have an amazing time.

Last night there was dinner but I skipped it because I'm really sick. :(

But we were given a speech from the awesome national director of AFS JPN, and then we talked about scheduled and then we took a huge group picture and THEN we went to bed. My roommates are Lizzy and Zoe, both going to the Nagoya orientation with me. They're so cool!

Now I have to go to bed, we ａｒｅ　ｇｅｔｔｉｎｇ　ｕｐ　ａｔ　６ａｍ　ｔｏ　ｓｅｅ　ｔｈｅ　ｏｔｈｅｒ　ｓｔｕｄｅｎｔｓ　ｏｆｆ．

（ｅｖｅｒｙｏｎｅ　ｉｓ　ｇｏｉｎｇ　ｏｎ　ａ　ｂｕｓ　ｔｏ　ｇｅｔ　ｔｏ　ｔｈｅｉｒ　ｏｒｉｅｎｔａｔｉｏｎ　ｓｉｔｅｓ！）

Taking off Tomorrow

THIS IS CRAZY IM ACTUALLY LEAVING. Nothing feels real!

I just got done going to Disneyland for a few days with my parents! So much fun, but I'm a little sick now and it sucks. And I'm super tired.

I got to spend some time with Emma, a student going to Kyūshū and one if my best friends! She's super cool and I wish she was in my area :(

I'll put in a picture of us when I'm not on mobile. It's really hard to blog on here! But anyway her and I are really similar and she's the cutest person ever and  she also has a blog: www.emma-desu.tumblr.com

We went on a lot of rides  together and I beat her at Astro Blasters!!! (Take that Emma!!)

When we were in line for Indiana Jones, we ended up behind a Japanese couple and they heard us speaking Japanese and were very surprised, so they turned around and started speaking Japanese with us! It was great! They  that what we're doing is super cool. :)

I said goodbye to my parents today and it sucked, but I'll see them in less than a year.

Right now I'm at the Gateway orientation which is super long and I should be sleeping! At least I'm all packed and my bags are under the weight limit  surprisingly.  It's weird seeing everyone in person!!  Well, I have to get up around 6:00 am tomorrow so おやすみなさい！！(*^_^*)

Final Thoughts...

I got my hair highlighted and cut for Japan:

I'm leaving this week!! Holy cow, where the heck has all the time gone?

I remember when it was 250 days until my first trip to Japan. And now I've come this far. This is seriously crazy, and it doesn't even feel like real life! I'm still a little short on money for living expenses, but I know I'll get there. Also, my sister Anna wants to get me an iPad or give me the money for Japan, so I'm gonna go there first and see if I think I'd like to have one. She's so nice.

My host family seems seriously perfect, and I can't wait to meet them. Kyoko-san, my host sister talks to me a lot over Skype IM and I love hearing from her. We even have a lot in common!! I hope my Japanese will be good enough to have a basic conversation soon. But, in the meanwhile, her English is very good compared to many Japanese people I know, so it's very easy to keep up a conversation with her.

I have not had time to study Japanese lately because of all the American homework I have. In the next 3 days I have to finish a 50+ paragraph research essay, a study guide, 2-3 tests, a Socratic seminar (research forms I have to fill out and then I have to give the comments out loud) and shopping, packing, saying goodbye to everyone, etc. It's unbelievably stressful. I don't even know how I'm finding time to write this! :')

But, I can relax once I'm in Disneyland! I leave the night of the 12th/morning of the 13th at 2am, get on an airplane at Sea-Tac at 7am, fly to LAX and spend the night there, then go to Disneyland for 3 days after that! Then, on the 17th, I have an orientation at the Hacienda Hotel in LA and I spend the night there, leave on the 18th for Tokyo-Narita at 12:05pm, get into Japan at 4:00pm on the 19th (Americans are the latest group that day!). After that, I spend the night in an airport hotel along with all the other students and then get to Nagoya somehow for an orientation with the kids in that area! On the 22nd I meet my host family!

     My Schedule (all dates are for March 2014)

     12th/13th     -     Fly to L.A.
     14th             -     Disneyland
     15th             -     Disneyland
     16th             -     Disneyland
     17th             -     Gateway Orientation in L.A. (say goodbye to parents)
     18th             -     Fly to Japan
     19th             -     Arrive in Tokyo, Japan
     20th             -     Go to Nagoya  for Arrival Orientation
     21st             -     Nagoya Orientation
     22nd            -     Meet Host Family

My schedule is packed even if I'm not! (groan).

I don't want to say goodbye to more people! But I know it's only for 11 months. I'll come back.

I already had two going away parties (three if I count my last night at youth group and the little party we had there!) so I've said sayounara to quite a few people. Wednesday is my last day of school so I'll say bye to my school friends then. I'm definitely going to miss my best friend Payton, but we can Skype every once in a while or send each other pictures so it'll be ok. I've gotten to the point where I have quite a lot of friends so It'll be draining to have lengthy goodbyes with everyone, but it's worth it!

Just a few of the many friends that came to eat Thai food and ice cream with me:

(My dad took this picture so it's really bad)

I'll also miss my dogs and my cat. My dad is a vet so I'm very close with my pets, especially my golden retriever, Pipe. I've had her for nine years, since I was in first grade!

She's too cute for words:

I just hope nothing happens to my pets or family members while I'm gone! My grandma had a stroke but she's doing so much better now, and Pipe is having hip problems but I hear that's normal for goldens so I'm not too worried. I still hate goodbyes though.

Oh well, while I say goodbye to my life in America for a while, I'll be saying kon'nichiwa to a whole new life in Japan!

Here's to the spirit of adventure! :)

I may type another little something up if I can find the time, but I'll see you on the other side if I don't!!