O-O-O-O-O-Osaka~~~

December 20: MAGICAL BOX

This blog is going to be all out of order....but I guess that's ok.  I'm pausing in my re-cap of November/December to talk about my day today.  After starting out the morning with kanji class and finding out that I made a 63/100 on that IMPOSSIBLE kanji test I took last week, I wasn't feeling so happy.  But not even kanji class can keep me down for long when Taka's around.  He met me for lunch in Takadanobaba and we had ramen.  I was fully prepared to be made fun of for my failtastic ramen eating, but I was actually able to do it right this time (much to Taka's disappointment haha)! Anyhoo, after we ate, he gave me a late birthday gift (<3) Lots of bath salts that smell aweeeeesoooome....AND....a box.  Not just any kind of box mind you.  A box that makes things disappear.  While we were at the restaurant, Taka put a toothpick in it and demonstrated it for me and I was baffled.  He had to show me how to do it and even then I still wasn't sure exactly how it worked! So needless to say when I got home it provided with amusement for much longer than it probably should have, but I was trying so hard to figure out how it works! I'm still not sure I completely understand..... but anyway on to the .....

*drumroll~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* 

DEMONSTRATION VIDEO

勉強 - studying

My brain hurts....

I think I have done more studying today than I have in the entire last month.
Not to mention I am pretty sure I consumed enough coffee to keep me awake for days O_O''
I lost count after 5 cups....
But the important thing is that I got some serious studying done.
I'm pausing for a break now before I go get food and then continue for another couple of hours.

I've been such a good student lately!
I even went to the library and figured out how to check out a book!

The library here really scares me though because it has the bookshelves that move and I have this terrible fear that I'm going to get trapped and squished in between them.

There are still kind people in the world

Ok so I haven't updated in forever.
I really intended to keep a regular blog, but I just don't seem to have the time.
What free time I do have I tend to spend it sleeping or going places.
But today I feel like writing and I have something specific that happened that I wanted to talk about.

Whenever people ask me why I like Japan one of my common responses is "because people in Japan are so kind."  Yesterday, I experienced a perfect example of that.

In my classroom where I have my Japanese language class almost every morning, the desks have a cubby where you can sit books or your papers or whatever.  For me personally, it's a place where I sit my cell phone so I can access it easily to check the time (which is frequently because I'm usually starving and dying to be done with class).  Yesterday when Molly and I got to the cafeteria after we were done with class, I realized that my phone wasn't in my purse and we determined that I most likely left it in the classroom.  Instead of rushing immediately back to the room in a panic, praying that no one had found it and stolen it already, I remained sitting and talking with my friends until 3rd period was almost over.  Then Molly and I made our way back to the classroom and waited for the class that was in there to leave.  When the bell rang, we went in and began looking in the desks, but my phone wasn't in the desk I usually sit in.  As I began to retrace my steps of where all I had gone that day in my head, a guy walks over, reaches into another desk and hands me my cell phone.  This guy had not only walked away from his group of friends to help me, but also stopped in the middle of a phone call to show me where my phone had been moved to.  In America, my phone would have more than likely been gone long before I ever even realized it was missing.  And I -highly- doubt it ever would have been hand delivered back to me when I went looking for it even if it was still there.  That guy probably has no idea just how much he made my day.

I realize that there are good and bad people everywhere, but I feel like in general people in Japan just care more.  I've seen a woman drop her wallet as she was getting off a train and a man pick it up and chase her down just to give it back to her.  In the cafeteria everyone finds a seat and then leaves their purse or bookbag there to hold their seat while they walk away to go buy food without fear of someone stealing it.  There can be no one sitting at a table, but if there is a single folder sitting in the middle of it no one will sit there because it is claimed already.  In the dining halls at UGA you would come back to find your folder, purse, bag, whatever shoved off to the side and four people sitting at the table you were hoping to save.

There have been several times since I got here that I have been lost or confused about how to do something and had a complete stranger come up and, despite language barriers, attempt to help me.  It amazes and inspires me every time.  And I just wanted to share with everyone one of the many reasons I love this country so very much.

November 20th

We went on a "Tour of Shitamachi" with Kenji.  Shitamachi is the area we live in. Kenji and one of his previous teachers took us around and showed us lots of fun things around I-House like a puppet museum, a traditional sake shop, Nezu Shrine, and the cemetery where Yoshinobu Tokogawa is buried.  My favorites were the shrine and the cemetery~  The Shrine was gorgeous and Molly and I had fun running around looking at the koi fish and the turtles haha  When you go to the shrine you go to the alter, throw in a coin, clap, then say a prayer, which I got to do :)  We also got to run through the red gates! Poor Kenji hit his head on them and, despite our concern, Molly and I couldn't help but laugh.  I'll post a video below~  When we went to the cemetery, we all got into an in-depth conversation about why Japan would be the safest place to be during a zombie apocalypse because everyone is cremated here so there are no bodies to become zombies.  This theory held up great until Kenji informed us that during the time of the Samurai bodies were buried and we realized we would have to fight samurai zombies... haha

 

November 18th

This day started off with me and Molly being even more tired than usual, so for some reason we thought it would be a good idea for us to both drink two coffees before class..... Needless to say we will never make that mistake again.  We were so hyped up through the entire class, which resulted in a tower of coffee cans on our desk that our teacher questioned at one point, but never actually got mad at us for, as well as some interesting additions to our Japanese books.  That night, we had a "Takoyaki Party" in Eddie's room (Takoyaki are balls of cooked dough with octopus inside them).  Eddie did a great job cooking and I had a GREAT time at this party.  We had a giant tickle fight, taught my boys how to dance the macarena (for the record any time I refer to 'my boys' in this blog it means Daiki, Naoki, Takuto, and Masaki), had a chance to hang out with Akira again for the first time since the very first big I-House party, met Daiki's friend Kazuya, and watched creepy Japanese ghost movies.

November 16th

This was a REALLY rough day for me.  I won't go into details because it just plain sucked.  I'll just leave it at some things didn't work out the I had hoped and I was really upset.  However~ because I am blessed with some fantastic friends and the #1 roommate of all time, it turned into a pretty great day.  Molly went out and bought me a big chocolate birthday cake then Nick, Trevor, Eddie, and Alex came over to help eat it~  Nick even came in his Pooh PJs so I could cuddle with Pooh Bear and feel better \(^_^)/ We had fun and it made me feel so much better!

Pooh bear cuddles!

awesome yummy cake that Molly bought me in Nippori

November 13th

Molly and I were SUPER lazy for about 90% of this day.  It was a Sunday so we didn't have to be anywhere or do anything really so we didn't even change out of our pajamas until the evening when we decided to venture to Nippori and try out the "Renoir Cafe" that we pass by all the time.  This turned into an adventure of us being at a place that was WAY too fancy for how we were dressed, where we laughed at the terrible English on the menu and gagged on a 600 yen (aprox $6) scoop of vanilla ice cream that had some gross jelly stuff on it.  While we were at the cafe, Daiki texted us and asked if we wanted to go to an izakaya (a Japanese pub for those of you who might not know).  So we rushed back home to actually dress decently then headed to Shinjuku to meet Daiki.

the vanilla ice cream would have been lovely if the other stuff hadn't been on it.

fantastic Engrish

Izakaya time with Daiki

November 12th

I went to Shinjuku with Daiki, Takuto, Naoki, and Masaki.  Just an evening out with my boys haha We went to Burger King because here in Japan Burger King has an "as many whoppers as you can eat in 30 minutes" deal.  I didn't even try because I do good to make it through one hamburger! But I had fun watching them do it.  I'm pretty sure four was the most any of them ate, but to me that's super impressive.  After we went to eat we wandered around Shinjuku for a while in search of an arcade, where we played air hockey (I lost terribly) and played a zombie shooting game (I was pretty good at this much to everyone's surprise) and then took purikura (this part was per my request of course). I think we had a little -too- much fun decorating our pictures though haha.  It was such a fun day and honestly one of my favorites in Japan thus far.  We weren't doing anything super special but I have so much fun just hanging out with the guys. We are always so goofy and silly and just have a good time, it's great~ :)

air hockey~~

Takuto looks like Mario lol

November 9th

This day was just an average day in the life of Lauren and Molly really, but it just happened to be the start of the running "poke vs pork" joke we have with Kenji.  We were all sitting at lunch having a discussion about how the two words sound exactly the same when you same them like a Japanese person would.  Which resulted in me thinking Kenji was calling me pork when he was saying poke so I asked him if he was calling me fat.  So now we "ポーク" each other all the time :P   This was also the same day that Kumba and I were throwing paper airplanes at each other across the lunchroom and teaching everyone how to make "cootie catchers" and paper snowflakes haha

 Our kanji writing/drawings with Kenji

Just chillin' out in the cafeteria after class

November 6th

Molly and I ordered pizza for the first time.  From Dominos. It was amazing and tasted like real American pizza and truly deserves it's own special post because it is so very difficult to find real pizza in Japan.  And by real pizza I mean pizza that does not have corn or mayo on it.  Me and Molly were so excited that we could order it online (in english!) and then they delivered it all the way to our door (on the inside of the building not just to the office!)  it's the ultimate food for when we are feeling super lazy haha

November 4th

This was one of the longest days of my life, but also one of the most fun.  I met up with Daiki and Eri at Hakusan Station (the train station closest to my school) and we took the train together to Mt. Takao where we met up with Ayaka, Takuto, Naoki, Yoshi, and Masaki.  First, we had some pizza for lunch and Daiki taught us all how to make our napkins look like birds.  Then, we climbed up the mountain.  Yes. I, Lauren Faye Maddox, of my own choosing climbed a real mountain.  I was regretting that decision by the end of it when I couldn't breathe and my legs felt as if they would fall off, but it was totally worth it.  I rewarded myself with some mint chocolate chip ice cream at the top haha  It was dark by the time we came back down the mountain.  Eri and Ayaka walked me back to I-House and we had fun girl-talk time.  After that, I changed faster than I ever have before in my life and ran back out to meet Uki and Haru for dinner.  They took me to this awesome Korean restaurant.  I had never eaten Korean food before so it was really fun~!

 Our napkin birds.  Mine's the one on the far right.

 Our whole group on the way back down the mountain.

 Me and Daiki with our mint choco chip ice cream reward at the top of the moutain haha

Korean food~~~

 Haru was taste tester for all the food to make sure it wasn't too spicy for me to eat lol

November 3rd

Since I was having some friend problems, I was feeling sad and little homesick this day. Especially since Molly was gone on her homestay visit. But! Since he's such a wonderful big brother, Takuma took me with him to see a Gevil show and my day was made significantly better.  I met Takuma in front of Starbucks in Shibuya and we went together to Shibuya-AX(the music venue).

While we were walking I tried speaking in Japanese.  It was the first time I had really tried to have a conversation in Japanese with someone since coming to Japan and, even though I couldn't say everything I wanted to, it made me feel really good that I was trying.  I was able to show both myself and Takuma that I had at least learned more than I knew the last time I was in Japan.

I really liked Shibuya-AX.  It seemed kind of small at first until I realized that it had multiple floors.  The first floor was the area where the stage was and there was a bar and some tables to sit at.  Then the second floor had another bar and a dance floor of sorts.  There was a third floor as well, but that was being used as a dressing room on this particular night, I don't know if that is normally the case or not.  When Takuma and I got there we got our drinks and watched some dancers perform.  After the performance, I turned and realized I was standing right in front of Waka, who completely didn't recognize me until Takuma turned around.  We talked to Waka for a while and he was surprised to hear that I was back in Japan for the year.  He also told me I lost weight... while I was completely shocked that he would notice, I like anyone who tells me I look thinner, so I was happy haha  After that I found Gevil's merch girl that I met last time I was in Japan.  I was excited to see her again because she was so sweet! It's hard for us to communicate, but we manage and I enjoy talking with her.  It's like a big game of charades! lol  Eventually, Takuma took me up to the third floor and I got to see Taka.  I was SO happy to see him.  When he spotted me, he walked over and shook my hand, and I was about to start a MAJOR pout fest until he laughed and gave me a big hug.  He was completely messing with me with the handshake *sigh* Then I stood there and tried to get his TINY bracelet on my arm for several minutes.  I eventually managed it, but I still am at a loss for how he gets it on his wrist that is even bigger than mine.  After that I took a picture with him and the other guys then headed back down to wait for their performance.

Gevil's merch girl gave Takuma the video camera and asked him to video Gevil's performance since he's so tall and could see over everyone's heads haha  so Takuma and I had a good laugh calling him "Director Takuma" and going on about his new movie and the plans he had for it.  It was just the kind of goofiness I needed to cheer me up.  After we watched Gevil's show (which was fantastic of course) we continued our craziness and danced and just had a good time until we had to leave in order to catch the train back home.  Taka walked us to the station and we said our goodbyes for the evening.  I can't begin to explain how much the entire night meant to me.  I was having a really rough time and they were there to cheer me up when I needed it the most.  I truly have some amazing friends.

Me with Gevil

Director Takuma

Just a short clip of Gevil's performance

karaoke~!

We started November out right....with KARAOKE! haha After an evening of drinking and hanging out, someone (I don't remember who) got the bright idea that we should go to karaoke at 1AM.  So, Molly, Nick, Trevor, Jun, Kenji, Charlotte, and I all got bundled up and headed to Nippori.  We stayed there singing karaoke until almost 5AM.  During which time, Molly fell soundly asleep in my lap so I was singing while trying to hold her there and not let her fall in the floor.  Actually...by the end of it almost everyone was asleep. At 5 we headed back so that they could all get some sleep before going to their home-stay families later that day.

 Taken when Molly was already passed out asleep and Kenji and I were trying our best to stay awake.

We look awake right?.......right???? >>

 Jun, like Molly, was completely passed out.

Exploration, Karaoke, Cards, and Video Games

Wow... it has been a while since I posted anything.

I have been SO BUSY!
It has been great and crazy all at once haha

So I'll start off with some pics me and Molly took one day while we were exploring Toyo (our school).
We managed to find our way onto the roof and took some great pictures of the view from there ^^

Last weekend I went with a huge group to karaoke and we had a blast!! 8 solid hours of singing, laughing, eating, and just having fun in general. ♥

Then the other night my Language Exchange Partner (LEP) Daiki brought his Wii and a big group of us played Super Smash Bros for most of the evening!  I was SO bad the first day, but since then I have been practicing because I am determined to be able to keep up with the guys haha  But before we played video games, since Takuto, Masaki, and Naoki taught me how to play Old Maid (which I never knew how to play to everyone's extreme surprise), I decided to try (with the help of Nick and Molly) to teach them how to play E.R.S. which ended up being extremely fun even though most of the time I was out of cards and on the side trying to slap my way back in :P

Today I'm going to do homework and sleep.  You know... have to work that in somewhere LOL

Hanabi

Ok.... fastest blog post ever because I am so tired and I have to wake up early tomorrow!

Today I went to my first Japanese festival!
We went to see the Adachi Fireworks Festival next to the Arakawa River~
It was amazing and fireworks will never be quite the same for me again I think.
Thank you Japan, you have spoiled me :P

I'll post more soon and include some videos I took of the fireworks~

Change of plans....

Ok so....
when I posted that I was placed in the level two class, it looks like I lied.
They have moved me up into the highest level class now (L3)
I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this...
The class is full of people who are absolutely brilliant at not only reading and writing Japanese but speaking it as well.  In fact, most of them have lived in Japan at some point before now.  It makes it very intimidating for me because I'm definitely at the bottom of the class.... but I talked to the people at the GIO office and they said that I scored really high on my placement test and barely fell short of making it into the level 3 class to start with so they think I have the skills needed for the class....
The level two class was comfortable for me.  Level three pushes me way outside that comfort zone, but seeing as how I chose to come live in a country that speaks an entirely different language for a year at a school where I didn't know anyone, being in my comfort zone wasn't a luxury I expected to have anyway haha so I think I can survive.  It's just going to mean a lot of time spent studying each night.  But again, since I came here to learn the language, that's not such a bad thing.  I guess I will just have to see how it goes :/

がんばりますよ！！ (it means: I will do my best!)

DRUM ROLL~~~~

The results are in: I have been placed in Japanese level 2!
That's out of 3 possible classes so I'm in the middle one :D

Today was the first official day of Japanese class and it started at 9:00AM this morning.
If there is one thing about myself that I am certain of it is that I am NOT a morning person haha
It's going to take some serious amounts of coffee or red bull to keep me awake through 3 hours of Japanese study every day!!
But my teacher is really really nice and I enjoyed the class today.  It's slightly intimidating because she only speaks in Japanese, but I was doing ok understanding it until I started falling asleep.... oops ^^;

Tomorrow I have 'integrated Japanese' and 'reading and composition'
I'm nervous.

And now it's entirely too late and I have class at 9:00am again tomorrow. so BED TIME~!

First Day of School

Today was my first day of "classes"
I say "classes" because I actually didn't have class today, just a placement test. But I did have to go to the school and take a really hard test! So I'm pretty sure it counts!  The test today was three parts: composition, multiple choice, and kanji.  And they TOTALLY made us start the test with composition.

So at 9:00 in the morning and having not taken a Japanese class in almost 5 months, I wrote my first ever essay in Japanese.  The subject was "things you have experienced since coming to Japan" ... I'm pretty sure that was the most random thing I have ever written.  I'm not even sure it can count as an 'essay' I'm pretty sure it was just a bunch of sentences thrown together in no particular order.  For example: "I have made a lot of good Japanese friends.  My roommate and I like to take purikura when we go to Shibuya. I tried watching movies in Japanese, but it is difficult."  At least they will know I can form sentences I guess even if I can't make them flow haha

Then we got a ten minute break before we had to start the insanity that was the multiple choice portion.  It started out easy with test A...then I raised my hand and got test B and was thinking 'ok this is a little harder but I'm still understanding...' so I raised my hand and got test C.  By the end of test C my eyes were starting to cross and I was going 'hmm well I've never even seen that before but this looks familiar so let's pick this letter!' then I raised my hand and got test D.  Took one look at it and handed back.  There was no point in me even trying because it would have just been me picking random letters the entire way through.

The kanji portion was a joke really.  It was "circle the kanji you recognize" .... I wish the entire thing had been that simple!!

Tomorrow is the worst part: the interview.  I'm extremely intimidated by that one, but since that isn't until tomorrow I'm not going to stress it today.

After the test was over, Molly and I were going to go see one of our new friend's band play at the school, but we got lost and by the time we found the place he had already played haha But we had a good laugh at ourselves getting lost and now we know a little bit more of our school :P

Right now I'm going to go meet Meg and we are going to go see if we can find some good food for lunch.  Maybe try a new restaurant! YAY ADVENTURE! YAY JAPAN!! haha

Typhoon!!

Today I have been stuck inside all day because of the typhoon ...except for my quick run to 7Eleven to stock up on food.  This morning the rain wasn't so bad... just a light drizzle, but it has gotten worse and worse as the day has gone on and now I'm fairly certain that at least a part of the tree next to my balcony is going to fly onto it OR into my room O_O''

This is the video I took at around 3:00 this afternoon

And this is the video I took just a little while ago around 6:00

And this is my adventure with the bed....

On My Own

Well today is my first day officially on my own.

Meg is at her dorm and Christina and E headed off to Mishima early this morning.

I was finally able to sleep in today~ yay!! I woke up at 11:30 and it was fabulous.

After that I headed to Ikebukuro for lunch and to complete my mission of finding a Disney movie to watch at night when I go to bed.  I do this at home too.  It's just a way of having something going on while I fall asleep so that I don't feel lonely. And now it will double as language practice haha It doesn't matter if I don't understand everything because I know the movie by heart anyway :P  Too bad Nicole isn't here... pretty sure she and I could just act this movie out haha

Now I'm back in the apartment just relaxing on this rainy day.  Normally I think the rain would get on my nerves but it has made the weather so much cooler that I am perfectly ok with it staying like this for a few days!!  I'm using today as a laundry/cleaning/rest day lol Maybe tomorrow I will adventure out again but for tonight I'm staying in!

Shibuya Tea

Ahhh I am so bad at this whole blog updating thing ><

I'm settled into my dorm room now yaaay

So on to the point of this blog:

For the past 3 nights E and I have gone to Shibuya, seeing as it is our favorite place in Tokyo.
The first night we were just trying to find a venue and we stumbled upon this little bubble tea place.
The second night we were going to a show at said venue and decided afterward that we wanted tea again.
Tonight, we went purely for the tea ....or well the tea AND the cute guy that works at the shop who now recognizes us because we have been there so often.  Planning on going back tomorrow too.

Actually I'm excited to go to Shibuya tomorrow because I plan on buying some bling and a new phone charm for my cell phone~  Can anyone believe that I have NOT gone on a shopping spree yet??  Also we are going to meet Kazuma for lunch tomorrow yaaaay!

Tonight before we went to Shibuya we got COMPLETELY lost in Shinjuku.  Like walked in circles for over an hour kind of lost.  I don't ever want to go back to that place ever again.  I think I will stick to the places I am familiar with from now on.

Our yummy tea~!

This sign was on the venue.  It amused me so much I had to take a picture.

Rest Day!

So the jet lag and being constantly on the go finally caught up with me today.
I wasn't feeling good so I decided to stay at the dorm while E, Chris, Meg, and Molly (who is my roomie yay!) went to Harajuku.  And since I have some time to spare I finally uploaded my videos and pictures I have been taking to my computer~

Sorry... not much of an update, but I'm still tired.

Why is Japan so hot???

IT'S SO HOT TODAY!!!

It has really been hot every day but it feels worse today for some reason....

Anyway...on to more important things.

After lunch, E and I ventured to Takadanobaba to try and get tickets to a show we want to see...
It only took me circling the block one time to work up the nerve to go inside the office of the venue, but I made E walk in first.  Not that it mattered because there was no one in there when we walked in so I stood there awkwardly for a moment before a guy who worked there came in and I explained in Japanese that I wanted to buy a ticket.  Long story short..... they didn't have any.... told us we had to go to Lawson to get them -_-'' so my embarrassment of using my extremely limited Japanese was all for nothing *sigh*

Now we are all hanging out in the hotel room talking and hiding from the heat.
Later, E and I might go to a show.... maybe.... probably.... >> haha

Ramen Time

So today I felt really really sick.
But thanks to Meg and her awesome dayquil I was feeling a little better by sometime around midday~

I went to lunch with one of my friends from here~
He took me to a restaurant that had spaghetti and it was yummy!
I felt really dumb though because I was having problems eating it.... even with my fork.  I mean, it's bad enough that I fail with chopsticks but I should be able to use a fork!!
After lunch we went and walked around the Tokyu Hands store, which I had never been in before.  It was really fun and I enjoyed it a lot, but I came back to the hotel pretty quickly because I wasn't feeling good.

After a short rest, we ventured back out to the other side of Ikebukuro on a hunt for ramen to eat for dinner.... so I could fail with noodles for a second time haha

and I now present my second vlog for your viewing pleasure....

After stopping by 7Eleven we came back to the room and crashed.... and E was sleeping beside me saying something about "Bermuda" in her sleep hahahaha it woke her up and we couldn't stop laughing!  Now that I have had a good laugh for the night I'm going to bed.  Looking forward to another fun day tomorrow!

Starting the Adventure

Ok.... now that I'm already behind on my blog haha  I finally managed to get my videos onto my computer and put them into one vlog so you all can have a glimpse of our trip ^^

Yesterday we got to go to Hidakaya~~~ The place me and E basically lived at last summer LOL

 

Today I am sick :(

Caught a stupid cold ><

We Made It!!

Get off the plane: check

Have luggage sent to hotel: check

Take the train to Ikebukuro: check

Check into the hotel: check

Eat 7Eleven bento: check

Sleep: soon to be in progress


I will post a more informative blog when I am not about to pass out from being so sleepy....

I want to get away

I want to fly away~~ yeeeaaaaahhhhhh yeeeeeaaaahhhhh yeeeaaahhh


Haha it's official we are on our way to Japan!


We are sitting at the Chicago airport and I just tried eating the NASTIEST pizza I have ever tasted. We also flew to this airport on the tiniest plane ever which effectively caused me to almost have a panic attack. But we are on our way and I'm so excited!!

See you soon Tokyo~~~!!!

It Is Time

 

Go to 1:00 to understand why I posted this video. 

So... tomorrow is THE day. The day I leave.  It still hasn't really hit me that I'm leaving.

I had a fun dinner with my family and Nicole~ Had to go eat Mexican food one last time before I leave hahaha  I cried a little when I had to tell my grandmother bye.  I'm sure there is going to be a lot more crying at the airport tomorrow, but I'm excited to be in Japan.  

On a funny note.... while at the restaurant I had a battle with the towel dispenser that Nicole caught on video..... >>  towel dispenser: 1  me: 0

Countdown Day 3

Well.... there it is.  My luggage all packed and ready to go.

I'm still not sure I haven't forgotten something. But all of the super important stuff is in there so I guess if I'm forgetting anything it will be ok and Mom can mail it to me.  Even though I only have 3 days left before I leave it doesn't feel completely real.  Like I know I have to leave.  That part sunk in and I get sad sometimes because I'm leaving my family.  But it doesn't feel like I'm really going to Japan.  I don't know where I think I'm going hahaha

I am getting a little bit excited though now.  I can't wait to see all my friends and adventure around Tokyo with E, Christina, and Meg and make more friends when I start school and learn to speak Japanese better.  Lots of things to look forward to :)

Shhh don't talk in the library!!

No need for me to make a post about today~ Just view Nicole's! (see link below!)

It's even in video format for your viewing pleasure hahaha

" Adventures At Home: So in true N2 fashion, Lauren and I had a small ad...: So in true N2 fashion, Lauren and I had a small adventure today at the local public library. It was a fun time!!!! "

Countdown Day 7

This time next week I will be on a plane headed to Chicago and from there on to Tokyo.

I'm not real sure what I think of this at the moment....

Lately, when I think of getting on the plane I get sick to my stomach.  I'm unsure of whether this is caused by nervousness about leaving my family or just a simple dread of getting back on a plane for 12 hours straight.... probably a combination of the two.

There is still a lot I have to do in the next week. Including making sure I get to see and spend time with everyone before I leave. Today I'm eating lunch with Mommy and Nicole ^^

Just a week left....

Today I had dinner with Gramma, Martha, and Tammy~

It was absolutely DELICIOUS!!

Thanks for the lovely meal and even better company, Gramma! <3