Just Got Back

Hey! So I just got back about two hours ago from my trip to Kyoto and Osaka with my host parents.  We stayed one night in Kyoto at a super expensive, 5 star two bedroom suite (I seriously cannot believe how much money my host parents spent on me these last four days) and visited temples and shopped in Kyoto for two days.  Then we drove to Osaka and stayed at my host mom's sister's house for two nights and again went shopping and sightseeing there.  Earlier today, I also went to see the new Harry Potter movie (the seventh one part 2) with my host dad while my host mom went shopping.  I just found out like half an our ago that she bought a ton of presents for me and my siblings during her shopping trip.  She bought me three packs of cute stationary with matching envelopes and I am going to use that to write goodbye and thank you letters to all my friends here in Japan and my host family :) She bought my little sister a Pokemon toothbrush, Pokemon chopsticks, Pokemon notebook, and a little Pokemon purse.  She bought my little brother a Pokemon toothbrush, a Pokemon notebook, a Pokemon purse, and a bag of balloons (I had already bought my brother chopsticks).  Lol as you can see, my siblings love Pokemon... and in Osaka I visited a Pokemon Center which is basically a store selling everything Pokemon related and I bought wayyyy too much stuff.  I seriously have like 3 times the amount of souvenirs I actually need >_> Anyway, I had an amazinggggg time in Kyoto and Osaka.  I will try to make Vlogs and upload them as soon as possible because I feel like it's easier than trying to describe all of my experiences.  Actually I have soooo much footage I need to put into Vlogs!  Not counting my Kyoto and Osaka footage, I have about 3 or 4 Vlogs worth of video so... I am going to be busy this last week.  I will probably be uploading even when I get back to America.  Seriously this is making me depressed.  I really don't want to go back!!! I want to stay longer!!! And actually I just got my flight info in the mail today >_> Oh god.... it's going to be torture when I have to start back.... it's going to make me so depressed and I have way too much stuff anyway.  I have gotten so many presents from people.  Like huge boxes of chocolates and other snacks.  I will probably have to leave some in Japan or give them away because I don't think it's possible for me to get another suitcase and I don't want to mail it back to America either... a waste of time and money since it takes over a month.  Anyway...Bye for now.  I really don't know how I will get on with  my life back in America.  I love Japan so much! I seriously need to come back here during college (after I learn Japanese that is lol).  Anyway! Bye!!!

Karaoke!

lol another video :P I will be visiting Osaka and Kyoto with my host family for the next four or five days so I don't think I will have access to the computer and stuff.  I have been uploading like crazy yesterday and today (actually it's already 12:15 am so technically it's the day we are supposed to be leaving... but you know what I mean). Anyway, here's a video of when I went karaokeing (?) with some friends.

Trip to Himeji City!!!

Sorry... videos again :( But they really are quite convenient since you can see actual footage of my trip.  This video is a long one...

Exchange Student Get-together

Monday, July 18th is a national holiday in Japan so there's no school and most people don't have work.  Two days ago, on this national holiday all of the exchange students from the Kansai area of Japan and their host family got together in Osaka.  There were exchange students from many different countries staying for different lengths of time and there were also Japanese students who are going on exchange very soon.  It was a YFU organized thing but it wasn't mandatory.  A lot of people didn't come because it was too far or they didn't have time.  There are about 80 students in the Kansai area and about 20 came to the get together and about 12 Japanese students came.  That is a huge amount of people if you add in everyone's host parents.  I heard from a past exchanger that at her exchange student get together, there were only 3 exchange students lol so maybe this year was just abnormal.  I was kinda worried at first that there wouldn't be very many people but it turned out that soooo many people I know went.  And I had no idea their host families were in the Kansai area either.  Anyway, we all went to a Buddhist temple in Osaka and stayed from 10 until 3.  It was fun... but to tell the truth I probably would have had a better time at home lol because my host parents always take me fun places when I don't have school and stuff.  

Anyway, when we first got there, everyone just mingled... then at 10:30, the YFU people gave an introduction.  It was really funny because the director of the Kansai area and the other leaders of the event didn't even know any English.  So they had this one translator.  She wasn't very good either... I think everyone could mostly understand her but her English was really accented and full of grammatical errors and I am pretty sure she just didn't translate the parts that she didn't know how to.  My host dad could have done a much better job... he's like a pro at English :P After that, the Buddhist chief priest of the temple came and taught us how to do meditation.  It's called Zazen and you probably know it.  You have to cross your legs a certain way and most people couldn't because they weren't flexible enough.  I managed to do it for like.... 10 minutes but we had to sit Zazen style for 30 minutes and my legs got super numb in the middle and I changed positions.  Though technically you aren't allowed to move or you will get hit with a stick :) but I made sure not to get caught lol.  I kinda wish that I had gotten hit though because it seems like a fun to experience.  And you could tell that the Chief Priest wasn't hitting us as hard as he would normally hit.

Me.... meditating :)

Doing the Zazen was actually kinda fun and even though we had to sit still without talking for 30 minutes, the time went by so much faster than I thought it would.  Then again, I peeked a lot and watched when the priest hit other people... so I was kept entertained for most of the time.  lol After that, the exchange students came back to the main room where the host families were waiting and everyone had lunch.  When I first heard about the get together, like a month ago, I was told that everyone has to pay 1000 yen ($10) for admission and lunch and stuff.  But no one had to pay but then again everyone brought their own lunch.  lol so I am not quite sure about what happened.  We had an hour for lunch but no one actually took that long to eat so all of the exchange students talked and stuff.

Exchange student friends I made.  The one on the far right is an exchange student from China and she's staying for a year (jealous!!!), left of her is an exchange student from Thailand but she's actually Chinese and she's also staying for one year >_>, and left of her is a Japanese student going to Germany in August.  Lol all asian >_<

After lunch however, things got really boring.  The host parents went to a different room to have their "talk" and the exchange students split into two groups:  one with short term exchangers and one with long term exchangers.  The short term group was like 3 times as big as the long one :P Anyway, the we just about stuff like what's happened so far, favorite foods, differences between America and Japan, etc.  I was super bored by most of it, sometimes the topic turned interesting, but most of the time people just kept saying the same thing over and over.  A couple of the more obnoxious people >_> had to add their input for every single thing we talked about but their input was no different from everyone else's before them so we just kept going around in circle stressing the same thing over and over.  Yeah... I could have spent that day hanging out with Japanese friends or my host family and experiencing what's left of my exchange trip instead of talking about experiencing it. 

After that, we had a super long closing ceremony again with horrible translations and then everyone left...

Well the day's passed already so there's nothing I can do about my wasted time but it was fun to meet up with my fellow exchange student friends.  Unfortunately none of my best friends were there :( I seriously don't recommend going unless you really want to meet some American people lol or if you make plans to go with some good friends.

Last Day of School

I just got back from my last day of school maybe half an hour ago.  So I think this is the first time I have ever posted so early... but today was sooooooo amazing! My whole class threw me a farewell party and a bunch of people from the other third year classes also came. I am not quite sure how we had the time to have the party though. I think everyone stayed after even though school had technically ended for it.  First three boys did a really hilarious skit.  I didn't really understand it though because it was in Japanese and stuff but it was still funny.  Then a group of 5 girls danced to Heavy Rotation by AKB48.  AKB48 is the most popular band in Japan right now and you guessed it! There's 48 members, all girls >_> It's pretty crazy.  They will probably get less popular as time goes on though.  So you may be reading this like 5 or 10 years from now and say AKB48? Who are they? lol... I seriously feel nostalgic already even though I haven't left yet.  I am making this blog and my Vlog on Youtube and they are going to hold all of my most precious memories of Japan.  I will be able to look back on them in the future and... ok this is seriously making me sad.  And I am sad enough already right now.  I feel like my heart has fallen out T_T Anyway, the dance and skit were really good but they were more funny than sad.  But after that, all of the girls in the class got up and read the letters they had written to me.  Most of them were pretty standard because their english isn't that good:  "thank you. We really enjoyed these six weeks.  We will miss you.  See you again".  But after that, the whole class and the people from other classes stood up and sang a really beautiful song. At first, people were really quite and you could only hear the voice from the CD that was playing.  But then people started singing louder and louder and it was sooooo amazing!!!! I started crying and I could see everyone singing along in this farewell song for me.  Then they gave me a really big card with lots of pictures of me at the school and everyone's signatures on it.  I also got a huge bag of presents.  The teacher said a girl bought it for me... but I am not sure who... >_< I really want to know who so my mind can be at peace.  The presents were really awesome.  There was a really cute bag, a traditional Japanese outfit, and a towel.  I am not sure about the towel but the other stuff I really liked! I just don't know if I will have any chances to wear the outfit in America :( After that, the party was over... and everyone packed up. I slowly left and tried to say goodbye to as many people as possible.  Everyone shook hands with me lol? I guess that's what they think American's do... but American kids aren't really big on handshaking.  But I know that Japanese people don't really like hugging so I just shook their hands.  Then I slowly left my classroom and I started crying again and I saw a couple other girls crying and that just made it worse... and I slowly left the school and cried all the way home (which is only a 2 minute walk) and then got home, went to my room and cried for a little more.  I am so depressed right now and I haven't even left Japan yet.  I can't bear to think how sad I will be when I am back in America.  Seriously... I really wish I could stay for a whole year T_T

This post has probably been somewhat boring... but I will put up a video about my last day of school so... that will be a lot more detailed and a lot more interesting.  This is just a prediction right now, but I think Japan will change my life...forever......

Onsen!!! And Lots of Naked People...

Ok so this is my last blog post for today.  Last night, my host parents took me to an onsen.  If you don't know what an onsen is, it's basically a public bath where everyone is naked and you shower there.  Of course it's divided by gender. There's also lots of hot tubs, jacuzzis, and mist rooms.  It's basically like a super amazing spa.  And it's really cheap.... like $5 for a person and you can stay there as long as you want or as long as the onsen stays open anyway.  It's pretty common for Japanese people to go to the onsen a couple times a month.  I went with my host parents last night and had a really great time.  I was kinda self conscious at first since I was completely naked but everyone else was too and I really don't think anyone there was intent on scrutinizing my body lol so I kinda got use to it after a while.  Also, you're in the water a lot of the time so people can't really see your body anyway :P lol and I found out that yes... if fact there are a lot of fat Japanese people.  You just can't tell because they always wear really loose clothing since it's always so hot.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get any pictures or videos because I didn't want to start posting pictures and videos of naked people on the Internet.  I think that would be quite a big intrusion into their privacy >_>

Although the onsen was really fun, it was a bit different from what I expected.  Onsen means hot spring... so I thought it would be some place in the mountains, really natural.  And there would be a hot spring source directly from the mountains and the bath would be a big pit dug into the earth lined with rocks... lol but it was nothing like that.  Although the water was actual hot spring water from the mountains, it wasn't any more natural than that.  The tubs were all man made and even the open air bath was on a raised platform of wood and made of metal and stuff.  I was kinda disappointed... but I guess it takes too long to drive into the mountains anyway :) Still, I had a lot of fun but I kinda wish we could have stayed longer.  We only went for about an hour.  I think we are going to go again sometime next week though because we are having a four day vacation in Osaka and Kyoto and probably going to the onsen there.  So maybe... I can try to get some pictures there.  Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading my huge mass of posts... it took me a couple hours sooooooo :P

Kimono!!!

Three days ago, on Thursday, my host parents invited some friends of theirs over.  Their friends are professional kimono ... dressers? lol so they came over and dressed me in a kimono.  I think it took about 20 minutes.  It was sooooo freaking complicated.  First, my host mom did my hair.

It's basically braided and then tied into a loop.  Then my host mom put flower pins in some places and attached fake curls to my hair.

Then my host parents' friends started putting the kimono on me.  First I took all of my clothes off except my bra and underwear.  Then I put on 3 full body layers.  First like a thin night slip that went to my mid thigh.  Then a pink, flower patterned layer.  It was pretty much a kimono but a little thinner and a little shorter.  And then I put on the actual kimono.  It was super thick and heavy but very pretty.  Both the second and third layers had super long sleeves and the sleeve of the second layer kinda fit into the third layer's sleeve.  Lol hard to explain.  After the three body layers, they wrapped about 10 layers around my waist.  The materials included cloths, sashes, ropes, belts, plastic guards, towels, and other unidentifiable objects.  Basically I could barely breathe or bend my waist or even lift my legs more than 4 inches.  I also put on traditional Japanese socks that had a separation between the big toe and the other toes.  That was really uncomfortable too.  Yeah... but it was fun.  And the dressers were so fast!!! It was like BAM BAM BAM Snap Zip Twirl Tighten Choke Tie Straighten Tuck Done.  After putting on so many layers, I was sweating so much! Even in the air conditioned room.  Thank goodness I didn't have to wear it around outside for anything other than a couple pictures.  The final product:

The whole experience was super fun.  And I really hope I have a chance to do it again sometime.  And yes kimonos are as tight and uncomfortable as they seem >_<

Ikuno Kozan Mine

Four days ago, on Wednesday my host parents took me to the Ikuno Kozan Copper and Silver Mine in one of the sections of Asago City.

Asago is split up into about 4 sections and the section I live in is supposed to be the center of Asago but it's actually the smallest section of Asago.  We drove about half an hour to the other section and visited the mine there.  It is no longer used for a mine and it's a tourist spot instead now.  It's super awesome because it's 13 degrees Celsius inside all year long.  So compared to the 30 degrees Celsius temperature outside, the mine is the coolest place in all of Asago.  I was kinda surprised that we had to pay for tickets... I mean it's a mine o.O lol I don't know, but I don't think it was that expensive.  I don't really know how much it was though because I didn't pay.  The mine was used quite a long time ago and there were these awesome displays of how mining was done back then.  There were fake dolls who looked like life-size humans and they were positioned as if they were mining.  The first time I saw one I was super creeped out because I thought it was real.

Anyway, the mine was pretty mine although kinda damp and icky.  There was water everywhere and so much dirty water dripped on my head... I also stepped in a bunch of puddles and got my feet and sandals all muddy and gross.  And the mine smelled really bad.... lol I have no idea why but it did.  It was like sulfur mixed with mold.  It was still fun to explore though and the cold felt soooooo good :)

Okonomiyaki and Takoyaki

My host parents are really awesome and they cook a bunch of traditional Japanese foods for me to eat.  This is a video of when we made Okonomiyaki and Takoyaki. 

Long Time No...Post

Hey. So I am finally getting around to posting again.  You probably already know this but I am a horrible blogger.  The truth is, I kinda dislike it.  I have no patience to type things out and waste time when I could be doing so many other things.  Making videos is easy and I can do it anytime as long as I have my itouch with me.  I can still have fun doing other stuff and videotape it at the same time.  Uploading onto Youtube does take quite some time but at least I can do something else while I am waiting for it.  Anyway, I wonder how I will feel when I read this blog a couple months from now in America, maybe even a couple years.  I will no doubt be extremely nostalgic and miss my time in Japan but maybe I will laugh too at my silliness.... Ok now I am just really getting off topic.  Sooooo a lot has happened again since last week was it?  First, my school had a bunch of tests again last week.  I am not quite sure why since all the students just took their final exams about three weeks ago... but it made me realize that I really love my school.  They are so nice to me.  Other exchange students have to stay home, wait in the library during tests, or stop going to school completely when the students start taking tests.  But my school lets me take a couple of the tests and the principal himself comes and translates the tests for me.

The english test front page.

My english test answer key.  (it's only half filled out because I took the picture in the middle of the test lol)

For the tests I can't take, I go to class with the other grades.  I usually attend their English, Gym, Art, and Music classes since everything else is too hard for me to understand.  Once, when there weren't any good classes for me to attend, I went to the principal's room and he taught me calligraphy.  lol I seriously feel like my school gives me special treatment.  All of the students are super nice and help me out too.  Many times, the students have weird classes that aren't like normal subjects.  For these they go to different rooms or split up into different groups or line up a certain way and go to the auditorium/gym and I am always really lost when this happens.  But all of the students guide me along and so far I haven't found myself completely alone and unsure where to go yet.  But school ends next Wednesday and I am really sad... I kinda wish I had made some closer friends.  Everyone's really nice and they all talk to me but I would really like it if they took the initiative and asked me to hang out or gave me their emails or something. Maybe they are just shy but I am kinda shy about asking them over to my house too >_> Well... I have just made up my mind.  I will go and ask someone to come over to my house this Tuesday (cuz Monday is a national holiday so we don't have school).  I think the reason my school takes so much care of me is because I am probably the first exchange student they have had in a long time.  And I go to a Junior High school and usually exchange students go to high school.  So I guess I am lucky in a way to get to go to a middle school.

I have more to post but I am going to separate them into a couple of posts.  I think it's kinda boring to read one huge block of text so I am trying to make things more interesting :P

Shopping! :D

Hey so I went to a huge shopping mall and a department store with my host parents a while ago.  Afterwards, we went to an awesome sushi restaurant, the kind where the sushi comes on a conveyor belt.  It was really fun except people kept taking my order :P... here's the video! :) 

Calligraphy Lessons and Yakiniku

Hi!!! So I am finally back after a week of absence.  For the last week or so I got super obsessed with something and it took up all of my spare time. >_> But now finally I have brought that obsession to a conclusion.... or I think I have anyway.  I plan to post a lot more now.  I will also probably post Youtube videos a lot of the time simply because live footage is more interesting (maybe?) and it's convenient to just link a video here instead of typing out everything I said in the video.  I also like making videos more lol... but I will try to keep the majority of my posts as actual blog posts because that's what you are looking for I am assuming.  Anyway so here goes...

Last Sunday.... July 3rd (I know right!! So long ago), my host mom and I went to a calligraphy lesson.  I don't know why but my host mom takes tea ceremony and calligraphy lessons so she has been bringing me along to those.  They are super fun, although it does get a bit boring being forced to watch the tea ceremony process over and over (but I like the tea snacks we eat).  Calligraphy was a bit more fun because I was actually doing stuff every minute, whether I was trying to do calligraphy or just randomly painting on some paper.  Last Sunday was my first lesson so the calligraphy teacher wrote out a couple words:  Hana (which means flower in Japanese and is also my name except spelled differently), Peace, Moon, and Happiness.  Then I used her models to write my own calligraphy.  It wasn't that bad because we did the easy kind where we hold the brush like a pencil instead of holding it like a violin bow.  And no I don't play violin but I do know how to hold the bow lol.  Anyway, after practicing two or three times for each kanji, the sensei brought out the heavy framed calligraphy paper.  I was super nervous about writing on those but I managed not to mess up on any of my finals.

One of my finals.  It's the kanji for "hana"

Calligraphy was super fun and almost kinda easy... it was definitely easier than people say it is.  And the calligraphy teacher kept asking me if I had done calligraphy before and I was like "no I haven't.  Why do you keep asking?"  

The calligraphy sensei is really talented but she is kinda weird.  She has some... really abnormal habits and it seriously freaked me out at first.  She looks at everything sideways through the corner of her eye and her fingers have a tendency to end up at the edge of her nostrils.  She also wears wayyyyy too much makeup and has no sense of personal space. Then again... artists are supposed to be eccentric right??? But I think I am an artist too and I really am not that eccentric (at least I hope not).  

This is calligraphy sensei did for some presentation or something. As you can see, it's the crazy kind of calligraphy when the paint just ends up everywhere and the words are almost unrecognizable...

Anyway, calligraphy was awesome and two hours flew away really fast.  I also ate some yummy jelly there too.  Then as we were leaving, sensei gave us a box of pink Japanese cherries!!!! Those are some of the most expensive fruits in Japan and if you don't know already, I will tell you now: Fruits are unbelievably expensive in Japan... it's so crazy!  Pink cherries are one of the most expensive fruits, alongside mangos, peaches, oranges and watermelon.  A box of maybe 30 cherries is about about $35... that's a dollar for a two centimeter diameter cherry.  The mangos are probably the most outrageous. Two fist size mangos were about $110.  That is so crazy!!! And at the store, the mangos come with gift boxes when you buy them because no one expects you to be buying them for eating.  People only buy them to use them as gifts.  

Anyway, my point is, it was really awesome to get a large box of Japanese cherries :) They were super delicious too.

After calligraphy lessons, the day got even better because we had a super special dinner:  Yakiniku.  It's usually eaten on New Years and on birthdays.  Yakiniku is basically meat and vegetables baked in a pan on the table and you pick up whatever you want from the pan.  It's really confusing because it's somewhat similar to okonomiyaki and a bunch of other barbecue style foods... But whatever it's called, they are all really good!!! Though some I like better than others :P 

Oishii ne?

***Upcoming

I am in the process of making a video up of my house and the town, and a video of my host family making okonomiyaki.  I am also going to a karaoke place with a bunch of friends tomorrow night so I will be making a video of that as well.  Everything's so freaking exciting!!!! :D

Finally! My First Day of School :D

School Tomorrow!!!

So guess what? lol you probably already know... but I start school tomorrow!!! I go for about 3 and a half weeks which seems to be the average amount of school most exchange students go for.  I still wish I could go for a longer period of time though... but the good thing is, there are so many kids in my class who are my next door neighbors so I can hang out with them even after school ends.  Actually, I already met four of the girls in my class because my host parents invited them over a couple of times :) lol it's so hilarious talking with Japanese girls who don't know very much English... dictionaries really come in handy. >_<

This is my outfit for tomorrow.  The shirt is the actual shirt from their uniform (the school provided the uniform. Thank goodness!) but the skirt is one I brought.  I was supposed to wear the actual skirt form their uniform but the one they gave me was wayyyyy too long.  It came down to almost my ankles and Japanese uniform skirts are so freaking thick and hot so there was no way I could wear that for 8 hours everyday.  It would also take too long to go to a tailor and get it shortened since I just got my uniform today so we decided to just use the skirt I brought.  The school headmaster said it was fine so I think it will be okay.  The backpack is my host parents'.  They gave it to me for school.  Technically you are supposed to use the school bookbag that's like a laptop bag shaped thing but apparently, a lot of students use their own backpack. So I am doing that too.  Backpacks are also so much easier to carry.  I don't know if I will be getting textbooks, probably not.  But I will be bringing pencils, pens, (I really need to buy a pencil case), a notebook, a folder, jelly beans to give out to classmates, school shoes, itouch (for taking videos), and a hankerchief (cuz schools are really hot), The shoes are legit uniform shoes and my host parents had to go out and buy them.  They cost 33,000 yen... which is like $33.  I think that's such a rip-off and I offered to pay for them but my host parents wouldn't let me.  Anyway, I hope I don't stand out too much with this outfit... >_>

I will be recording a video of my walk to school (if I remember to anyway) and of parts of my school day (if the school lets me lol).  hahaha well even if they don't, I will record lunchtime and stuff. I also have a bunch of footage from when I went shopping with my host mom earlier today and some other random stuff.  So be on the lookout for my next Vlog!!! :P lol I surprisingly have a lot of access to the computer and Internet... probably because I cut into my sleep and go on the computer lol :) Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy reading my blog and watching my vlogs. Bye! Dinner Time!!!

June 25: Foreign Exchange Student Luncheon and Tea Ceremony Lesson

Hey.... so today was another super full and busy day. But what did you expect with my super intense host dad? lol so I woke up at 9:30, ate breakfast and then watched TV with my host mom for about an hour (which was probably the best part of the day lol).  I love spending time with my host mom.  Then my host dad came home from the farm or something... and we went to this community center place a bit outside the town and there was this foreign exchange student meeting... except I was the only foreign exchange student there and we didn't do anything except eat lunch.... lol so I am not quite sure what they would have done if I wasn't in Asago at the time o.O Yeah anyway, it was really awkward because there were like 20 super old people, 3 people in their 30's-40's and I was the only teenager there.  So of course, it got boring super fast. I also had to make a speech which was basically me reading off a couple sentences that my host dad wrote down for me. lol pretty sad.... But the food was really good >_<

lol and after my speech, they gave me a bunch of presents which was super nice.

Shoe Bag (lol I have never used one... but it seems pretty convenient)

Jigsaw Puzzle

Folders with cool scenes on them

and a t-shirt

Yeah so there was some cool stuff except I doubt I will use any of them once I go back to America. The shirt is probably too big because I just have a long history with shirts that are too big. Even extra smalls are pretty much too big.... >_> lol I don't really use those kinds of folders because the way they open is kinda inconvenient.  And the puzzle? Well I kinda suck at finishing puzzles because I always lose pieces and I am just really bad at figuring out which piece goes where. Then the shoe bag? Well... I really don't see when I will need to use it in America. But you know, it's the thought that counts :) So I am still really happy about getting so much cool Japanese stuff :D

Anyway, that luncheon thing lasted 2 and a half hours so around 1:30, my host dad tried to take me to another place that he thought would prove to me Asago is better than big cities, but thankfully it was closed! I don't know why... and I am not trying to be mean but I really wasn't in the mood at the time because the building was on top of a mountain and the road to it was super twisty and turny and it made me really queasy and I just wanted to throw up.  Also, I just wanted to hurry up and go home so we could drop off my host dad and me and my host mom could go to our TEA CEREMONY LESSON!!!!!!!!! Yeah! Can you believe it? I was so surprised when I found out that my host mom takes tea ceremony lessons, but she is like 64.... so she has a lot of free time lol. I was really excited for that so I just wanted to hurry up and get to the lesson.  Besides we were like an hour late already because my host dad didn't want to leave the luncheon.  I don't think he likes the tea ceremony lessons because he thinks they cost too much.... Anyway, this is going to be a super long post :)

The tea ceremony was so fun! And I got to try a lot of different tea snacks... they weren't that good lol :P but I ate them anyway.  

They look really good right? But the yellow and purple jelly things were really sweet and gross...the pastry thing at the bottom was a lot better lol.  

First, my host mom did the tea ceremony the whole way through and then I learned a couple of the main parts and then my host mom practiced the whole thing one more time.  Only the teacher actually wore a kimono because it was just soooo hot.  I don't know how the teacher could stand it.  She had sweat dripping down everywhere lol.  Good self control I guess :)

My Host Mom

Me trying to bear the numbness from my legs and do the tea ceremony at the same time :)

The person in the blue kimono was our teacher.

The lesson was really awesome and we are going back next week... in fact I think I get to attend 6 or 7 lessons during my stay in Japan... because there's about 5 lessons a month and I am staying for a month and a half so hopefully I can really improve my tea ceremony skills by the time I leave :)

I will also be going to calligraphy classes lol so that's going to be really fun as well :)

The tea ceremony lesson ended at about 3:00 and then my host mom and I drove back home.  My host mom's older sister and her husband came over while we were at the lesson because they are going to have dinner with us tonight... it's about 5:30 right now and my host dad and my host mom's sister and her husband went out.  My host mom is making dinner right now so I am going to go and spend some quality time with her :D lol 

Host Family

Heyyyy so I am going to post this in an effort to go into more detail about my host family.  I LOVE MY HOST FAMILY! And although I was extremely frustrated with them during the weeks before I arrived in Japan, I definitely understand why they were unable to answer my phone calls and emails, etc.  Also my fear of not being able to go to school was solved and since my host family spoils me soooooo much, I don't care that much about not having host siblings anymore.  However, my host family is still far from perfect and I am fine with that :) My host family has spent so much money on me in just the past 3 days.... probably over 6,000 yen lol.  I am really grateful for how kind they have been but at times, I feel like they are a bit intense. Especially my host dad. He is wayyyy too intense for me. I love my host mom so much! She is so kind and even though her english isn't that good, I love talking with her.  Not so much my host dad though.  He sometimes tries to guilt-trip me.... and it just makes me really annoyed.  I was hoping to have a nice, laid-back life in Japan but he kinda makes that impossible.  He always reminds me how much better a little town is compared to a big city.  I feel really bad when he starts talking about that because I know I was really skeptical about small towns before.  I am not anymore, but I would be lying if I said I prefer small places to big cities.  I am just a city person... I really don't see how he can change that by guilt-tripping me a ton. He always says how much hotter big cities are (which I DO NOT believe cuz it's wayyyyy hotter in Asago than in Tokyo) and how you can get to know everyone in small towns.  The latter is obviously true... but unfortunately, I am not the kind of person who likes to know everyone in the town I live in.  My host dad has been so busy taking me around town and introducing me to everyone that I kinda feel like he's trying to show me off almost.  He's always bragging about my skills in art and school and it makes me feel so uncomfortable because everything is completely exaggerated!  I really don't want to be flashed around like some prize horse... isn't it good enough that I am me?  I almost feel like the only reason they chose me to be their host daughter is because of my outstanding resume and skills... Maybe it's fine to brag about me to a couple close friends but I want some time to relax at home too.... alone time or maybe time with my host family.  I don't want to be stiff and formal and HOT for hours going building to building and staying for 20-30 minutes at each one and listening to rapid Japanese that I can't even understand and hearing ooooh's and ahhhh's from whoever we are visiting.  and then "soka soka" and "uwahhhh" lol I mean seriously, who likes doing that?  I seriously feel like everyone will be totally disappointed when they finally realize I am not as great as my host dad makes me out to be >_> My host dad is also super intense about taking me to places. and I am fine with that except for the fact that I feel like he thinks I can't go anywhere by myself.  Whenever I go around town, he has to take me.  Aren't I old enough to go for a walk by myself? So I can actually do a little bit of shopping without feeling awkward since he has to babysit me the whole time? My host dad is also really big on proving to me that our little town has better scenery than big cities, which is obviously true.  However, I am also not the forest-watching kind of person who sits for hours just watching a quiet patch of grass.... yeah so unfortunately I get pretty bored when all I do is sit around in an empty field with two people in their mid-sixties. Basically, my host dad is wayyyy too intense for me.  He needs to understand that I just want to do something fun not sit around watching a movie called "why Asago is better than big cities".  Of course, I feel like if I say something, I will just end up offending him since it seems making me watch that movie is what he enjoys so I don't want to stop him from doing it (lol if that makes any sense).  I end up feeling really awkward when I have to talk with my host dad.  Maybe if it was just my host mom and me, I would be a lot more relaxed and actually enjoy the scenery o.O hahaha anyway. I seriously can't wait until I start school so I can finally hang out with people close to my own age...

Okay basically, my point in that rant is that my host family is amazing but my host dad is really suffocating.   :)

A bit about my host family and school in Japan

Adventures With My Host Family

So yesterday, June 23rd was my first full day with my host family.  My host dad is pretty intense lol and he planned a bunch of stuff.  After lunch we went to a small art museum near the town.  It had some really weird stuff lol :) The only things I really liked were some of the sculptures.  Probably my favorite one is this:

It's so beautiful and the birds are so intricately made... I also liked this one thing in the art store gift shop.  They had a bunch of art pieces on sale but most of them were outrageously expensive lol.  I really liked the apples on a carved wooden chair... actually the apples were the only part I liked >_<

Sugoi ne? haha after the art museum, we drove around. Since Asago is pretty much the countryside, there were a lot of cool scenic places and we visited those.  Unfortunately, I really didn't have that great of a time.  The only reason for that is because I was with two people who are in their mid sixties.  I really don't have that much common language with them... so it was really awkward at times.  ehhhh I will rant more about that tomorrow :)

Adventures in Tokyo

It's 10:30 in Asago, Hyogo, Japan right now and I am going to post a bunch of times in a row.... lol I hope this doesn't take too long.  So first, I stayed in Tokyo for one night.  We got there around 5 pm and my group had dinner at 5:30.  The second group had dinner at 7.  After dinner, we basically had the rest of the day to ourselves so even though we technically weren't allowed to go outside the hotel, pshhhh we still did :) at least a lot of people did.  I think some just stayed inside and watched TV lol.... pathetic ;D Anyway, the good thing is there was this huge mall that was basically connected to the hotel so it wasn't hard to find places to shop and stuff.  I am just really sad that I didn't get to visit Harajuku and Akihabara.  It would have been sooooo awesome if I got to shop there. Maybe at the end of my exchange trip when I go back to Tokyo to return to the US? Actually I don't even know if I go to Tokyo to take a flight back to America or if I go through Kobe Airport which is a lot closer.... ughhhh I really wanted to go shopping in Tokyo! Especially since a lot of my friends wanted me to get them souvenirs from those places >_> ehhhh well I really hope I get a chance later on.  Anyway, my friend Jessica and I did a bunch of window shopping in the mall near our hotel because the prices were unbelievably high.... I don't know why anyone would buy such expensive products lol but I did buy a kawaii pen and pencil, headphones, and melon bread.  The melon bread was oishii! and I love collecting pens and pencils (even if they are super expensive).  But the headphones were such a ripoff! I am still pissed about them.... I wanted some super cool headphones from Japan and I was excited because they were only 400 yen which is pretty cheap but I should have know the quality would suck.  The headphones don't even fit my ears and they keep falling out.  The sound quality is really crappy and part of it was broken when I bought it. Yeah a huge ripoff D:< I also wasted a couple hundred yen on a stuffed animal crane game.  It was even more unfair than the ones in America! The crane claws were so loose they probably couldn't even pick up something as light as a feather let alone a heavy stuffed animal.... Then I spent 200 yen on a candy game.  That was pretty fun and I actually got a bunch of yummy Japanese candy from it :)

lol and of course... there was PURIKURA!!!!! haha that was really awesome!!!! Jessica and I did purikura twice and split the cost so we each payed 400 yen. The first time we did it, we were really confused because we couldn't figure out where the pictures came out.  We had to ask these people who worked at the bowling alley near the purikura and it turned out that you have to first go to another booth outside the picture taking booth to decorate your pictures before they are printed.... lol so confusing.  Anyway, here's some pictures

hahahaha kawaii ne?

Purikura booth

I had a great time in Tokyo even though I couldn't do a lot of the stuff I wanted to... I hope I get a chance to go back and do some hardcore shopping before I leave Japan :D Also, the town where my host family lives is really small and I have really seen any interesting shops to go to or any fun ways to spend money lol and I really don't want to go back to America without a bunch of awesome souvenirs and experiences. 

June 17-June 22

Hey so I finally got Vlog #8 uploaded onto Youtube. It's a group of small clips I recorded throughout my flights, Orientation, etc...

Flight to Tokyo! (Part two?)

The airplane ride from San Francisco to Tokyo was pretty fun lol but very eventful.  It was about 10 hours long and the time passed surprisingly fast. The airplane had pretty yummy food too. Since the flight was to Japan, they had this Japanese meal and an American one.  Me and the other two people I sat with all got the Japanese meal since we are going to Japan and all lol.  For practice eating Japanese food and all but I mean I really like Japanese food anyway so it didn’t really matter.  But the food was kinda weird…. it was like a vegetarian meal and I was pretty mad because I wanted to eat meat lol but it was still pretty good J and one of my friends who sat next to me, Jessica, gave me a bunch of food cuz she didn’t want it. Hahaha I eat wayyyy too much.  Anyway, I really like the airplane service.  They keep coming up and down the aisle to take my trash lol. After food, I watched a couple movies and stuff. And then this one girl next to me (she, me, and Jessica all got the same scholarship) needed to go to the bathroom so Jessica and I got up to let her through.  I had two cups of coke and I had to lift them up with me.  Then because the space between my seat and the one in front of me is so narrow, I had to angle my body in a certain way to get through and with noticing, my hand holding one of the cups of coke tilted and the coke spilled out….. lol yeah all over my jeans, shirt, and the seat in front of me. A little got onto the back of the shirt of the person sitting in the seat in front of me. And he was SOOOOO pissed.  He glared at me a bunch and I was like sorryyyy!!!! Then he got a shirt down from his carryon and was like “are you done? Cuz I only have one extra shirt” and I was like “uhhhhh yeah”.  Sheesh he was such a jerk! Like my clothes were so much more soaked than his and I didn’t even have anything to change into and even though mine were so wet, I really didn’t think it was that much of an inconvenience…. it dried really fast and stuff. Anyway, that guy was just such a stupid…. yeah he needs anger management or something. lol his whole row was really annoying! The guy sitting next to him was a jerk too. He kept disobeying airplane rules.  Like how you aren’t supposed to have your seat tilted back during take off, touch down, and meals. He had it tilted during take off and a flight attendant came and adjusted his seat.  Then when the attendant left, the guy put his seat back down and left it there for the whole plane ride…. THEN there was this annoying girl in their row too.  We were playing this card game called Egyptian something…. lol and it includes like slapping the cards at certain times.  We did that and the girl turned around and told us to stop.  First of all, we weren’t even playing it on the table connected to her chair so I am not sure why she was so upset AND it wasn’t even loud either.  In our past two plane rides we have been playing that game and no one had any problems with it…. all three are just super touchy jerks… yeah and then there was this annoying little kid on our flight.  I love kids, I really do! But this one was the worst kid I have ever met!!!! She would cry nonstop for 30 minutes at a time and her parents are even worse cuz they couldn’t even stop her…. I was like, what kind of parents are you???? Your kid is screaming for her mommy and you are just sitting there ignoring it and making trouble for everyone else! She kept screaming and waking up everyone since people were trying to sleep and stuff. It was just super annoying.  She is literally the worst kid ever…..hahaha jk but all of those people totally ruined the trip for everyone >_> Anyway, this has been a really long blog post so bye!

Flight to Tokyo!

Hey! Right now I am at the San Francisco airport waiting to board the plane to Narita Tokyo :D SOOOO EXCITED!!!! but I am going to miss all of the people I have met at the orientation so much! They are awesome and I have made such good friends. It took about two hours to make it to the flight waiting room.  Our charter bus driver dropped us off at the wrong place so we were in the domestic flights area and we needed to be in the international flight area. So me and the thirty other people had to walk to the international port... it took a while and was really difficult with our suitcases and stuff but kinda fun I guess. Then we waited in this superrrrr long line to go through security and lol it was funny because this one girl got stopped when she went through the metal detector and they scanned her hands for like explosives residue or something.... lol but she was clean :) hahaha it's sooo fun to go through the airport with all of the wonderful friends I've made at orientation. I am really excited for Tokyo and shopping but I will only be staying for one night! :( so sad about that. I thought most people stayed two or three nights... at least that's what past exchangers told me, but maybe it's different now.  I have been making a TON of short video updates and I will be putting them all together into one big one and uploading it to YouTube once I get to Japan.  I might be able to do it at the Tokyo Hotel if they have free WiFi...but they might not so I am hoping my host family does so I can update things then. AHHHHH I hope you enjoy reading my blog :)

Night before Departure

Hahaha so I know this was supposed to be posted like days ago... but I didn't have time and stuff... and I didn't have access to internet until now. SOOOO busy in UC berkeley orientation.  There will be a video of it in a couple days hopefully. Anyway:

Host Family Email

Hey! So today I found out my host family email... apparently my parents have had it for a couple days now and yet somehow I didn't know... lol I feel so left out :P Anyway, so I emailed them and asked them some questions about what I should get as host family gifts for them.  I have been hearing about so much controversial stuff. One person tells me I should get this and then someone else tells me that I shouldn't because Japanese people hate those.... lol I am pretty confused.  So I just asked them what American foods are rare in Japan and what would they like me to bring for them to try. I hope they answer back really soon... lol since I am leaving in like one day... o.O Since they have an email, I am guessing this means they have WiFi? Or at least some form of Internet. I hope they have WiFi.... and not like internet from a modem because laptops can't really use that... or maybe they can. But I don't want to unplug all of their cables and put them into my laptop and inconvenience them so much :)

I still have a cold and a really bad cough and my voice is still really hoarse.... but I am hoping it will get better soon :) The good thing is, I have my last two finals tomorrow!!!! And they are all relatively easy :D

Gotta get prepared for the long hours of airplane fights I am going to be experiencing... I want to put a bunch of movies into my itouch... but I am not really willing to buy them lol :P Guess I have to watch the movies provided by the airplane. I will be bringing other things to do though like cards and books and laptop. I am not sure if they will let me have my computer out though. I hope so :) Anyway! Prepare yourselves! I will have an awesome vlog up tomorrow!!!! :)

THREE DAYS!!!

Hahaha! Three more days until I leave for California! Unfortunately, I am not completely psyched up yet because I still have 4 more finals to take... Can you seriously believe I have finals up till the day before I leave? My school is so crazy... so I think all the schools in my county have such weird schedules.  Other schools got out weeks ago. Lol but they do have to start school much earlier than me :) Anyway, I have very mad because I have a cold!!! Three days before I leave too. And what's worse is that I lost my freaking voice!!!! I was like seriously??? What awesome timing you have bacteria... I think it's because of a mixture of stress from finals and the rain from Friday.  Remember when I told you about how I got soaked last Friday on my way home from school? I think that's probably the main reason I got a cold... and that's why I hate the rain... Rain is just so darn gloomy! When you're inside, it's all dark and drizzly and just really gloomy and if you're outside when it's raining, you will get soaked and get a cold like I did >_> So no matter where you are, rain sucks. And for those people who say they like playing in the rain and say that it's really clean, just like taking a shower, well I suggest you guys find out what rain is made of. Dust and pollution from every factory around you! I guess it's fine if you live in a really rural area, but most of us don't... and unless you want to get smothered in acid, dust, dirt, and other pollutants (which the rain picks up throughout it's journey from the clouds down to you), I think it's a good idea to stay inside or at least use an umbrella, or you could take a shower afterwards...

My point is, I think rain is such a bother sometimes... I know it's necessary for living things to grow and all that but I just wish it didn't take away my voice this week of all weeks.

Delay on Host Family Presents...

Okay... so I know I was supposed to get the rest of my host family gifts today but for some reason that didn't happen.  I went to a couple stores and stuff but the original souvenir shop I wanted to go to was like missing or something lol. Maybe I just got the wrong address or something, but I just couldn't find it so then I went to a different store and bought a pink Michigan t-shirt there for my host mom. I was so excited about finding that one because I was worried I wouldn't be able to find something for her that was Michigan themed since the shirts everywhere else were blue or gray.  I guess blue and gray aren't that gender specific... but I feel it's weird to give my host dad a Michigan baseball hat and then give my host family a BLUE Michigan shirt.... so I am glad I found a more feminine one.  I was hoping to find some other souvenirs, like maybe a photo book of my city or just Michigan in general, but since I couldn't find that souvenir shop, I wasn't able to find any.  I guess I should go to a different souvenir shop maybe? Anyway since finals are this week, I really won't have any time to go to shopping until Thursday which is the last day of finals. I should really be studying for finals right now... but Japan is pretty distracting :P Anyway, so instead of making a separate Vlog about my host family gifts, I might have to cram that into my Vlog the night before Friday. That one is getting pretty long... I am planning to show my host family gifts, talk about bringing money to Japan, show you what I packed, and basically get super hyper about the next day (because that's when I am leaving)!!! I will be waking up pretty early... maybe 7 a.m.? Because I have a flight from Detroit to Chicago at 10:16 and I arrive at 10:28 (hahaha isn't the time difference soooo fun? It's like it only takes me 12 minutes to get to Chicago. That's like faster than a round trip to my nearest grocery store.)  Then I have a two hour layover in Chicago and ride a plane to San Francisco at 12:14 p.m. I get there at 2:52 p.m. and then I head to UC Berkeley!!!

Picture of University of California in Berkeley. I have never been to CA except once when I was really little... so I am very excited to be going there as well :) Except I don't think we have any time to go and explore the city... I am pretty sure we are crammed with things to do the second we get there lol

Compared to the other exchange students, apparently I get to UC Berkeley super early... most people don't get there until 5 p.m. and one girl doesn't get there until 9 p.m. O_O

lol this is getting me so excited!!!  Ja Ne!

Some Good News Maybe?

Today I found out some news that might be good news... yeah well anyway my dad told me that apparently the reason my host family never picked up the phone when we called was because they were in Europe! Maybe they were there for vacation or maybe for work... but at least now I know they weren't ignoring my calls or staying out really late and not coming home.  Yeah and my dad also said they speak english! Which is soooo awesome! Because sadly, I know very little Japanese and it would be so awkward if we were unable to communicate with each other lol. But they speak english so that won't be a problem.  It will also be easier for them to teach me a little Japanese because they will know the meaning in English :D The last part is the best news...but it's also just mainly me guessing based on what I know of them.  Since they went on such a long trip to Europe, I am assuming they are relatively well off and pretty outgoing.... and most likely more young than old. I am also hoping this means they have WiFi.... If this is all true, I think I will have more in common with them and they would be more willing to take me to lots of places around Japan. I mean if I am not going to school there, then they have to do something with me right? Or else I am just going to sit around at home all day lol.  My dad says he's going to call my host family tomorrow... Maybe they are getting back from Europe tomorrow? I am not sure... but I feel like I should be the one calling, not my parent lol.  At least that's what all the other exchange students did, they called themselves.  My parents are so overprotective so they probably want to make sure my host family isn't full of crazy rapists.  Anyway, I think I will call them myself after my dad does just to get to know them better...

New Mail From YFU!

So today, my dad and I went to the bank and got 5 traveler's checks of 100$ each and then exchanged about 300$ into yen.  The yen will take about 2 business days to get here so I won't have that until next Tuesday.  But I do already have the traveler's checks! I will post about that and make a video about it once I get my yen. Upcoming is also a video and post about my host family presents! I will probably just post the video instead of writing a post about it though because that's much easier than taking picture of all the presents and uploading them on here.  Anyway, the main point is that today, I got more mail from YFU! I got my flight itinerary and apparently it serves as my ticket because my flight ticket is electronic, so I just have to bring the itinerary... hmmm I hope that's right anyway. I also know what seats I will be sitting in now for my flights.  For the flight from Detroit to Chicago and then to San Francisco and for the flight from Tokyo back to San Francisco, I will be sitting next to two other girls who got the same scholarship as me! (the Japan Business Society of Detroit Scholarship)  We actually already met each other at the lunch we had with our sponsors and one of the girls is on the Facebook group too :) I really want the other girl to join... but I am not friends with her on Facebook. Maybe I should add her? Well anyway, other than the flight info, I also got some other super cool things!!!!

The first picture is my YFU nametag I need to wear so YFU staff guides can recognize me at the airport and stuff.  It also has a cool pouch so I can put things like my passport, travel checks, money, and other valuables in it. It even has these pen holder things! I am really excited about that because I am pretty weird like that... but I think I will probably have to sign a lot of things and stuff along the way to San Francisco and that will be really convenient lol :D

The second picture is my suitcase tags.  I tie those to my suitcases so that when I am looking for them at the baggage claim area, they are easy to find.  Also, they have my name, address, etc on the back so if the suitcase gets lost, it will be sent to YFU and YFU will send it to me.  I am not sure why they gave me three when you can only have two suitcases... maybe an extra one in case you lose one... or maybe the third one is for your carry-on bag?  Well anyway, I am really excited to have these two things because they make me feel so much more legitimate since I will be going around with this cool nametag that like company employees wear when they go on a whole company business trip or something... lol and the suitcase tags just make my suitcases that much more awesome XD

Busy Weekend Ahead!!!

Hey! Two posts in one day? I think that's a record.... or actually maybe not. Well anyway, this weekend is going to be soooo hectic and busy with finals coming up next week and still so much to do to prepare for Japan! I am actually really tired right now because I got like no sleep this past week. But then again, I usually get no sleep anyway. I don't stay up all night, I just get an average of 4 and 1/2 hours of sleep and apparently that's supposed to kill you if you do that for too long. or at least that's what my dad says, but I am not sure if I believe him... Still I decided a make a blog post of what I will be doing this weekend.  First, my dad and I are going to the bank tomorrow morning, before it closes and we will be getting traveler's checks and exchange dollars into yen.  Traveler's checks are probably the best way to carry around money in a foreign country. You basically store money in it, then you can take that money out in a different country.  It's also really safe because if you lose it, you won't lose any money because the thief can't access it for some reason. So we are probably getting 3 traveler's checks worth 200$ each.  Then we will also be exchanging about $200 into yen so I can use that immediately at the airport and in Tokyo without having to make a mad dash to the exchange counter at the airport.  And let me tell you! I am planning to buy soooo much stuff in Tokyo! (or maybe not because my parents will probably get mad about my loose spending :P) But since my host family isn't in a big city, I am going to do as much as possible during the 2-3 days I am in Tokyo! :) $200 is roughly 20,000 yen which may seem like a lot but things in America that cost $1, cost about 100 yen in Japan so even though the exchange rate multiplies each dollar by 100, you are still spending the same amount of money technically because of the higher prices in Japan.  Anyway, exchanging currency takes about 2 business days at my bank... but other exchange students to Japan this summer on our facebook group said their bank took 10 days so maybe it's different for every bank. Anyway, I will also be shopping for a TON of stuff!

Here's the list of things I need to buy:

• Plug adapter
• Japanese learning books
• Host family presents
• Maybe a journal... but since I am keeping a blog and a Vlog, I probably won't need one. Besides it's so much faster to type things on a blog and I have no patience to write things out
• Other miscellaneous things, like clothing especially a blue/black skirt and some black flats, and whatever else I can't think of right now

On top of all that, I have to start packing and studying for my finals next week.  I am seriously going to have to go without sleep this week... I hope I don't die before I go to Japan lol >_<

And wish me luck with my host family!!!!!! I really hope things work out. If you don't know what I mean, read my previous post and watch my Vlogs! ;)

Good Day...Bad Day

So it's officially a week before I leave for orientation in California. I am soooo excited because I have met so many amazing fellow exchangers on our Facebook group and I can't wait to meet them all at orientation.  :D Today has been a pretty interesting day.  It sucks because next week is finals so I have a ton of studying to do.  It also started pouring on my way home from school.  I have a 7th hour and since 7th hours are optional, the school doesn't provide buses for us poor overachievers lol. So most people ride the city bus home. And since you have to walk out of the school to get the bus stop and it's actually like a 5 minute walk away, I of course got soaked. Then I had to transfer buses and while waiting for the second bus, I got soaked again! And then on my way walking back from the bus stop to my house, I got soaked a third time so I am kinda grumpy about that.  I am one of those people who doesn't really like rain.  Since I live close to Detroit, the rain is full of dust and pollution and icky stuff from Detroit's factories.  It's not like acid rain or anything, but it's hardly clean compared to other cities.  On top of that, rain always makes the soil muddy and gritty and since I was wearing flip-flops, it got everywhere on my feet.... yeah so it wasn't an enjoyable trip home.  But someone did make my day today.  I wore my YFU t-shirt to school today because I wanted to before school ended and in the middle of the day, someone pointed at me and said "hey! YFU!" I was like "OMG! Yeah!" lol it was pretty exciting for me that someone recognized YFU. but it's not really surprising because there are soooo many freaking exchange students at my school and I am sure a lot of them went through YFU.

Anyway, this weekend is going to be super busy with finals studying and preparation for Japan.... I hope I have time to do everything :D

Also, another Vlog I just made.  It talks about my host family and stuff. BEWARE! I did a lot of complaining in the video :P so.... just be prepared