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

In-State Orientation

Hey! So I really should be doing my homework because I have been gone this whole weekend and I still have so much work left, but I am still spending time updating you guys so you should feel honored lol >_< Anyway, I had my in-state orientation yesterday and I just got back from it today at 5 pm because  my whole family stayed there for the night and visited the beach and the sand dunes around the city.  I made a video about it so rather than type everything I said in it I will just post it here.

Today is awesome!!!

So I have been really worried about my exchange to Japan because there was so much legal stuff to do and it was all sooooo complicated.  Host family problems made it worse and I am been really nervous.  BUT! This morning I came back from going to the dentist and my mom found a really exciting mail in our mailbox! It was my Visa to Japan!!!!!! <3 :) I was so excited because there were these problems with the application and stuff and because I didn't have some documents, I couldn't apply. At least that's what my dad told me. But apparently after he tried to turn in my Visa application on Wednesday and got rejected because of the missing documents, he called YFU and asked for them.  I thought it was going to take at least a week for YFU to give him the stuff but thy actually got it to him with a day or so and apparently my Visa application got turned in. I am just so amazed at how fast everything went! Maybe because I am going as an exchange student, my Visa got approved a lot faster. It's supposed to take about 5 business days for a Visa to be approved, but it hasn't even been 4 days since my dad first went on Wednesday and it obviously got delayed for a day or so because YFU needed to give us some extra documents. AND it takes about a day to mail something from Detroit to my city. So I guess my Visa got approved in a day or less! lol that makes me happy because that's just a huge burden off my chest. Now I don't have to worry about whether or not I can get a Visa and still go.  I was really worried about that for a while.... now things are much more certain!

Today is just so awesome! Later this afternoon, my whole family is going on an overnight trip to Ludington, Michigan just so I can attend the in-state orientation there. I thought it was just going to be my dad and me but apparently everyone's going so it will be a lot more fun! Gosh today is totally my lucky day or something with so many great things happening to me :)

Remember to stay tuned to my Youtube channel because I will be posting a video about my in-state orientation tomorrow.

Two weeks before I leave for Orientation in California!!!