Some new pictures; daily life… :) (updated~)

I totally forgot to mention how Japanese TV is a big part of my life here haha! I get to watch Gokusen, Rookies, Zettai Kareshi, and a ton of dramas live for once (instead of waiting for torrents), and all of those comedy and variety shows every night. (My family watches TV during dinner, fuck yeah! XD) What’s also great is that hot guys like Matsumoto Jun get invited to variety shows a lot and generally all the idols I liked in America I can finally watch on an actual TV. And the comedy shows are so messed up (look up Kanoue Ikou)… I’m really going to miss TV here…

Sunday :: June 29 –

I watched TV and slept all day today .

From 11 AM to 1 PM I watched the 90 minute Gokusen special and ate this really healthy greaseless Japanese pizza

I slept from 1 PM to 6 PM, LOL I always do that on Sundays, no matter where I am…
After dinner I watched the movie ‘Koizora‘ with Japanese subtitles (I watch English movies with English subtitles, too… hearing issues haha); It was a very simple movie but I was still happy that I was able understood 99% of it. It was pretty good. It was funny because everyone cried except for me… I never cry watching movies. I haven’t cried watching a movie since I was a kid. I teared up during Click but that’s it.

Tomorrow is school again! I need to get a picture of myself in my school clothes on here…

Tuesday I get to visit the French classes, that’ll be really interesting, I can’t wait.

OK good night. I noticed that I haven’t even asked anyone how their summer was going in the midst of my rushed shitty blogging D:… sorry, please tell me! Anyone, go ahead! Although Max you already took the liberty to describe your life haha. And Nico, damn woman, you fierce LOL. Seriously I was like HOW DOES SHE STILL MANAGE TO COMMENT ME O_O! I think it could be the apocalypse and you would still msg me on facebook like ‘ASK SPOTTING!!’ xD

P.S. I love Japanese TV, seriously… one variety show is just ‘ikemen contests’ (contests for hot guys) and this week’s was ‘ikemen kushami’ (sneezes). So it was just a bunch of hot guys competing for the best sneeze. XD some were really ugly, and really bad embarassing sneezes.. anyways I still really liked it haha

That reminds me, I really need to take pictures of the guys in my class. I seriously miscalculated on my last post, 4/6 of them are really good looking >_> And the not so attractive 2/6 are still passable…

CLASS 1-6 FTW

XD

THIS COMPUTER IS SO SLOW (updated~now with Friday’s events!!)

AGHHHH. That is pretty much the only thing that annoys me about this house LOL, otherwise I’m grateful they even have internet. I’m getting way too used to this Japanese keyboard with the weird punctuation.

NOTES BEFORE READING:

SO MUCH HAPPENS EACH DAY I CAN’T KEEP IT STRAIGHT IN MY HEAD. I have too much going on to feel like writing in a diary…I don’t have the time, and almost every night I’m hontou ni TSUKARETTA (exhausted). But, good news, I was asked to keep a diary from now on (more on that later).

Yeah so just the jist of everything again. Although the jist always ends up being a page long… WELL here’s my attempt to summarize what has happened since I last posted! XD

thursday :: June 19 - Haircut, another summer YFU exchange student (James) arrived
friday :: June 20 – I went to Matsumoto Castle and a beautiful shrine. Sadly, I wore ugly clothes that day and didn’t make an effort, so I kinda don’t want to show the pictures LOL.
saturday :: June 21 - I went shopping with my host mom, IT WAS SOOO FUN. I went to like the Japanese version of Kohl’s and the Japanese version of a Meijer’s clothes section (in it’s own building). Sounds shitty, but it’s cheap Japanese fashion, which rocks. Then I went to UNIQLO (like Gap) and the HYAKU EN SHOP (like the dollar store). We had to go to Uniqlo so I could buy polo shirts for school. Hyaku en shop was just lulz. LAST of all, we went to the yaoyasan (vegetable market) and Besie (giant grocery-kidzone-meijer-ish place). This is probably obvious, but I didn’t really think of it until I went shopping: since Japan is cramped for space, grocery stores and such have several floors. When you’re in a foreign country, grocery shopping is awesome. Everything’s the same, but different.
Then I made curry with my host mom that night. It was awesome, I fucking love curry. And it actually tasted good YAY haha.
sunday :: June 22 – This was a relax day, so I watched both Nodame specials (a total of 4 hours long… LOL). It was actually difficult to understand at times, but Eiji Wentz was in it so I watched it all anyway. Plus I had no idea how long it was and thought it would end after hour 1… then hour 2… yeah then I was like WTF WHEN WILL THIS END.
Then I actually drew in the sketchbook I bought at the hyakuen store.
It was raining, and everyone in the house was asleep from about 2~5 that day, so it was so peaceful… all the greenery and silence filled with rain was great. So yup, pretty relaxing day.

OH GOD THIS IS NOT A SUMMARY AT ALL HAHA and IT TAKES TOO LONG TO UPLOAD PICTURES. SORRY!!!

monday :: June 23 – I visited Higashijo elementary school with James, I’ll keep it short and sweet: Japanese kids are adorable, they pretty much love you unconditionally and hold your hand and pull you around. It’s so cute. At the same time, they’re really independent. In my 2nd grade class, the kids ran their own PE class–REALLY well. They played dodgeball, and they were FIERCE!! Also, they had a sort of home ec class with cucumber cutting. They used legit large knives and washed everything themselves. I was impressed.
tuesday :: June 24 - My second day at Higashijo elementary, the kids walked us all the way out and gave us a long loving good bye and were like ‘DONT FORGET US!!’. It was super cute, and I want to see them grow up.
wednesday :: June 25 – My first day at Nagano Nishi High School, it was totally ballin. I sit in the middle of a bunch of girls in the English club, they’re so friendly!! I love my classmates. They’re all really lively and cute and everyone just shouts ‘HALLO!!!!’ at me. I speak Japanese with them, although my class (1-6) is an English based course. They’re very unsure of their English. I read out loud during English class and they have to repeat after me, but everyone kind of just mumbles awkwardly IT’S SO CUTE. Japanese high school students are SO SO SO SHY. There are only 4 boys in my class and about 2 of them talked to met on Thursday, but it was more of interjection into my conversation than talking to me.

Anyways, I attended all my classes, and did not understand very much (KANJI. SO MUCH OF IT). What was awesome was I visited an ‘English oral communcation’ class, and basically everyone was ordered to get into groups and think of a question to ask me. They were all really excited to see me, it was really flattering. And yet scared of me, it was so strange. They seriously jan-ken-pon-ed (rock paper scissors) who in the group would have to ask me the question, and when they asked it was in a whisperish voice LOL. When I told them the languages I speak, everyone was whispering ‘kakkoii NE… sugoi’, LOL I FELT SO GOOD ABOUT MYSELF FOR ONCE, IT WAS GREAT. I feel like such an ass for admitting it, but I really enjoyed being in that class where people genuinely thought I was cool and feared me XD.
Thursday :: June 27 – Went to school again, same fun shit, I skip whatever classes I want ROFLMAO (*I have to try them once, though. I already attended a math class so BAM dONE!). IT FEELS FUCKING GREAT. I sat through History and then Japanese (pretty much a kanji lesson…wtf… X_X), then math came around and I was like FUCK THIS SHIT =D (<—my smug ‘i can finally skip’ expression) and left haha. I get to stay in the Eiken (english teacher’s office) whenever I skip anything. Two JET employees are there, I sit and chill with them, it’s great. I’ve found that I love school so much when I can just walk out of math class.

I met so many more girls in my class today, it was really fun, they love High school musical and Hanna Montana WTF LOL. I explained to them that it’s kid stuff in America and they were like ‘EEEEHHHHHHHHHH?!!’. I stayed after school for tea club and went with classmates, wore a yukata, it was awesome. Tons of more shit, oh god, but i have to sleep.

ALL OLD PICS SORRY
Some pictures I should have included in past posts (taken on my host family’s camera)
SORRY NO NEW PICTURES YET, IT TAKES FOREVER AND I REALLY WANT TO SLEEP.
I have a lot of other things to note about Japanese schools, but you’ll just have to ask me about it when I get back!! I wake up at 6 for school here~ yahhh.
I went to tea ceremony club today and wore a yukata, pics of that later, I PROMISE!!

 

(LOL CHECK OUT MY HOST MOM THROWIN UP OUR GANG SYMBOL)

WOULD CAPTION BUT I MUST SLEEP BYEBYE I WISH YOU WERE ALL HERE.

I HAVE TO GO TO SCHOOL ALONE TOMORROW, I’m scared haha! I take the bus, but I have to transfer buses and walk between buses and all this shit… it’s confusing right now, since it’s only my 3rd time going to school… but… I’ll do my best. x_x

FRIDAY UPDATE!

I managed to wake up on time, and decided to wear normal clothes today (I usually wear a uniqlo polo, pleated plaid skirt (ayumi’s), and high knee socks). Managed to get off at the right stops, but barely made it on time for class. First period was Kokugo (Japanese) LOL UGH it sucks hardcore, I hate it but I kind of wanted to suffer with my class. Bonding, you know? I thought I would be okay with listening to an old guy rambling about a horribly difficult Japanese text, but even when I’m motivated and concentrate… I don’t get it at all! So I ended up finishing my first AP Lit book haha. 

English Grammar was next, that’s always fun. I get to read to the class and Yoshida-sensei asks for my opinion of certain sentences (which is more common, is this correct, etc.) so I can participate for once. I actually feel like such a bitch for being fluent, though… I feel like they should hate me for it XD. Well that’s just my paranoia. I’m really impressed with the class though, it’s some pretty tough English. They break it down into a science and I really feel bad for them…because if it didn’t come naturally to me it would be so hard!!

I went to a different Oral Communcation class, and they had to ask me questions too. It was pretty much the same as the other day, except they asked me in English. They also asked me my favorite manga and anime and oh god I probably seemed like such an otaku rofl. They asked me if I knew what an otaku was and I was like Yeah… I went to Akiba… they all laughed, woohoo. I also met Adriana, this awesome girl from Florida and we want to go see the Hanadan movie together!! She’s so nice, and we’re into the same shit, so we talked a lot (me skippin class again YAY)

Then it was lunch time and I sit with Momo, Nanako (she has an evangelion folder and a totoro bento, d’aawwww), and Mio. My host mom makes my bento and it’s fucking delicious. Today after lunch the boys actually had the balls to talk to me, YAY LOL. They gave me their little introduction cards and when I talked to them they looked so nervous ROFL. They shouldn’t be shy… they’re all actually pretty hot (=confidence). One of them is into the Arctic Monkeys and I was like OMG ARCTIC MONKEYS!! DAISUKI!! (I LOVE THEM) and he was like MAJIDE!!! (OMG SRSLY??). It was a good moment. Anyways, I’m glad I’ve infiltrated the boy bubble in the class. It’s funny because they pretty much all gave me their intros at the same time, like it was their group decision because they couldn’t do it alone. 

Now is Math so I was like ‘uh, PASS’ and escaped. I’m using this Canadian JET teacher’s mac right now, he’s really cool. He’s a total slave to kanji, btw. Since he has only 1 class he has 6 free hours a day LOL and he just sits there writing kanji over and over again. (…So I get to use his mac…) XD

I love school soo much. Everyone is so freaking GENKI and I only feel this happy in American school once every two months. But I’m so happy every day. I get a ton of sunlight, too. 

I FORGOT TO MENTION: This school… has the best view… of Nagano. It’s unbelievably beautiful. Especially since I’m a first year, my class is on the 5th floor… it’s gorgeous. The windows are huge and half-open so we get this great breeze and being in the sun makes me really happy.

Going to school and having no homework and spacing out/doing my own thing during class. IT’S THE BEST.

OH I ALSO FORGOT TO MENTION: I got hit on at my bus stop on the way home yesterday, it was fucking weird. Just a note: when I wear my school uniform I look 100% Japanese and nobody even suspects that I’m a gaijin =D. Well anyways, I get a tap on my shoulder and I turn around and there’s some guy… like 20-30 years old? He didn’t look/smell drunk… ANYWAYS this is what happened:

me: Huh?
???: Wah, hontou ni kawaii, ne?
me: EH?? …..umm
???: *Gets the attention of the girl next to me* KAWAII NE
me: uh watashi wa ryuugakusei kara… zenzen wakanai… (I’m an exchange student, I don’t understand.)
???*: OHHHH anata wa chuugokujin!
me: *me and girl rush onto bus* uhh BASU…
???: BAI BAI!!!!!! *waves* 

 Yeah it was fucking weird. 

PE is next, and they’re swimming, so I think I can’t even go to that…

I forgot to mention, I love all the english speaking people here. I know I said english annoys me right now, but these people are awesome lol. Candice, an exchange student that’s been here a year, is totally ballin and we have great conversations. I love the JET employees, they’re awesome :3

 

 

OKAY I TOTALLY HAVE TO GO NOW I BET I’M PISSING HIM OFF HAHA

BYE EVERYONE!!

School festival next week :X

disunirando! yakiniku! nagano nishi koukou! zenkoji!

HEY MINNASANNNNN!!

Edit:

Japanese language skill update lol: Ack, I totally should have proofread this but I didn’t have time XD! I made it sound as if I could now speak fluently, but that’s totally not the case. I understand all conversations (which is fun because sometimes they think I don’t know what they’re saying), but generally speaking is still hard. It’s complicated things I want to say that sometimes that don’t work out. I can hold casual conversations alright if it’s about something like dramas or how long I’ve been here and whatnot. The best conversations I have are about J-dramas, because everyone’s really shocked by how much of a drama nerd I am and all the idols I like XD.
I was pissed off because sometimes I am not given a chance. Sometimes I don’t even get to open my mouth before they’re like ‘how do you do’.
What’s been really tough is that for some reason I’ve been surrounded by other YFU students that speak English and no Japanese. So I have to speak English. My ‘Japanese-mode’ totally shuts down, and it’s making progression really hard. Lately I haven’t learned much T_T! unlike the first few days when I was just with kaasan and tousan who speak no English and was in 100% Japanese mode. Sure I can help interpret for the only-English people I’m with, but that’s not helping me learn. It’s not understanding I have a problem with, it’s speaking. I’m actually sick of all the English because it’s getting in my way. -_-

Oh and wsup MAX! Sounds like you haven’t changed haha, stop spending so much money. I’m gonna go shopping soon, you want some shirts with engrish on it or what?

Haha Jordan I don’t know what to say. Definitely sign up for the JAFS scholarship next year, you get treated like royalty in Tokyo (Takazawa Grand Prince Hotel = <3). I’ve already seen students having bad experiences though, so I might be setting unrealistic expectations LOL. Well despite that, yeah, you’ll totally make it in. Seriously… some of the YFU acceptees this year… really immature. >_> I will say no more.

My haircut went awesome. To be honest it doesn’t look that different, but it’s styled a bit and the bottom is thinned out. What was awesome was that:
1) Japanese hair salons are fucking baller. Okay, so first they rinse your hair, then they cut it, then they wash\condition it (In America they wash, then cut)… and I swear, he just massaged my head for like 10 minutes, it felt SO GOOD LOL. They’re really gentle with your hair and treat your head like a bomb that could go off. PLUS they know how to handle Asian hair… and I got apple tea!
2) Our train was coming in like 15 minutes and my hair wasn’t dried yet, so my hair stylist asked his friend to help. So they were both drying my hair at the same time. It just looked really funny, and they were both pretty okay looking so I enjoyed it.. LOL

Oh, PS: I did another 100yen fortune thing… and yep… ANOTHER DAIKICHI! Dude, two ‘best fortune’s in a row. =D

I forgot to mention how much I love talking to Ichikokaasan. She’s so happy all the time and is such a typical cheery Japanese mother!! Always like ‘AAaaa ssooooouuu desuu kaaa? Sumimaseennn. Taihensouuuuuu!’… hard to type out the way she says it, I’ll show you when I come home haha. But she really helps me with my Japanese and feeds me way too much. I’m really lucky to have her! She and hiromitousan are the ones who are most interested in me, Minami just got back so she wants to rebond with her friends, and Nao is always going to her boyfriend’s soccer games. Generally their lives are pretty busy and seperate from mine, so it’s the parents that are the ones I get to really enjoy teh company of.

/Edit

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-JENNAA LIAAAA! I miss you guys! But you know, not enough to come back yet. Bwahaha <3. OH I haven’t found anything I really think you guys would want yet, yahh!
-Jenna: I never sat or ate alone, btw. My first night in Tokyo I hung out with Harold (search on Facebook) and I ate that ramen with 3 friends… just so you know XD you sounded suprised that I made a single friend lol T_T… I’ll ask my dad if it’s okay to call you, but the connection is REALLLLLLY bad (like I can hardly hear…) D: I wish I was there to be your cheer-up psycho!
-Lia: Are you okay LOL? DAMN YOUR VAGUENESS! BTW I saw like a GANG of totally decked-out lolitas at Disneyland. Seriously, 7 of them walking together. And like 2 other stragglers at other times. I thought of you! Nao likes lolita too, she even walked up and ask if we could have a picture with them rofl (and got denied -_-)
-MATTO & JAKEY: I didn’t feel the earthquake at all. Although about 6 YFU kids’ homestay was delayed because their shinkansen was coming from that area. Not dead, but thanks for the concern XD.
-SAM: Wtf? Can’t you just comment? …
-POTATO: Well I’m here for another 5 weeks! And I’m pretty pro now (lol sort of) so I could definitry show ya round.
-EVERYONE: I have so much to say and so many pictures- but not enough time! =( And moving pictures onto this computer takes FOREVER OMG. So I’m really sorry like all my blogs are really half-assed…BUT YOU GUYS SEEM TO LIKE THEM ANYWAYS SO YAYYY! XD

Purikura with Naooooo!

Nao, Noeru (from da Netherlandz haha), and I

Moreee

This has been the longest week of my life.

In a good way, haha. But seriously, I’ve had to adjust to different lifestyles 3 times in a freaking row. San Jose, Tokyo, Nagano-shi. It’s only been about a week and three days, but… oh god it feels like a thousand years ago since I left home. But it’s been a really good thousand years, lol! I wasn’t jetlagged at all, I’m not homesick, and everything has turned out insanely well. I even put 100yen into a fortune telling machine (at Zenko-ji temple) and got ‘Daikichi’ (the best one you can get!).

I think the memories are a lot sweeter than when I’m actually at these sites, though. Like at Disneyland we pretty much stood in lines all day and my back was killing me and it was MECHAKUCHA ATSUI T~T! The whole time I realllly wanted to sit down! But I got to bond with Noel (OTAKU! hahaha. Jk, she’s awesome. an awesome otaku) and Nao, and once I got home (last night) I missed it pretty bad. Even though my back was seriously going to break from standing so long lol.

Speaking of Nao, I love her!! She’s so freaking adorable. For about a day we were awkward and then suddenly at Disneyland… BAM! NAKAMA (good friends)! XD Anyways I wasn’t exxagerating when I said adorable. I think she was crying on Splash Mountain LOL SO CUTE. All the rides we went on she was like ‘YABAI YABAI YABAI YABAI’ (this is bad!) And I poke fun at her for being in rabu rabu (she’s got a boyfriend). She laughs at me because I tell her I’m ‘ikemen sagashiteiru’ (searching for hot guys). Also because I say stupid shit like ‘nao no kareshi no ikemen tomodachi to gokon shiyoze~~~’ (let’s go on a group date with your boyfriend’s hot friends) bahaha. There was only 1 hot guy at disneyland btw.

:3

I saw a ton of matching couples there, haha. Japanese people seem to be Disney-crazy. At least, Stitch-crazy (why…). Oh and all the workers there are like trained to talk in like the exact same way, it’s painful to watch! And some are hired to just wave while you’re on the ride, so they’re waving for hours straight. There are people who just stand there reeling off the rules over and over again in the same voice and forcing a smile all day. I couldn’t stand it! I felt bad for them and it was distracting. D: Ah well. The Indiana Jones ride was amazing, btw.

I look sort of pissed off, haha

After Disneyland and Disneysea, Minami was picked up from the airport so I finally met her! She’s really nice, misses America, and prefers to use English with me aghh lol. We also picked up Ayumi (college student) so Noeru and I had dinner with the whole family. =D My first YAKINIKU (see picture~) It was really fun. Siblings interacting is always funny to me. Like when we told Ayumi goodbye, Nao yelled ‘chanto taberu yo <3′ (eat properly) and Minami just yelled ‘FUTOTTE!’ (GET FAT!) lmao.

Minami & Nao (hahaha she’s gonna kill me) I forgot to take a pic of Ayumi

For you, Nico! XD. Fairly good looking, ne? (I was in a car so I wasn’t some freak on the street aiming a camera at him… I was a stalker in a car! :3)

I visited my school today.

I was told that I was just going to meet the principal so I was just all whatevs… TURNS OUT I HAD TO INTRODUCE MYSELF TO MY CLASS WTF. I have not been nervous to meet anyone at all in the past 10 days… I talked at the embassy in front of like 150 people, I was very calm meeting my family, generally I haven’t been nervous for anything… but I FROZE LIKE CRAZY. I wasn’t expecting to intro today. T_T… I always thought of how I’d introduce myself in Japan, over and over again, and I messed up! By messed up, I mean, they probably don’t think I know Japanese LOL. But I’m actually okay with it now, because I can totally make it right by just talking to them on my first day. Plus, I swear, I just said ‘konnichiwa minnasan… liz to moushimasu…’ and the WHOLE CLASS goes ‘OOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!’ roflmao. Easily impressed, yay.

Well the school looks great and I’m really excited to go!! Despite my shitty intro XD

Well anyways, I had negi miso ramen today, we helped pick up another YFU student (my father is this area’s YFU representative), then visited Zenko-ji temple with a YFU alumni who was a Japanese guy who had a really cute accent (he exchanged in Australia), lol.

Miso ramen! I had regular ramen the other day, too. Yasai ramen is still my favorite.

Ugh I’m squinting so bad. It was really hot and bright, aghhhh >_<.

It’s upside down but this computer is too slow, so do it yourself haha

Omake! Me and YFU buddies in Emperial palace (maybe? I wasn’t paying attention, rofl) in Tokyo

The guy in the back in the black suit is Conner (from my akihabara post) lol. After he went to disneyland (and helped me) he went clubbing, LOL

Umm other things… People don’t get weird with me when I pay for things anymore! =D Meaning my Japanese isn’t suspicious, and I can buy things and have the cashier actually be comfortable with me. I can also ask where things are and all that and I get no ‘foreigner…’ eyes.　=D I actually get pissed off– when I’m introduced as a ryuugakusei– people don’t even give my Japanese a chance and immediately switch to ‘how are you?’ before I can even say anything, although it’s not their fault and they really don’t know lol.

But when I do talk I can proudly say people are always like ‘uwah, jouzu O_O’. Even if they’re all just way too easily impressed, it makes me happy xD.

Ok I’m sure there is like 10000 more details but I’ve already taken so much time to do this much. Sorry… BYE EVERYONE THANKS FOR THE COMMENTS!!!! I LOVE YOU AND THE COMMENTS!! XD

OH YES I FORGOT! I’m getting my hair cut tomorrow!! =D Haha yes, I just had to do it in Japan.

Nagano!! <3 (updaaated w/ pics!)

My family… SO SO SO NICE. So accommodating! I love them so much already. They drove 2 hours to pick me up and it was a 2 hour carride back. Ichikokaasan and I both love like the same dramas! Hiromi (otousan!) is a funny guy. I told him I got lost in Akihabara and he made a shanking motion LOL. So yes I discovered what happened in Akiba then… I even saw exactly where I was standing (the mourning stand) on the news! It was really surreal seeing them discuss it on the news since I was there just the day before (and at the time had no idea what it was…). It’s also crazy that if I had arrived just a bit earlier, I could have gotten shanked and killed XD;;; Anyways, before we got home they even took me to a grocery store to buy things they thought I should try~~~!! My Japanese is actually good enough to make sense to them LOL!! Talking to them is fun because I get to use all the vocabulary I learned from watching too much dorama.

That night we watched Rookies and Gokusen 3!! Just then I realized… I completely understand everything in drama without subtitles!! I’m really proud of that lol. Watching hours and hours of Japanese TV actually pays off XD. But speaking still requires a lot of thought. I mishear things a lot, too. Otousan said “Ohashi” (chopsticks) and I thought he said “Okashi” (candy); Okaasan said “Petto” (Pets) and I thought she said “Beddo” (bed). Hahaha but in the end it’s fine and they totally understand I’m still adjusting.

Once again, I’m too lazy to get my camera but pictures WILL come soon! Tomorrow I’m going to Disneyland!! Soon after that, I’m visiting a Japanese elementary school! JAPANESE CHILDREN ARE SO SO SO CUTE. In Tokyo I went to the Edo Tokyo Museum, and a ton of little shougakusei were there waving at us YFU students. I hate children usually, but Japanese children are too adorable.

Oh and I get to participate in the school festival! God, so excited.

Did I mention I have a Japanese cellphone?!! It’s a handmedown from Minamineesan! Japanese cellphones ftw. =D

The only thing I’m really sad about is that I got a final grade of a C in Math… which means I probably got a D on the final. I told my host parents about this and it ended up being an enjoyable conversation about how rainen I should ganbarou ne. XD (next year I should do my best) So I cheered up… being in Japan makes me feel better about things I would usually cry about haha!

okay I should go now!! There’s just way to much information and not enough time!!

I miss everyone and I love your comments. I wish you all were here, some day I will take all of you to Japan since I’m in the process of becoming PRO, LOL.

Yeah I don’t think I’ll ever have the time or desire to start my AP books!! YAGHH!! X_X

OK BYE! I love you guys.

EDIT\UPDATE!!

I went purikura-ing with Nao this morning! It’s really all it’s cracked up to be!! XD I’ll take a picture of the results later. Nagano is so amazingly beautiful, btw, I forgot to mention LOL! I’m so used to flat flat flat Indiana, and suddenly I’m in mountainous Nagano <3. It’s so gorgeous… And I live in an oldfashioned Japanese home, it’s so homey and comfy!

Okay so PICTURES!

Emiko (YFU buddy) and I @ Edo Tokyo Museum

Japanese boys in uniform are cute, lol XD

My first legit ramen I had (In Tokyo). It was yasai ramen (vegetable) soooo good.

I saw this woman in Tokyo :3

Ahh this is such a bad picture, but so far it’s the only one we’ve taken sooo… haha

Backyard!

Living room!

smooshy bed !!

Purikura will show later!!

They love Hairspray btw, which I think is funny lol

OK MATA NE LOL

I got lost in Akihabara.

And yeah I don’t think I need to tell you I was SCARED SHITLESS!!! LOL.

I don’t regret it though, I mean I had a few minor heart attacks every time I felt lost… but my adventurous spirit made it pretty enjoyable XD. Plus if I hadn’t even tried to get there, I would have hated myself. It’s my last day in Tokyo, after all~

Okay so one of my friends here is Conner, who is this white kid that has lived in Tokyo before (for 3 years), so he showed me how to work the train station. (I totally wouldn’t have been able to figure it out by myself, haha.) Well that was all nice and easy, but he soon got off at an earlier stop to go to Disneyland, so I was left all alone. I managed to get off at the right time LOL (shut up, it is an accomplishment!! XD) and basically wandered Akiba. I have always wanted to go there, so being able to go there by myself with just a little help was a great feeling. It was really cool and quite different from the Shinagawa area I’ve been staying in. But after like an hour, I wandered wayyy too far LOL and I went in a few circles (hence, heart attacks). Eventually everything started coming together after the excessive wandering.

Oh, and there was this mourning stand full of flowers that an old man took a picture of with his cell phone. A girl like TOTALLY bitched him out for it and was like WHAT ARE YOU TAKING A PICTURE FOR?!! HUH?!!? while she was sobbing. It was scary, lol. I went into a few arcades, otaku stores, appliance stores, purikura zones (lol err), and video stores. All pretty interesting, but nothing I haaad to have.

I got on the train back, and while I was on it I kept getting paranoid and thinking that I was on the wrong one (going the opposite direction, but the same line) which was pretty pathetic. Once I got off at Shinagawa I felt really at ease.

All I bought was a Rirakkuma wallet because I couldn*t find any good otaku stores. So it was sort of a waste of time, but a priceless experience.

Well basically I am literally completely independent right now and free to go anywhere (I <3 YFU Japan and it’s free-for-all attitude). It is indeed BALLIN.

So that was my first train/independent-lengthy-adventure experience. XD I only took like 2 pictures because I haaaaaaate being the obvious tourist. Plus the pictures aren’t that cool unless you’re in them, and I really wasn’t feeling confident enough to ask someone to take a picture of me.

OH and this morning I gave a speech at the US Embassy in Tokyo LOL FORGOT TO MENTION. I was speaking on behalf of the JAFS scholarship and thanking the embassy for supporting it, etc. The introduction was in Japanese.  It’s the first time I’ve said more than 10 words in Japanese, and it was a speech in front of all the JAFS students and the Embassy officials. Yeah, I was freaking out. But… in the end,,, I just have to be honest here: I did great XD!!! everyone told me how well I did and how good my Japanese was after I made the speech! I was so happy. It’s nice to hear that you’re a good public speaker. Oh, and one of the embassy officials was seriously freaking out too and shouted SUBARASHII!! (AMAZING!!) and walked down and hugged me after my speech LOL. I was totally awkward and was like “uhh haha arigatou…”

So twice today I was scared shitless was sure that I was going to totally fuck up. And both times, in the end, everything went great.

Sorry this is really messy and I don’t have time to upload pictures, the computer room at the hotel is really busy and there’s always a line so I feel like a jackass if I take up too much time.

YAY TOKYO!! AND YAY NAGANO TOMORROW!! I wish everyone was here. Lia and Jenna, I want to go eat cute little pastries with you guys! But I can’t! AND MAX if you were in Akiba with me it would have gone a lot better hahaha.

tokyo. is. so. FUCKING AWESOME

Okay it`s 5:53 am over here IN TOKYO (yeah it feels awesome to say that!!) I only have about 45 minutes to write about the last 4 INSANELY PACKED days. So this is hardly going to cover what has happened XD.

 

SO basically the SJ orientation was like a summer camp. Cafeteria food, really jank public showers, and more etiquette lessons and “workshops” to reiterate that “Hey guys Japan is different” lol. But my kumi (group/class/gang) was ridiculously awesome so it turned out to be really enjoyable!! In the 2 days we knew eachother we already developed nicknames and inside jokes <3 for future reference: “cannon ball”, “Liz it’s your fault”, “THE scapegoat”, “CAFE LATTE!!”, “Conner’s a winner” :3. Also, I love California in general; the weather was amazing all day everyday.

Well finally on wednesday orientation was over and I experienced my first international flight– and got placed in the middle of a 5-seat row LOL WTF. So I only got up once in the 10 hours; I sat between two Japanese businessy men and I think one of them was taking speed, he would like randomly eat some tablet thing and then act super squirrelly haha umm.

 So after 10 hours of listening to a mixture of D12, AAS, and JapanesePodcast101, we arrived at Narita International Airport. It was so quiet and different. A great kind of different. The first Japanese I spoke was “toire wa doko ni arimasu ka?”, crappily XD. Then I couldn’t even find it after she gave me directions! Learning experience I guess haha.

We were bussed to TOKYO PRINCE HOTEL (super gorgeous and super high-end!!! Particularly awesome for me because with the scholarship it’s free =D). The ride was so exciting; I was worried that I wouldn’t be excited to see Tokyo since I’ve seen so many pictures and studied Japan so much that I’d killed all the freshness and shock people would usually receive. That was so totally not the case… to be acually here is an experience that you can never ever dull down with excessive research. I can’t describe how wonderful it is here…

After settling into my room (beautiful… the pictures don’t do it justice), I left the hotel to go shopping!! YFU Japan said they would allow us to visit outside of the hotel because, I quote, “We know it’s impossible to make you stay in the hotel. Just don’t take the train or go too far” LOL TOTALLY BALLIN, I KNOW. FUCK, IT WAS SO COOL. I sound like such a loser, but I got to spend my first day in Japan WANDERING TOKYO AT NIGHT. I was expecting to be locked in my room by YFU officials! AHHHHHHH in those moments, everything was right.. <3

There’s this gorgeous Japanese-style garden attached to the hotel! SO PRETTY AT NIGHT!! (sorry flip it over yourself I dont have time ;-;)

The first thing I bought was total impulse; creme d’anjou –I was all “kuremu danju HITOTSU!! =D” LOLOL I like to think he didn’t think I was gaijin…BUT later I nervously asked for a computer room in the hotel and the woman totally switched to english. Don’t blame her, I said it really crappily. 1 FOR LIZ, 1 FOR JAPANESE PEOPLE. I’mma keep a tally hahaha.

PICTURES DO NOT DO THESE MOMENTS JUSTICE, AT ALL.

CREME D’ANJOUUUU. It was mediocre food-wise, BUT THE ATMOSPHERE MADE IT GODLY.

I have a great story about this adooooooorable street perfoming girl musician too, but I have to go to breakfast now!! I’m totally late from typing all this. BYE EVERYONE!!!!!! Wish you were here!!!!

HEY

HAHA OH SHIT, I’M DONE. LOLWUT.
I’M FUCKING DONE AS FUCK, MOTHERFUCKER.

But…I don’t feel like it’s the last day of school at all. I don’t feel like it’s all really over.
I don’t feel fulfilled or satisfied or happy or free or anything… like I thought I would…
Skool took away my ability to be human? Haha…ha.

I can’t believe I never have to go back to those horrible classes ever again.
I can’t believe I’m done with those finals.
I can’t believe I’m leaving my house in 2 days.
I can’t believe I’ll be in Japan in 5 days.

It’s just way too abrupt. I was having a mental breakdown just this morning (2 AM, specifically), and now, just about 12 hours later, I have nothing to truly worry about. But I can’t stop worrying. My head is in a perpetual state of worry, because I constantly don’t understand something, constantly don’t have something done, and constantly don’t have enough time to get it done. I’m always on the verge of failure, I’m always at my limits. It’s been a whole year like that. For it to all just be totally over… nope, can’t believe it yet.

I leave in 4 days

(Now edited for accuracy! =D)

Wednesday
-”POWERNAP” (it ended up being an 8-hour nap…hah)
-Woke up in a state of panic @ 2:00AM, freaked out, Max drove me to the gas station, bought a red bull, felt an adrenaline rush of panic over a test (sad, I know XD), finally felt a little less scared shitless.
-Retook every chem test this semester
-Reread all chem notes for this semester
-Reread all math notes (I ended up doing this during lunch right before the final)

Thursday
-AP World Meeting @7:00AM He was cool about me not going to it. Yay.
-Math tests @7:15AM I was still studying for chem
-Chem final
-Math final
-School’s over. I’m fucking done as fuck. And hopefully don’t have to go an hero.
-Majo’s birthday (I <3 HER)
-Night swimming + sleepover at Jenna’s, with Lia and Jake (I <3 THEM)
-Basically had the shittiest morning, the scariest afternoon, but the best night.

Friday
-Pack

Saturday
-Last minute things: Buy AP books, haircut lol?
-Attempt to finish entire Japanese textbook
-Preemptively apologize for my failure as a daughter and a human being, lol

Sunday
-Leave home about 6:00am, 8:29am flight
-BRB GUYS, JAPAN

I WISH I DIDN’T CARE SO MUCH ABOUT NOT FAILING. BUT I DO. I STUDY LIKE MY LIFE DEPENDS ON IT. WHY? BECAUSE I’M WEAK AND I’M AFRAID THAT MY INNATE SKILLS ARE SUBPAR AND TOO RISKY TO RELY UPON NAIVELY.