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!!!!