The Great Gatsby Body Wash

Now you can be poor farm boy but smell like a rich man.

Rita

This cat I swear...>u <

Food <3

Just some of the delicious food my host mother has made for me. She is the nicest person ever. But at this rate, she'll make me fat ;P But I don't care, its all so yummy! For my welcoming dinner we had a sushi feast. It was heaven <3

Japanese School

I don't think I've been called cute so many times in my life. My first day of school and I'm already, as my new friend Konoka put it, a superstar. I was a rare and foreign specimen that was exploring new territory. But instead of feeling lost and overwhelmed by all this attention, it was welcoming. It was refreshing to know that everyone was anxiously awaiting my arrival.
My school is going overboard with regulations. They had to make sure that my hair was natural and not "dyed", it has to be in a ponytail, black shoes for outside, white slippers for inside and you have to wear a uniform that is way to long and heavy and makes me feel like a nun (quite literally, because there were nuns everywhere at this school) Its actually pretty hilarious because the uniform they gave m was way to big and way to short for me. The American teacher at the school was joking because their past American transfer students were much shorter and uh...bigger. They were so surprised that I was super tall( I found out 2 hours in my first day of school that I was the tallest student...word goes around fast at this school).
But all in all, the girls a this girl are super sweet. They think everything I do is super cute, they are amazed by my Japanese and they fight about who's gonna sit next to me at lunch :)

P.S. There is a 40 min lucnhtime AND NAP TIME !!!! For 15 min we just sleep. It is GLORIOUS!!!

Berkley Orientation

So, the first part of my adventure has finally come to end. And what a fantastic journey it was. Many a memory was made inside the Putnam lounge and dorm rooms at Berkley University.
The plane ride itself was a pleasure. After switching places with a woman from Economy to Business class, I thoroughly enjoyed a 5 hour flight balancing studying for the ACT and watching Almost Human, Elementary and Thor :-).
After realizing how simple my Japanese is, embarrassing photos, AN ALL YOU CAN EAT COLLEGE STYLE BUFFET for every meal ( I honestly believe that I gained 2 pounds from all the fro-yo I ate ), and classes that drilled into our brains to NOT DO THE DO!!!, I was finally ready to embark to Japan.
But of course, fate and bad luck loves to screw with me and had a completely different plan for me and my fellow exchange students. We got stuck in an elevator.
For an hour and a half.
With 22 sweaty people.
In the heat.
And sweat.
Did I mention that it was hot as hell itself?
Yeah it was that bad. But I'm thankful that no one got seriously dehyrated or worse. But lets just say that personal b inoundaries were trampled on and completely destroyed. But being stuck butt to butt ( literally) with a cute sweaty dude wasn't so bad at first at least ;-). It was unanimously agreed that, and I quote, " Our dignity can suck it, is effing hot and I'm taking mah shirt off!!". So everyone,EVERYONE, started stripping. It truly was a moment bonding through skinship. I would have taken time to admire everyone's physique, but ya know, I was occupied with trying to BREATHE through the moist air.
So an hour and a half later, a whole playlist of kpop songs and several life stories later, were finally free!!!! The head of the orientation staff greeted us with a "yay you guys are freeeee and naked wooo".
All in all, it was a pretty swagtastic orientation. I made lots of new friends and I am so ready to go to Japan :-)
Also I think that technology failed epically because when we landed in Tokyo it said we were off of the coast of Africa....

FORGIVE MEEEE

I would like to start off by asking all for your forgiveness for my extreme tardiness in actually posting anything. I have a legitimate reason though!! Hear me out, the  prefecture that I am saying in has yet to allow homes to allow wifi (its really weird I know) so in order to post anything I have to go to the mall which is a bit far from my home. But have no fear :) I now have a bike so I can easily get to and from the mall so I will try to post as many things as I can :) Expect something once or twice a week. I will post as much as I can so please bear with me :)

The Cat

2 Days Before Flight.
Tomorrow is the last day of junior year. And good riddance too!
Still have nothing packed.
There are clothes EVERYWHERE...seriously though, there are shirts and shorts literally, everywhere...
I don't think I should post a picture of my family online yet (you know, permission and all that jazz...), so here's a picture of their cat instead :3
According to my host father, he is the boss of the house, and rightfully so :)