Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Pre-departure orientation!






Well, technically, this happened yesterday, but whatever, posting it today instead. So. After arriving at the hotel (and getting lost on the way there) my grandparents,mother,brother, and best friend said their goodbyes to me. I really am going to miss them, but I'm so crazy excited/terrified/ nervous/ shell shocked/ insane with emotions to be able to bring myself to care all that much (No matter how bad that sounds, I just don't want to make myself homesick and depressed by looking back at everything I left behind when I haven't h8is insane adventure rapidly coming up in front of me, y'know? Anywayyyss, after lugging my stuff to my room (Thank goodness it was on the first floor) with the oh so wonderful help of a girl named Samantha (Sammy for short) who I also found out was my roommate, we went back out to the lobby, and after about five to ten minutes of socializing with these awesome people, we were ushered into a really big ballroom/banquet hall type room. Did I mention the hotel was Mexican themed? It was really pretty, and I'm kicking myself for not taking more pictures OTL. So at first Floyd (Leaders name, he was really nice) Basically talked about AFS. Then, after standing up and giving introductions (name, where your from , host city, something about your host family) we plated th8is fun game where we would get a sticker with a persons name on it stuck on our back (ex: Angelina Jolie) and we had to go around and ask people yes or no questions to try and guess who our people were (and vice versa) It took me FOREVER to figure out my chick was Hilary Clinton. Screw you Hillary. you don't even knooooww. After that, we talked about how Americans are generally outspoken, and how in Japan were going to have a good amount of time where we're basically mute and will have to communicate. So we had to form a line shortest to tallest without talking. It was surprisingly easy, actually. Afterwards we had to form a line with the months and days our our birthdays in whichever order but this time WHILE talking. Eventually we had dinner (Mexcian food omnomnom I'm gonna miss youuu ;___;) And then we had a presentation from Yuki, a friend of mine who works with AFS and moved to L.A a while ago. She answered any questions we had about Japan and was just generally awesome. We were finally sent off to bed at about ten o clock, we were all pretty freaking' tired by this point. I took a shower first,and man did I hate the hotels shower. It was really.....temperamental. Anyways, Sammy and I wound up singing random songs with each other and talking about Japan until about 12:45. Have I said I like her? I really like her XD.

All in all, it was a good day.

Now for pictures!

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

I got my host family!

Hey everyone who reads this, I GOT MY HOST FAMILY!

I'll be living in a city called Suwa, which is a really green mountainous area (total opposite of my ghetto neighborhood lol) It's famous for it's hot springs and HUGE lake, and it's really big fireworks festival.

I'll be going to Suwa Futaba High School, it's public, with like 400 something girls and 200 something guys.



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Isn't it beautiful? ლ(இ◒இლ)



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I think those are some pretty epic uniforms. I'm wondering if I can switch the tie for a ribbon. Unfortunately I couldn't find a bigger picture no matter how hard I searched (;◇;)



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My host family!(‘◉//∀//◉)=3
Mitsuhiro, 36, carpenter, host dad. He looks like a fun guy, I can't wait to meet him! He looks like a laid back type of dude, who cracks bad jokes a lot.

Kouga, 4, otouto (little brother) #1! He's so cute! Also his name is like Kouga from Inuyasha! OTL that would be the first thing I notice about him XD

Akiko,35,host mom. She looks like a really nice lady! I really like her smile. I'm looking forward to meeting her! (*´◒`*)

Banri, 2, adorable otouto #2. OHMYGOD he is so friggin' cute!! O(≧∇≦)O

12 days left until I leave!