Quickly Approaching Departure!

Well, I'm down to only 18 days left until departure! Since my initial envelope from YFU, I have received a few more containing general information about Japan and travel, and I also received a detailed, tentative schedule of what we'll be doing at the pre-departure orientation at San Jose State University. I can already tell that we are going to have so much fun before we even arrive in Japan! I will be arriving in California on June 13th sometime between noon and 6:00 PM. I am currently waiting to get my plane ticket in the mail to find out exactly what time I will be leaving (I should be getting that within the next few weeks). The pre-departure orientation is going to be extremely action-packed with something to do almost every minute of the day! These three days will be filled with different classes and panels dealing with Japanese language and culture in order to prepare us for our summer abroad. On Saturday and Sunday morning we will wake up between 6:45 AM and 7:00 AM and have activities planned all day until lights out at 10:30 PM. On Monday, June 16th, we will wake up at 6:00 AM, depart for the airport at 7:00 AM, and finally depart for Tokyo at 1:00 PM! Once we arrive at the Narita International Airport we will then make our way to a nearby hotel and stay there for a night (unless our host family is close enough to Tokyo to come pick us up). The next day (June 18th) we will fly to our host family's destination!

I have been doing as much as possible to prepare for this summer since my time before departure is quickly dwindling! My parents recently bought a new digital camera as my going abroad gift so that I can take lots of pictures and videos in Japan! I have also gone shopping for new summer clothes. The next step is to start buying host family gifts such as American candy/food, magazines, beachy items to represent Amelia Island/Fernandina Beach, etc. I am currently putting together a photo album containing pictures of my house, family, friends, and basically my life in America. I will give the photo album to my host family, and I think it will be a good icebreaker for us to first get to know eachother. I have also been brushing up on my Japanese language skills. I know many of the basics now such as greetings, introductions, question words/phrases, numbers, etc. Not nearly as much as I would like to know, but I am doing my best! I am now eagerly awaiting my host family information (it might not even get here until just a day or two before I leave for California), so I will post once I find out. Thank you for reading, and comments are always appreciated! =D

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