Hi guys! I’m writing from my hotel in Izumisano, the same hotel I stayed at in the beginning of my trip. I’ve done a really poor job of updating around here, but I figure I can give you a bit of the last leg of my journey before I get home.

This past week has been sad because people have been leaving one by one. After the graduation ceremony last Saturday (yes, we “graduated” from the Asian Studies program 😉 ) I’ve definitely felt a sense of relief at having no more responsibilities (read: no more homework)!! My roommate left on Monday morning, and that was a tearful goodbye… she’s such a character, and I will miss her. The rest of my days at the seminar house were probably some of the best ones I’ve had this semester. I got to go to karaoke and sing all my favorite Japanese songs, went to Nara and played with the deer, went to see Green Zone and had dinner with one of my Japanese friends, and got to go to our resident hookah bar one last time. I also had a terrible incident involving some chili pepper and my eye, but no worries, it’s all gone now and I didn’t go blind. 😛

I spent all yesterday packing up the rest of my things, sending two boxes full of stuff back home because I just didn’t have enough room for everything. I woke up around 7 this morning to clear out my cupboard and food items, and I check out around 11:30. I got to say goodbye to a couple of people, but most of my friends have already left… I got a taxi at 12:30 and went to take a limousine bus (basically a charter bus) to Kansai International Airport. At the bus stop one of my friends from running club was also heading home, so it was nice to have her to talk to while we rode the bus. At the airport we parted ways, and I went to go find the shuttle for my hotel. When I talked to the woman at information, she told me the shuttle wouldn’t be there for another 3 hours… oops. She told me I could also take the train and walk a little ways to the hotel, so I went and thought about that over a bowl of udon. It was delicious udon too. 🙂 After that I went back to her and asked her to draw me a map (I’m under the impression that any Japanese can draw you an amazing map… I wish I knew why). With that in hand, I easily found my way to the train station, and then to the hotel afterward.

My hotel room is slightly bigger than it was before, and I have a comfy couch! They also have a pool here, which I totally didn’t notice before, but actually it’s still around 65 degrees outside so even if I had brought my swimsuit, it wouldn’t be too nice, haha. They do have a supermarket across the way. Maybe I’ll go buy some strawberries for dinner tonight. 🙂

Tomorrow I have to be on the shuttle at 6:30am, and my first flight leaves at 8:40. I have a 6 hour layover in Tokyo, then it’s 12 hours to Houston, another 2 hour wait for the Raleigh flight, and then I’m home! Wow!

I’d like to say, like so many others, that these months have flown by, I wish I had more time, etcetera, but they didn’t fly by. They were long months filled with some hard days sometimes. Now that I’m used to Japan, obviously I feel more comfortable and could stay here for longer, but I don’t really want to. It’s time to go home now. Of course I want to come back someday, and it’s been a very enlightening and good experience. But for now, I need to get back to real life, whatever that may be, haha.

It’s been fun Japan. Sayounara. 🙂