This is me not packing

Why, hello there.

I leave for Japan the day after tomorrow (!), and thought that finally starting up my blog would be a better use of my time than packing (I'll regret this later). Thanks to the unbelievable generosity of the Light Fellowship, I'll be spending the next 6 months of my life in Japan--the summer in Tokyo attending Sun Academy and the fall in Nagoya attending Nanzan University. It blows my mind that I'll be spending such a long period of time halfway around the world, thousands of miles away from home, in a completely foreign country. It hasn't sunk in yet at all. I don't think it will until my feet actually make contact with Japanese ground.

It's surreal how my interest in J-pop, born when I was 11 and remains with me even now, has brought me to this point: on the edge, ready to take the plunge and immerse myself in the Japanese culture, one I had previously considered completely remote from me. This whole experience is no doubt going to be scary, filled with its share of awkward moments and cultural missteps, but I'm excited nonetheless. One doesn't get many opportunities like this in life, so I'd be stupid not to milk this experience for all its worth, and then some. Psh, with a fully funded trip to a study in Japan, who wouldn't?

All I know about the host family I'll be staying with during the summer is that it consists of a host mother, a host father, and "2 budgerigars." I had to look up what "budgerigars" were. Haha, I don't know what I expected, but I definitely didn't expect them to be birds.

I haven't really thought extensively about goals for my time abroad, but two off the top of my head are:

• make at least one Japanese friend
• learn how to use chopsticks
  

Yah, I know these might sound small, but I like to take baby steps! Nah, I'm sure more substantial ones will pop up.

All righty. This was less painful than I expected. Next time I write, I'll be in Japan. YAY!