I’m back from Tokyo, Japan. The people I met and my experiences are ones that I will always remember. My last week in Tokyo was crazy. We had many projects to complete and I had very little sleep. I still had a great time though. In the last week we were working on the following projects: Bunnshu( Memory book), Skit project, Bunnshu Presentation and our Sayonara skit. I worked on my skit with Lisa and Linda, and I think we did a pretty good job. Our skit got 3 votes for best skit and I won 2nd place along with Jennifer for Best female act. They gave me a box of goodies as a reward, it was so funny!

The last week there, it was raining every day so my Okaasan was nice enough to drive me to school everyday. She didn’t have to but she offered, she’s so nice.. I love her and will will never forget her and the rest of my host family! Hopefully next time I see them will be in New York. On my Last night there we had Sushi for dinner. It was such an appropriate ending because my first meal with them was sushi and my last meal with them was also sushi. I had a few drinks with them and we talked about my stay and what I thought of Tokyo and how far I have come since my first stay there, I didn’t know anything and now I can read/write/speak/listen basic Japanese conversation. They brought me some cool gifts and she helped me prepare to go home. Without their help, I don’t know how I would have coped in Tokyo.

My last night was Saturday and I met up with Jennifer, Linda, Steven-UK, and Andrew at Musashi-sakai. From there we went to this park behind ICU to light up our own hanabi(fireworks). Apparently, it's all legal to light fireworks in the park. Even though it was raining, the rain stopped for a bit and we were able to run amok with the hanabi hehe. I had a great time there and I enjoyed listening to Stephen’s stories about how he fell in love with his wife, it was so sweet! He’s a cool guy. After a few hours we had to dropped off Linda and Jen because they had curfew. My Okaasan said that Japanese girls don't normally stay out late but since it was my last day, this would be an exception. I was really happy that she was so understanding because I've only been studying late at night instead of partying. This was my last night and I wanted to do something that I would always remember, also because I spent more than half the time in Tokyo studying!!! I only stayed out late one time and that was my first weekend with Andrew, the Ito's first host student.

Ah, which brings me to another point, my last night in Tokyo I stayed out late with one of my classmates, Andrew. I had a great time with him. Everyone in his suite had already left so we had an entire section of the global to ourselves hehe. It was madness! We made our own ice cream Sundays from whatever we could find in the fridge . It was concocted of: bread, strawberry jam, grape jam, Banana ice cream, Grapefruit jelly, and grape jelly. We stayed up late talking and watching Triumph the insult dog clips online till it was 6AM. By then we decided to go back to the park and light up the rest of the fireworks. It was fun being mischievous and I think we might had woken up some neighbors hehe. After that we explored this river under the bridge, we found a pond hidden away right next to the river when we were trying to find out way out. I had so much fun with him, it’s a pity our trip was ending just as we were getting to know each other.

The situation with Linda went nowhere as she continued to ignore me the rest of the time there. I thought she was a great person, and I still think she is. On our way home, she didn’t even bother to say goodbye, it's sad the way things ended. Despite all the tension near the end with her, I won't let it shower the good times we did share because she is still a good person. Hopefully, I’ll be able to keep in touch with everyone else after everything gets settled down.

My experience in Tokyo has been a real eye-opener for me. Before I went there, I thought that six weeks was plenty of time but now I realize the opposite. I am definately going back one day to see other parts of Japan and hopefully I will be able to share it with my friends or someone special. Either way, I hope to see my host family again because they've made my stay in Tokyo one of the best. I'll always remember this experience.

Sayonara Tokyo.