I had a ton of fun at Japan Tent Its a program that places college exchange students with host families so that they can experience japanese culture in the same way that a japanese person would.

To get to Ishikawa I had to take a night bus with other people leaving from Tokyo. I'm retarded so I thought that the departure time was the time that we had to meet up. On my way there I get a message from my friend saying that the meeting time was one hour ahead! I was totally late! I actually got confused about how to get out of the station once I arrived and the Japan Tent people called me. I was totally freaking out the entire way there, especially since I've never been to Tokyo station. I was worried that the bus would leave without me. But luckily I wasn't the only person late and arrived around 11:05. The bus didn't leave without anyone so the departure changed to midnight. LOL I'm glad that everyone didn't have to wait on only me!

The bus ride to Ishikawa was about 8hours long and the bus stopped every 2 hours for smoke breaks and potty breaks I guess so I didn't get to sleep very well. I talked to alot of different people there!

When we finally got there they had a bunch of opening ceremony speeches and stuff like that. TBH most people were exhausted so many people were sleeping. Then they made us watch a movie called Sakura Sakura. The production values weren't so high so the acting was a little off. I think it was 3 hours long but I slept through it.

After that we finally went to our host families. I was worried at first because the grandma seemed very cold and distant towards me. Very japanese quiet and reserved. She was really very nice though, she always bought me food and gifts and even called me this morning to make sure that I made it back on time. Their house was sooo big. It was one of those really old traditional japanese houses. Their job was at a traditional japanese restaurant where they wore kimonos! I told them that I liked sushi and I swear every meal I ate there was sushi. It was insane. Haha they tried everything they could to make sure that I was very comfortable. <3

The second family was in Kanazawa. The city is bigger. They lived in a 2 bedroom apartment with 3 kids. The feeling was alot different! They were alot younger and usually had to work so I didn't really get to do anything too interesting. This time I had a chinese girl from shanghai also stay in the homestay with me. I was glad to have someone to stay with so that I could actually talk/do stuff. We went to the kanazawa castle and the park. We also went shopping and I got a totally cute outfit!

Japan tent was a bunch of fun. Def something that I reccomend to other exchange students in japan. Its free! Seriously I had 12,000 yen before I left and maybe only 10,000 afterwards because I bought some clothes. 3 days after being back in tokyo, its only 4000. HAHA

The host club was pretty fun! First we met up at Kabukicho and then went to a restuarant to pregame. I'm not sure why we pregamed when host clubs are usually all you can drink, but it was fun anyway. I ate some cake! It was delicious! Then we wandered around the shady red light district in search of some boyssssss. We found some that had a club for 1000 yen an hour so we decided to go there.



That one was alot better than the one I went to last time. Pretty much all of the guys had cool hair and outfits and were very nice to us. I was really surprised! They rotated guys pretty often and all of them made good conversation even though my japanese is somewhat limited. I drank alootttt that night haha. I wasn't completely wasted but I was getting to the point where I thought I would start forgetting stuff. It was a fun night!



So after that I decided I needed to stop spending money. I stayed inside for a few days and studied kanji while watching a buttload of anime. So far I've watched all of Code Geass and the Black Rock Shooter OVA.

And today I went with my friends to go see Inception. It was a pretty sweet movie! A++ would watch again!

I'm gonna start watching Kino no Tabi (Kino's adventure) soon and study more kanji! I've got a lesson tomorrow too!

ವಿಥ್ ಹೋಪ್ ಫಾರ್ ದಿ ಫ್ಯೂಚರ್.

Its been a while! ( I feel like I begin all of my posts with this line), but I'm back if only for today, to blog!

Summer vacation is in full swing! By full swing it means that I spend most of my time indoors and on the internet. At least I'm being productive! I'm studying kanji and grammar using Heisig and Genki respectively. Sometimes it feels like an uphill battle. The more I learn the more I realize that I don't know. Its fun though and everyday I feel that I'm moving towards where I need to be before I leave.

Yesterday I went to the pool with heather, elodie and jennifer. It was fun! The pool was only about 5 feet deep though and sorta crowded so swimming was really hard. Most of the time we just chilled out on the side and watched people. It was really interesting though because a group of japanese boys were somewhat following us and would randomly say things in english. I guess that sort of thing happens alot to foreign girls though.

Ooh but the main reason I wanted to write this post was because I was looking at the Avatar: Last Airbender artbook (DO WANT HINT HINT) and I really realized what I want to do with my life. (LOL WTF)

I mean, ever since I was small I always watched disney and animated movies with awe and wonder. I remember watching the sailor moon anime and loving it because of its wonderful art style. I think animation is totally a field that I want to be in. Not just any old animation but 2D traditional animation. There is something magical about it that 3D simply cannot capture correctly.

Its very interesting reading art books and seeing what really goes on behind the finished product. I'm always amazed and feel moved just a little closer to where I want to be.

But then again I realize that I suck at working hard to achieve my goals. I really want to progress and create a porfolio, but I seem to just sit around and think about it instead of actually getting up to go do it. That is something that I need to change.

Since I have wayyyy too much free time here in japan I'm going to try and draw and complete one thing a week. I think I do better when I put myself on deadlines. My deadline for this year is to learn all 2000joyo kanji and for the most part finish reading all of my japanese text books. I think its doable to an extent. I'll figure it out.

Anyway tonight I'm going to a host club with my friends!

Oh /random/ I think my camera is dying. Its having a hard time focusing and there is a string of dead pixels on its screen. IDK if I should have it sent back to the US to get fixed or what. I SAD. I think I might keep it for a bit while I'm here and if it dies buy a new one or something. I'll still have some warranty left by the time I get back to the states and am able to handle it correctly. I just hope my baby is alright. ;;