At Narita Airport

I am currently at Narita airport waiting for my flight.

I was planning to wake up at 6 and do some cleaning before I left the dorm, but I accidentally slept in until Kamelija knocked on my door at 8...typical me.

Luckily, all my bags were packed and I just had to move some stuff to the kitchen before and get changed super speedy before Sakurai-san came to do a room check before I left. The room check went without a hitch and then after a sad goodbye to Kamelija and Nick, Hinata and I boarded our taxi. After that, it was the airport limousine at Yokohama to Narita. Unfortunately, due to our different flights, Hinata and I were split at the terminals--I'm at terminal 2 and she's at terminal 1, so we parted ways a bit earlier than expected.

Now I'm alone waiting until 5pm so I can check in my luggage and move around a bit more freely.
Well, I've made it safely to my first destination, so it's a bit chill for the time being.

While I wait, I have time to reminisce the times I've had in Japan. It still feels surreal that I'm leaving. I remember when I took off last September to come here. I was so excited to finally be in Japan and it was nervous being alone for the first time on a flight and everything. Now, I feel so comfortable making my way around here, that it feels like a second home. I've made so many amazing friends here and have learned so much about Japanese language and culture that I could never have known if I had never come here. I'm so grateful to my scholarships that helped me live so comfortably, my family for continually giving me support through skype and simply by thinking of me all the time, and to all the people that I met here for accompanying me places, talking with me, and just being there as a social and mental support. Without them all, I don't know what I would do.

My Japanese friends that I made/met here: Tsubasa, Eriko, Michiko, Kumiko, Yuuko

The lovely grandmas and grandpas at my conversation club: Seki-san, Nakamura-san, Hiroko-san, Sato-san

My level 7 classmates from last semester: Lisa, Miharu, Albert, Laura, Chris, Hinata, Kamelija, In, Kathleen

The dear friends I made at my dorm: Eric, Margaret, Nick, Eilika, Juan, Mataeus, Soon-san, HyoJong, Stephanie

And especially, the amazing group of friends that I made through Hinata and probably became my strongest support, and who most of them I will hopefully meet again next summer when I work at the same camp: Makoto, Tamaki, Catie, Gou, Dai-san

I really do love them all.


There were good times here in Japan. There were things that I loved about this culture and its people. And there were also the bad times, the terrible times that made me want to cry and things I really came to dislike. But, overall, I do not regret coming to this country. It was always my dream to come here, and I'm happy that it finally came true. Now, I have to search for another dream to keep me going and keep me living this life.

By living here, Japan has become another home and I will definitely come back someday. At the same time, I have also made several other homes all across the world by all the different people that I have met here. In these times when communication is so much easier and faster than before, I think I will be able to keep in contact with all my friends at least for a very long time. And one day, I'm confident that we will meet again.

In the meantime, I'm off on a vacation to Australia where I will no doubt experience even more knew and interesting things.

Matta ne~