Travel Dates

Japan:

June 21st: fly San Fran to Tokyo

August 1st: return from Tokyo to San Fran and then from San Fran to Philadelphia

Germany:

September 5-8 leave for DC

attend 4 day orientation and fly for Frankfurt, DE

June 25-July 8 return to DC

Done School! Getting packed. Getting ready.

I took my math final on Thursday and finished my last day of school in America for a very long time. It almost felt surreal leaving school and thinking about how I won't be back for two summers and a school year. I'm going to miss it, the good and the bad. I'm used to it, I'm going to miss the familiarity. I'm going to (2) countries where I know no one and will have no friends (till I make some). I've been asked by people if I'm nervous and I actually am not, maybe it will hit me once I'm on the plane. I've been packing everything and getting ready for Japan. I have all the clothes I need and my mom ordered yen from the bank. I'm ready. It's crazy to think that all the things I need for 6 weeks, I'm packing into one carry one bag of 20 kilos (44lbs) and one carry on bag. I guess it will be even crazier for Germany since I'm bringing the same amount of stuff, but staying a year! It's exciting and nerve wracking at the same time!

A special thank you

I would like to dedicate this post to all the people who have made it possible for me to travel to Japan and Germany. I would first like to thank the people who wrote my recommendation letters. I needed four letters. Thanks to my former Latin teacher, Mr Turner, my religion teacher, Mr Donahue, my former history teacher, Mr Daniels and my English teacher Mr Patragnoni. Thanks to all those people for putting in the time and effort on those recommendations. They must have been good :D I'd also like to thank my guidance counselor Dr Berna for helping me out so much for planning and getting credit for my year abroad, and I'd also like to thank Mrs Kettinger for being so helpful with working out my credits and roster for Junior/Senior year.

I'd also thank my mother for first of all letting me go to all these places, and for supporting me through my applications. Thanks you all! みなさん どうも ありがとう

I'M GOING TO JAPAN

On Friday in the mail I received a large FedEx package. I opened it up and found I t-shirt from YFU. I was already excited! I read the front page of the papers that came along with the shirt and found that I had won the Okinawa peace scholarship from YFU! I won a scholarship to go to Japan! It includes an orientation in San Francisco at UC Berkeley and another orientation in Tokyo. That means I get to go to San Fran, Tokyo and then Okinawa! I’m going to Japan and then I’m going to Germany! I must be the luckiest person in the world. I have nothing to complain about! Here’s a picture of me in the t-shirt. I leave around June 20th and return around August 1st. I’m already starting to learn Japanese. I’m excited to learn this fun and interesting language but I’m also a bit overwhelmed by how much I want to learn before I go. Japanese grammar is...complicated to say the least and I haven’t learnt much yet but Im pouring my heart into it :) さようなら (sayonara)!

沖縄! (Okinawa)