T-10

Life Update and How I’m Preparing for Japan

Hello everyone! Welcome back to my blog. I know it's been a while since I first posted, but it's finally time for me to start posting regularly! I will leave for Japan in ten days from the time I'm posting this and I still can’t wrap my mind around the fact that it's actually happening. I’m really going. I have been dreaming of going abroad and traveling the world since I could remember and now it’s really time. Well, in ten days it will be. I wanted to make this blog post as a little life update and share how I’ve been preparing for my trip.

Life

So, let’s backtrack a bit. After I moved back home from Murray, I went into full-on hustle mode. I started working back at McDonald’s, working 45-hour weeks. This about sums up the majority of what I've been up to. Work, work, and then more work. Since I'm going to be abroad for 5 and a half months I knew I needed to save as much money as possible, so I basically lived at McDonald’s all through December and January. Once February hit, I started to prioritize work less, and my health more.

This brings us to my health/fitness journey. At the end of January, I realized how bad my health had become. After eating so much Mcdonald's and not being very active due to being so exhausted from the amount I was working, my health had declined significantly. I was tired of feeling and looking horrible, so I decided I was going to start working out and taking it seriously this time. Since then, I’ve lost quite a lot of weight and started feeling a lot more confident and comfortable in my body. It's only been two months of consistent effort and I’ve already started noticing changes, so I can’t wait to see where I’ll be once I return from Japan.

Another big thing that happened is that I turned 21! I’m legal! It feels so surreal to be able to get alcohol now and I’ve been enjoying feeling like a real adult now. I went to Nashville with my mom and we went to a few different bars so I could try some different beers and it was really nice. We also had a going away/21st birthday party and I just want to say thank you so much to everyone that came, I hope you enjoyed yourself! I had a lot of fun and it was so nice to see everyone before I leave. Eternally grateful for all of you. :)

Japan

Back on the topic of Japan, I’ve been preparing a lot. I’ve been studying daily and I can really see improvements in my language skills. I had to take a language placement test near the end of February to see what level of Japanese classes would be appropriate for me. My university in Japan, Doshisha University, has nine levels of Japanese classes. I don’t know what level I’ll be put in for sure until I get there but my Sensei and I estimated that I would be placed in level four, which is upper intermediate. I don’t schedule classes until the end of March so you’ll have to stay tuned to see what level I'm at!

I also finally got my dorm assignment! I’m not going to share all the details and specifics for privacy reasons but it's a cute little building alongside one of the many rivers in Kyoto called the Kamogawa River. In English, this translates to the Duck River which I find to be very cute. It's a 15-minute walk from the school so I’ll definitely be getting my steps in! The only downside to this dorm is that there are communal bathrooms and other shared facilities, but I’ll live.

The final thing I had to do to prepare myself for Japan was getting my visa. I had to go to Nashville twice with my mom to visit the Japan consulate to get it processed. I was super anxious about it at first but it ended up being an easy and seamless process. The thing I’m the most anxious about is actually getting to Japan. This will be both my first time out of the country and my first time traveling alone.

Speaking of my flight, I’ve had a lot of people asking me about the process so I thought I would let y’all know how I’m getting there. First, I’ll fly from my hometown to Chicago. This is only a two-hour flight and then I have a three-hour layover until my next flight, which is the big one. After Chicago, I’ll fly directly into Tokyo. This is the long flight that I’m dreading the most since it takes 13 hours. I’ll actually miss a day too since Japan is 14 hours ahead of us. So, I’ll leave on the 13th in the morning and get there at 5 pm on the 14th. Basically, I’ll lose a whole day in the process. Then I have a flight from Tokyo to Osaka, however, this isn’t until the next morning so I’ll most likely have to get a hotel room at the airport. I’m hoping they’ll have a capsule hotel I can sleep at and if they do I will definitely be making a post about sleeping in a pod, stay tuned for that one!

Anyways, the next morning I fly from Tokyo to Osaka, where I’ll meet up with a friend going on the same trip as me. From Osaka, we’ll take the trains to Kyoto where they’ll have representatives waiting at the school to guide us to our respective dorms.

But yeah that’s really all I have for now. Now I’m just packing and getting last-minute things ready. I hope this post was coherent and enjoyable to read. Next time I post I'll be in Japan so definitely stay tuned! Thanks for reading!