I leave Mishima tomorrow. I am super sad to be leaving! But first, I will talk about my last week in the best place ever.

Last Saturday, in the morning, I played Super Mario with my host brothers, which is always fun! Later in the day my host brother, Masato and my otou-san took a bike ride to the beach. When Masato asked me it was so cute! He said, “Cycling ikimasenka?” It was just adorable! This was the first time I’d ridden a bike in Japan. A lot of my friends commute to school by bike so I was excited to give it a try. The bikes are definietly a lot different than in America, including the style, and you have to ride on narrow streets without sidewalks. It was quite an adventure. We got to the beach in about 10 minutes. The beach was ok! The sand was black, which I wasn’t used to seeing and surprisingly there was a lot of garbage on it. But it was interesting to see. We walked around for a little bit but it was pretty windy and starting to rain so we biked back. We ended up getting a little soaked from the rain, but it was fun! Later in the afternoon my host mom took me to the Numazu port and we walked around for awhile and we also went into the tsunami wall tower and we got a really great view of Numazu city! That night we went to a Sushi Conveyer Belt restaurant for dinner. It was cool because you can order types of sushi on a touch screen and a little shinkansen brings you the sushi, or you can just take it off the conveyer belt. My host brothers kept ordering so many kinds of sushi it was quite funny. I tried so many different kinds, it was great!! We ended up eating like yon ju yon (44) plates but it was really cheap! That night we looked at Fuji-Q website and my host brother pointed to the Haunted House and said, “you go there!” haha, it was adorable.

On Monday after class we went to the Fuji-Q Highland amusement park. We had a pass for 3 rides so I went on the park’s 3 rollercoasters. The first one sped up super fast (i believe it has the fastest acceleration in the world) at like 4.2 Gs. It felt so surreal because it was pushing on you so hard! Overall the ride was only like 40 seconds but the beginning was just insane! After that we went on Fujiyama which holds some records for the longest track. Literally the coaster kept going and going it was ridic. The last one we went on was one where your feet dangle and the cart spins in like every direction and goes upside down. It was just CRAZY. We all felt delirious after going on it lol. After the 3 coasters it was time to head back to the bus so we all grabbed ice cream first and then left. That night at dinner Masato-kun asked me what I did today in Japanese and it was adorable because his mouth was full of food so I was surprised I understood what he was even saying. After that Ta-chan/sensei was like lemmie do your homework! Then we watched part of Harry Potter 4 in Japanese

On Tuesday after class me, Laura and Jess took the bus to Sun to Moon, a shopping center in Mishima. I bought a few things at the UNIQLO there. When we got back to Nichidai, we went to calligraphy club which was fun! 2 girls asked me to take a picture with them and kept saying how cute I was I’m def not used to all the attention I get over here. Our friend whose nickname was Pokemon, also gave us a candy present lol.

Wednesday was an interesting day. Well, I guess I’ll just say I’d been havinng some ‘boy’ issues during this part of the week. I knew someone had liked me from the first week and it was fine, I didn’t really ackonledge it. But then I noticed he started to avoid me/ignore/turn his bike in the opposite direction when he say me. Laura had Sandy talk to him and he basically said he was just nervous around me and didn’t know what to say. Anyways, during the morning TA session me Laura and Fred were sitting with Akira. Akira was just talking and then said he lived across the hall from this person. Fred was like,…ohh! he likes Sara! Then Akira started joking about SATC Mishima and Fred said, ohh RW:Mishima! lol. I just found it funny. Fred and Akira kept writing kanji like “pure love” and other things that they were laughing about ; After class we had an open discussion with the American Culture class and it was akward and boring. After that me, Fred and Laura met up with Akira and went out for Chinese food. Well, we tried to go to the Chinese restaurant but it was closed so we went next door and got gyoza. Of course Fred and Akira were continuing to joke and I was telling Akira I really wasn’t interested back. But of course he made the joke that he, laura, said person, who LOVES sara () and me should go on a double date which I found to be absolutely hilarious. After that we had to head back to Koto Club. I loved playing the Koto! The sensei was really impressed with my playing and Nagase sensei even said that she was surprised how fast I picked it up! Afterwards was a little akward because said person was waiting there and I completely ignored him. Laura tried to pull me back to go talk to him but I refused because I had no idea what was going on at this point. It was after the club that Sandy told me what was really going down.Then later that night we had an intense Skype convo about how he wasn’t trying to avoid me and he really wanted to see me the next day o_0

On Thrusday…boy was it interesting. After class we had lunch with our friend Keita finally. We hadn’t seen him since Tokyo because he had some exams. After that we had to go to a mini-birthday party in sensei’s office. After that we called Keita to meet up with him again and went to his apartment. We just drank coke and he played guitar for us. It was so nice! After that we went to a ramen shop and got gyoza with rice.  We then met people at a karaoke place where we went with a lot of TAs and SBU people. While we were waiting, me Keita Laura and Jess went to 7-11 to get drinks which we basically chugged on the way back to the karaoke place. At this point, we had told Keita I didn’t want to be near said person so when I was near said person Keita was like, Come over here! During karaoke I sat and talked with Keita the whole time. He is soooo sweet and nice!!!! Karaoke was fun! We did a mixuture of Japanese and American songs and even 1 Chinese and 1 Korean song. The best was All the Small Things! Keita was so surprised and happy that I like Blink Keita really is the sweetest. He was helping us find all the songs we wanted on the karaoke machine and talking to me a lot! At the end of the night he gave me a ‘friendship bracelet” and even a hug! Which is unusual in Japan, lol.

Friday was our last day of classes. Everyone was getting really sad at this point because none of us wanted to leave Mishima! We had a great last lunch and ate with Keita, Take and Sena. All sooo nice~ After lunch me Laura, Jess and Take all went to Numazu to do a bit of  last minute shopping. I had to head back early because I had to get ready for the farwell party. My host mom gave me a yukata as a present and her obaa-chan was coming over to help dress me in it. After I was all dressed up in the most wonderful yukata ever (a little tight, lol) me, my host mom and ta-chan went to Nichidai for the farwell party. My host dad and Masato would be coming later on. The farwell party was pretty emotional First we walked into building 15 and saw Nakayama-san and she gave me some presents! so nice! I passed by a group of TAs in the lobby and all they could say was KAWAII! KAWAII! I really am not used to all the attention. After that we walked over the the cafereria for the party. At this point, we thought it would be the last time we would see Keita. Laura called me on the phone and told me to come out of the cafeteria so me, Laura and Jess could say bye to him. When I came out, his expression was just so funny. He really was just staring at me with his mouth a little open. It was the cutest thing ever!! Everyone kept saying how pretty I looked in the yukata and, as I said, I’m not used to this attention at all. We eventually had to say bye to Keita, Laura and Jess were crying, so I said bye and went inside. At the party, we all ate dinner and eventually all gave a little speech about our time in Japan, I was trying so hard not to cry!! Unexpectedly, Yuki made an announcement that the TAs made us all a little something special. All the sudden I hear Akira-san saying “Sara! Sara!” in his cute little accent and he hands me a wonderful photo of the group and TAs messages on the back. It was so adorable and nice, it took a lot not to cry!! After that I took many pictures with all my friends and everyone kept saying how cute and beautiful I looked and everyone wanted a pic with me . Saori said the yukata color suited me so well! <3 Joe even said my yukata pattern was the prettiest, lol. One of he TAs gave me a friendship bracelet and Shunsuke gave everyone the cutest letter! SO sweet and nice! I hugged so many of my friends that I would have to say good-bye too, and they said they were going to miss me too. ;( Leaving the cafeteria was really hard, I had to say goodbye to sooo many of my friends.

The next day was sooo hard~ I played video games with Masato in the morning and soon we had to leave to go to Nichidai. The ride to the school was really tough. It was a gloomy rainy day and Masato said, “The rain is like his heart” and I was going to cry. It was the sweetest thing he every said and it made me so emotional I couldnt help it. Everyone was waiting in the lobby  leave. All the sudden I felt a tap on the shoulder and I turn around and Keita says “surprise!” Keita came in the morning to say good-bye to us, it was sooooo sweet!!!!! I was so happy I got to say goodbye to him one last time. Eventually, everyone had to board the bus but I stayed behind with all the TAs and Sandy. It was so sad waving good-bye to the entire bus with a lot of my friends on it. Then I said good-bye to Keita and Take for good. After that I put my suitcases in Kotomi’s car and said good bye to Masato and my host mom. I hugged them both and they said they were going to miss me a lot. I was soooo sad to leave them behind, but I was heading off to Yokohama with Kotomi.

After leaving Nichidai, which was very hard, we went to Hakone to eat the famous black eggs that are boiled in a hot spring thing that smells like sulfur. I ate two of them which means I will add 14 years to my life, lol. After that we drove back to Yokohama which ended up taking nearly 6 hours (should have taken about 2 or less) because of major traffic jams, but eventually we made it to Kotomi’s house in Yokohama.We also stopped at a family style restaurant on the way to her house! For dinner we went to the sushi shop “Inase” where she has a part time job. It was about a 3 minute walk from her house. (so much different than Mishima) When we got to her sushi shop she introduced me to her co-workers. We sat down at the corner and ordered lots of kinds of sushi! Her boss also brought out many different kinds of seafood and sushi to try. Also, the boss’s son made me a custom “california roll” even though the shop doesnt sell it! The boss’ son was pretty funny because he knew the show “Maji De” and did the Maji De sign and I did it back, we were both laughing! He also made me an origami face out of a 1000 yen bill which was so cute!! The boss also gave me a rare tea cup that said Inase on it!! So fun! After that we visited Kotomi’s friend’s Lama and Satoshi and their baby Nor, who was soooo cute! They were such nice people and I[’m glad I got to visit them!

Monday we went into Harajuku to  do some shopping! We did a lot of World Cup related shopping, lol and then ate lunch at another family style restaurant. After that we walked to Shibuya and drank Starbucks and then went into the big DVD/CD/book place called Tsutaya and read magazines. Later on we met up with my friend from Geneseo. We wandered around Shibuya for awhile before finding an okonomiyaki place to eat dinner. We ordered beers and 2 types of okonomiyaki and another type of yaki. We had the waiter make the first two, but then we tried to make the 3rd one, lol. It was cool saying a few things in Japanese to my friend, haha. After that we wandered around Shibuya some more before stopping at a cute little bar for some drinks. After that we all headed back to the station and said our goodbyes!

On Tuesday we headed off to Tokyo Disney Sea! It was so much fun! Since we went ona Tuesday, there were barely any lines for a lot of the rides, so we got to ride most of the rides and some of them twice! It was tons of fun! At night, we headed to our hotel. Kotomi’s friend’s boyfriend works at th hotel so some how he got us a bigger room, later checkout time and free breakfast, sooo nice! At night, we put on our Honda shirts to watch the Japan vs. Paraguay game. Unfortunately, Japan lost in a penalty kick, which jsut sucked. The next day we went to Tokyo Disneyland which was tons of fun! Again, there weren’t many lines so we went on most of the rides and Splash Mtn 3 times and Space Mtn twice lol. Also, we went the day before a Michael Jackson 3D ride opened and two girls inline in front of us at Splash Mtn had extra tickets so gave them to us! it was sooo nice!! We also watched the electrical parade. Tons of fun!

On Thursday we went to Kanagawa University to meet Kotomi’s friends for lunch. All of her friends were sooo nice! Especially Ayaka because she was practicing her English with me and she happened to be from Mishima! Her brother also went to high school where my bus stop in Numazu was, crazzzy! I ate Udon for lunch and Kotomi got me her school’s specialty ice cream with dango and anko. So good! After that we went sight seeing in Yokohama. We walked to Minmitori and did some shopping in Landmark Tower and then went up to the top to get a great view of Yokohama and you could even see Tokyo in the distance. After that we did more shopping in 109 in the building next door and got really cheap, cute shoes! After that we headed back to Kotomi’s house where we had gyoza for dinner which I helped make! So delicious! We also watched vs. Arashi. Yokohama is a lot of fun so far!

☆　♪ ☆