I'm in Japan~!!!!

So, I am now sitting on the hardest of my bed in Akita, Japan. I had it here safe and sound with only a few minor incidents...
[Disclaimer: not that many pictures until the bottom. This is mostly text; however, do read and enjoy my suffering~]

Now, I know what you're all thinking, what kind of trouble did you get into this time, Kelly? Answer: not much, some, but not much.

[I had cut out some details but not many]
Well, here is how it all started out. I set my alarm clock for 2:45 in the morning to get ready for my 9 o'clock plane ride out of Newark to Atlanta, Georgia. Seems simple enough, no? Well, due to my tiredness of going to bed around 11:30 pm knowing that I have to wake up super duper early. I know, I know... what were you thinking, Kelly? Well, not much to be honest.

Anyway, I wake up at 2:45, only to be still in bed when my mom walked in at 3:44 am. So I didn't exactly get to shower and get ready like I had planned to. :/ So I get up and head to the bathroom only to find out that Lizzie is in there. Gah~! So I wait and wait and wait some more... only until 3:50 when I started freaking out to the still sleepy Chao (poor sleepy Chao~ I'm sorry about that sweetie!!). So when she finally got out at 3:55, I immediately ran for the shower. I tried showering fast, but I also wanted to take my sweet, sweet time. I heard about the toilets and showers in Japan, and honestly did not know what to expect. Would it be a normal shower or a squat one?

So after that, I got ready and did a check to see if I remembered everything (I didn't). So onto Newark we go~! Everything was cool in Newark... except driving into there. Newark is scary. There was a mattress under the bridge (I thought someone was being nice to the homeless people by providing beds. But then I thought, wait, isn't this Newark? Someone must be hiding where the body was shot. :p

Anyway, Newark has disgusting food. Like for reals. Because international flights have to be there earlier than regular flights, we had to eat breakfast there. And that was nasty. As we were eating, my mother points out two pilots getting Wendys. The woman that was never in an airplane feels much more comfortable seeing that they are average Joes and not some sleep-deprived alcoholics! Silly mama~


Skipping to the goodbyes~! Mama was sad; she was crying because she was losing her child for a semester and that child happened to be her favorite one (me). Daddy was confused; he didn't know it was goodbye time. Lizzie was cool; she was like "whateva, I am already planning on selling all your stuff while you gone" and whatnot. And Chao, I cried a bit. Leaving him was the hardest part. We spent so much time together this summer because during the school year, I only get to see him for about 1.5 days every other/every two weeks. So, we spent as much time together as we could~ <3 He was much stronger in holding in his emotions than I was. But I know he misses me dearly (regardless of how many times I bug him during his Xbox playing). I got the terminal with no trouble what-so-ever. I sat in the plane next to an older guy (maybe late 50s?) and a woman that seemed to be a few years younger than the man. I was the aisle seat. I was able to study the whole 1 to 2.5 hours (I forget the actual amount). The only trouble I received here was that they didn't have enough room for my baggage, so it had to be a checked bag instead. So this is were everything starts to go wrong~! I landed in Atlanta, Georgia at 12:47. That is when everyone was allowed to get their carry-on luggage out of the bins above your heads. Well, I checked my next flight ticket while waiting to get out to realize that boarding for Japan has already started. To make it even better, there was no gate number written on my ticket. So I'm flipping out in my mind. I kindly asked people to get out the way so I could make my next flight and it was like the Red Sea was parting just for me~. So I ran out of the airplane, thanking everyone as I pass them on the way out, to find out my next gate was at F. I was at A so in my head, I was like "F isn't that far... I think I can make it." Boy, was I wrong or what? Let me tell you a little something something about the Atlanta airport, it is so huge, it has it's own subway/underground tram thing going back and forth from terminal to terminal. I didn't know this until running/sprinting/speed walking all the way to terminal D. Every subway thing that I had passed only listed "A" to "E" on it. Not thinking, hey, just take it to E and run the rest of the way. I was a fool~. I found out that though they didn't list "F," they still traveled to and from it. -_-;;

So I get on the plane, sweating and out of breath. I called Chao while running through those four terminals, almost in tears. Actually, true be told, tears were building up in my eyes while talking to him, but I tried to hold them back. So I made onto the plane all fine and dandy. Or so I thought...

So I start chatting up with a really nice girl from Tennessee. Once the flight started, we did our own thing for a bit. I was going to study Japanese on that flight, but I received a headache from out of nowhere. Thinking nothing of it, I proceeded to watch Despicable Me and The Hunger Games. Now my stomach started hurting. It only started hurting after we were given food, so naturally, I blamed the stomach pain on eating too much or on milk. Nope, I didn't have any milk products, must be nervous..... oh sweet baby Hezeus, it's motion sickness~!!! I threw up in one of those little baggies in the plane. It was gross and burned my throat. After I threw up, the people went around with the drink cart. So I got a water to get the burning gone and asked them what to do with my bag. Apparently, it counts as a bio hazard so I (the person who got sick on the plane) had to dispose of it in the bathroom by myself. And those bathrooms were all occupied for so long~!

I couldn't really eat much after that for obvious reasons. So instead, I talked to the girl on the plane the rest of the way. We even traded blog things, so here's a shout-out to you, Dora!!! :p

So, I made it into Narita airport. It was huge. I was sent the wrong way for a little bit along with a Korean girl by one of the workers (-_-);; while looking for the baggage claim. I had to go through Luckily, I found it as soon as they were laying my bags out. I grabbed my bags and headed over to customs. All this took about 40 some minutes. Then it was a matter of finding my group (i.e. Rebecca, Sara, Ivan, and Anthony). As I exited customs, there was a bunch of people waiting for their loved ones, a business partner, a friend, etc. In Japan, from what I am told, picking someone up at an airport and welcoming them is a huge thing. Anyway, I had to find my group, but they were nowhere to be seen. Looking in every direction in the middle of the floor, I came to the conclusion that they could be visiting a gift shop or going to the bathroom. So I didn't know which way to go because both things were located to the right and left of me. It wasn't Anthony's tallness that made me spot the group nor was it Sara's natural red hair, but it was Ivan's hipster glasses and his light blonde hair. Go figure. So I ran up to them to find out that they were going to leave me soon if I hadn't appeared. So I had to borrow yen off of them to pay for my bus ticket because the next bus was coming in a few minutes (not enough time to exchange money).

On the bus... it was really nice, curtains, a pull out table with cup holder, seat belts, everything. We rode that to Haneda Airport in Tokyo. It was a cute and fun little adventure. We experienced a very small culture shock to driving on the other side of the road. We had tried to prepare ourselves for it, but it wasn't the same as exactly seeing it with your own eyes. The only problem here was that we had to leave a girl behind. The whole time we talked about how we felt bad about leaving Heather and maybe one of us should have stayed behind to travel with her in this foreign place.

Anyway, the Haneda airport was gorgeous~! It was so big but everything was labeled neatly. The airport attendants noticed how un-Japanese we were and spoke to us using easy Japanese and English here and there. It was nice that they didn't just stick to English or use more complex Japanese patterns. They would also motion to stuff as they spoke Japanese to further our understanding and whatnot. It made me happy. ^^ As we were waiting for our flight, we continued to feel bad about leaving Heather. Thankfully, she arrived just in time to board the plane to Akita! She was greeted by a massive hug from me, which is very not Japanese-like.

The flight over to Akita was good. I was placed in business class, which is only a minor step up from economy. The seats were a little comfier, but not by much in my opinion. They placed a Pokemon movie the entire time so that was a plus. ^^ As they were lifting off, on the televisions, they had what it looked like from the ground. And as we were flying, what the night light skyline looked like. It was very pretty. On the plane, a few attendants tried speaking to me in solely Japanese, which I answer back in Japanese and English when spoken to in English.

The bus we were provided with was very nice~ it was just like the other one, but with beautiful lights and curtains. Plus, I met two wonderful people on the bus ride to AIU, Rebecca and Amanda from Taiwan~! (Shout out to them too~!!) ^^

I got to my university around 10:30 on August 23rd. It was a long and tiring day(s). I was unpacking and putting stuff away until after 1:30. I had forgotten my towels at home so I had to use my little bit sweaty tank top to wipe my body off the first night here. It was gross but I got a towel from the school store the very next day. They had even provided us with a small bento box as well for our dinner. I hadn't slept the on planes nor did I sleep once I finished unpacking. However, now my body is adjusting itself to sleeping once again.