005

Wow. where do i start.

Well firstly, I'm currently sitting in Haneda Domestic Airport in Tokyo. I am so happy! But I'll rewind a little and describe the past 3-4 days....

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On Wednesday, after my last lesson with my Japanese tutor Aya, my friends and some family friends came over for a bit of a farewell. Then just my friends stayed the night.



Thursday, I had a few more friends turn up, and we went out for lunch, went for a swim in the pool (unfortunately it got pretty cold), and then we went out for dinner which was really nice. Then we spent the night all together having a good time, until Friday... the last day :(



I cried my eyes out saying goodbye to my friends... they're all so important to me, and I'm going to miss them. I already do. We left Merimbula at around midday, only to get to Tantawangalo (about 40km away) to realise that I'd left my Rotary blazer in my wardrobe at home. So, back to Merimbula we went. An hour and a half later we were back going through Tantawangalo when Kobi threw up -____-' gross.


In Canberra, mum and I went to the Masterpieces from Paris exhibition, which was great to see. Van Gogh's 'Starry Night' was our favourite. That evening Grandma cooked a roast lamb with a dessert of golden syrup dumplings, and a BBQ breakfast.



So we drove to Sydney on Saturday morning, getting to the airport at about midday. There were loads of Rotary students there, so it wasn't hard to make new friends and find where to go. Mum nearly cried but I'm glad she didn't - it was pretty lighthearted saying goodbye to them, which I'm grateful for.


The flight to KL took FOREVER. Sooooo boring. I watched some of The Aristocats but got bored, listened to some music but got bored, tried to edit my YouTube video but got annoyed because it didn't work, and ate aeroplane food!


The wait between flights in KL went pretty quickly, and us Japanese-bound students got to know eachother a bit.

Our flight left at some ridiculous hour in the night, apparantly some passenger got lost, but we got there on time anyway. I slept for maybe an hour or less, very uncomfortably; the cabin was stuffy and hot :( but even though it felt like forever, the feeling of happiness I got when I saw Mt Fuji poking out the top of some clouds made it all worthwhile. It was amazing. The coastline is surprisingly flat, then there's just this giant volcano covered in snow. I was busting to get out of the plane, but we landed and took forever to stop.

The temperature here is so good! minus 3, yayyayayay. Anyway, we went through Customs etc etc (had our fingerprints and photos taken), then finally picked up our suitcases and met our bus driver; he was hilarious. Spoke extremely little English but was very funny, and we understood him anyway. We were taken to a small mini-bus, then realised our suitcases were coming in too; so we were packed up in the van with suitcases on our laps haha. We sped along the highway to Haneda airport, where the bus driver unloaded us and drove off, leaving us on the kerb :P good fun.

So now we (myself and four other girls) are sitting in Haneda Domestic, waiting for a bit of time to pass so we can check in our luggage. From here on we all split up and go our separate ways; my host family will be waiting for me at Sapporo/Chitose airport (hopefully!).

At the airport here, we experienced the Japanese toilets (complete with running water sound that starts as soon as you sit down/heated seat/TV screen/instructions on how to use the buttons), managed to buy some food at a bakery (YUMMY) and I also bought a bottle of water (amazing, I know. The shopkeeper was so adorable, this old lady).

(it has an aeroplane and 'HANEDA' written on it. The stuff inside is sweet bean paste)

So in conclusion, I am very very happy with everything, I'm so SO glad I've come on exchange. I feel like this is going to be a very good year. I love it here!! <3