Getting closer...

I'm going soon! Still no word from anyone, but I don't care. Not true, I totally care and I wish they would communicate with me, but that's okay. I'll be patient. I want to pack! Now! I hate staring at my empty luggage, just waiting to pack everything. Soon.

32 Days!!!

I can see departure day! It's so close! My host family is not emailing me or writing me letters. It is frustrating to be so excited and not to have them communicate with me. I check the mail every day first thing (well, my morning which means at about noon) and frustratingly throw the mail down and run down to my room to check my email as part of my morning routine. I'm going to be super dissapointed if Asuko sends Jennika a letter and nothing comes for me. Some sister I am, eh? But really, I just want to hear SOMETHING from them. Maybe I'll resend an email they sent to me a long time ago or something. Haha, I'm sure that would fuel my excitment. Not.

Martial arts test right before I go, so I can be good and sore on the way over. Actually, I have to wear my black belt for three days after I get it, so I hope I get it at least four days before I leave! If I leave on the seventeenth, the third day will be while I'm on the plane, but if I leave on the twentieth, I should be fine. Haha, I'm still hoping for the seventeenth. I wanna go!!!!

Konnichiwa

Okay, so I just got back from the Otterbien orientation. That was fun, though not really anything super special. The best part was that everyone I met was going on an exchange. It was so exciting to be in a room full of kids just about to go all over the world. The energy was everywhere, zooming around the air. Ice breakers weren't the normal things like "So, what grade are you in? What school do you plan to go to?" They were "What country you headed to? What's your host family like? How long until you go?" And then, we actually got excited for each other. Excitment is so contageous, it was crazy being there. We all were already teeming with eagerness, but now we're about to bust.

We had a talent show, where everyone had to do something. I think that was a good idea just because we all had so much energy it was good to let it out productively - well, or something akin to productively. "Standing Akwardly" and an "Interpretave Haiku" were just some of the last minute acts put together, but it was probably the most amazing talent show ever.

Okay, so I'm going to Japan in 38 days. I am not anyone remarkable unless you're my parents. Academically, I'm no one special. Always short of what I need to get that scholarship or get any sort of recognition. I'm not super social, but I can't pass as a geek either. Despite my AP classes, scholarships, amazing college (!!), and my upcoming black belt, I got no recognition on Senior Awards Day. I've never stood out to anyone as someone great. I'm good. Fine. Slightly above average. Sam told me quite seriously that I'm a second rate person. I almost feel like this is my chance or at the very least my recognition. This is MY exchange, MY year. How I do will determine what people think of ME. I will be living with a family and going to school, not anyone else (well, kinda not anyone else...), and I will be an ambassador for the United States. Little old me. Sweet. Bring on the world.