Halfway Through My Exchange

August 28, 2017 is exactly halfway through my exchange.

Wowowow. It just feels so surreal. It feels as if I've come so far and changed so much, yet I'm still only halfway there. How much more will I change?

If someone asked me to say the ways I've changed, I would say the tenseness I had from America is almost gone. I just want to have fun with people I love! I want to learn, and challenge myself, and create. I want to do everything! I wanna live forever!

Anything that could be considered shyness is practically gone. I still have my moments, but considering all the embarrassing and awkward things that have happened, it's pretty hard for me to feel shy.

For example, there was a period of time here where I was getting diarrhea constantly, like every day ahaha (TMI) My body showed me no mercy even when hanging out with friends. So I was on a road trip with my friend's family. We had just stopped at a road stop, where I didn't feel a hint of anything that was to come. As soon as we pulled out I felt a little rumbling in my stomach, but I thought it would quiet down. Nope! Not even 15 minutes later I whisper to my friend, "Uhhh, I gotta go to the bathroom. Badly." I was the only one that got out to use the bathroom, and left them all waiting there for like 8 minutes. The finishing blow was when the concerned parents kept asking "Are you okay now?" throughout the trip. Ahah!



I don't want to go back home, but at the same time I'm excited for my future back in America. I want to see all my friends back in America, but I don't want to leave my Japanese ones. My Japanese friends are some of the kindest people I've ever met, I cannot stress enough how much I love Japanese girls! They are so sweet, interesting, expressive, and sometimes even a little sassy.

As for my Japanese, I feel pretty happy with how far it's gotten! Today I went to a cafe with a Japanese friend and it didn't end up feeling awkward at all, even though we were just talking for 2 1/2 hours. That's a pretty good indicator of my Japanese level! However, I still have plenty of room for improvement, especially when it comes to vocabulary. Hopefully I'll be able to easily read manga and easy novels when I come back.

I still definitely want to keep posting more stories on here and more YouTube videos, but now that school is starting up again I'm going to lose a lot of my free time. I'll try the best I can!

Thank you to everyone that is cheering me on from back home. I love you all!