"Begin each day as if it were on purpose."- Hitch

I wanted to start my very first blog by describing my hopes for this next year. I feel the best way to begin is by looking at what I've decided to title my blog. This title idea came about while I was discussing the great topic of traveling with a close friend, as he was preparing for his own departure on a two week school trip to Italy and Greece. We were talking about the time difference and how long his flight would be, it seemed to us that he would be chasing the day on his flight over. The flight would take him approximately 13 hours and leaving at noon he would still arrive in Italy in the early evening on the same day! While I will be chasing the day in the opposite direction on my flight to Japan, I still feel our little saying holds an important message for this year ahead of me.

To me, chasing the day closely correlates with the famous saying "live life to the fullest". Further translation? I want to get as much out of this year in Japan as I can. Rotary is giving me a once in a life time opportunity that I want to take full advantage of (and quickly shout-out a great big thank you to Rotary!). I am so grateful to get this chance to experience the Japanese culture and don't want to waste a second of it. Chasing the day means not wasting a single moment and trying to accomplish as much as I can in the short time that I have and living day by day. As I am now, I am constantly planning and worrying about the future and I truly hope I can learn to escape this habit and learn to live in the moment. I only have a year, which to be honest, sounds like a lot of time to me.... but I am told that a year on exchange goes by entirely too quickly- Being on exchange is not a year in your life but a life in a year.

Two things I love to do are make lists and quote movies (I am sure these will appear throughout my blogs). You could ask almost any of my friends and I am sure they will tell you the same thing. So I feel it is only right to use some great quotes - in a list - to further explain how I want to spend my year. These are some of my favorite quotes from the movie Hitch:

• "Begin each day as if it were on purpose."
• "Life is not the amount of breaths you take, it's the moments that take your breath away."- I hope to experience a lot of these and maybe even capture some pictures!
• "There is more to life than to watch other people live it."- That is why I plan on minimizing (or all together avoiding) time on Facebook and other communication sites. I want to use this blog as my way to stay connected with friends and family back home because when I am in Japan I want to be there both physically and mentally. I don't  want to be caught up in a virtual USA. I want to live and experience everything I can while in Japan and use this blog as a way to document it.

Well, that is a pretty hefty first blog. I guess I will close by saying that I am really excited for the adventures that await in my near future. I have been contacted by my first host family, the Akegami's, and look forward to meeting them. I have also been informed of my expected departure time. They would like me to go to Japan during the week of August 19th - August 26, as school starts August 28!

That is it for now, I will probably do an updated blog between now and my departure because I have been told I will most likely have up and down and crazy mixed up feelings as that date approaches.

Sayonara from Northfield.