Aunt Millicent: What adventures?
Wendy: I've yet to have them, but they will be perfectly thrilling.
First I wanted to quick apologize to those of you who the music links did not work. As a way to try to go around that little problem I've added links to YouTube for the songs I've chosen as a second option if the music player on my blog does not work on your server.
Caledonia- Celtic Woman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71Om1kCR1Dg
The Soft Goodbye- Celtic Woman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hILVgqJJqo0
You'll Be In My Heart- Phil Collins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=git6DCXSqjE
It's Time- Imagine Dragons
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvHP8GWDPHY
It is amazing to me how many people love and support me. The past few weeks have been filled with sad goodbyes but along with them have been some surprisingly amazing moments. Moments that have made me stop and think about how grateful I am for all of my friends and family. I feel like these farewells have really helped me accept the fact that I am leaving and has even relieved me of some of the stress I've been feeling. Each of these last moments with friends and family have been personally and individually special- whether we sat in the DQ parking lot for three hours during a thunderstorm, watched the Olympics and talked nonstop for hours, baked and watched "Friends" (like usual), ate at hogan brothers or the tavern, or embraced in a long hug- ever event was unique and I thank everyone for that. I have truly appreciated my send off. I can't believe that I leave for Japan in just over 24 hours! Yet, I find comfort in the fact that I have so many wonderful people at home supporting me.
I am very excited to finally meet my first host family in person! We have Skyped and emailed back and forth quite a bit lately. They seem sooooo nice and just as excited to meet me as I am to meet them (which is really comforting). My host mom has already made me a welcome sign for when they greet me at the airport! She sent me a picture so I would know what to look for- so thoughtful!
Oh, another update on my host sister Hiroko. She will be coming to Minnesota through Rotary this year! Which is really exciting because 1. it's Rotary Youth Exchange (which is awesome!) and 2. because it gives us something to connect with and discuss... aka me telling her it gets really cold here during the winter (because I didn't know where she was specifically going to be living so I couldn't give her any more helpful advice than that) and Hiroko asking if I would like to participate in her school's (our school!) annual sports festival- I will be running the 200m and throwing a frisbee with a partner. The only disappointing part about having a host sister that is also going on exchange is that I wont have much time to actually get to know her in person. It turns out Hiroko leaves on August 18th, giving me one full day to hang out with her. She will be taking me to visit our school, then our family is going out for dinner that night!
So, it will be a bittersweet couple of days but overall it looks like I'll have a pretty amazing first week! Once I get past the jet lag everything should be a-okay.
Sayonara from Northfield for the last time this year.
It's a tough time looking over the edge before you jump into your exchange, but it looks like you're doing really well. Have a fantastic time and blog lots!
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