When self-restraint comes in handy

The conversion rate from dollars to yen (円) is about 98 to 1 at the moment, which means basically you cut off the last two zeros from any amount and you've converted to dollars. So when I buy 1048 yen worth of groceries, I’m spending (a tiny bit more than) $10.48. It’s very strange walking into the store and seeing huge numbers on this comparatively tiny amount of food. But instead of making me shy away from buying lunch when it costs 570 because that seems so expensive, my mind seems to have decided that wow, these numbers are so huge, the currency must be really small, so all of this is extremely cheap. Go crazy, you can’t be spending very much!

Welcome to Osaka

Living in a house with 8 people in Aikawa, right next to Osaka proper. Went for a stroll along the river this morning (when jet lag wakes you up at 6:40, might as well take advantage of it, no?), and managed to get lost. Even better, I managed to squeak out some Japanese and refind myself. My roommate, Mizuki, is extremely nice and seems to speak even less English than I speak Japanese. We’re… sort of managing to communicate. Thank goodness Japanese classes start tomorrow.

I started off my arrival in the truly Japanese manner, sleeping on a bed with no mattress. Came with two comforters, one to sleep on and one to sleep under.

 

After 26 hours of car rides, layovers, delays, and flights (one of which was missed), I am finally back in Rio Rico, Arizona where 100 degree weather plus humidity was waiting to welcome me back. My first decision was to take this first weekend home and officially sit on my butt as much as humanly possible. Home, sweet home.

Czechin' out Prague and South Bohemia

I couldn't help the lame pun...
But talk about a great trip. I didn't really have any expectations because I had no prior impressions about the Czech Republic. Everyone kept telling me I would love Prague, but that didn't really tell me any more about what to expect. So when we finally arrived in the city after a night-long ride in a bus and started passing pretty average - slightly on the poor side - I wasn't really impressed. I wasn't disappointed either - it reminded me of Greek cities which weren't that pretty but were still very interesting. Then we continued out of the outskirts of town and into real Prague - gorgeous, impressively so, filled with interesting architecture and fascinating history.
After an extremely enjoyable stay and then a 180 km detour (we got lost going to South Bohemia), we visited a couple charming towns and I enjoyed myself just as much. This was honestly one of my favorite trips.

Exams. Are. Done.
Is there anything else to say? Don't know if I passed, don't know if my friends passed, but all 12 (including those from my activities outside of school) are done!!!