I’m home now (in St. Louis). Actually, I had written a fairly good post before I left Japan, but for some reason it got erased or something. Nevertheless, I’ll try to remember most of it and assimilate it into this post. Originally I wanted to put some closure to the semester. I’ll do that with this too.
This past fall really has been one of the best semesters ever. If it weren’t for the people and friends I met there, it would have been totally different and definitely not as fun (go A-Team!). It sounds really stupid, but when I first found out I was going to go to Japan for a semester and stuff, one of my main worries was the people I’d be going with. I knew that there would be a lot of social inepts, a lot of huge anime freaks, and a lot of the type of people that I just in general don’t like. Oh, and I was right. However, aside from these, I also found a good group of people who were just as twisted as I am, and thus the A-Team was formed and life was good. We took the place over (both figuratively and symbolically; need I mention the Nagano Bus, meals at the ryokans, and Y’s bar/Sayonara party). Yeah, we were just that awesome.
I definitely want to go back to Japan sometime soon. Maybe after graduating and finding a job that will send me over there. I’m pretty certain that I don’t want to do JET, but something else, peferrably marketing or business would be great. Willing to relocate? Definitely, at least for a few years. Actually, if I can find an internship or some kind of paid thing to go there next May, then I’ll do that also. Seth and Ari will still be there, so it will be fun times. I’m interested to see what kind of people those guys get for the spring IES semester. Most likely, it will be a bunch of scabes and a few good guys.
I’ll be posting the final set(s) of IES Japan pictures within the next day or two. I also have a feeling that more people from IES are probably reading this Blog one way or another. Good or bad, I don’t care. Actually, I’m thinking of posting a full list of nicknames. Maybe just the nicknames, and not the real names. I don’t think I’d get any slack for that, bwahahahaha. Ari, Seth, Bryan, Mikey: what do you think?
I really got used to living in Japan. The whole living part isn’t really as different as you would think. Maybe it’s because my Japanese is semi-usable, but other than that, it’s just like moving to any new city. Sure there are trains rather than cars, stuff is more expensive, food is smaller and tastes strange sometimes, but living is living. That really didn’t strike me as hard or different. I think I’m happy and capable of living in the US or in Japan. They really are about the same to me. Too bad I have friends and all of that in both; I can’t BE in both places, so I might have to spend my life as a traveler. Doesn’t sound bad, if I could make some money.
When I flew back into Dallas this morning before my connecting flight back to St. Louis, it really didn’t seem like it’s been that long since the morning when I took off. Man it really has been a long time though. A lot has happened, a lot has changed. I guess I’m still the exact same as I always have been. Studying abroad is supposed to be a life-changing experience. Yeah I guess kinda. But there’s also supposed to be all that “culture shock” BS that they talk about, and I don’t go through any of that. Probably because I’ve been here and back 5 times. Either way, it’s been a blast.
Now it’s time for Christmas with the family, my birthday (turning 21), and a few days hanging out at home before I have to pack up and haul out to IU and my new apartment. I have a feeling that this spring at IU is going to be one of the best semesters ever also. Maybe I’m just getting to the point where I can enjoy life more. OK nevermind, that sounds retarded. I think it’s going to be a good semester just because I’m awesome. Yeah, I think this post turned out better than the original that I wrote and lost. It’s certainly a lot longer. From now on the blog posts will be a bit more mundane, more full of complaints and weird observations, and will probably be less frequent. Oh, and I’ll set the timezone back to Indiana time now…
