Flight and Orientation

I’m here! It’s so amazingly awesome! I’ve met so many awesome people so far.
Anyway…

Flight

My friend stayed over the night, and two of my cousins also came to the airport, along with my family. I was right on time to get there, but I ended up forgetting my laptop charger, so it was back to my house. We left again, and got to the airport on time thankfully. The whole drive there, and was so worried I had forgotten something else >.< At the airport there was a surprise waiting for me. Some of my friends were there, waiting to see me off. It meant so much to me that they were there. The goodbyes were quite emotional. I pretty much never cry, but the fact I was leaving for a year hit me there, and I started crying… I thought I would be okay, but guess not. First part of the flight was 1 ½ hours and then the other girl from Canada met me and we got on the flight to Japan together. Now the whole flight (11 hours) I did not sleep! I wanted to, but somehow I just couldn’t. It was soo annoying. Anyway, the flight was good other than that… and we got to the airport and since I am over 16, I got finger printed and photographed. Orientation

We were met by some of the AFS staff at Narita Airport and they took us to the hotel. It wasn’t until I was on the bus, looking out the window at the city that it hit me that I was actually in Japan. It was such a weird (but good) feeling. We stayed in Tokyo for the night and left for Nagoya the next morning. The bus ride there, although 8 hours, was good. I got to talk to the other AFSers (some in French. ^^) Japan is sooo beautiful! Looking at the mountains, ocean and countryside… was amazing. I know I said I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t get Tokyo, but I am now completely happy with my placement.
The place we stayed at in Nagoya was a hostel type thing. In my room there were 18 girls, and we slept on futons which ended up covering the entire floor XD Everyone there were so great, and I’m gonna miss them. We got there about 6pm and had a opening ceremony type thing and then supper. It was really good. All the food here is so good! Then came the part everyone was dreading… bathtime. In Japan you sit on a stool and shower, and once you are all clean you soak in a tub of hot water. Some hotels and hostels and such, have public baths. You are pretty much in a big room, and you shower and then everyone soaks in the same tub. It was kinda funny how much everyone was making a fuss. They didn’t want to be the first to undress. I'm sure the japanese girls/ladies were wondering what the heck was wrong with us. You just have to suck it up and jump in XD The second night doing it was much easier and quite relaxing.
In the mornings we and other people staying at the hostel did a 5 minute stretching thing in the gym, to wake everyone up. Then breakfast, and the second day we had a few discussions about rules of AFS and in Japan and how to stay safe. One thing that shocked me was a law in Japan is high school kids and younger have to be home by 10. Even if you are with your family, you can’t be out later. After that was the Talent Show. It was a lot of fun to see people perform. I will post pictures later, when I unpack. We had a supper and a bath. That's about it for the orientation. I should be going to bed soon.
I leave tomorrow at 1pm to Kanazawa. I’m sooo excited to meet my host family!! There is one other girl and one guy going to Kanazawa as well. There are also 3 girls in Komatasu (30 mins away) and 2 girls and 1 guy in Fukui. We will be all going in a mini bus. I don’t wanna leave everyone here. I’ve made lots of friends and I won’t seem most of them until the end of the year. AFS Central Japan (my part) does a summer camp, but Kanazawa, Komatsu and Fukui go to Kyoto instead of Gifu. I’m kinda happy cause I get to go to Kyoto but sad cause it means I won’t seem everyone else until the end of my exchange :(.

So that's about it so, far. I will update soon… once I get to my host family's house!!