Wow. It's impossible to believe that I've been in Japan for more than five weeks, and only have one more camp together with my group of counselors. Time has absolutely flown, and after this camp, I have two weeks of travel, one more camp, and then it's back to Denver. When I left five weeks ago, two months seemed like such a huge amount of time.
I don't have too much to talk about this time around, since this hostile stay was a lot less whirlwind than the last one, but I did find several shops that I adore and spent the night (along with ten of our closest friends) at our fantastic Japanese Couselor Tai's house. Tokyo is still really expensive, but now that we know a bit more about the town, it's a bit easier.
The Japanese food has been great, but I'm ready to get back to my vegan diet at home. The first thing I'm going to eat when I get home: almond milk and vegan enchiladas. It's going to happen.
As far as my trip goes, I thought I'd put up a tentative plan for all those who are interested! I'm going to start out in Shizuoka with my friend Amy, spending two days on the beautiful Japanese beach that I haven't been to yet despite being in Japan for over a month. Then I'm off to Kyoto and Nara, then Osaka and Kobe (maybe, to visit Himeji-jou), then back to Tokyo! I'll hopefully be staying with several lovely couch-surfing hosts, so it won't be TOO expensive, but I'm still working on those plans. I'm really excited, but also fairly nervous. I've never traveled by myself before, but I have a bunch of phone numbers and contacts that I can use if I get myself into any trouble.
For those of you who are still reading this blog, thanks for keeping up with me! Your support is really helpful, especially as I'm getting a bit homesick. I think once I'm traveling I'll be fine, but right now I want to go home, snuggle my cat, and sleep for about a week!