First of all the things I miss: family, friends, getting my point across easily in my native language, CA weather, not having to wake up early, good pasta (so far the three I've tried have been mediocre), In-N-Out (the grocery store smelled like their french fries, and I was so annoyed that I couldn't get them), the Sprinter (because I didn't have to hold on for dear life when it started or stopped), and living in a one-story house.

I have a bone to pick with LAX. Why did I have to walk all the way across the terminal to find out that I'd have to take a bus to the other side of the airport to board my plane? I'm sorry but that makes no sense at all.

As for the flight, I think the seats got even smaller. I only had like an inch and a half or so on each side. So for those of you who have a bigger or wider than me, I would not suggest coach. My breakfast was a cranberry walnut chicken salad sandwich. The combination surprisingly wasn't bad, even though it makes no sense. I was so damn uncomfortable on the plane, and maybe got 2-3 hours of sleep. I saw an ad for Homin's feature from GQ in the magazine on the plane. Listened to Koda Kumi's Pop Diva, G-Dragon & TOP's Knock Out on the plane. They update their music now. Last time I heard songs that were two years old. I watched The Social Network and really was not impressed.

When I got to Haneda, I was so freaking tired that I went into the line for Japanese passport holders by accident. I just followed everyone else, and seeing as there were very few non-Asians on board, I went to the wrong line. Sorry for being absent-minded when running on very little sleep at 5:00 in the morning. Then I had some problems with immigration regarding my wanting to stay 14 months when I currently do not have a student visa. The immigration office surely had fun with me. They were all working hard to find out what to do. When I finally got through immigration, I was greeted by a huge poster of Arashi. Of course Japan would use their favorite boy band to greet people at the airport saying "this is japan! These men represent our country becuase we love them so much."

My absent-mindedness persisted. I tried to board the wrong plane. It was to the right place just not the right time. I got scared when I noticed all the people who were sitting in the area disappeared because they had boarded the plane. I was listening to music and couldn't hear the announcement about boarding. So when everyone was gone, I got scared that I would miss my flight so I rushed over to find out that my flight wouldn't be boarding for another hour. My watch wasn't set right. It was a couple hours behind, I blame my cell phone for lying to me.

I feel bad for the cab driver. It was an old man and he had to deal with my huge suitcase. Poor thing. The fare was about $45 because the freeway has a $6.50 toll. So I studied outside the train station as I waited for the right time to call my host family when they would be ready to pick me up. My big fluffy jacket was totally NEEDED that day cause I was freezing. So I spent the time studying and then went into the station to use the green pay phone.

My host family picked me up with their little "rat" dog, that Jeff Dunham would drop kick over his fence, Rion. He has taken a liking to me. He follows me, sits down at my feet, snuggles up to me/on me. I think he likes me because I am warm. The poor thing is so small and has very little fur. He is always shivering or running around (which is funny to see, because he is so small that he waddles around.)

They are surprised at the things I know like Arashi, Hana Yori Dango, Shun Oguri, InuYasha (Mami-chan has EVERY manga of it), certain foods/phrases/words/holidays. I think they now believe that many Americans also know about Arashi, and Hana Yori Dango. There are many, but most people wouldn't know of this stuff.

I am one of the only Americans at my school. Most of them are from Europe. We have very few Asians. I think there are more Austrailians there than Americans. I've finally met an Asian person with an Austrailian accent, and I find it kind of interesting. My best friends are Katia and Sergei. Katia is from Denmark, so yes my best friend at school is also Scandinavian. There is a Swedish girl as well, but I don't really talk to her. Sergei is from Estonia and is a real gentleman. I took my laptop bag with me to school on the first day not knowing how many stairs I would have to use all the time. During our sightseeing tour, he wheeled around my laptop bag. I owe him some sort of treat. He was the first friend I made at school. He will be going back home in three weeks though. Where as Katia also signed on for the partner school.

I have four 50 minute long classes a day. Two on grammar and the other two for conversation. Class is completely taught in Japanese. I only have three to four classmates per class. My current classmates are John from Florida (the only other American is from the east coast), Seba from Germany (he is the class clown), Mariana from Argentina (she reminds me of my best friend's mom, she kind of looks like her), and Shila from Switerzland.

Due to my lack of studying before the placement test, I am back at chapter 13. Which is frustrating considering I've studied till 20. Thankfully, we go through a chapter a week and if I study more than I can take the placement test again to skip ahead. It really is a conversation school. They don't place emphasis on reading or writing at all really. So my kanji studies will be done on my own. Though they do offer a free kanji class once a week. I may try that this week.

My host family really likes to spoil me. Even when I haven't paid to have dinner with them, they'll still let me eat from their side dishes. My host mother never lets me do the dishes. She taught me what to do but she never lets me do them. Technically I am supposed to, so i try to when she is out of the room or not paying attention but in the end she sees me and tells me to leave them there. It makes me feel bad though, because it feels as if I do nothing here. When I bring home like cup noodle type things, she cooks them. The only thing I have been able to do by myself is my landry. Though, I needed to know what buttons to press. I can read the ones I need to use but I wasn't sure if there more that were needed.

When I arrived, they took me out for conveyor belt sushi. Which is great because I've wanted to do that since I saw that Conan episode on it. Apparently that episode was outdated or the restaruant was, cause we had a touch screen for selecting food. I don't even want to know how much they spent on me that night, because they were having me try several things. I guess they wanted an idea of what I like and don't like.

Mami-chan is so cute. She tries to read the things I have up on my laptop but can't understand them. She is only fourteen after all so she has had only two or three years of English. We all know what English education is like in Japan, so it is understandable for her to have trouble with English. Last night, they asked me how to say "L" and "R." Because for them it always comes out as "eru" and "aru." They tried, that's all I can really say.

I've eaten curry rice and really liked it actually. I think it may be one of my favorite Japanese dishes. They're surprised that miso soup is my favorite Japanese food, because apparently most foreigners don't like it. I don't see why though. I've tried three pasta dishes and they have been mediocre. Makes me long for pasta roni. I really love Japanese kiwis, oranges, and apples. I've found some really good melon pan too, and tiramasu. Most vending machines don't have C.C. Lemon, which I find very upsetting. I bought a liter of it at the store yesterday and it came with a pokemon thing. Not sure what it is, in terms of the toy, and its name. But I'm sure Ish will be happy that I got something for him already. I keep seeing Elmo all over the place, as well as Stitch.

Arashi, I think is the human equivalent in terms of popularity to Hello Kitty. Cause I see Arashi all over the place as well as hear them. There is one store that I pass by a few times a day that is always playing Arashi, probably because one of the members is currently endorsing them. Though I'm not sure what it is that that store does. I was at Mandarake on Thursday (yeah, that was rather uncomfortable but Katia dragged me there because she says I dragged her to the bus station. Oh and by the way WHY IS THE BUS CENTER ON THE 5TH FLOOR THAT CLAIMS TO BE THE 3RD? Only in Japan can you find something that makes no sense like this. Why have floor 1, floor 2, floor M 2, floor 3, and floor M 3? That almost makes less sense than a bus center on the 5th floor.) At Mandarake, I saw a 2004 daily calendar of Arashi that was being sold for $157. That only further proves that Arashi's popularity is a force to be reckoned with in Japan. Like c'mon $157 for a seven year old calendar. I also saw some Tohoshinki pictures on sale inside the case. I took pictures of it with my phone but then three minutes later noticed that on every floor there were signs stating to not take pictures. 0__0 Whoops! I felt so bad after that. We were on the third floor, so I had passed by/under these signs like four times. In my defense that place was visual sensory overload. Especially with all of the "lovely" pictures that greeted me on the escalators.

I went to Tower Records and bought Arashi's "All The Best" because I am in the country that Arashi practically owns so I should keep up with what they do. They advertise a lot of things. Yesterday, I went to a mall and saw a bunch of Arashi products for school supples and for cell phone accesories. I should really learn to match the names and faces of the other four members. At the moment I only really "know" Matsumoto, Jun. I also saw a few Jaejung cell phone straps. I didn't see anything about the other members though, which made me sad. I would love to have a Junsu cell phone strap. The Jaejung cell phones sadly weren't all that impressive and were somewhat hard to find when buried amongst all of the Arashi and AKB48. I should also look more into them, seeing as they are really big. While in the store, Kara's Jumping came on. Which made me happy. After that Koda Kumi's new song Pop Diva came on.

I've looked at all the magazines that are about kpop and the kpop invasion into Japan. They rarely picture SHINee and Super Junior. I've seen more of Nine Muses, ZE:A, infinite, and Miss A. Every kpop magazine has several pages of DBSK/JYJ/Homin. Surprisingly very little BoA. Jang Geun Suk is VERY popular though. In a magazine about kpop girl groups, Kara was the only group that got full pages for each member. Hahahaha SNSD, Japan loves Kara MORE! And they should cause at least Kara is TRYING! The cool thing is that in every magazine after pages of JYJ there are pages on Homin or vice versa. It's nice to see them side by side in a magazine like that. I actually bought a magazine yesterday that focuses on Jang Geun Suk for like 30 pages, but I really bought it for the 2011 DBSK calendar inside. There are some good pictures in the calendar as well as some funny derp moments. The magazine also does a comparison of DBSK and Big Bang. It says they are the two big kpop boy bands in Japan, and truthfully they are. No offense to Big Bang but Tohoshinki is of course MUCH bigger and MORE popular. I bought a Japanese magazine in the US a while back that had 20 pages of DBSK but only four for Big Bang. It's interesting to see what bands have more popularity in Japan just by seeing how many magazines they are in, to what extent they are featured, and if they have full pages or not.

My host family teases me for liking "ikemen" or "hot men." I heard Tohoshinki on the news and perked up immediately at the sight of Homin. They find my fangirl spaziness to be entertaining. I find it funny how for both of my homestays, I still become the laughing stock. Am I that easy to poke fun at? Am I that funny?

I have received some strange looks of course. Babies stare at me as if I am the first white person they have ever seen. Many kids look at me like I'm an alien. I've only received one look of disgust. Though that was rather hurtful.