Last few days - Haneda Airport (羽田空港)

Wow, the time has come for me to end my trip in Japan! I just wanted to take a moment to share pictures of ICU campus to get a taste of where I spent for the last 3 months! The campus is truly beautiful and very spacious:

Honkan - basically the main building where classes take place!

Inside a lecture hall!

My cool Japanese teacher trying to get Wi-Fi at the window haha!

We have a forest behind us... haha! The sign says " people other than authorized staff are prohibited to enter" 

Oh well... we entered !
We were led by a teacher who taking a class to explore the area behind the mountains (and my friend and I just joined)

This is where some faculty members live on campus!

Through a bamboo forest...

We arrive at a teahouse!

And there are always fat cats and of course skinny cats wandering around on campus :)

Another view of Honkan in the fall!

Dialogue House - 5 minutes away from Honkan and the dormitory for short-term international students and guests

The dining hall located right on the first floor of Dialogue House

Now around the neighborhood - on the way to the train station 

Musashisakai train station!

And one of the clubs I was in, Clumsy Chorus, held a farewell party to us international students! 

"Clumsy Party~~~"

Potluck style!

Playing a game of Mafia - Fast type; the mafia kills them by winking their eyes at them...!!

Massage party!!

And then they had the four of us all line up in the front of the room and they each handed us a present!! It was a book full of messages from every single one of them and pictures of our semester together :) 

Group picture ~~

We are coming for you !!

Now I am all packed up and ready to leave early in the morning. My dorm mom and dorm dad were there to say goodbye to me! They are the cutest couple ever and they always look out for us students! The night before, the dad took us to a Nomikai, literally "drinking party" but we didn't go crazy! it was more like a goodbye meal with the few of us still left in the dorms because most people had left to travel in other areas of Japan or have already left the country. Then the next morning, the mom even walked me to the bus stop and bid me farewell. Hugs and tears rolled down my face as we parted ):

Man, I cannot believe that my adventure in Japan is going to end soon - in just a few hours, as I board the Hello Kitty plane from Eva Airlines. These three months have been an amazing journey, from being too shy to speak any Japanese to making so many friends in clubs and organizations and just really coming out of my shy shell! I really enjoyed every aspect of it and of course there were times that I missed home, but nothing some Japanese dessert or snack couldn't cure hehe. I really feel that my Japanese has improved a great deal - I still am not super fluent in speaking, but at least I am not afraid to make mistakes and learn from them - cliche, but it is true! Here are some of the last pictures I took at the airport. Hope you enjoy the rest of it!

I believe that is the Hello Kitty plane I will take to Taiwan, where I will spend 3 weeks there with relatives :)

With that comes the end of my blog as well, please do not hesitate to contact with me any questions! Hope this has been an interesting blog full of pictures that will encourage you to study abroad in (and it doesn't have to be in Japan) anywhere you want because it is possible!!

Thanks, everyone! See you!

Tokyo Sky Tree!! And Yoyogi Park :)

Now that I was back in Tokyo with 2 days left to spare before my flight, I decided to go to Tokyo Sky Tree! This new piece of architecture had just opened last year and may replace Tokyo Tower in popular culture, so I wanted to see what the big deal was. It is essentially a broadcasting tower with restaurants and observatories for viewing the city!

Taking the train to Sky Tree

Almost seeeeeeeee Tokyo Sky Tree up close!

And here it is!

Haha this is a cute sign to a souvenir shop at the bottom of the building

There seems to be a "Tree" theme going on here!

Yes, it's sweet potato again! Sweet potato and milk softserve :)

My childhood: Tomogotchi!! I think this is the remake of my childhood toy!

Once again, the city is full of Christmas decorations!

The view of the district around Sky Tree

After Sky Tree, I was on my way to Meiji Shrine, definitely one of the most popular shrines to visit in Tokyo. As I am crossing this bridge...

I get to the entrance of the shrine and see everyone walking out....
because the shrine just closed ): So I missed the opportunity to look inside!

Although disappointed, I saw on the map that Yoyogi Park was just around the corner so I decided to stop by! This a place where most street artists perform and it's a "young" park!