It's bittersweet.

I'm writing this now because I figure I'm probably not going to want to be on the computer tomorrow since it's MY LAST DAY. T_T To anyone studying abroad, some more advice: do not take anything for granted. Your days are numbered so you want to make sure to make the most of every second you have wherever you're going. Hang out with friends and family a lot; that's really important. 

I left off on the day before yesterday, so I'll start on the 31st, which is good because that's mostly what I wanted to talk about.

Thursday started off normal enough. I made my 30-minute trek to school on my bike, however I had to get there a little early that day so I could give a short good-bye speech to the teachers. That was... okay. I was super nervous and I'll admit I hadn't read the thing through very much, so I made some mistakes... but I did make them laugh when I apologized for not doing homework, so that was good. 

After 3rd or 4th period (I can't quite remember), my math teacher poked his head into our room and asked if he could have a few words with me. We started off towards the teachers' room, so I thought I was in trouble. And on my last day! Instead, we ended up sitting in a conference-type room and he started asking me about the differences between Japanese math programs and American ones. I thought it was a little odd... was he planning on borrowing some method from America to use in his classes? Even though I thought it was a little weird, I ended up getting really into talking about the differences, and for a good 7 minutes that happened. -____- At the end of the passing period, my homeroom teacher came to get me. As I was walking up to the classroom, I notices that my friend's scarf had been draped over the sliding door to the room, and my teacher asked me to go through the other door. By this time I realized what was going on (I'm really slow, in case you couldn't tell >_>), but that didn't take away from my surprise when I opened the door and streamers were popping all over the place, landing in my hair, blinding me, with everyone screaming "Happy birthday!" at me. Now, I've mentioned this before, but I'll remind you that I cried at a Dove commercial. This was too much for me. While I was standing there, crying from being so overwhelmed with happiness, someone handed me flowers 

 and that just set me off even more. Good stuff. Everyone had brought a snack of some sort, so there was a table completely covered with Japanese candy. Since I was crying, I guess everyone figured that shoving food in my face would make me stop. It partly worked. And I know it sounds like I'm saying it was a bad thing, but it was anything but. It was so sweet because everyone clearly didn't want me to be crying. 

Then I gave my speech that I'd written earlier this week for just my class. Surprisingly I didn't cry during that, but I think I did hear my voice shake a few times. I also gave them my parting gift, which, after what they'd done, was pretty pathetic. It was Skittles! Everyone likes Skittles, right? And I haven't seen them here... I still felt really lame giving them that after what they're already done.

As if this weren't all enough, after my speech, I was sat down and blindfolded. When that blindfold was removed, a cake had been set before me.

 What can I say? I lost it again. Everyone sang Happy Birthday and I just sat looking really stupid because I was in such a state of blissful shock that I didn't quite know what to do. After singing, it was time to cut the cake! But wait, no knives? No problem! Just use a spoon and scoop it all onto plates in giant heaps for all to eat together!

Here's mine:

Beautifully cut, isn't it? It was also more than I was able to eat, unfortunately. It was, however, incredibly delicious. :)

Here's what everyone wrote on the board:

 We ended up playing bingo, and everyone gave me presents, which I 100% wasn't expecting. My favorite, however, is probably the notes that everyone wrote me that my friends compiled into a scrapbook-type thing. I'm planning on reading it on the plane rides home and crying my eyes out some more..

Getting home was interesting, with the flowers and various bags and whatnot, but somehow I managed...

The 31st was the last day we could use a coupon at the local spa and pool complex for an ice cream, so we (host mom and host siblings) did that almost directly after school. I honestly wasn't at all hungry, but I ate my strawberry one anyway. Not too special, but it was a nice outing. 

Dinner that night was... drumroll.... cheese fondue! Okay, so, I kind of copied my host sister when she requested it in November, but it was so delicious that time that I just had to. 

Come ON. Is there any way you could resist that? (Mom, I know what you're saying, and no, I don't think you could even though you're lactose intolerant) Oh, that's a piece of bread covered in cheese, by the way. Bread, potato, tomato, sausage, shrimp, some oden ingredients that I can't remember, little eggs, broccoli, carrots, and probably more that I'm forgetting. Basically happiness.

After dinner, we had cake. ^_^

 Best cake you've ever seen. It was my second cake of the day, so by this time I was feeling pretty exhausted, but I plowed through. I also like that my host mom got a chocolate cake. It's been the only chocolate cake thus far!

And look how pretty my host mom arranged my plate!

All in all, a really great birthday. All my host siblings even thought to get me presents, which I totally wasn't expecting. 

 Needless to say, I went to bed with puffy eyes, but a happy heart.

Today I simply went to the mall for the last time and bought some last-minute souvenirs. At about 4:30 two of my friends from school came and we hung out for a bit, took Purikura, of course. Taking Purikura seems to be an unwritten rule for young Japanese people when they hang out. Because everytime I've gone out with people, it's happened. Not that I'm complaining; so many memories have been documented via puri.

Those have been the last two days. Tomorrow Anna (the girl from Germany that I've mentioned briefly before) is going home, so Andres and I are going to the airport (thanks to my wonderful host mother who's driving us) to say good-bye to her. That'll be... sad. Hopefully I don't cry too much tomorrow or I'll end up spending a good 4 straight days with puffy, tired, eyes. -___-

It's happening the day after tomorrow, guys. It didn't seem like it'd ever end, and yet here I am. It's February 1st, and I'm getting on a plane to Tokyo, to L.A., to Chicago and home in less than 48 hours. Although there may be some things I regret not doing, I don't regret anything I actually did do here. Everything I've done has brought me to this moment, and I couldn't be happier with how I've come away from this experience. It's crazy because before August 24th, Japan was a completely foreign country. I'd never seen it, experienced it, and I had absolutely no idea what to expect. It's February now, and I can say that Japan is a familiar and comforting place for me now. As my mom said in an email, (not quoting exactly) there is now an Ellie-sized space in Japan, and I'll be happy to reoccupy it any chance I get. I'm leaving, but it's not forever. I will be back.

EJDIJXPLOVEOTJAPANDJIDEKIDEOKJRCFI
-Ellie