WE MADE IT!!  

There are roughly 50  other JET participants who took flight from Reagan with me.

Touched down in Narita, Japan after a four hour layover in Chicago.  I was fortunate to get an aisle seat during the 12 hour journey, yet still managed to get sore knees and little sleep. Once we landed I rushed to the bathroom only to be welcomed by an Eastern style toilet.  I decided to wait for a Western toilet; I didn’t have the energy to be reintroduced to the Eastern style just yet.  

We rode a train to baggage claim and there was more people than there was space.  This didn’t seem to matter as the Japanese continued to push their way into the train car.  I made the mistake of not facing the entrance door so I was literally pushed to my toes and I was “standing” at roughly a 50 degree angle.  There were two shorter suitcases in front of me, which prevented me from going forward yet allowed for the unfortunate lean. The stance reminded me of the fishing scene from Little Rascals and I couldn’t stop laughing at my ridiculous state.

From the airport we rode a bus to Tokyo.  Everything went smoothly and we were in our rooms after five minutes of arriving at the hotel.  I roomed with two other girls, one of which was my bff from the trip.  My roommates and I went out to dinner at a cute underground gyoza restaurant.  We each ordered plum wine to celebrate our arrival in Japan.  It is still so unreal to be here.