Home Stretch

Howdy homies!

Sorry for the long pause. June was quite an eventful month. My sorority sister, Heidi, was here for two weeks on her graduation trip before heading off to Korea. No one in my family had planned on coming to visit, so when Heidi sent me an email saying "I'll be in Tokyo on Saturday", I was super excited!

Every day I didn't have class, I spent playing tour guide with Heidi. We went all over Tokyo, and I got to see a few things I still had on my list. We went to the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace. The stones that the walls were made out of were HUGE! And the gardens were sooo pretty.

We also took a break at Cafe Paulista in Ginza, the oldest western-style cafe in Japan. It turned 100 this year and was made famous by loyal patrons like John Lennon and Yoko Ono. I had been trying to go there since February, but they were always full or I was too busy. But Heidi and I just walked right on in in the middle of the afternoon and got a table. The coffee and food were excellent, yet it was surprisingly moderately priced compared to most Tokyo cafes. History + cheap snack = win.

With only two weeks of class left, I'm busy writing final term papers and prepping for exams. My last one is on the 18th, so I have 11 days to enjoy Tokyo before I go home. My friends and I are already making plans, like going to Tokyo Disney- I've never been to a Disney park! And this weekend happens to be the lunar festival where they have hanabi, or fireworks. So on Independence Day, I'll be seeing fireworks in Japan wearing traditional yukata! Sure, there won't be July 4th barbeque, but maybe I'll sing the Star Spangled Banner under my breath while watching the hanabi ;)