Travels to Japan (both on the plane and into the future!)

Hello everyone! I am currently on the plane (well, by the time this is posted, I will have landed and be at the hotel!) and it is almost hour eleven out of twelve and a half! To be honest, the time has really flown by so far! Getting to the airport feels like forever ago! All of my travels so far have been very smooth, and it is definitely easy traveling in a big group! One really cool thing was that we were at the exact same gate where I was last year when I was going to Spain, so it was surreal that almost exactly one year later I was embarking on another journey, this time with a destination thousands of miles away from Spain.

The plane ride has been great for bonding with the other participants. While I knew a few of them before from the Environmental Student Council I am in through the Campus Honors Program or from random classes, it has been a blast getting to know them! We have already laughed a lot and I feel like we have gotten significantly closer very quickly! Everyone is really nice!

Airplane food has been really great so far actually! There served all of the vegetarian meals first, which was cool! (Especially since we are in the last row, and some of the other participants had to wait until the end.) Because I have a slight problem with taking too many pictures, I took pictures of both meals (you can see below)!

It is fun to follow along on the computer screen with where we are traveling! We took a route over Canada, Alaska, the Bering Sea, and then are currently cruising south towards Tokyo! I even took some pictures of when we were over Fairbanks, Alaska! These TV screens have been deluxe too, since we have access to a bunch of movies, including the Silver Linings Playbook, which I watched! (Although I will still watch it with you, Jake! J) There were even different TV shows you could watch, music you could listen too, and games you could play, like Tetris or Pac-Man. I even listened to some J Pop to prepare for the trip!

I already feel like I am sort of in Japan, as I have had a lot of green tea, and before each meal, they have brought us warm towels to clean our hands with.  Carrie (my plane buddy) and I also practiced our Japanese phrases and numbers!

Once we land, tonight is pretty relaxed, and then we will continue traveling to Hiroshima for the International Peace Conference over the next few days! I am super excited! Love you all and hope you are having a great day!

 Our airplane!

They gave us ice cream!!!!!

 Nothing like getting pumped up with some Japanese music!

 It was really fun to fly over Alaska! These were taken over the Fairbanks area!

BUT WAIT! There is more! Now I have landed in Japan! I think this is when a lot of the craziness really began to set in!

 Check out this awesome vending machine and some cool wall art in the airport!

 Alesia and I!

Narita is on the outskirts of Tokyo, which is quite a large city, since it houses 12 million people! What I thought was so cool to look at was the balance between nature and development/technology. Since we are close to the airport, there are lots of beautiful hotels, placed sporadically between these beautiful forests and hills! I kind of love it!

 The picture didn't turn out as well as I had hoped, but this is some of the crew! There are definitely some rascals on the trip, but in general everyone is super nice! We laughed so much today!!!

This dinner was amazing!! Clockwise, starting from the top left, a steamed cabbage salad, tempura veggies, stir-fried veggies (or cooked in a very yummy sauce), the best tofu I have ever had which was topped with chives, and some deliciously roasted eggplant!

And finally, for the happy picture of the day, check out the complimentary Japanese pajamas! These robes are very comfy! Also, bamboo slippers were provided but I am not wearing them in the picture!

I am quite tired and I will be going to bed! It is almost Friday morning here, so I will need my sleep before the upcoming activities! To all of you back home, happy Thursday and enjoy your day!