And it's Time...

So the big day is finally here. Just 12 hours before I say goodbye to this beautiful country and to all my beautiful friends. The past ten days have gone by so fast, and I'm telling you this I am nowhere near prepared for this move! I may have left a lot of things late and only because I've been way too busy and I didn't have enough time for anything.

Though I am glad that I had time for some final quality time with my best friends. There has been many tears in the past week, and being at the airport today will be one of the toughest things I'm going to go through. Just saying goodbye to everyone at the airport itself just brings too much emotions out of me. I know I'm only gone for a year but I can already see myself missing home at one stage and I'm trying to absorb everything I can while I'm here.

Just want to say thank you to everyone who has gotten me to this stage. There has been a lot of prayers from a lot of people and there has also been a lot of encouragements and strong words. My last three nights have been completely bliss. Spending one night with my best friend Alex, spending another with my girls slothing around watching chick flicks and my last night with my besties playing board games and drinking Moët. I will miss all of you guys so much.

So I'm all packed and ready. I've checked in. I've written my goodbye/love letters. I'm ready for Japan!

Update soon guys.
x.

10 days

Travel journal, travel wallet, Japanese phrasebook, Moleskin Japan, Holga, Fujifilm Instax, Fujifilm X10, Lonely Planets Japan, Lonely Planets Korea and just a snippet of all the photos I'll be taking of loved ones.

Ten days till I officially take this journey! Time is flying by so fast and secretly I'm getting impatient. I've started packing, but packing just means throwing everything I think I need in the lounge and just leaving it there, not even putting it in the luggage. Incredibly lazy, but I think when it hits 2 or 3 days left till the big day I'll start panicking and start finally start packing.

Funny story and just a pure example of me being really irresponsible and unaware of everything. I went to the city the other day to get my visa. The next day I needed to apply for my centrelink payments and I thought I lost my passport. I panicked. I honestly believed I lost it for 2.5hours and I just doubted myself. If I lose my passport now, imagine me in a different country. I called up UTS security just to ask if anything was handed in and I was going to call the Japanese Consulate next. Till I looked at my little slip they gave me after I applied for my visa and it said "keep this slip or you may not get your passport back". So the Japanese Consulate actually took my passport in order to print the visa on it and I didn't even notice. So unaware! Need to change this or I know I'm going to just place my passport somewhere and not even notice.

Also, I've already planned on meeting my host sister in Japan on my first weekend in Japan. Yuumi is my host sister from 2008. We've kept in contact and even though we don't talk as much as we liked our relationship has stayed consistant. I'm so excited to see her and also for her to take me around Tokyo. Thank God because my Japanese have decreased in the past 4 months and I can't even string a sentence together or even introduce myself properly!

Till my next entry.
Gerry.
x

Ups and Downs

Right now I'm feeling all the ups and downs of pre-departure. I have three weeks and I'm already feeling a bit overwhelmed and I just can't imagine myself on my last week, my night before and on the day of. I am such a dramatic cat but being friends or close friends with amazing people and seeing them nearly everyday just makes things a bit hard. I seriously spent the whole day with my favourite people and we just did way too much activities in one day and I love every bit of it. Just imagining not being with them and being so far from them just gives you a bit of a reality! 

That being said, I haven't done anything useful with myself in preparing my departure. Maybe the only useful thing I've done is applying for a Citibank card so I can use an actual card overseas and not experience hefty fees! I should've done this earlier because it takes 2 weeks for my card to come but I'm very lazy and irresponsible. Also this is my last week of employment before I have 2 weeks for myself to prepare my trip! I need to get my visa, and also get a shot that I didn't know we were suppose to have! Damn it! 

Tomorrow's pre-departure meeting at uni, which means things just got serious! I'm feeling butterflies in my stomach! Just filled with so much excitement and nervousness I could shank someone!