Travel With Me

  So I've been sitting here the past two-three weeks counting down, and even now I'm counting down. The group chat explodes every time we hear something new from our Uni in Japan. I'm trying really hard not to stress over forgetting this or that or not being prepared enough in general because I know I won't be prepared. Nothing can prepare me for spending a whole year in a foreign country completely across the world from where I am now. I have never lived away from home. The longest I've stayed anywhere that wasn't home was a week and only once or twice was that without family. The group chat was discussing portable internet and what they should do. Buy a SIM card, prepaid phone, pocket wifi, or something. I had made up my mind to just be without and rely on what wifi I could use when I could. My dorm room will have wifi, and the campus has internet. My reasoning was people lived without cell phones let alone smartphones before so why not take this opportunity

  Two more months... Hello my little Fairy Foxes <3 So a lot has happened the past month, especially this past week. I've had contact from NUFS, the university I will be exchanging to and got official acceptance to their program as well as a scholarship. All that's left is to get my visa! At this point I'm trying to hurry up and finish my summer class and get through work, the day is getting ever closer and now that I've gotten my plane ticket it only feels that more official. By the way, if you are a student or work for a university I highly recommend using sutdentuniverse.com I got my ticket there and let me share a neat little story. Originally I would be saving 300$ JUST buying my tickets from Student Universe, but will a little help from lady luck and the interference of adulting matter (having to call my credit card company to raise my spending limit) I waited just enough time to catch a neat sale saving me another 300$ in the process. The place I will be stay

  I got more paperwork! SO in my university, there are twenty-one students who will be traveling to various countries, and six of those twenty-one are going to Nagoya. The six of us exchanged contact information at the outbound exchange meeting and plan on flying out together (: As time gets closer I get more excited, there is so much to see and do. I have a few fears of course, but nothing too major. The typical fears one would have going to a college in a whole other country, but more than anything I am excited. I get to meet so many new people from so many places. Today I went to get a physical, got an update on my shots (ouch!), and will be waiting to hear information about one of my vaccinations. I was going to turn in the last of my papers, but it was too late in the day. Will be doing that tomorrow though~ Right now I have three weeks left in this semester, and they are going by so slowly. I feel like I keep repeating myself and going in circles. I'm so ready to be done

Today is my mother's birthday! I have been watching many YouTube videos about Japan. I'm so excited! It feels hard to contain it sometimes, I feel like I have not stopped talking about it~ Some of the channels I have been watching are Rachel&Jun, Chris Abroad, Sharla in Japan, and a couple random videos from various collaborators. I'm going to try my very best to video my time there but my top priority is this blog <3 So far I have a date for the exchange meeting that I will have to attend on April 6th and I have heard back from four of the twelve scholarships I have applied to. Of the four I have received one, so pretty good odds so far and every little bit counts. I have been practicing writing Hiragana and mostly have been focusing on learning to write them. I have applied a little to reading and installed the Japanese keyboard on my phone. I hope to be able to at the very least be able to recall the Hiragana and maybe Katakana. My friend let me barrow his text

Hello all, This is the beginning of a HUGE! adventure. But first, let me introduce myself. My name is Dakota. I was born in America in the state of Georgia in a town that's roughly 1.5-2 hours from a beach. I've never been a huge fan of beaches though, I spend most of my time the past several years inside. My hobbies include making content for YouTube, playing video games, watching YouTube videos and anime, reading books and manga, writing, and listening to music of course. My favorite food is pizza. I'm a pretty picky eater and don't eat much of a variety of foods which is something I hope will change over the next year plus. So recently I was officially accepted into my university’s program to study in Nagoya Japan! I’m super excited and have been filling out ALOT of paperwork. There’s still more to come, many meetings and things to buy such as plane tickets, luggage, appropriate clothing, as well as paying rent and buying food while I’m there school supplies, and