Yen, Camera, Packet, & Party! :]

So this morning I woke bright and early and went to the bank to go get the Yen that had been sent there along with my passport.  My yen came in a little envelope and when I peeked inside I almost died! The yen was beautiful! I loved the little picture of Mt. Fuji - san, and the yen itself was such pretty colors.  Why isn't the US currency as pretty?? After the excitement of getting my Yen, my mom and I went to go buy me a new camera.  We ended up at Cardinal Camera and found a very nice digital camera. It was a touch screen! I was SO pumped! And the thing that made the camera the camera of my dreams was that it was purple! My day, thus far was AMAZING. After spazzing over my yen and purple camera I had to go to work, which I was not too happy about.  Spending three hours in the hot sun watching the ripples of the pool pass you by isn't my cup of tea. haha.  The good news, though was that my mom texted me telling me my packet came in the mail finally! I was so anxious to go home.  Finally 3 o' clock rolled around and I ran to my car where my packet was awaiting me.  I maniaclly ripped it open and read my acceptance letter which filled me with such happiness.  I looked all into the packet when I got home. I was right about one thing...the t-shirt would probably be huge.  It was a large and it is basically a dress on me haha but oh well! I don't care!  (I'm actually wearing it right now)
Right after work my friends and I had decided to get together, so I drove to my one friends house where I was expecting just a nice get together, but I was wrong.  They had planned a surprise going away party.  I was clueless! My friend was like "it's hot out here, lets go down into the basement".  I thought nothing of it, but when I arrived in the basement, its floor was covered in balloons, there was a big sign wishing congratulating me, and food!  Lots of food! I was so surprised! I couldn't beleive it! We had such a wonderful time! It was amazing!  I can't thank them enough!

After the party my mom and I went shopping again to buy more stuff for Japan.  We bought a blue skirt for a uniform.  (I'm so excited to wear a uniform!) We went to Barnes and Nobles and got a present for my host family, a nice picture book of PA.  One for them and another for my future Japanese class.  After all that scrambling I'm exhausted!  It's now 10:45 and I'm ready to pass out.  Today has been such an amazing day!  I can't believe it; I only have 4 more days of school left!  I don't know how I'm going to survive those days, my minds going to be off dreaming about Japan.
I can't believe this is happening.  I feel like I'm dreaming and that soon I'll wake up, but it's not a dream. In a little over a week I'll be in Japan!  I'm so happy! :]

*continues to listen to Becoming a Geisha, from Memoirs of a Geisha*

Next stop: JAPAN! :]

おはようございます! My name is Emily (Eem) and I am very grateful because I was lucky enough to be be given a scholarship, to Japan for over this summer, from YFU! It's been crazy the past couple of days! Let's see...where should I begin?
It all started in January when I filled in all the application stuff and desperately sent in my application at the last minute. I planned to try to go to Japan on a full ride scholarship only...xD Then I waited for an interview which came in February (I think). I was all ready for my interview, I had on my Hello Kittie dress, with all my Japanese "garb" at my kitchen table. The interviewer was very nice! She basically just asked me questions about why I would want to go abroad and whether I could handle being away from home for that long. The interview itself went very well. Then came more waiting...and more waiting....-_-'
Finally, in the first week of May, scholarship statuses went out. I was very excited and impatient after all the waiting I had done. I called in and they told me that I had been rejected. I was upset, but I knew that I couldn't lose it at school, so I kept to myself. That day I was miserable and not a very happy camper, but soon after my mom told me that I shouldn't be depressed and that I should move on. So I did and planned for a regular summer, lifeguarding, hanging with friends etc. Everything was going according to plan...UNTIL! Last Friday (4 days ago) YFU called out of the blue telling me that I had won a partial scholarship. I wasn't home and my mom was very tired after a hard week of work and told them that we'd talk it over and give them our answer the next Monday. Well, I was absolutely clueless and when Saturday morning came around I was just expecting an average Saturday, but boy was I wrong. My mom woke me up and told me she had something to tell me, but it wasn't that important. I lazily dragged myself downstairs to the kitchen. My mom sat down and told me that YFU had called and that I was eligible for a partial scholarship. 0_0 <---- that was me. I couldn't believe it. I was in shock. I almost started to cry. I was so happy! So my mom and I had lots to discuss over those two days. We made a list of questions and problems concerning me going to Japan. The biggest problem was school. Our school decided to strike, thus pushing back the last day until the end of June. If I went to Japan I'd miss about 2 and 1/2 weeks of school. My mom and I talked all weekend and as every minute passed by, I knew I was growing closer to going to Japan. Finally, my mom and I decided that I could go! I was SO happy! I was like bouncing for joy! I can't even explain my feelings! I was about to explode! I couldn't believe that my dream of going to Japan, a dream I'd had since 6th grade, was actually going to come true! I still can't believe it! I'm so excited!
I'm sorry that this post is super fat, but I'm planning on blogging a lot about my wonderful journey to the Land of the Rising Sun! :]

EEK! :D