I can hardly believe that I am writing about my final night in Japan. This semester has definitely gone by the fastest out of all of them. Being in Tokyo, going through the interview process at Goldman, meeting tons of new and fantastic people, living with my host family - the list goes on and on... It has truly been an incredible experience.

My last day in Japan was pretty hectic (hand to cancel my health insurance, close my bank account, go fulfill gift requests). Something that really surprised me was how easy it was to cancel my health insurance here in Japan. I know another TUJ study abroad student who had an awful time canceling theirs. I basically walked in, told them I was returning to the US and that was it. First, anything involving the government never goes this smoothly. Second, Japanese society loves tons of arbitrary paperwork. Both of these elements were lacking... maybe I caught them on a good day? Canceling the bank account wasn't too much of a hassle either - however I had to do the entire process in Japanese. Regarding gift requests, well.... I'll have to explain that one when I get home =p.

My last night in Japan happened to coincide with my host dad's 68th birthday! We spent the first half of the night celebrating (I even have pictures!). There was a ton of delicious sushi that we used for temaki (I will do a post about sushi after I get home explaining this). It was kind of funny because instead of the traditional green tea we had coca-cola to drink. So odd! It was absolutely delicious. The sushi was followed by a small birthday cake and green tea.

I hadn't really intended on going out last night because it was Hirao-san's birthday, and I felt like it would be nice if I spent some time with them since I am leaving in (... 6 hours as of this post). However, they both said that since it is the last night I should go to see my friends in Shibuya. This made me feel less guilty, so I let everyone know I would met them at our traditional spot - Hubs. My entire plan was to go and see everyone for an hour or so, say my goodbyes then come home and get a good nights sleep. Oh how things never turn out the way they are planned. Everyone insisted that I stay out and party all night and catch the first train home in the morning. I was actually fairly reluctant but somehow I was convinced to go to Club Camelot and spent my last night in Tokyo with my friends doing what we do best.

At about 5a.m., once we were done at Camelot we went to get Soba Udon at a place called Fuji Soba (it's right near center-makku in Shibuya if you ever want to go!). A bowl of steaming hot udon at 5 a.m. is surprisingly refreshing. After the bowl of udon Nicky was still hungry, so we went to the kabob place right around the corner.

It was very odd walking around Shibuya at 5 a.m. this time since I knew that I wouldn't be coming back any time soon. After all the nights of staying up until first train, this one was definitely different. I will really miss that part of Tokyo -- I can't wait to come back and see what kind of new and crazy fashion styles the Japanese pop culture comes up with.

Once we got to the station everyone said their goodbyes and made the walk to their respective trains. We even had some Japanese girl take a picture of us - this is an awful picture of me since my eyes are closed and I have no idea why my arm is over Cliff's shoulder, but it doesn't really matter since I'm hyaku pacento (100%) positive I'll see everyone again.

Overall this semester has been an incredible experience - regardless of my opinion of TUJ, Japan is a wonderful country with a lot of things to see/do/experience, and I'm sure I only barely scratched the surface.

Until next time Japan... sayonara.