IT'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!

Well, it's almost time! My classes are finally finished and now I'm just waiting to head back home. Let's talk about finals first. My finals all were decent. I had one in each class and they were pretty fair. I'd say Japanese was the hardest out of them all but that is kind of what I expected. Oh also, before finals I forgot to mention that Germany (my team :P) won the diplomacy game! It's the first time Germany has ever won and I was really fortunate to get to work with such awesome people. 

So. getting back, Friday after finals, my Japanese class went out for dinner (apparently customary here in Japan) at a Korean restaurant (talk about irony). It was a blast hanging out one last time and getting to talk without all the stress of school. There also happens to be a Fireworks Festival going on this weekend so we got to walk around that a bit. All the girls dressed up in their beautiful yukatas (kind of a summer kimono) made me super jealous. It was really great to see that right before I headed back. 

Today was a very bittersweet day for me. I got to hangout with the Kickboxing circle one last time. They had a beach bbq for us that was loads of fun. The group made me give a speech/toast in Japanese which was probably super terrible :P. We then hung out and played in the water and ate lots of delicious food. Then, there was some beach volleyball and a typical Japanese watermelon smashing. Essentially, you put the watermelon on the group and one person gets blindfolded. You spin that person around and then they have to try to smash open the watermelon with a wooden sword. (Here is an example of it on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnPFLca_xZA)  I was lucky and hit it on the first try! We finished up the trip with some ice cream and final goodbyes. It was really hard to say goodbye to such a good group of people. They have been there for me and have kept me laughing all semester and there aren't enough words to express my appreciation. I am truly going to miss them!