"Yokoso! Welcome to Japan!"

After 14 hours of flying over the pacific,

we zoomed into the future and

carted off to our hotel in time to celebrate the new year!

The other interns are an incredible batch.

I'm so excited to Skype with them

and share photos from our different cities.

Asakusa Central Hotel:

They give you stuff,

like stellar pajamas and tiger keychains.

Breakfast by the river.

Oh, my girls are great.

We'll figure out the subway system someday.

Until then, let the adventures continue!

You can get anything out of the vending machines here.

And I do mean that.

Tokyo is just...

YES.

The girls surprised me this morning

with a bag full of origami they folded,

some heart-shaped Doraemon balloons,

and a box of Pocky.

Then, during training, our internship coordinator

{Ryan}

bought me a very European-looking cupcake.

Thank you so very much everyone

for treating me like an old friend

when we've only just met.

I already love you all.

{And thank you, to all of you who sent

birthday wishes overseas, via Facebook or e-mail.

You're amazing individuals.}

This is the statue of the loyal akita inu, Hachiko.

He's honored for waiting for his master at the train station

every day, without fail.

And when his master died one day,

he waited at the train station until he too passed away.

For the beautiful little story, visit here.

I've fallen even more in love with Japan since arriving,

and I didn't think that was even possible.

I miss you all,

but am having an incredibly wonderful time acclimating to Japan.

Ja ne! {See you soon!}