my car traded its bumper for my plane ticket

So, a week or so ago I was rear-ended on my way to work by a very nice lady who had car insurance.  Today I used the money from that insurance claim to buy both my plane ticket to Japan and a camera so I can document the awesomeness that I will encounter in Japan.  Not a bad haul, altogether.

Oh man, so much orienting!

Yesterday, I went to the Study Abroad Orientation meeting and it was a lot of fun!  Miko had a presentation that was very informative and long, but it wasn't boring at all!  Far from it, actually.  I learned all about the culture shock "W" and how I'm going to ride an emotional roller coaster through the cultural theme park of integration.  I feel like most of my ride will be up and my only major fall will be when I come back to the states. I'm not sure if that's optimism or not, but I really don't want to come back and I'm not even there yet!