Toronto to Tokyo!

So, not much blogging since PEI unfortunately, but in all honesty, besides working on our project and random fun stuff along the side, nothing too much to report.  Well okay....that's a lie, we did a ton of stuff, but I was too lazy/busy to blog every day.  Sackville was lovely, and I'm definitely going to miss the comfort of a small town!  I'm especially going to miss the university res life which I got to experience for the first time, and I'll definitely miss the amazing wifi on campus!  



Last night, four of us from UofT flew from Moncton to Toronto (stopping along Montreal along the way).  I had about 12 hours before my flight to Japan & spent most of the night repacking and packing again - trying to get ready for intense heat.....again ;) Unfortunately this morning began on a pretty bad note.  I was supposed to travel with a friend to Japan where we would arrive a day earlier in Tokyo and stay over in a hostel.  Lucky for me, my friend understands a bit of Japanese, and all would be well.  BUT she wasn't able to get through the American customs as she didn't have a US visa (she's not a Canadian citizen), so here I am at the Chicago airport psyching myself up for a solo trip in Japan.   I'm equally nervous and ridiculously excited at the same time.  This should be interesting..... 
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Well the flight wasn't as bad as I thought!  It was a bit hard to sleep at times, but the guy beside me was quiet (thank god, the worse is when they start talking and you don't know how to get them to stop) and the food was moderately edible.  I was excited thinking the flight would be Japan Airlines as I heard they have really good service but unfortunately it was American Airlines instead :(  Ah well....

I took a direct train from the airport to the hostel (Guest House Shinagawa-shuku) and here I am in Shinagawa!  I was really excited to explore Tokyo a bit, but unfortunately when I got here it got a lot darker than I thought it would be, and a lot of things in the area were closed.  I walked around the main area and saw some noodle shops, regular shops and the Princeton Hotel (which is apparently the place to be if you're rich) before heading back and getting ready for my early flight tomorrow morning to Osaka!  The weather tonight is gorgeous, definitely cooler than China with a nice breeze; unfortunately it's quite unusual.  

-M