First of all, I need to thank everyone who helped me to go on this trip. I thank my family for helping me in every way they could. My friends for being there for me. My fellow delegates for helping me along the way. We all grew so close to each other and I'm glad we got the chance to become better friends. My teachers for being so nice about all my make up work. Mr. and Mrs. Edwards for taking the time to prepare us for this trip, without them, none of this would ever have been possible. My host family, the Ishita's, who let me stay with them and taught me about the Japanese culture. All the students at Odaira Junior High School for being so kind to me. Especially the homeroom I was in, they treated me like a fellow classmate and they were all so extremely nice. The city of Mutsu for allowing us to come into their community and making us feel so welcome. Thank you to all these people and also anyone I've missed.

Our stay in Japan was very busy and it went by very quickly. But, I managed to have the most fun I've ever had in my entire life!

Monday, May 17, 1999
We left Port Angeles for Sea-Tac Airport after picking up my friend Jennifer around 8:00 AM. When we got to the airport, we went to the Northwest Gate where our group was going meet. We were a little worried when we get there because no one from our group was there. But, after about 5 minutes, everybody started showing up. After getting through customs we made our way through the airport. When we were getting ready to board the plane, my mom started crying. ( I knew she would ) We were slowly making our way up to the front of the line and I could still hear my mom saying, " I love you!" I felt so sad but so excited too. When we got on the plane I was sitting by two guys and I really wanted to sit by my friends Allison and Jennifer. So, I traded seats with one of the adults that was traveling with us. Evens though I was sitting by my friends, I was also sitting by a complete stranger. He got to be really annoying but I guess it could have been worse. The only thing that really bothered me was he kept saying that he couldn't wait to get off the plane and have a cigarette. During the flight there were two movies shown. They were: "Star Trek: Insurrection" and "Waking Ned Divine." I didn't watch either movie. Allison and I just listened to music, looked at magazines, and talked- a lot!!! The flight lasted 10 hours ( 10 whole hours! ) but we had finally made it to Narita Airport! After getting off the plane and going all through customs, we took a bus to Tokyo. Our hotel was really nice, it was the Takanawa Prince Hotel. We went up to our rooms ( I shared a room with Allison ) and I immediatly collapsed on the bed. I was SO tired! After we got our luggage, we got out the neccesities for the next two days in Tokyo. Then we brought our luggage down to the lobby and it was sent ahead to Mutsu City. After that, we all walked to a food-court and we were set free to go eat dinner. Allison and I went to McDonnald's. Not to our surprise, everyone else was eating there too. ( Well, not the adults, but all 10 of the middle school students ) After dinner we went to Baskin Robbins and got smoothies and shakes. After that we headed back to the hotel. On the way, we stopped at a small convenient store called "JC" and bought post cards. After that, we fell asleep quickly. ( We were completley exhausted from all the travleing! )

Wednesday, May 19, 1999
You may think that I'm getting my days confused but I'm not. You see, this is because of the time change. Japan is 16 hours ahead of Pacific time. Oh, today we woke up bright and early ( 4:30 AM to be exact ) and got ready to go to the Tokyo Fish Market. It is the biggest and cleanest fish market in the world. We saw fish almost as big as me! We also saw lots of octopus, funny-looking fish, eels, and numerous other sea beings. We stayed at the fish market for about an hour and then we were on our way back to the hotel. We were all exhausted but we managed to make it through breakfast at the hotel resturaunt. It was a buffet style breakfast and it had both American and Japanese foods. After breakfast we had about an hour of free time so myself and a few other delegates went outside to take some pictures around the pond and gardens at the hotel. We had tons of fun, even though it was raining. ( Don't worry we had umbrellas courtesy of the hotel. ) After our picture taking frenzy, we left to go sight-seeing. We found ourselves at Asakusa, which is a district in Tokyo. In Asakusa there were tons of little shops lined up and down the street. It was really crowded there and the buddy system was a must. I was partners with Jennifer and we were mostly shopping for gifts to give to our friends and family. After about 45 minutes our group met at the entrance to the Asakusa Temple. We went into the Temple and we saw lots of gold and beautiful paintings on the ceiling and people praying. It was a very interesting place. We weren't in the Temple for very long, only about 15 minutes. After that we all decided to go get some lunch. We went to a nearby Ramen House. Almost all of us had cold ramen that came with hot dip. You put the ramen in the dip and it wasn't that bad. I actually liked it.
After lunch, we all decided that we wanted some more shopping time. Asakusa was really fun and I'm glad that I got the chance to see it. We boarded more trains and subways on our way back to the hotel. We had some free time when we got back to our rooms. We spentmost of our time watching TV and calling each others rooms. We were supposed to be down in the lobby by 7 PM to go get some dinner. But, at about 6:30 PM we realized that Kenny and Richie were asleep in their room and weren't waking up. We tried calling their room, banging on the door, continuously ringing the door bell and pounding on the walls. But, they weren't waking up! Finally, we went and got a master key from the lobby and we went into their room and moke them up. Then at 7, we went to downtown Tokyo and got dinner. After dinner we had soft-serve ice cream, it was really delicious! That night we were really tired and we fell asleep soon after we arrived back at the hotel.

Thursday, May 20, 1999
Today we left Tokyo and took bullet trains to Mutsu City. After riding the trains for hours, we arrived at the Nohegi Train Station where we were greeted by adults from Mutsu. From the train station we took a 1 hour bus ride to the Mutsu City Cultural Hall. Our host families were waiting anxiously for our arrival. It was very exciting for me to see all the farmiliar faces. My host student was Azusa. She was very nice. She lived with her mother, and her younger brother and sister. Her father was not in Mutsu when I was there because he is in the Japanese Self-Defense Service. We all went into the Cultural Hall and said our introductions. Then, we got our luggage and went to our hosts houses. We ate a Japanese style dinner, including Miso Soup with tofu in it which I do not care for. After dinner I gave my host family their gifts. They were estatic, they kept saying, "sugoi!!!" Which means great or wonderful. I was extemely exhausted so after that, I went straight to bed.

Friday, May 21, 1999
Today was the day I went to a school in Mutsu. I went to Odaira Junior High School. The homeroon class I went to was very nice. Today was one of my favorite days. There were so many nice people in the school. When I walked down the hall I was treated like a celebrity! Everyone wanted to shake my hand or practice saying English. Lots of students gave me cards with their addresses on them or picture stickers. When I went to a P.E. class we played volleyball. I wasn't very good at it and even if I missed the ball completly, they still cheered and said "Good job!" I was surprised by how polite everyone was. It was an incredible experience. After school I walked home with Azusa, Jessica, Takeshi ( Jessica's host student ) , and a girl I met named Nozomi. Nozomi was very nice. We became friends and she said she'll write to me. After we got home, my host mother gave us lots of afterschool snacks and candy. We had chips and candy and juice and lots of things.
That night was the welcoming BBQ. It was at an outdoor area in downtown Mutsu. About that time I started feeling homesick and it was tough trying to hold back the tears. There were drummers at the BBQ and they were very interesting to watch. After the BBQ we went to a cake shop and my family let me pick out what kind of cake I wanted. I chose a slice of cheesecake. We went home and ate our dessert. The cheesecake was very good but not as sweet as it is in the U.S. After that I shared pictures of my family with my host family and then went to bed.

Saturday, May 22, 1999
We were headed for the Nature Institute today. But, first we did a little sightseeing around Mutsu. We went to Mt. Kamafuse where you can see all of Mutsu. It was a breath taking view. After that, we went to the Mustu Science Museum. In the Science Museum there were aftifacts and re-creations of the famous ship The Mutsu. After wandering around the museum, we went across the street to have lunch and see some science experements. I enjoyed seeing the experiments. They used liquid nitrogen to freeze things and then show us the effects it had on them. They put carnations, rubber bands, even a banana! After the science experiments we left and were on our way to the Nature Insitute.