I woke up around 7 am. Using my airline's website, I confirmed my check-in, plus the new suitcase. I decided to go and grab breakfast at McDonald's. After breakfast, I returned to the apartment and took a shower and then appropriately got dressed for the long flight. A little later, Matt returned to the apartment, he had been out all night at the Karaoke parlor with his friends. Instead of going straight to bed, he began getting ready for his cultural class that afternoon. I checked in on the Clemson/Carolina game, and at 9 am kick-off finally happened. The previous evening, Ian and I had humored the idea of watching it; unfortunately doing so would've caused us to miss our planes.
Seriously, why can't we have good things?
After Matt was ready and I had packed away my netbook, we took the train to Shinjuku. For the next hour, we hung out at the platform for the Narita Express. When the train arrived, we said our goodbyes (of course it involved pictures). On the train to the airport, I got a few final glimpses of Tokyo.
I'm certain that he'll miss his awesome house guests
My lunch that day
The Narita Express
When I got off the express, I found a vending machine that would take suica cards, so I proceeded to use my remaining balance on my card. After drinking a lot of calpis, I awkwardly maneuvered my luggage around the airport looking for the kiosk that I rented my phone from. After returning my rental phone, I made my way to my airline's counter. At the counter, I printed out my ticket and checked my luggage. Finally after all the security and procedures, I made to the waiting area for my plane. I had arrived early, so I bummed the airport's wifi. I managed to see some trash talking on facebook, and I was able to piece together the not-so-subtle-clues that USC had won. Shortly afterwards, I boarded my plane and we took off at 3:39 pm (December 1st). 12 hours later, we landed in Atlanta at 1:35 pm (December 1st).
Densha Otoko reference
Final thoughts: My trip to Japan was certainly enlightening, many parts of it exceeded my expectations and several parts of it fell short. For my next stint, I think that it would be at most a week. Climbing Mt. Fuji, visiting a authentic Onsen, and trying kobe beef are all on my bucket list. For now, I'll continue practicing my Japanese.
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