As final exams are approaching I feel much calmer than I had previously anticipated. Even though my past associations with testing have revolved around fear and nervous anticipation my language professor has been reviewing daily with us, brushing up on our grammar as well as our vocabulary. This will actually be my first time taking an exam without extended time, which is a choice that I have made after attempting to step out of my own comfort zone.

            Today is the 26^th of June, and quite a bit has happened since my last post.  We not only finished up our time in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but we also had a big week of classes.

Before I even came to Beijing, I was overwhelmed by the amount of negative press about the air quality. Both people from China and the US told me it was imperative that I have a very strong mask and be prepared for the worst, lest I return with lung problems. When I got here though, for the first week and a half the air and sky were both clear and wonderful. So far, there have only been 2 days out of the past 3 weeks where I have needed to wear a mask.

It’s hard to believe that today marks one week of being in South Africa. It feels like I've been here for a month. Honestly, I haven’t even processed this experience for myself yet. As I sit here on my bed while raindrops trickle down my bedroom window, I am scrambling for words.

We arrived as a group of 23 college students from all over the United States and Canada. We were once strangers now woven together by the tread of shared experience. It has been both a challenge and a source of self-discovery.

A big theme of my time abroad thus far has been perception versus reality: the way I view a destination or group of people in my head is always vastly different from what I experience. This past weekend three of my friends and I traveled to Rome for two days- a whirlwind trip we took with the intention of seeing as many places and absorbing as much history as possible. We decided on a Vespa tour, equipped with a expert tour guide to realize this goal. Aside: don’t worry! We rode on Vespas- we didn’t drive!

Being a foreigner in Japan means you will undoubtedly encounter challenges along the way, whether you are visiting or living there. But being someone who is of Asian descent in Japan, whether or not that includes being of Japanese descent, presents a whole unique set of challenges.

I have three different stories I would like to share of the experiences of people I know in Japan who have faced these challenges. (Disclaimer: All of these people have given consent for me to use their names and stories in this blog.)

Wow.  We're leaving for Spain already?  I keep telling myself that I cannot believe how fast this summer is going by.  I have always known time flies when you're having fun, but this is just what happens in a multi-city program, when you are shuffling from one place to the next and taking in as much of the city as you can before packing up and leaving again.  I have to be honest, though-2 weeks here was perfect.

Now that I'm more established in Beijing, I'm finally starting to get the hang of keeping up with both schoolwork and my emerging "social life". In the beginning, it seemed really hard to juggle the sudden influx of work while still trying to make friends with a bunch of new people that I haven't met before.

Last week I went with some friends to see the Tokyo Giants play the Chunichi Dragons at Tokyo Dome. I had gone to a baseball game in Japan six years ago with my family and it was so much fun that I immediately jumped at the chance to go again. The tickets were about ¥3,000 (around $25.00 at the time) which wasn’t too bad, although we ended up sitting almost all the way at the top of the dome.