the time I was tricked into planning my own surprise party...

So I was going to write this in the last post, but I was super tired and the last post would have been super long. But all I can say is that I have some of the BEST friends in the world <3 And they're sneaky sneaky (^_')

Remember Hiro? The one who I said was the president of SISEC? Well we have the same birthday (which I was SO excited about) and I knew I wanted to do something that would get everyone involved. He's worked so hard trying to organize clubs events for the freshmen and new exchange kids, that you could tell the stress was getting to him (>_<) So the idea of throwing him a surprise party got thrown out there - I had looked up some places online in the past just in case we were to have an occasion where we'd need a big space for everyone to go to, and we ended up settling on the place we went to after the Sophia Festival wayyy back in November.

My friend Momoko was the other leader in this project.... only.... she was really the one in charge of everything in the end... She planned it so I would plan my own surprise party.

Look at everyone that turned out to wish me a Happy Birthday!!! Or well at least everyone who I had invited to wish Hiro a Happy Birthday - haha. While Momoko and I were discussing possible things to do for Hiro, we had decided that we'd just send a mass-text out to see who'd be able to make it. She asked me to send the mail, so I sent it out and was SUPER excited to see all of the people who said they could make it :)
I also made a Facebook event because I didn't have everyone's mail addresses for their phones (oh yea, btw's: Japan's version of "texting" is legit e-mailing, so that's why I keep saying "mail address"). But yea, Momoko said she'd make the reservation and get Hiro a present, so I figured the least I could do was be the one who sent out the details to everyone because I wouldn't be able to see people at school anyways... yea, everyone said me being at school made it SUPER easy to plan the reverse-surprise because they could talk openly about it haha.

Momoko said she felt bad making me plan the majority of it because after I had sent the mass-texts out and updated the Facebook event, she sent a 2nd mass-text out and changed the time that people were to meet up and the name of the person who the surprise was for - haha. I legit had NO idea though - like why would I ever think I was planning my OWN surprise party? I was so scared walking into the room though. We went to the front desk of the restaurant acting like the 2 of us were there early to check out the room before everyone got there for what I had still thought was "Hiro's" surprise party. So after the guy lets us know to go to room 202, I walk past it and see that: A) the lights are off, and B) there are people inside. I started freaking out inside because like DUDE - people were in OUR room (O_o)

So I run down the hall and tell Momoko, but she was so nonchalant was just like: "It's fine, just take a look inside. I'm sure they're just still getting things ready." And me not knowing about anything is like: "IN THE DARK?!?!??!" But she just opens the door and is like: "Just check it out" (Looking back, I should have suspected something after I saw she was pulling out her camera and was smiling madd hard) I didn't know whether maybe she had invited some of Hiro's other friends from school that I hadn't met before, but I was FREAKING out inside as I walked to the door... and then she pushed me inside haha.

I didn't know what to think of when I heard people saying "SURPRISEEEEE~!!!" In my mind, I was like: A) Why is everyone legit here already, B) Why are they saying "Surprise" to me - I'm not Hiro, and C) WHY IS EVERYONE HERE!?!? I realized after like a minute or two, but I was so in shock that I didn't know what to say :) <3

People said it was hilarious knowing that I was planning my own surprise because I was SO into it. I wrote things like: "THIS IS A SURPRISE PARTY so keep this is a secret from Hiro!!!" and like "DO NOT be late meeting up at the station because this is a surprise." And looking back at all of this, I also think it's hilarious to see all of the "fake" text responses I got from people leading up to the day of the party.

My friends are the best though <3 Like Momoko found out that Hiro wasn't going to be in town for his actual birthday that weekend, so we decided to make the party on the 13th (Thursday). And the plan I had found included a birthday special, which made the course we had gotten free for the birthday person. So I unknowingly chose a plan that made it free for me...

One of the main things I had had in mind when looking for a place, was is there was a microphone in the room because I figured that it'd be a big SISEC-oriented celebration in honor of Hiro. Yea.... that just turned into straight up 2 hours of karaoke haha.

And these are the mini-cakes I, again was tricked into, picking out for myself lol. But HOW cute are they?!?!? <3 <3 <3 The white one was a Berry Shortcake and the one on right was just normal chocolate cake <3 Both had a custard filling and were SUPER yummyyyyyy~ <3 <3 <3
But like the night before, Momoko had been asking what I thought we should get for Hiro. I had said: "I feel like Strawberry Shortcake is always a safe bet for people" and her next response was like: "Okay, cool. We'll get that." I said we could look around and see what else was out there, but was like adamant on getting some form of strawberry shortcake - I now know why, hahah.

Looking back at the week of planning leading up to the event, I can start to put the pieces together and realize why she had asked me certain things lol. It was also funny how on the day of, I had gotten to Shinjuku station later than she thought I was going to - and it ended up being the same time that everyone had been meeting up at the East exit. So she texted me asking if we could go to this department store outside of the Southeast exit, and then led us in the LONG way around the station to get to the restaurant haha. The surprise was SO good though - but I'm always going to be suspicious of things from now on (^_')

And on the day of my actual birthdayyyy~ we all went to a baseball game at Meiji-Jingu Stadium!!! :D  <3 My friend Akio had been mentioning that we should go to a baseball game sometime soon, and it just turned out that there was a game on my birthday~ :) The game was between the Yakult Swallows (home team) and the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks. Fukuoka ended up winning 2-0 that night, but it didn't matter; I had a super fun time with my friends <3

( -_-) So i'm sad that this picture turned out blurry, but these are my friends waving the Swallows flag :D I was cracking up seeing all of them wave it and scream out for the Swallows, hahah <3 My friends are the best - I don't think I can say that enough. I have met some of the most amazing people while in Tokyo, and I just wish I could introduce them to everyone at home <3
Whenever I go on these exchange programs or meet new people for the 1st time, I always wonder like "What if I had come here another time?" - like I wouldn't have met all of the amazing people that I did and I wouldn't have made all of these ridiculous, fabulous, wonderful memories that I have :) I want to say thank you to everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday and thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate my birthday. I felt SO much love and can honestly say I had an amazing 21st <3

dim sum, animals, sweets galore~

hi hiiii~ so yea... sorry I was MIA again.... April literally flew by though - so weird to look back at everything. Like everyone was starting to get back to Tokyo during the first couple weeks of April, and then classes started at Sophia again on the 12th. So of course we all went out to celebrate being back together <3 It also began the long string of birthdays that happened b/t the end of April / May. So needless to say - there has been LOTS of celebrating and LOTS of awesome memories~ (^_') <3

So this was when we went out for my friend Gea's birthday; I have 6 words: all-you-can-eat-dim-sum. This was only 1 of the many steamer towers that piled high throughout the night (O_o) My friend Tama is behind there somewhere - we were played hide and seek throughout the night haha. 
We didn't realize just HOW much food we had ordered at first because only the smaller, appetizer dishes came trickling out... but yea... all of a sudden we looked at our table and we started having to marry food onto plates in order to clear space for the continual parade of food that kept making its way to our table... it legit hurt to laugh after that meal (;-_-)


Anywho, the week after that started the extended holiday week called "Golden Week" here in Japan. It's called that b/c 3 national holidays happen in a row so everyone gets off from work during that time. I was SO pumped that I actually  got off and that I was able to spend time with my friends while on the same schedule~ :D I got to meet up with my friends and meet more of the newbies that had joined SISEC <3 


One of the things we did was go to Ueno Zoo. The zoo became famous for having giant pandas... unfortunately... the pandas are no more :( I don't know what happened to them, but I didn't get to see any pandas and the red panda that lives there decided to not come out that day :( :( 

Buttttttttttttt~ I did get to see my first capybara live in person :) And I got to see my friend Ryota impersonate a capybara - hahah. 

Ohhh Ryota, he's one of the 2 new vice presidents of SISEC :) I was really excited when I found out I had been grouped with him. The zoo was pretty nice though - I don't think I was expecting much, but it was really nice to be outside for a change. 

  And after the zoo, we went to a little like vendor market-ish thing called Ameya-yokocho (アメよこ). Its just like a long strip of vendors that sell pretty much anything you can think of. But the one thing I was looking for was a vendor that was famous for selling these bags of PACKED with candy and snacks for only 1000円 ($10-ish) - and hellz yes, I totally found it :D
Like DUDE: LOOK at all of the stuff I got for 1000円 (O_o) btw's - that box in the middle is a little hard to see but it's a FULL box of cotton-candy Hi-Chews (basically the Japanese equivalent to Starburts). I got 20 :) I took all of it to a picnic I had later that weekend, but like dudeee - I was so pumped to have had found it <3 And here's the picnic we had :) We went to Inokarshira Park on the Keio line. It's used often for shooting scenes for dramas and movies, so I was super excited to go check it out :) Riding Keio-sen was nice for a change but... legit RIGHT as i stepped off of my train to go to the park, I heard an announcement saying there was a "human-related accident" at Musashinodai station... that was my OLD station from when I lived at the dorm (O_o) Like Keio-sen, I thought I could think better thoughts of you....

Anyways, the picnic was really cute <3 There was a "bento" competition, and not going to lie, ALL of the food was super yummy. I just baked cookies and layed out my intense spread of snacks I had gotten a few days before after the winners were announced lol - thankfully ALL of it was gone so I didn't have to go home with an intense amount of candy and have it staring me in the face the next morning ( -_-)

<3 <3 <3 <3 meet my cow cake
<3 <3 <3 <3 he was delicious
- the body was a roll cake and its head was a cheesecake <3 the horn and bull ring were white chocolate~


There's a little town in Tokyo called Jiyuugaoka and it's famous for having an abundance of sweets shops - and one of those places is called the Sweets Forest. It's basically like a big food court of JUST desserts. There are like 7-ish shops inside, including a Coldstone-esque mix-in ice cream shop, a Hong Kong Sweets House, a souffle shop, a shop specializing in strawberry desserts... like need I saw more?
well actually speaking of the ice cream place, I got a limited-time Green tea and Sakura ice cream with azuki bean and mochi mix-in ice cream <3 And the last dessert I got was a custard / japanese flan base piled high with fresh strawberries and cream. <3 I did not eat dinner that night.

I finally went to Yokohama~!! :D It wasn't during Golden Week, but the weekend that followed it. My friend Masa graduated this year from Sophia and got transferred to Osaka for work :( And I wasn't able to go on the overnight trip with SISEC a couple of months ago b/c I had been working, so this was the first time I had seen him since February 1st (>_<) Masssaaaaa~
But he came back to Tokyo that weekend, so I was SUPER happy to have been able to hang with him. 
The weather was SO nice out that day - sunny, breezy, and perfect along the bayside <3 I always forget how nostalgic the smell of the water is :)
So I was going to post more pictures of Yokohama during the day, but it was too hard to choose from all of them. The night view was amazing as well - the skies stayed clear and we just enjoyed each other's company while looking out at skyline <3 I've been going through spurts of homesickness recently... but i think it's because I was just cooped up in the urban chaos of Tokyo. I mean don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade the liveliness of Tokyo for anything in the world. But I'm always reminded of all of the other places Japan has to offer when I do get out and explore outside of the 23 districts every once in a while.