I may have had one of the best days of my life today.

Even though it was a Saturday, we had school (or more specifically, the big singing competition) today, so I still had to get up at 6. The morning was pretty norma routine (get up, have breakfast, get dressed etc), but when I got to school was when the good day started. We practiced hard-out in the morning for about an hour or two, then competed. We were going to wear matching hair ties, but one of the teachers stopped us at the last minute (probably breaking school regulations, even though they don't usually care about the hair ties), so we had to leave them behind. We competed. I can't remember how it was cos I blanked. After that we went back to our seats, and watched all the other performances. It wasn't too bad, but there are 12 classes, and they all sing two songs; 'his yoke is easy and his burthen is light' and one of their choice (we did Shinjiru). 'His yoke is easy and his burthen is light' isn't too bad, but the only words in it are those in the title. Repeated over and over again. With 12 classes doing it. I got a tad sleepy. The girl next to me was fun to watch cos she would fall asleep then shoot back up again (Vicky - never again will I be able to say I haven't seen people do this, the students at this school need more sleep). I had some nice weather/tiredness/musical awesomeness conversations with her in the intervals though. I nearly lost my hair tie cos I only found out at the last minute we weren't using them, so put it on a random chair, but I found it again ^^ (yes, I will go into this much detail :P). In the end, two senior teams won (not surprising).

At homeroom afterwards, I was presented with a book with individual messages from all 50 students in the class. That's a lot. It's so sweet!! If anyone from 1C is reading this, I love you guys so much!! I didn't cry, but I was shaking really badly the whole time. I had no clue what to say, so I said thank you and that I love them all (which is true). After that, a bunch of people came up and hugged me goodbye (long hugs, cos that's how we roll in Japan). A few gave me birthday/going-away presents too. 

After that, Risera, Leona, Yuuri, and Mipi helped me clear out my desk and return everything to Ms. Takamine. Risera, Leona, and I went to Kichijoji together after that. I bought a pair of pink nerd glasses (don't judge, they said everything I wore was cute, so it was disorientating), and then it was on to my goodbye/birthday party. 

We went to this place where you have big boiling pots, and assortments of raw meat and vegetables to put in them. It was so fun (but I ate WAY too much). At the start, there was a good 20 minutes of photo taking ^^ 'Twas heartwarming it was. Everyone had loads of food and talked lots. I was really tired, so I spaced out quite a bit though. I got some more presents there too. The most heartwarming ones were the ones from people I hadn't talked to that much, but still had the aura of 'we're gonna miss you' around them. That was two or three hours. At the end, when we were saying goodbye, Megu cried. It was the cutest thing ever. I think I didn't cry today because I found it a happy thing. It's not like we're never going to see each other again, and I felt really truly loved, I have no reason to cry. It is a time to be happy.  

Afterwards, Leona, Risera, and I went to take purikura. It was really humid, so my hair was a mess though. They put me middle centre for all of the purikura, so I felt a bit Gwen Stefani (not sure if it's in a good way or not). We didn't really have anything left to do after that, so we went to meet my host mother (to take me the rest of the way home cos it seems I'd get lost otherwise). Here's where it really gets lovely: Leona, Risera and I were doing our Ippatsu Gag rituals and having long hugs to say goodbye. I got on the train with my host mother. I waved to them from the train, they waved to me from the platform. We saluted each other. My train pulled away. They started running after it. They were running and waving until we were fully out of sight of each other. My heart is actually aching remembering this. Shit, I'm not going to see these people for a while, am I? NOW I'm sad. 

I walked to the Conbini with my host mother. We talked. Probably the best talk we've had. We continued talking until Haruna got back about an hour later. I gave the family their final omiyage. They liked them ^^ They also gave me a birthday present. It was indescribablubble, but awesome in it's own way. 

For dinner, we went out to an Italian restaurant. There was only a bit of chatter (I was tired, so I couldn't think of much to say), but it was comfortable. I didn't eat too much, but added to the lunch eaten not too long ago, I didn't feel particularly great afterwards. Especially when we returned to the house, and I had chocolate cake (with cream in it) for dessert. Cream doesn't do much good for a bad stomach, I must say. 

I know it doesn't sound that interesting here, but trust me when I say this day was truly awesome.