TSA pre-check is one of the greatest things ever, I highly recommend getting it if you fly even kind of often. The TSA agent told me, “all you have to do is not beep”. Just like the good old days. Once getting through security and enjoying my final dining experience of Burger King (yes, dining experience), I went through the magical doors to the Sky Club because I could. The lady looked at my passport, and then asked, “Are you 21?” I’m 22, she had my passport; the math isn’t that complicated. I proceeded up the magic elevator where there was a bunch of fancy looking people and a few kids (you had to be 21 to be unaccompanied). There was a coffee/hot cocoa machine, orange juice, Nutella, Biscoff (airport cookies), and juice (somewhere there was wine, too). I sat down and enjoyed my hot chocolate, appalled at the lack of drinking etiquette around me (when in doubt, pinky out!). After I finished my drink, I joined the rest of the JCMU kids waiting for the plane. We boarded and I marveled at the awesomeness of my seat, and right as I was settling in, we were informed that we needed to deplane so they could fix something. They said it would take half an hour. About 45 minutes later, we got back on and started the 13 hour flight to Japan. Everyone talks about how cute Japanese stewardesses are, but apparently that’s just flights within Japan, because we got an older black guy and a Filipino lady. After looking through the menu of stuff I wouldn’t eat, I ordered some chicken and waited until I could enjoy the ice cream sundae for desert. I had Cap’n Crunch, and I ate half the chicken and a salad, so I was fine. I watched Ruroni Kenshin (English subs) and Brides Maids, then decided that I should try to sleep. It was about 10:30, which is the earliest I’ve ever tried going to bed in a long time. I got a total of 3-4 hours of sleep, often being awakened by chinking of dishes or opening of an overhead compartment. At about 4 am EST, they served people breakfast. Irritated at the lights being back on, I pretended to sleep for another 40 minutes before eating a croissant, some grapes, OJ, and more Cap’n Crunch. I started watching Aladdin in Japanese (which I have on DVD, but didn’t bring) and watched until the end of the first song when I decided to skip to the Cave of Wonders. I was interrupted by some flight thing literally a second before Genie started singing. I was going to throw a fit, but then the movie started again. I got through Friend Like Me before we had to turn them off for landing, so I was pacified. The problem with the announcements is that because the flight was also going to Manilla, Philippines (which I believe is where they make all of those envelopes), they said the announcements in English, then Japanese, then Tagalong (yes, like the Girl Scout cookies). I’m pretty sure Tagalog’s not even a real language, because the announcements usually sounded like, “ldsalk sadlkfjasjf wheelchair loienslk eljflskj lkej stroller pafecna dpew ne business class.” After going through customs (which was basically just we got sniffed by a dog a few times), we waited for some girl who didn’t show up, then got on a fancy bus with chandeliers to Shiga. We got our room assignments, and then I started unpacking until I got lazy and just decided to go to bed. Tomorrow we have breakfast at 8:30, then orientation at 9 because jetlag doesn’t exist and this program is run by Satan. Speaking of dyslexia, on the way here I saw a hotel called Hotel Christmas and Santa was on the roof. It was interesting.
Also, the website is now fully opened, so there’s a lot more FAQs and other pages, and you can comment and all that fun stuff.
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