It's mid August, but you can stick a fork in my summer because the traveling is over and I am facing a mountain of work as the year moves towards fall. In the past two months since I've last visited this space I have traveled to Japan, Canada, Chicago, Florida, Tennessee, Florida (again), and finally back home. Let me take a moment now to emphasize that Japan was probably the most incredible place I've traveled to so far. It was my first immersion in an eastern culture and the experience opened my eyes to a type of society that was completely different than what I've been exposed to in the past. I went there with no agenda to speak of and so I spent a lot of my time walking around Kobe, Kyoto, Osaka, and Hiroshima just watching and listening (not to mention smelling) the city life that I was often in the middle of. For weeks I explored the hidden alleys and neighborhoods that most foreigners will never see. Unfortunately I never saw very much of Tokyo because I got the opportunity to spend time on the beach that is pictured above with a brilliant group of Irish kids that work as engineers in Japan. I didn't know anyone in Tokyo and I figured that the city would still be there when I get back to Japan but I probably wouldn't get the chance to be on that beach with those kids ever again. I wasn't disappointed, although by the end of our time together my liver was on strike from the amount of alcohol I had ran through my system. I also have to mention Taylor. I got to spend some of the best moments of my life bumming around Japan with her and sleeping as a stowaway on the floor of her small dorm room at the Kobe University International Student Housing. Anyways, hanging out with my god-sister in a foreign country was definitely one of the highlights of my life.
Then I hustled through Canada/Chicago, and bummed with my family on the beach in Florida for a week. It was incredible to see them after nearly a month abroad. Anyways, another trip back to Florida (this time to St. George's Island) and I'm back to normal life trying to plan a trip around Halloween to DC/Baltimore/NYC. Until then I have a lot of work to do. Back to normal living, and getting ready to move to South Carolina in January, but more on that later. So yeah, I survived the summer so far and I'll be back soon to fill you in on more of my life but for now I have to catch up on all of the stuff that has been left for me to deal with now that I am back in Tennessee.
Then I hustled through Canada/Chicago, and bummed with my family on the beach in Florida for a week. It was incredible to see them after nearly a month abroad. Anyways, another trip back to Florida (this time to St. George's Island) and I'm back to normal life trying to plan a trip around Halloween to DC/Baltimore/NYC. Until then I have a lot of work to do. Back to normal living, and getting ready to move to South Carolina in January, but more on that later. So yeah, I survived the summer so far and I'll be back soon to fill you in on more of my life but for now I have to catch up on all of the stuff that has been left for me to deal with now that I am back in Tennessee.