I finally received my acceptance "letter" from my amazing study abroad adviser Maxine. Turns out she had sent it last week (05.30) and I had freaked out for the past couple of days for no reason. I got accepted into the SILS program for Fall Semester. I would have liked to do a full year, but finances and time constraints wouldn't allow it. Surprisingly its not that much longer (my stay will be a little over 6 months and the one year program is 10 months). I'm really excited and it has been my dream of going to Japan for almost a decade now and it's just 3 months away! 

To be honest I'm also pretty nervous because I have never been away from home (like truly away for an extended period of time) but if you're going to go anywhere in the world, Japan is really one of the safest places to go so I'm not worried. I have been researching on SILS graduates who posted about their trips and apparently Japan really is as safe as they say (apparently you can leave an iPhone on the train and it will very likely be at the lost and found the next day). Regardless, I definitely needed this motivator because ever since Spring semester ended at the University of Utah I have been feeling very useless and purposeless. Sure I'm working but it's not exactly getting me anywhere in life.

I'm also a bit anxious because I may have miscalculated how much it will cost me to live in Japan. I am about 85% certain that I have all my necessary expenses paid for by financial aid and many scholarships. Things like:

• tuition
• roundtrip plane ticket
• dorm expenses
• linen fee
• deposit
• utilities
• rent
• waseda school fees

But I didn't think I would need *too* much extra for personal expenses so I was averaging 1,000$USD per month as a spending limit so I decided on at the least 5,000$USD to bring with me (planned on 6--this was before I was aware of arrival/departure dates and I thought it was only a 5 month trip), but looking at the "average monthly expenses" chart that came in my e-packet from Waseda, it looks like 1,500$USD is more ideal. And some research reinforced that. Granted 1,000$USD is really just personal expenses like laundry, transportation, fun things, pokemon, and what not... I eat so damn much I may eat through 2k per month hahah. 

I think I should be fine though and I'm going to try and bring 7k at least. I don't want to have to come crying home for even a penny, so I'm definitely going to watch my spending.

....and sell as much Pokemon I can before I leave.