Anxious much?

Ever since I found out that I was going to Japan this past winter, people have been telling me what an experience I will have in Japan. They all ask me the same questions, they all want to identify me by the same points of reference. You can probably guess what they are. Then many of them tell me stories about their own travels and give me words of wisdom. They all tell me how much of a learning experience it will be, how much I will mature and grow. Of course I believe it. I know it will happen. But it has not become real to me yet. It's not going to until I step off that plane at my last stop and meet my host mother and sister. A student from my class said about his trip to Japan, "I woke up one morning and said, 'Wow, I'm in Japan.'" Right now, for me, it's all in my imagination. I have an idea of what my house, my family, and my town looks like, and all the pictures of Japan I've seen in my lifetime. Thats all the glorified stuff of it. I'm sure that we don't show the slums of America to advertise it. It's New York City, Hollywood, Orlando. It's Christmas, Fourth of July, Macy's Parades that they see. And what do we see of Japan? Tokyo, flashing lights, beautiful temples and gardens. Mount Fuji, cherry blossoms. New Years festivals. What happens the rest of the time? All I have are American points of reference. School, homework, the English language. The ABCs. How am I going to do homework over there? I'm getting three weeks of class and no kana work. It's going to be one hell of a time. Who knows how I'm going to get by. Thank God for the internet. Thank God for God. I'm done ranting now. I gotta sleep or something.