Its been a week since I've returned from internship in Japan and I've just barely acclimated back to my usual lifestyle here in the California. To help re-acclimate myself, I even celebrated my return with a good old fashion cheeseburger and chocolate shake from In n Out. Now that I am back,  I no longer have miso soup for breakfast, commute by trains nor do I have to constantly survive the humid heat of Japan. These were all a part of my daily life while I was interning in Japan.

 Its my last day in Japan and I cant help but think about the things I'm going to miss when I return to the United States.

1. The abundance of vending machines

One of my favorites, vending machine spaghetti

The curriculum given to me during my internship at Suruga Bank has surpassed all my expectations. Coming into this internship, I was expecting to be placed behind a computer, crunching numbers for financial reports and running errands. I was expecting to learn as much as I could about Japanese banking on my own accord, by accomplishing my specific job and observing my surroundings. However, the people who have hosted me here at Suruga Bank have been very active in educating me about their business.

Dabukkyou, a 30 foot statue of Buddha in Kamakura city

One of the gates in the Toshogu Shrine, look at all the gold!

At my home in Los Angeles, commuting can be very aggrevating. Like clockwork, commuting traffic will flood the freeways at 7am and 4pm. After an hour's worth of driving during these congested times, I always tell myself  "man, I could have walked farther than this." Most of the time, I'm not even lying. Much like Los Angeles, Tokyo gets jam packed during these commuting hours. You just have to replace the sea of cars that you can see in LA, with sea of people to imagine what it is like in Tokyo. However, there is one key difference between these two enormous cities.

My work in Shizuoka finally begins. Suruga Bank moved both me and Josh, the other intern, to Shizuoka to work at the main branch for the next 3 weeks. They set us up in a hotel where we truly got to experience the "business trip" cliche. We pretty much had a routine established: free hotel breakfast, a 9 to 5 workday, bus back to the hotel, buy an overpriced local dinner and a one-on-one with the tv until lights out!

I have packed in so much into my first week  that it feels like I've been here for a month! After getting off the plane in Narita Airport I can immediately feel the humidity, which prompts me to make my first purchase, a drink called Pocari Sweat...I swear it tastes good!

Right now I am sitting in San Francisco airport near my gate waiting for flight United 837. All I can think is how fast my trip to Japan came up without me noticing. Just two days ago I was finishing up my final exams at UCLA. After a quick drive back to my hometown in Santa Cruz and with what seemed like only minutes to pack, I haven't even had the time to think about the exciting prospect of being in Tokyo for the next two months of my summer.