From the Midwest and Around the World

   When this is set to be published, I will have boarded the plane and will be about five hours into my flight to Japan.    I am currently in Detroit, sitting at my terminal and charging my laptop so that it has full power going into the 13 1/2 hour flight to Japan. Looking out the window, the plane which I will be boarding in about two hours is quite big. It has two floors (the second being 1st class only), and has ten seats in each row. I am seated in the middle of the three-seat row (no window seat), but I have economy comfort seating, so there is more foot room. In a few minutes, I will go walk up and down the terminal so as too stretch my legs and buy a snack or two for the flight. For lunch I had Chirashi sushi at a Japanese resteraunt here at the airport...it wasn't great, but it was food and I need long-lasting nourishment for this long flight.    I am really excited for this trip and am prepared to be totally immersed in the language and cul...

   The Midwest blizzard that occurred this past weekend (January 5-6) affected travellers and news reports internationally. I was one of those unfortunate travelers that got stranded in an airport as I was attempting to get to Japan in time for orientation and placement tests. Unfortunately, I did not make it and a combination of weather and overbooked flights prevented me from actually leaving Indianapolis until Friday morning. I therefore missed one day of orientation, all the placement tests, as well as two days of class. However, I have to remind myself to turn my life-lemons into lemonade and I got about four extra days at home. I will also have to be totally imersed as soon as I get to Japan, as there will be no guide sent by the school to get me to Hikone. I also got to experience being stranded at the airport for 30+ hours because there were no taxis working and I was still hoping for a flight that would take me to Detroit.    One learns a lot while travell...