The first time you get off the train and out of the station in Motomachi it might not look very promising, but once you look a little deeper there are a few sparkles about this town that you will definitely enjoy. 

Especially during Christmas season when the whole main street is lit up and there’s the big Christmas tree right by the road it’s almost magical walking along the street, window-shopping or enjoying a nice hot chocolate from Star-bucks. 

Twice a year they have a big “Charming Sale”, once in September and once in March. My favorite shops to go to and the ones that have nice and cheap stuff are Gap, Zara and a Japanese one called Class. You can find really nice tops for under 1000 yen which is about $10. 

There are also a few nice restaurants that are in a reasonable price range. For example on the main street there is an Italian place called “Capricciosa” and in one of the back streets there is a tiny place called “Papa Joe’s” that has really yummy beef fajitas and garlic pizzas. If you have more of a sweet tooth there is a place called “Cheesecake Factory” that has some really good desserts. 

If you want to experience some of the history up the hill there is the The Yokohama Foreign General Cemetery. Lots of soldiers from the war are buried there and others are recognized on a big metal plate. 

Right opposite of the cemetery is Yokohama International school. It has some amazing people from all over the world and they are super friendly so they will help you find your way around if you get lost. 

As I walked into the “Ink Skull” I started feeling a little queasy. Was it going to hurt? What if he made a mistake? Was I ever going to regret it? I had chosen the design I wanted weeks ago, a world map. It was supposed to symbolize my childhood and all the traveling I had done and places I’d been too. I always wanted to remember these years where I saw so many new countries and had the chance to visit many different cultures. It would also remind me of the time I spent with my family on these trips and all the positive and also negative moments we went through together. But most of all, all the amazing people I met and all the friends I made that will stay with me forever. 

Yes. I was completely sure I wanted it. But I had to admit I was a little scared off by all the guys covered with tattoos and piercings that were walking around the “Ink Skull”. My friend gave me a little nudge and I went to the person sitting at the desk and told them I’d like to get a tattoo. I gave them the design of the map and they led me into a room in the back and all of the walls were covered in gory paintings and graffiti. A few of my brother’s friends however told me that this place was very clean and professional so I  had nothing to worry about. I waited for about ten minutes with my friend telling me stories about how her uncle got a tattoo and it got infected and he had to go to the hospital etc. My hands started sweating and I my throat tightened. ‘I’ll be fine’, I kept telling myself. Then, the guy with the needle came. That needle was huge. I had never seen anything like it. I took a deep breath, grabbed my friends hand and closed my eyes. As the needle entered my neck I felt a rush of pain go all the way down my back. After a few seconds I got used to the pain so that I could tolerate it without screaming. 

An hour later I had a huge patch on my neck and it was burning like crazy. But once I took the patch off and saw it I was overwhelmed. It was amazing. All the pain went away and all I felt was joy. I loved it. 

 1) fall in love

 2) write a letter to my 4 best friends 

 3) have a huge party 

 4) tell my parents and brother i love them

 5)  go to Africa, China, Iraq, Russia, North pole, Jamaica

 6)  go into space

 7) help someone 

 8) get a job 

 9) get a tattoo 

10) go sky diving 

The night before my dad told us he had a surprise planned for us as a reward for our good report cards so we got up really early in the morning (well, at like 9 which is early for vacation) and took the car from our hotel in Vegas out to the airport. I had absolutely no idea what was coming until I saw HELICOPTERS. Instantly I was sooooper excited! We had to check in like as if it was a real flight and we even got a flight number and boarding pass. My brother and I were just taking looads of pictures of all the helicopters we saw landing outside and he really wanted a picture with the helicopter (facebook profile pic of course (: ) so we were taking shots of each other posing while waiting for our boarding time.

Fiiinally after watching the “safety procedure video” about a million times we met our pilot and took our seats in the helicopter. Another quick picture with the amazing headphones and off we were. So on the way we saw loads of things like the biggest man-made lake or something, a fancy retirement..town type thing, I don’t remember all the details but something I’ll never forget was when we first entered the Grand Canyon. The amazing pre-historic landscape and all of that in that brownish red stone, it was just absolutely breathtaking. It was just the color contrast of the red rock, blue sky, and then almost green colorado river that amazed me. We landed inside the canyon and ate lunch in the blazing hot sun which wasn’t all that great.

On the way back we flew over the famous Las Vegas Strip! It’s even more impressive seeing all those colorful and crazy buildings from the top, one of the towers even had a roller-coaster on top. 

This flight was definitely a highlight of my, by the way first, trip to the U.S.