It is easy to have fun and neglect my responsibilities here in Japan. I know I'm supposed to have fun, but I still feel a little guilty for not studying as much as I should. I enjoy going out to the downtown area of Kobe with other international students and with my host siblings, and I usually return home for a seven o'clock or eight o'clock dinner, which is a later dining time than what I'm used to. Dinner lasts for an hour or so, and then I begin my homework. I'm always up late chatting, taking walks, or studying with my host family. It's wonderful in the sense that I interact with them a lot (I still wonder if they consider it too much interaction), but I'm not sleeping for as long as I would like each night.

I received a few questions about my host family that I will answer now in case more than one person has similar questions. My host brother is nineteen, he'll be turning twenty this January, and my host sister turned sixteen this past June. My host brother is definitely someone whom I consider spending time with enjoyable. His demeanor seems mature, he shares some similar interests with me, and I find him very easy to speak with. My host sister, while I enjoy spending time with her, is more rebellious, I'd say, more mischievous, and maybe more self-centered than my host brother. When I say self-centered, my intent is not negative or reflective of a perceived character flaw, but simply an observation I believe to be true due to her young age and lack of worldly experience in comparison with someone older than she. However, I have gone shopping with her one-on-one, I talk to her at home, and I have gone on walks with her, but always in the company of another host family member. I have spent a considerable time with my host brother up to this point because he is home from university, but when he returns to university for the fall semester in two weeks or so, I will rarely see him, and I may spend more time with my host sister then than I do now.