My name is Andrea Shwaga. Im your basic 17 year old girl, with school, friends, boys and of course, HOMEWORK! I live in Canada, Alberta out in the middle of nowhere, and I was into a show called Inuyasha. I was at school when the annoucment came that changed my life forever...

Me and my friend Brandi were walking through the hallways when Shaylene, a spunky and never-get-down-on-energy girl came running up to us. " Hey! Andrea, Brandi! WAIIT!" We stopped. Shaylene was younger than me, so was Brandi and pretty much the rest of the people I hung out with at school. But I didnt care. Shaylene was gasping in air like she was dying." Whats the rush?" asked Brandi. I nodded and crossed my arms. I was impacent, but hey, can you blame a teenager? Shaylene fianlly stopped. " I just heard that theyre having an exchange program with Tokyo! and its grade 7 to 12!" Me and Brandi perked up at the metion of Tokyo. " Brandi, are you thinking what Im thinking?" She turned and had a evil smile. " Oh yea." We raced towards the buses when the final bell rang of the day. I waved to Brandi and got on my bus. In my head, my brain was racing. Tokyo! Where Inuyasha was created! I was soooo going!

As soon as I got home, I went straight to my mom. " Hey mom! Guess what! Theyre having an exchange of students and its all grades!" My mom looked at me from the computer. " Where?" "Tokyo" My mom's eyebrows raised. " I dont.." " AWW! Come on mom! This is a one in a life time oppurtiny! Its just like Steven and Paris."My older brother had gone to Paris for a school trip. " Remember you said you wanted me to have a chance like that? Well I can! And Brandi will probably be going too!" She looked at me, with serious thought. " Find out how much, and how long youre going to be staying there. I want ALL the information if youre going." I punched a fist into the air. " YES! Tokyo, here I come!" Later on that night, I called Brandi, and her mom was having trouble with it, so with a little help from my mom, Brandi was going too! We went to school the next day, Even though it was Saturday, to find out about the trip. It was better than my mom had hopped! The cost would be $900 dollars, and two students would be staying at the exchanged students home. We would be staying in Tokyo for 5 months, and for a extra treat, even though me and Brandi hardly thought it was, that we'd be going to the other students school too for educational purposes, and to see other cultures.We'd be leaving next Saturday. But of course, several overprotected parents HAD to ask for phone numbers and ect...but Im gonna skip all that. Why? Well, do you wanna know ALL of the details of the meeting? I though so. Anyways, After a week of gathering supplies, and making sure mother taped my Inuyasha when I was gone, We were off! Lucky for me and Brandi, we got paired for everything. I think thats cause my mother and Brandi's mother said something...Oh well. The plane ride, Uhhh never agin will I drink that orange juice... Ok, moving forward!

We had arrived in Tokyo! Me and Brandi were givin a whole lotta numbers. I have never seen that many in my life. But the car ride was ok. The vehicle was strange... very. But when we arrived, my jaw dropped. I grabbed Brandi. " Holy crap! Its just like the house in Inuyasha!" We got out and grabbed our lugage. A woman and man walked out of the house. They bowed and so did we. What? Dont you think I know Japanese stuff! Ha! Im at home already! The man walked forward. " Konichiwa." I smiled. " Konichiwa." He smiled back. " You know Japenese?" I nodded my head. " Yes. I've learned some of the languge." He gave a little laugh. " I am Gentoi Hitochi. And this is my wife Yanika. We both know english, so you wont have to trouble yourselves." " Thank you." I pulled Brandi closer. " This is Brandi Crawford, and I am Andrea Shwaga. Thank you for allowing us to stay with you." " Your most welcome. Please come in and rest your weary bodies. We will have some tea and later my wife will show you the house, and were you will be staying." We headed into the house and I almost fell over. It was almost exactly like Kagome's house! We all gathered around a small table. Mr. and Mrs. Hitochi sat down, uh, more like kneeled. Me and Brandi stood awkwardly. Mr. Hitchi laughed. " You are allowed to sit down Andrea and Brandi." Me and Brandi sat down on the comfortable pillows. And I must say, I like Japenese chairs better than Canadaian!

So there we sat with Mr. and Mrs. Hitochi talking about everything. I told them about how I wanted to become a horsemaster and a animist. Brandi on the other hand stayed quiet. Thats pretty normal. So it was night before we knew it. Mrs. Hitochi showed us were we'd be sleeping. It was a medium sized room, with two single beds. As we got ready for bed, I opened the window and stared outside. " Hey Brandi." " Uh? Wha?" " Come and check out the view." She stood beside me. Tokyo was amazing. In the daytime, it was really busy just like Edmonton. But with LOTS more people. As we turned around I felt a something. I stopped and froze. It was like goosebumps, but like water flowing through my body. " Andrea? Whats up?" Brandi's voice made the sensation end. " Uh, nothing. Lets go to bed." I layed there, with a feeling in my stomach. You know the type when you know something is outta place. But I just thought of it as plane sickness and fell asleep.

When I woke up, I could see that Brandi had already woken up way before me. I sat up and swung my legs over the side of my current bed. I got up, brushed my hair/teeth, and wore my Old Navy t-shirt. My favorite...hehe. and a pair of faded jeans. As I went downstairs, I could see Brandi, Mr. and Mrs. Hitochi chatting.

"Good moring Andrea." I stopped as soon as I was at the table. " Mrs. Hitochi what is the time?" She glanced at a nearby clock, which by the way was Japenese. " Its 9:00am." I nodded a thank you and sat down. Mr. Hitochi was reading a newspaper. " So Andrea, from what Brandi has told us, you two are interested into seeing Tokyo?" I nodded. " Yes Mr. Hitochi. We were actually going to see if there's a place called 'Anime Town'. Is there one?" He nodded at me. " Yes there is. But I have to go to work, so Mrs. Hitochi will be here to help you out, and sort out everything." He looked at his watch. " Oh, I must go." He got up and bowed and left. As my attention was drawn back to the table, there was a plate of pancakes. " Brandi told me what you two like to have for breakfast." " Arigeto." I took a bite. YUUUUMMMYYY!. After Breakfast and helping out Mrs. Hitochi with dishes, since it was a way of showing respect, we went shopping. Shopping! Oh man! I never had sooo much fun! I got new PJ's and t-shirts and a couple of pants. Brandi got a couple of shirts and pants too. I found hair stuff, and I cant even describe what they do! We had been shopping for 4 hours, And yeah We got spoiled! We went back home. Alright ppl. Thats it 4 this chapter. Laters!-Andrea