OKINAWA!

Hello all! Guess who's in Okinawa, Japan.

First impressions? It's gorgeous. It's hot and extremely humid - we're all sweating buckets just by standing outside. The accommodations make Lassen Hall on the Chico State campus look like a five-star Hilton. All Camp Adventure participants (not just Chico State trainees) are incredible people.

I woke up at 6:30 a.m. June 11 and hurriedly packed my one giant bag and two carry-ons. The trip to the airport went well, I said goodbye to my mom and got through security without a hitch. Then I stumbled along until I saw gate 77 and the 15-20 Camp A people clumped together with piles of luggage. That's when I got really excited.

I spent the next 10 minutes being very hyper, singing Taylor Swift and generally being happy that I wasn't the only camp person there. I even met two girls going to McT with me!

Then the flight. They loaded us onto the biggest plane I've ever flown on - and I've flown on quite a few planes. Motorcycles are to normal planes as minivans are to the Boeing 777 we were on.

Tessa, my airplane buddy who had the middle seat next to my window seat, fell asleep immediately. But who could blame her? Some of the people I met up with at the airport had been flying since 6 in the morning! What would be my first flight would be their fourth.

By only the second hour of our 11 1/2-hour flight I resorted to watching the Justin Bieber movie on in-demand and - gasp! - I teared up. It was actually good! Turns out he has quite an incredible story and is pretty darn talented as well. I think about 3 other girls on the flight watched it and had the exact same reaction.

I got so bored as hour four rolled around that I started writing notes to myself about nothing on my iPod. My Nook was a savior! I'm reading the Hunger Games trilogy. It's great.

We touched down in Tokyo eventually, and then rushed to make our connecting flight to Naha, Okinawa. Every single person in our forty-something group was exhausted, excited and hot.

I had the best view as we landed in Naha at almost 9 p.m. The city rose up next to me, illuminated in the pitch black against the ocean, sharply ascending tall and bright from the shoreline. It was so colorful! The lights twinkled in turquoise, yellow, pink and white. I never imagined the island would be this big or exciting.

We stumbled off the plane and piled onto a large bus, still tired but feeling the nearness of showers and bed.

The dorms are, well, dorms. My roommate and I have an amazing view of American Village and the ocean past some buildings. It, like Naha, lights up beautifully at night.

I have to go now, we start orientation today, but pictures will (hopefully) be on Facebook soon! Click here to see my profile. And comment and ask questions - I write for you.

夏を楽しむ!