Leaving on a Jet Plane...

Greetings!

As of Sunday, August 31st 2008, I will be, in fact, leaving on a jet plane to Tokyo, Japan for a year of research, exploration, and discovery. I am so excited! The Fulbright has been a dream of mine for many years now and I am so excited to carry this out in a land with such rich culture, history, and tradition. This one's for you, grandma!

I will be working in a suburb of Tokyo called Kodaira at the National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry (NCNP). I will be studying all aspects of schizophrenia, from stigma to genetics. I hope that me and my amazing labmates at the NCNP will make some new discoveries at the end of this one-year journey. Ganbarimasu (I will try!).

I will be staying with the lovely Ai Fujimoto when I land in Tokyo. I am so excited to see her and a few other friends I have in Japan. She is such a talented girl. She speaks better English than me and she was born and raised in Japan! Yikes. Ai and some of her friends are going to help me find a place to live in Tokyo. Again, ganbarimasu.....

I would LOVE to keep in touch with all of you in the states. Even though the time difference is around 12 hours or so, I promise to keep the 5 am phone calls at a minimum (watch out, Riss!). It will be hard for me to call you guys from Japan, so I am trying to use Skype as my main mode of communication. It is such an easy way for us to chat (computer to computer) and for FREEEEEE!!! Here is the link, if you would like to download it: http://www.skype.com/welcomeback/

My username is "QueenMystifa." Hahaha....some things never change.

Also, I will be checking email and this blog like a mad lady, so please drop me a line whenever your heart desires. I would really, truly love to hear from you.

I am getting the butterflies about this journey already.....I will miss all of you and carry you with me always.

Love love love,
Misty

p.s. - The picture below is amazing on so many levels ;)