Last Day at Technos

Friday - June 13, 2013

Check out time was 9:00am.  We all made our way down to the lobby of the MaRRoad Inn one last time.  Bags were stuffed, pink T-Shirts were in full force, and a tired melancholy lingered over the group.  There was no agenda for the morning.  We had a few hours before we had to make our way to Technos so Mike, Mike and I recounted our karaoke glory as we headed to Fuchu one last time for some shopping.  We walked to the main shopping area.  It's only one train stop over but it was a nice day.  We really did luck out with the weather.  I think we only had three real days of rain the entire trip and the rain was never detrimental to the activities of a given day. 

The 100 yen store was full of familiar faces picking up last minute items.  Decorative chopsticks, Japanese lunch boxes, sake bowls, and Japanese sweets were all popular purchases but in the 100 yen store and in the department store directly below.  Mike, Mike and I wandered to another store when the perfect thing happened...  as we were sitting along the sidewalk waiting for a store to open, the guy that bought us sushi that first Monday walked by.  We were in such disbelief that we didn't say hello.  We probably should have.  But it was definitely him.  We even confirmed it by looking at the pictures we had taken of him.  This trip has been full of little things like that.  Things that just seem too perfect.

If there was one thing I wanted to be perfect though, it was this speech.  Along with the nerves of having to deliver it, I was also a little embarrassed that I was the one asked.  Any one of the faculty members could have and would have delivered an amazing speech... but it was on me.  haha  I needed to come up with some quality.

I eventually broke off from Mike and Mike and headed to Technos about an hour and a half early.  I figured if I was going to find the answers to this speech it would be there.  As I arrived I was struck by how I felt like I belonged there as soon as I walked on campus.  Twelve days ago I walked on as a stranger and now I felt like I was a small little part of it all... at least temporarily.  I thought I might find a place to sit down to write some things out but a funny thing happened...  I kept running in to people I knew.... not international students and faculty... but Technos students and faculty.  For about an hour I had conversation after conversation with people I had met over the last twelve days.  People who had gone all out to make me feel welcome, and special, and like I was a part of their campus. 

I don't think I wrote a single useful thing down. 

The closing ceremony was wonderful.  The Technos team had turned the room into a bit of a carnival atmosphere.  There were games to play and prizes to win and there were all sorts of fun snacks and cotton candy and beverages.  Dr. Tanaka gave a speech early on that was extremely warm and giving.  People were laughing and crying and taking photos.  It was really nice.

Even a dragon shows up to the final party!

Volleyball champions and baseball friends having a last conversation.

Mike gets in a great photobomb.

One last shot with Shinya and Ryo.  Loved that Shinya wore a Hobart shirt for the final ceremony.

Gimma, on the other hand, went for the full suit and tie.  Looking sharp, brother!

Later it was time for more of the presentation.  There was a great movie/photo montage that the Technos students put together.  Certificates of presentation were handed out to each of the international students.  And... there were the speeches.  Linus, a student from Oxford, gave a really nice speech.  I was very impressed.  One of the Technos students gave a great speech too. 

My speech... well...  it's tough to sit here and type it out and have it really mean what it did then.  All I can say is that it centered around a pretty common theme in this blog...  That this trip isn't about temples, or mountains, or museums.  It's not about architecture, or food, or art.  What made this trip special, what made this trip truly unforgettable, what made this trip one of the most wonderful experiences of my life were the people.  At times they made us feel like royalty.  At times they made us feel like family.  At times they made us feel like celebrities.  They went all out for us.  Any request by us was met with 100% commitment from them.  And so, among other things, I requested one final thing...  I requested that they come visit us... at our various schools throughout the world, so we could have the chance to at least try to make them feel as special as they made us feel. 

We watch the film put together by the Technos students.

Dayana receives her certificate.

Alex receives his.

Don't screw this speech up, Hatch.

Saying thank you as Dr. Tanaka looks on.

A final bow to Dr. Tanaka

After the ceremony we all loaded onto the bus and many of the students and faculty followed us out.  It was a pretty unreal moment.  Some of the students actually ran alongside the bus as we left.

As the bus left we all kind of deflated.  Not in a bad way... but the emotions were running so high that it was nice to have a moment to cry, catch our breath, and process.  We were off to the hotel but we had one last stop before we headed up there.  We were headed to Ueno.  Ueno is an interesting area of Tokyo.  One the one hand, this district is home to numerous important museums and cultural sites.  On the other hand, it's also home to things like street markets, a major transportation hub, and a large percentage of Tokyo's homeless population.  We only had about two hours in Ueno before we continued our trip to the hotel and if there was one thing that I learned on this trip about excursions, it was to follow Sho.  When we got off the bus, I stuck by Sho's side.  The guy is a professional tour guide after all.  I figured if anyone could show me a great place to eat and give me a fun, cultural experience, it was him.  Plus, Sho is just an joy to be around so logging in a few more hours with him would be a treat in and of itself. Sho took a few of us to what he said was his favorite ramen restaurant in Tokyo.  Now this was exciting.  I wasn't a fan of the soba but I had heard the ramen was amazing and somehow it had eluded me thus far on the trip.  IT WAS AWESOME.  Where was this on our trip!?!?!  hahaha  Between the shabu shabu last night and the ramen today I had two of my favorite meals within my last 24 hours of the trip.  Sho then took us to the street markets.  I bought a rather bold hat and we also found a claw game that offered plastic pieces of sushi as prizes instead of the more typical stuffed animals.

Step right up and win a plastic piece of uni!

After our stint in Ueno it was off to the hotel but an unbelievable thing happened as we were getting on to the bus.  Some of the Technos students actually traveled from the campus to Ueno to say goodbye again!  We also had to say goodbye to Bob who was flying out of a different airport.  That was sad.  The goodbye thing just keeps happening.

The hotel by the airport is very nice and despite the long day of travel that we all have tomorrow, we all stayed up very late and just enjoyed hanging out with each other one last time.  Yuji was with us and it was great to hang out with him a little bit more.  I suspect we all just don't want this to end.  We know that when we wake up tomorrow, it'll be all about getting to the airport.  Yuji probably can't wait for tomorrow.  He's been amazing on this trip.  I hope he can take a vacation for a few days.