Wish You Were Here // 04

photo / journal / illustration & graphic by Annabelle Mintz }

It’s our last installment of the travel journal series! So far, we’ve visited France, Australia, and Spain – now we’re headed to Kyoto, Japan.

When I first visited Asia, it was probably the first place where I truly had culture shock – there were just so many things that were different about the way we did things back home.  I remember thinking it was remarkable that you could get a cheeseburger from a vending machine, and that green tea was a dessert flavoring as well as a beverage.

It was fall when we visited (so swap vibrant red maple leaves for those cherry blossoms and you’ve got the idea), and the only thing that felt familiar was the crisp air and the rice. I was fascinated with the language, so I asked pretty much everyone I encountered to teach me words and write the characters in my notebook, which I would practice on drives from place to place. It’s amazingly pretty, isn’t it? They have art built into their language. And despite all the differences, the longer I spent in Japan, the more I fell in love with it.

{ journal courtesy of Minted / image by Annabelle Mintz }

Also, remember that the Minted giveaway closes tomorrow! You can enter to win a Minted journal of your choice, pick any of their awesome designs and customize it any way you like – even the paper you’d like inside.

Enter here by Thursday, July 25th at 11:59PM, PST – you have one more day to enter! The winner will be announced next Wednesday here on the blog, so be sure to check in.

This post was sponsored by Minted, but all content and opinions are my own.  I only support what I love – promise.