I could feel the cool crisp air against my rosy and flustered cheeks and all around me I was surrounded by the blossoming of the white and pastel-pink cherry blossom tress.  I had this warm-fuzzy feeling in my stomach.  The word joy comes to mind, I felt completely content. 

I could not imagine a better spent spring break than traveling to Japan with my best friend.  It was an experience I'll never forget. We were able to adventure around the different cities of Japan and undertake new things for the first time together.  We were immersed in such a different culture, and were able to grow and learn from this experience.  Exploring the streets of Japan felt so invigorating. I felt so alive, and at the same time I felt like I had been missing out on so much.  There is so much more to this world than what I know, or what I thought I knew.  We explored Japan to the fullest. The adorable boutiques and extravagant malls, as well as their divine cuisine and innovative technology.  I was mesmerized by this place, and all I could think of was what to do next. 

While walking up and down the streets of Tokyo passing by many shops, restaurants, and crepe kiosks, my friend Kaydi and I came across the cutest key chains.  They were big fluffy fur balls of assorted colors. The were so soft and furry. It was love at first sight and we were hooked.  We knew we had to buy them.  Being that we are both very indecisive, we couldn't decide on which color to get. There were pink, blue, fuchsia, white, and so many more colors and so little time.  Naturally we decided on the color pink. It resembled spring time (pink cherry blossom trees), as well as a new beginning to our expanding friendship. 

By this time our stomachs were grumbling, and it was time for lunch.  What better place to eat at than a ramen shop. We settled into the restaurant with our new keychains rattling around still in hand, and we couldn't wait to put them on our set of keys.  From there it was endless amounts of pictures and snapchat stories filled with our beloved fur balls.  We couldn't help but rub them against our face and play with them non-stop. It was our fun new toy, and we couldn't resist such furry-ness and softness. 

It had been about a year since Kaydi and I had become best friends.  We met each other through cheer. I was new on the team and hadn't really known anyone, and she was the fun-loving and outgoing girl who was eager to get to know me.  Our mutual friend whom we also did cheer with was throwing her extravagant sweet 16, and this would be our first party we had ever gone to. We were both young and naive freshmen, and hadn't really known much of the upperclassmen from Mid Pac, so we decided to stick together.  We were connected by the hip the entire night, dancing and just having fun.  From that night on, we have been practically sisters. 

Our trip to Japan together had opened up an entire new level to our relationship.  We were already as close as ever, but now we had just traveled to another continent together. This was beyond exciting.  The trip had consisted of first time experiences, trying new and different things, going outside our comfort zones and having an open mind.  We were able to experience so much more about the world from this trip, taking time away from our normal day-to-day lives and venturing new cultures and customs.  We are reminded of this trip everyday, not only from the pictures and souvenirs, but by our pink fluffy keychains that we carry around everywhere.  Our keychains symbolize not only our friendship, but our travels, adventures and new experiences that we were able to do together. It symbolizes something sacred. Although most people perceive it as just being a keychain, I see it as something more.  I don't look at it as a simple keychain, but more so, the memories it holds with it, and for me it's a representation of our sisterhood.