Trojan Horse

The story of the Trojan Horse comes from the Odyssey. Odysseus comes up with a plan where one Greek is left with a large wooden horse, seemingly abandoned by the other Greeks, but is instead inhabited by them. The large wooden horse is supposed to be an offering for Athena. Sinon, the one left outside, convinces the Trojans that the Greek army left the gift as a means of apology for past desecration of Athena's temple. Despite warning's from a priest and Helen herself, the Trojans accept the gift. The horse is brought into Troy, and the night after the celebration of their supposed victory, the Greek army emerged from the wooden horse, killing a good number of the Trojan soldiers before they could even properly respond (since they were either sleeping, intoxicated, or both). As a result, Greece won the Trojan War.

I actually have already embarked on a "dream journey" of sorts. Label me what you will, weeaboo or geek, but I am a large fan of Japanese culture and society (going way beyond their various entertainment mediums), and during the summer of my Sophomore year, I was fortunate enough to take a two week vacation to Japan. My father and I visited several cities (Nagoya, Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima, and Shio-jiri, and Suwa), and the differences in lifestyle between the U.S. and Japan were simply staggering. Being able to drive is essentially an arbitrary skill because of how well-structured Japan's public transportation is. Not only that, but everything in Japan is so well-organized, even the people, with everyone inherently knowing which side of a path to walk to create a continuous stream of people. It's actually quite difficult to describe the experience I had, but it was one that I will not soon forget. My mother believed that going to Japan would make me change my mind on having a desire to move there one day, but instead, the visit simply fueled that interest, so much so, that I even continued to self-study Japanese even after our excursion.