To the jpod team and comminity, my recent trip was a complete success and had a really awesome time. I've not been studying long but with most of the survival phrases under my belt I was able to go off the beaten path quite a bit even in bars/restaurents where they spoke no English at all (even better for my practice!). Little things like some of the slang terms and culture lessons (all the stuff that's not in my textbooks just like Peter-san said ;o) ) went down really well and I even made a few Japanese friends who I'm keeping in touch with.
I'm even more motived to learn now and can't wait to go back!
Domo arigato gozaimasu!