So, I know I said this blog was going to be for the entire summer, but obviously, I haven't been doing to well at updating it for the half of the summer that I'm doing fast track. It's not like I'm doing anything extremely exciting, besides helping with Calculus, and my day schedule would be the same every day if I discussed that.
I feel bad having a blog if I don't update, but I don't see anything to update with. I'm a fast track counselor. I'm living in New Res, staying up all night once a week to help the fast-trackers with their homework, and I'm grading more than I ever imagined I could grade. I'm eating in half of the ARA because the Colts took my Raisan Brand Crunch and chocolate milk. (Grr!) Yesterday, I was almost charged 5 dollars to park in my own parking lot because the colts fans were coming for family day, and they filled up all of our parking lots. Besides the Colts and Calculus, there's not much happening with me. I get to goof of with the fast trackers when they are in states of euphoria from no sleep. I've began improving my juggling.
See, not much is really happening, so I don't see a point of updating, and I feel bad having people check my blog if I don't update (cause I know how much I hate that.) Hmm, I'm going to go take a nap so that I can make it through the night without sleep because I have graveyard.
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Yeah, this again
So this whole blog was deleted because of my stupidity. I wrote it during class and then closed it out with out saving first. Sorry.
In very shortened summary, I got back to Terre Haute safe and sound after a very long day.
I had a great night Saturday night hanging out with my Rose peeps.
Fast Track started on Sunday.
Lots of homework and formatting since then.
As you can see, it's a very shortened summary, especially for me. If I have more time, I might try and write it again.
In very shortened summary, I got back to Terre Haute safe and sound after a very long day.
I had a great night Saturday night hanging out with my Rose peeps.
Fast Track started on Sunday.
Lots of homework and formatting since then.
As you can see, it's a very shortened summary, especially for me. If I have more time, I might try and write it again.
Saturday, July 16, 2005
My last post from Japan
So, I just wrote this whole post and it was really long, and now I have to do it again because of my stupidity. Grr.
Well, anyway, this is going to be my last post from Japan. I leave tomorrow morning for Nagoya and tomorrow night for America.
On Thursday, we finished up our bridge project. We started off the morning with writing our presentation that I made after lunch. I did pretty well, but since I just had finished writing it that morning, I didn't very well have time to memorize it. I read it fine though so it's all fine. After the presentations, we had a bit of a bridge show, with everyone putting their bridges and posters on display. We went around and voted for our favorites. My partner and I came in second for the prettiest bridge, and we got a few votes for our poster. After that, it was time to break our bridges.
Even though we scored at one of the highest on our first bridge because it held 9 juiceboxes, we scored pretty low this time. We had weekened our bridge because we needed the extra material to make it pretty. It broke on 7 juice boxes this time. But at least it was pretty to begin with. The winner held 30 juice boxes! It was like twice as many as the second place bridge. That's pretty flimsy balsa, I don't know how they did it.
After the competition, we headed to dinner at okasan's and had our last dinner of her excellent chicken katsu. After finding how to get there, we headed to the karaoke bar for a couple of hours and sang quite a bit. There was only 4 of us including Robyn, who doesn't sing, so I sang my heart out quite a bit. It was great. I wish we had karaoke bars in America. There are all these little rooms and there are no stages or anything, you just sit around a table and use the microphones to sing along. It was great fun. I will miss it.
Today, we had a closing ceremony in the morning. It was crazy formal. They were giving us certificates, but we couldn't just walk up there and get it. When our names were called, we said "はい” before standing and walking towards the center of the room. Then we turned and walked straight towards the president of the school who was making the presentations. Once we got a couple of feet from him, we had to stop take a breath and then bow. He then talked a little bit before presenting us the certificate.
When receiving the certificate, there was formality in that as well. First we grabbed it with our right hand then our left hand and then bowed. It couldn't even be one fluid motion. We then had to take a step back before returning to our seat because we aren't allowed to turn immediately and show our butts to the president. This was explained in detail to us, and then each of us had to practice once individually before the ceremony even began.
After the ceremony, we headed to lunch at びっくりラーメン ("Surprise Ramen") which is where we can get 189 yen ramen. It was our last taste of ramen in Japan. Ramen in America is definitely no where near the same. I'll miss it.
Then we went back to our rooms to pack up a bit. We also had to have an exiting interview where they asked us what we thought of the program. Then we had an 11-page survey about each aspect of the program. Then we turned our loaned computers back to the school.
Around 4, we headed to the 100-yen store and the supermarket to do the last bit of shopping.
We ate our last dinner in Japan at the "どん” restaurant. We got やきにく (grilled meat) again. It was excellent as before and lots of fun to make the meat and vegetables right in front of us at the table. It was expensive as before, but worth it because it was our last dinner here.
Tonight, there is a party where they are planning on staying up all night because the Japanese students and us don't want the program to be over. I probably won't end up going though cause I need to get sleep now, so I can sleep on the plane tomorrow and make the time change more easily. I'll really miss all the kind Japanese friends that went so out of their way to introduce us to Japanese college life.
Tomorrow is a big day . . . in a lot of ways. For one, it will last 38 hours. For two, I'm going to be going practically halfway around the world, traveling in bus, train, airplane, and car. At 7 am, I'm leaving here and taking a bus to Kanazawa station. Then I get on the bus to take me to Nagoya, where I'll have a 3 hour break at the station before taking a train to the Nagoya airport. Then I have 3 hours before my flight leaves. After a 12-hour flight to Chicago, I have a layover and customs and then a flight to Indy. From Indy, I have to find my car in the expansive parking lot, and drive to the Haute to unpack and become a Fast-Track Counselor. From leaving KIT to arriving at Rose, it comes to about 29 hours of transit. Let's hope it all works out. Be praying for me.
I can't believe this trip is almost over. I've learned so much, and practiced my Japanese more than I ever have before. I found out I can survive in Japan if needbe with the little Japanese I do know, but I also learned there is a crapload to learn. And I have nowhere to learn the rest because Rose doesn't offer anymore. I can't believe all the people I've met here I will never meet most of them again because there will be a big ocean inbetween us. I hope I can come back here before I lose all my Japanese speaking ability. Even my friends from Rose that took Japanese with me, I most likely won't see them very often anymore because I won't have any classes with them anymore.
I'm glad to be going back to the states though. Making money and having my room and board taken care of will be nice for the rest of the summer. I've spent a lot here. Also, I'm ready for a bed and to see my friends at Rose.
Well, I guess I'm signing off for the last time from Japan. I guess this marks the halfpoint of my summer . . . Craziness.
Well, anyway, this is going to be my last post from Japan. I leave tomorrow morning for Nagoya and tomorrow night for America.
On Thursday, we finished up our bridge project. We started off the morning with writing our presentation that I made after lunch. I did pretty well, but since I just had finished writing it that morning, I didn't very well have time to memorize it. I read it fine though so it's all fine. After the presentations, we had a bit of a bridge show, with everyone putting their bridges and posters on display. We went around and voted for our favorites. My partner and I came in second for the prettiest bridge, and we got a few votes for our poster. After that, it was time to break our bridges.
Even though we scored at one of the highest on our first bridge because it held 9 juiceboxes, we scored pretty low this time. We had weekened our bridge because we needed the extra material to make it pretty. It broke on 7 juice boxes this time. But at least it was pretty to begin with. The winner held 30 juice boxes! It was like twice as many as the second place bridge. That's pretty flimsy balsa, I don't know how they did it.
After the competition, we headed to dinner at okasan's and had our last dinner of her excellent chicken katsu. After finding how to get there, we headed to the karaoke bar for a couple of hours and sang quite a bit. There was only 4 of us including Robyn, who doesn't sing, so I sang my heart out quite a bit. It was great. I wish we had karaoke bars in America. There are all these little rooms and there are no stages or anything, you just sit around a table and use the microphones to sing along. It was great fun. I will miss it.
Today, we had a closing ceremony in the morning. It was crazy formal. They were giving us certificates, but we couldn't just walk up there and get it. When our names were called, we said "はい” before standing and walking towards the center of the room. Then we turned and walked straight towards the president of the school who was making the presentations. Once we got a couple of feet from him, we had to stop take a breath and then bow. He then talked a little bit before presenting us the certificate.
When receiving the certificate, there was formality in that as well. First we grabbed it with our right hand then our left hand and then bowed. It couldn't even be one fluid motion. We then had to take a step back before returning to our seat because we aren't allowed to turn immediately and show our butts to the president. This was explained in detail to us, and then each of us had to practice once individually before the ceremony even began.
After the ceremony, we headed to lunch at びっくりラーメン ("Surprise Ramen") which is where we can get 189 yen ramen. It was our last taste of ramen in Japan. Ramen in America is definitely no where near the same. I'll miss it.
Then we went back to our rooms to pack up a bit. We also had to have an exiting interview where they asked us what we thought of the program. Then we had an 11-page survey about each aspect of the program. Then we turned our loaned computers back to the school.
Around 4, we headed to the 100-yen store and the supermarket to do the last bit of shopping.
We ate our last dinner in Japan at the "どん” restaurant. We got やきにく (grilled meat) again. It was excellent as before and lots of fun to make the meat and vegetables right in front of us at the table. It was expensive as before, but worth it because it was our last dinner here.
Tonight, there is a party where they are planning on staying up all night because the Japanese students and us don't want the program to be over. I probably won't end up going though cause I need to get sleep now, so I can sleep on the plane tomorrow and make the time change more easily. I'll really miss all the kind Japanese friends that went so out of their way to introduce us to Japanese college life.
Tomorrow is a big day . . . in a lot of ways. For one, it will last 38 hours. For two, I'm going to be going practically halfway around the world, traveling in bus, train, airplane, and car. At 7 am, I'm leaving here and taking a bus to Kanazawa station. Then I get on the bus to take me to Nagoya, where I'll have a 3 hour break at the station before taking a train to the Nagoya airport. Then I have 3 hours before my flight leaves. After a 12-hour flight to Chicago, I have a layover and customs and then a flight to Indy. From Indy, I have to find my car in the expansive parking lot, and drive to the Haute to unpack and become a Fast-Track Counselor. From leaving KIT to arriving at Rose, it comes to about 29 hours of transit. Let's hope it all works out. Be praying for me.
I can't believe this trip is almost over. I've learned so much, and practiced my Japanese more than I ever have before. I found out I can survive in Japan if needbe with the little Japanese I do know, but I also learned there is a crapload to learn. And I have nowhere to learn the rest because Rose doesn't offer anymore. I can't believe all the people I've met here I will never meet most of them again because there will be a big ocean inbetween us. I hope I can come back here before I lose all my Japanese speaking ability. Even my friends from Rose that took Japanese with me, I most likely won't see them very often anymore because I won't have any classes with them anymore.
I'm glad to be going back to the states though. Making money and having my room and board taken care of will be nice for the rest of the summer. I've spent a lot here. Also, I'm ready for a bed and to see my friends at Rose.
Well, I guess I'm signing off for the last time from Japan. I guess this marks the halfpoint of my summer . . . Craziness.
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
3 more days?!?!?!?
Craziness, this trip is almost over!
On Monday, my presentation went well enough. I talked about being kicked out of the pachinko parlor in kyoto. After class, we decided to splurge for lunch and had wonderful 焼肉 (grilled meat). There are some restaurants with a grill in the middle of the table, and you are given raw meat that has been marinated. You cook it for yourself on the grill and eat it with rice (of course). It was amazing! So yummy! It was the most expensive meal I've bought for myself since being here at 1150 yen (11 dollars), but it was so good. Now, I want to go there again before I leave . . . shame on me!
Afterwards, we had the afternoon off, so I went to try and figure out how to send my large suitecase to the airport. Japan has a luggage delivery service all over the country, with terminals at every combini (convenience store - every block). I went to ask whether i could send my luggage from the nearest combini to my airport. I called it Nagoya airport and they said no.
Then I had to go talk to the teachers to see what they could do. They said they would announce on Tuesday in class, and they did. I got my 28 kilo (over 60 pound) large suitecase sent out this morning with little to no trouble. I just hope it's at the airport when i need it. It's Japan so they should be efficient and they have 3 days so it should be fine.
Afterwards, I helped with preparing for the party that the other American students are putting on for the SGE Japanese students and our professors. We decorated 3 different rooms, made 70 servings worth of spaghetti and had signs up for people to sign. We also had Dance Dance Revolution in one of the rooms to play, and we were able to get all of the sensei's to do it. It was great! Making that much spaghetti in our little kitches went much better than expected, and everyone seemes to get yummy spaghetti.
Afterwards, my roommate had an asthma attack, which was the scariest looking thing I have every seen. I now have a renewed respect for anyone who lives with asthma because that looked like the scaries thing to go through. She really didn't want to go to the hospital, and then when they suggested it, she got even more scared which made the asthma worse. They ended up going to the hospital and walking around there but not going in because she was finally getting better by that point.
Tuesday was a culture class and the beginning of SaJeKa (Yay!). Lunch and then project class, where my partner and I made our bridge amazing. I will definitely have to put a picture up of this one. We "painted" the balsa wood with purple, pink, and green markers, and then added paper cranes on it to make it 美しい(beautiful). It's quite comical, and has been claimed as "ridiculous" by many of the Americans, but I'm always going for the most creative award (even if there isn't one), so I could care less what people think. It's beautiful in my eyes! ("If you could see her through my eyes" - Cabaret)
Afterwards, I went to see the family that owned the vet clinic again to pick up the crazy shell things. Of course they couldn't just give them to me and let me go. It had to be a big performance again. The vet was prepping for a cat castration at the time, and since my mom does this surgery all the time, I was interested to see the differences. There were quite a few differences, mostly that it took him like 15 minutes for a surgery that takes my mom maybe a minute, but alas, no worries.
Then we went upstairs to the area they live in, and had something to drink as they showed me the shells. She had put the cloth on the back of the shells I liked, and I was super happy cause it was purple. She said the material she used was very old, but I couldn't understand what it had come from. Then they gave me another shell because in Japan it is lucky to give a pair of things. They also gave me these things made to carry the cups used in tea ceremony that were made out of the grandmother's old obi (belt for kimono). The grandmother is so crafty and kind.
Then they decided to give me some watermelon as well, which is always a treat in Japan. Yuminess! We talked for a couple of hours or so, and then it was time for me to head back to find my peeps for dinner. We got some oyakodon at Itadakimasu and it was yummy.
We couldn't make a decision where to go, so we ended up playing a few games of hearts in my room and listening to Rent. Oh, how someone in our group needs to learn how to make a decision. We still want to do karaoke again, but we had trouble getting enough energy to go and do it last night because you have to ride the bike there and such, and we didn't really know how to get there either so it would make it real interesting.
This morning, I woke up and sent out my super heavy suitecase! Yay! I'm free of it! I feel 60 pounds lighter (not really).
I miss you all! 3 nights of futon left and then a bed! Hehe.
Oh, happy birthday Matt (if you even read this)!
On Monday, my presentation went well enough. I talked about being kicked out of the pachinko parlor in kyoto. After class, we decided to splurge for lunch and had wonderful 焼肉 (grilled meat). There are some restaurants with a grill in the middle of the table, and you are given raw meat that has been marinated. You cook it for yourself on the grill and eat it with rice (of course). It was amazing! So yummy! It was the most expensive meal I've bought for myself since being here at 1150 yen (11 dollars), but it was so good. Now, I want to go there again before I leave . . . shame on me!
Afterwards, we had the afternoon off, so I went to try and figure out how to send my large suitecase to the airport. Japan has a luggage delivery service all over the country, with terminals at every combini (convenience store - every block). I went to ask whether i could send my luggage from the nearest combini to my airport. I called it Nagoya airport and they said no.
Then I had to go talk to the teachers to see what they could do. They said they would announce on Tuesday in class, and they did. I got my 28 kilo (over 60 pound) large suitecase sent out this morning with little to no trouble. I just hope it's at the airport when i need it. It's Japan so they should be efficient and they have 3 days so it should be fine.
Afterwards, I helped with preparing for the party that the other American students are putting on for the SGE Japanese students and our professors. We decorated 3 different rooms, made 70 servings worth of spaghetti and had signs up for people to sign. We also had Dance Dance Revolution in one of the rooms to play, and we were able to get all of the sensei's to do it. It was great! Making that much spaghetti in our little kitches went much better than expected, and everyone seemes to get yummy spaghetti.
Afterwards, my roommate had an asthma attack, which was the scariest looking thing I have every seen. I now have a renewed respect for anyone who lives with asthma because that looked like the scaries thing to go through. She really didn't want to go to the hospital, and then when they suggested it, she got even more scared which made the asthma worse. They ended up going to the hospital and walking around there but not going in because she was finally getting better by that point.
Tuesday was a culture class and the beginning of SaJeKa (Yay!). Lunch and then project class, where my partner and I made our bridge amazing. I will definitely have to put a picture up of this one. We "painted" the balsa wood with purple, pink, and green markers, and then added paper cranes on it to make it 美しい(beautiful). It's quite comical, and has been claimed as "ridiculous" by many of the Americans, but I'm always going for the most creative award (even if there isn't one), so I could care less what people think. It's beautiful in my eyes! ("If you could see her through my eyes" - Cabaret)
Afterwards, I went to see the family that owned the vet clinic again to pick up the crazy shell things. Of course they couldn't just give them to me and let me go. It had to be a big performance again. The vet was prepping for a cat castration at the time, and since my mom does this surgery all the time, I was interested to see the differences. There were quite a few differences, mostly that it took him like 15 minutes for a surgery that takes my mom maybe a minute, but alas, no worries.
Then we went upstairs to the area they live in, and had something to drink as they showed me the shells. She had put the cloth on the back of the shells I liked, and I was super happy cause it was purple. She said the material she used was very old, but I couldn't understand what it had come from. Then they gave me another shell because in Japan it is lucky to give a pair of things. They also gave me these things made to carry the cups used in tea ceremony that were made out of the grandmother's old obi (belt for kimono). The grandmother is so crafty and kind.
Then they decided to give me some watermelon as well, which is always a treat in Japan. Yuminess! We talked for a couple of hours or so, and then it was time for me to head back to find my peeps for dinner. We got some oyakodon at Itadakimasu and it was yummy.
We couldn't make a decision where to go, so we ended up playing a few games of hearts in my room and listening to Rent. Oh, how someone in our group needs to learn how to make a decision. We still want to do karaoke again, but we had trouble getting enough energy to go and do it last night because you have to ride the bike there and such, and we didn't really know how to get there either so it would make it real interesting.
This morning, I woke up and sent out my super heavy suitecase! Yay! I'm free of it! I feel 60 pounds lighter (not really).
I miss you all! 3 nights of futon left and then a bed! Hehe.
Oh, happy birthday Matt (if you even read this)!
Monday, July 11, 2005
My Last Weekend in Japan
Yeah, that's right. My last weekend in Japan has passed. I only have 5 more days here! It seems crazy! Hmm, let's see what we did.
Saturday, the farewell party went well. I met my host family again, and they said thank you for the thank you card. They gave me yet more gifts. The Japanese are really generous people. We sat and talked for a bit over some snacks. They then showed a movie that we had all individually prerecorded a thank you message to our host family. There were other movies that they had recorded throughout the program as well.
The SGE students also gave us t-shirts and we went around and got them signed. It was awesome cause I got all (but 1) of my notes in Japanese, so I completely love the shirt. I can't wait to wear it at Rose.
We spent the rest of the party trying to sign everyone's shirt. Afterwards, Robyn and I decided to go for that spaghetti that we needed to use the rest of. Phil joined in later and helped us finish it off. We then stopped by the combini to get some desert and such.
We played cards for a while, and then decided to find the bookstore with really cheap books. There's one that had manga for 10 yen a peice (=10 cents!!). We found it surprisingly more quickly than expected and soon I had chosen out 2 manga to try and read. I've never really gotten into manga, but it's a good way to practice Japanese in the states, and at 10 yen, it's practically free.
Then, I made a really stupid act that I'm not going to share about on here, cause I feel like a fool now for doing it.
Phil bought Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone in Japanese on DVD, so we went and watched it on his computer cause he had already changed the region on it. Since we all knew the story line pretty well, we watched it in Japanese with Japanese subtitles to have the best academic experience from it. It was an awesome way to pick up more Japanese and I wish I could afford to buy DVD's and a DVD player here so that I could keep learning Japanese at home, but I can't really do that, can I?
About half way through Harry Potter, I was getting tired and I couldn't focus anymore enough to understand the Japanese so I called it a night.
I slept in on Sunday until about 10 and goofed around reading my book until around 1 when we went to search for somewhere to eat. Because the place where you grill the meat in front of you was closed, we went for some curry for Phil.
Afterwards, Robyn and I took the long bike ride to town so that we could arrange what she was going to do next Sunday morning when she stays at a hotel and has a train leaving at 6 in the morning. We did a bit of shopping before riding right back to campus.
We sat around a while before heading to one of our new friend's rooms to make onigiri. We boiled the rice and then put stuff in it and mashed it up into little balls to put into seaweed to eat as onigiri. I don't really like any of the extra stuff so I just ate a plain rice ball, but no complaints here.
We played a little bit of hearts while waiting for our rice to cook and afterwards, which was fun. We also played some bs before heading our separate ways for the night.
Today I have my final presentation for culture class, and although I have the basic idea of what I'm going to say, I'm really just going to wing it. I practically just have to talk for 4 minutes about something about culture, so I'm sure I'll be fine.
Ah, the excitement of my life in Japan has digressed; I am sorry. 5 days and I'll be back at Rose in a bed!
Saturday, the farewell party went well. I met my host family again, and they said thank you for the thank you card. They gave me yet more gifts. The Japanese are really generous people. We sat and talked for a bit over some snacks. They then showed a movie that we had all individually prerecorded a thank you message to our host family. There were other movies that they had recorded throughout the program as well.
The SGE students also gave us t-shirts and we went around and got them signed. It was awesome cause I got all (but 1) of my notes in Japanese, so I completely love the shirt. I can't wait to wear it at Rose.
We spent the rest of the party trying to sign everyone's shirt. Afterwards, Robyn and I decided to go for that spaghetti that we needed to use the rest of. Phil joined in later and helped us finish it off. We then stopped by the combini to get some desert and such.
We played cards for a while, and then decided to find the bookstore with really cheap books. There's one that had manga for 10 yen a peice (=10 cents!!). We found it surprisingly more quickly than expected and soon I had chosen out 2 manga to try and read. I've never really gotten into manga, but it's a good way to practice Japanese in the states, and at 10 yen, it's practically free.
Then, I made a really stupid act that I'm not going to share about on here, cause I feel like a fool now for doing it.
Phil bought Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone in Japanese on DVD, so we went and watched it on his computer cause he had already changed the region on it. Since we all knew the story line pretty well, we watched it in Japanese with Japanese subtitles to have the best academic experience from it. It was an awesome way to pick up more Japanese and I wish I could afford to buy DVD's and a DVD player here so that I could keep learning Japanese at home, but I can't really do that, can I?
About half way through Harry Potter, I was getting tired and I couldn't focus anymore enough to understand the Japanese so I called it a night.
I slept in on Sunday until about 10 and goofed around reading my book until around 1 when we went to search for somewhere to eat. Because the place where you grill the meat in front of you was closed, we went for some curry for Phil.
Afterwards, Robyn and I took the long bike ride to town so that we could arrange what she was going to do next Sunday morning when she stays at a hotel and has a train leaving at 6 in the morning. We did a bit of shopping before riding right back to campus.
We sat around a while before heading to one of our new friend's rooms to make onigiri. We boiled the rice and then put stuff in it and mashed it up into little balls to put into seaweed to eat as onigiri. I don't really like any of the extra stuff so I just ate a plain rice ball, but no complaints here.
We played a little bit of hearts while waiting for our rice to cook and afterwards, which was fun. We also played some bs before heading our separate ways for the night.
Today I have my final presentation for culture class, and although I have the basic idea of what I'm going to say, I'm really just going to wing it. I practically just have to talk for 4 minutes about something about culture, so I'm sure I'll be fine.
Ah, the excitement of my life in Japan has digressed; I am sorry. 5 days and I'll be back at Rose in a bed!
Friday, July 8, 2005
A few more days gone by
So, my final went pretty well and the exit test went pretty well, so no more tests!!!! Now, just to give some to the fast-trackers for the rest of the summer . . . jk. We were able to build our second bridge in like 2 hours on Thursday, so now all we have left is to decorate it and make it look pretty, make a poster, make a presentation, and break the bridge for that class. I have to make a presentation for culture class on Monday, but that just involves talking for 4 minutes in English so I'm not too worried.
It's crazy that everything is already winding down. I'm ready to get back to the states, and I'm ready to eat some vegetables. (I know I'm weird, but my mom definitely gave me a taste for vegetables at a young age.) All they have here is starch and fried meat, it seems, so I feel like I need to get back to my diet I was eating at Rose.
Yesterday, we went to Shiroyama Shrine with our culture class. We took the train there and walked up this beautiful pass to the shrine. It looked like the gate leading into the shrine was a hole in the mountain, which was really neat. We had a priest greet us and show us the proper way to purify ourselves before entering the shrine, which involved washing your hands and mouth out with pure water from the mountain. He also showed us how to pray and we went through a service there. It was really weird and it seemed like all it was about was purifying us. Lots of purifying rituals in like a 10 minute service and that was it.
Afterwards, they had a small sip of sake for us (going with the purifying ritual). I decided to try it because it was supposed to be some of the best sake I would ever taste. They said this sip of sake was okay for underage people; I think it's kind of like the wine at commonunion at a catholic church or something. I was actually kind of scared of it because I didn't know what to expect. As I put the clear liquid to my mouth and took the sip, I felt like I was drinking nail polish remover. My peers said it was some of the best sake they had ever tasted, and I thought this was humorous cause I literally felt like I was drinking nail polish remover. Well, doesn't make me very excited to drink at least.
After heading back to campus, I went and finished purchasing my transportation for the 16th. It's going to be one fun day, especially if I can't get some of my luggage delivered to the airport by the luggage delivery service. Here it is:
7 am leave room
705 am - ride bus to kanazawa station
830 am - get on bus at kanazawa station
1230 - arrive at Nagoya station
- 2 hours of wandering around nagoya station (maybe eating, but probably just finding where my train is leaving from and popping a squat against a wall somewhere with all my luggage)
230 pm - get on some train that will take me from Nagoya station to the airport
3 pm - arrive at airport
- 3 hours to check in at both places and trying to explain in Japanese that I'm not going to Fort Wayne but that I'm changing and going to Indy and that I need my luggage to do the same (btw, I can't say that in Japanese) -
6 pm - leave Nagoya on American Airlines Flight 26 (11 hrs and 45 min, but notice time change)
345 pm - arrive in Indy
around 7 pm - get on United Airlines to go to Indy (hoping my luggage is doing the same)
around 8 pm - arriving in Indy, getting my luggage, finding my car in one of the expansive parking lots of Indy International
around 9 or 10 pm - arriving at the Haute, unpacking and turnign into a counselor
Yep, that's my 38 hour day for you. Don't worry, I'm splitting it up into two 12 hour days with 8 hour nights. Going East isn't too bad for night time crap but I'm worried about Monday morning in class at Fast Track. I'm probably going to be dead in the mornings for a week or 2.
Oh gosh, if anyone is looking for a book to read, I suggest The DaVinci Code. I bought it Thursday night so that I would have a book to read on my travels next week, but I'm already over half way done. So there's my little book recommendation for everyone.
Now, I've got the farewell party. I'm going to see my host family one last time and spend a couple of hours with them. I don't know what all is involved with this party, but my friends and I skipped lunch, hoping for food. Well, I'd better be off!
I miss everyone so muches!!!! (I know it's not proper english - shushhh)
If anyone still has the patience to read my blog by the end of this and knows how to leave a comment, leave a comment! :)
Hi Amy!
It's crazy that everything is already winding down. I'm ready to get back to the states, and I'm ready to eat some vegetables. (I know I'm weird, but my mom definitely gave me a taste for vegetables at a young age.) All they have here is starch and fried meat, it seems, so I feel like I need to get back to my diet I was eating at Rose.
Yesterday, we went to Shiroyama Shrine with our culture class. We took the train there and walked up this beautiful pass to the shrine. It looked like the gate leading into the shrine was a hole in the mountain, which was really neat. We had a priest greet us and show us the proper way to purify ourselves before entering the shrine, which involved washing your hands and mouth out with pure water from the mountain. He also showed us how to pray and we went through a service there. It was really weird and it seemed like all it was about was purifying us. Lots of purifying rituals in like a 10 minute service and that was it.
Afterwards, they had a small sip of sake for us (going with the purifying ritual). I decided to try it because it was supposed to be some of the best sake I would ever taste. They said this sip of sake was okay for underage people; I think it's kind of like the wine at commonunion at a catholic church or something. I was actually kind of scared of it because I didn't know what to expect. As I put the clear liquid to my mouth and took the sip, I felt like I was drinking nail polish remover. My peers said it was some of the best sake they had ever tasted, and I thought this was humorous cause I literally felt like I was drinking nail polish remover. Well, doesn't make me very excited to drink at least.
After heading back to campus, I went and finished purchasing my transportation for the 16th. It's going to be one fun day, especially if I can't get some of my luggage delivered to the airport by the luggage delivery service. Here it is:
7 am leave room
705 am - ride bus to kanazawa station
830 am - get on bus at kanazawa station
1230 - arrive at Nagoya station
- 2 hours of wandering around nagoya station (maybe eating, but probably just finding where my train is leaving from and popping a squat against a wall somewhere with all my luggage)
230 pm - get on some train that will take me from Nagoya station to the airport
3 pm - arrive at airport
- 3 hours to check in at both places and trying to explain in Japanese that I'm not going to Fort Wayne but that I'm changing and going to Indy and that I need my luggage to do the same (btw, I can't say that in Japanese) -
6 pm - leave Nagoya on American Airlines Flight 26 (11 hrs and 45 min, but notice time change)
345 pm - arrive in Indy
around 7 pm - get on United Airlines to go to Indy (hoping my luggage is doing the same)
around 8 pm - arriving in Indy, getting my luggage, finding my car in one of the expansive parking lots of Indy International
around 9 or 10 pm - arriving at the Haute, unpacking and turnign into a counselor
Yep, that's my 38 hour day for you. Don't worry, I'm splitting it up into two 12 hour days with 8 hour nights. Going East isn't too bad for night time crap but I'm worried about Monday morning in class at Fast Track. I'm probably going to be dead in the mornings for a week or 2.
Oh gosh, if anyone is looking for a book to read, I suggest The DaVinci Code. I bought it Thursday night so that I would have a book to read on my travels next week, but I'm already over half way done. So there's my little book recommendation for everyone.
Now, I've got the farewell party. I'm going to see my host family one last time and spend a couple of hours with them. I don't know what all is involved with this party, but my friends and I skipped lunch, hoping for food. Well, I'd better be off!
I miss everyone so muches!!!! (I know it's not proper english - shushhh)
If anyone still has the patience to read my blog by the end of this and knows how to leave a comment, leave a comment! :)
Hi Amy!
Thursday, July 7, 2005
Something Random
So, I felt like a bad blogger since I hadn't updated since this weekend so here goes.
Classes are winding down. I'm turning in my journal for culture class today, and that means all I have left in that class is a presentation in English. I'm taking the final for the language class today, but it's only worth 15% of my grade, and I think I have at least a 98% in there already, so I'm not too worried.
Our main class from now on is our project class. With a Japanese partner, we are making in series two bridges out of 2 mm thick balsa wood. Now, I don't know if any of you have experience with balsa wood, but when it's that thin, you can bend it over a span of like 80 degrees or so without it breaking - just bending.
The funny thing too is that within all the American and Japanese students participating there is only one who is actually a civil engineer. Everyone else has no care for bridges in the majors at all. I've heard a few too many people complain about bridges the last few days.
Anyway, my partner is absolutely awesome! She cares about as much for bridges as I do (which isn't much). Actually, our first bridge had to be in the top few of all the bridges. We did this crazy triangular prism design, and it did surprisingly well. It held 9 juice boxes (100 ml each), which had to be at least 18 times its own weight. I don't think we did the best, but we definitely did well enough for both of us.
The next competition factors in beauty as well as strength, so we're practically making the same bridge, and then adding a few peices of balsa wood to make a tower and such. We have the system down for making this type of bridge, so I'm sure we're going to be able to make it like pros this time. Hopefully, we're going to be real girly and color our bridge with markers and add rhinestones and cotton and stuff. Hehe! 女の子パワー！(Girl Power!)
On the subject of 女の子パワー, this school has a worse ratio than Rose. 7 guys to 1 girl! There are basically no girls anywhere, it feels. Oh well.
Well, my final is in an hour, so I should probably go study or print my journals or get money from the atm or buy my bus ticket back to Nagoya or put up my travel plans on the board - all things I should do today . . . hmm.
Classes are winding down. I'm turning in my journal for culture class today, and that means all I have left in that class is a presentation in English. I'm taking the final for the language class today, but it's only worth 15% of my grade, and I think I have at least a 98% in there already, so I'm not too worried.
Our main class from now on is our project class. With a Japanese partner, we are making in series two bridges out of 2 mm thick balsa wood. Now, I don't know if any of you have experience with balsa wood, but when it's that thin, you can bend it over a span of like 80 degrees or so without it breaking - just bending.
The funny thing too is that within all the American and Japanese students participating there is only one who is actually a civil engineer. Everyone else has no care for bridges in the majors at all. I've heard a few too many people complain about bridges the last few days.
Anyway, my partner is absolutely awesome! She cares about as much for bridges as I do (which isn't much). Actually, our first bridge had to be in the top few of all the bridges. We did this crazy triangular prism design, and it did surprisingly well. It held 9 juice boxes (100 ml each), which had to be at least 18 times its own weight. I don't think we did the best, but we definitely did well enough for both of us.
The next competition factors in beauty as well as strength, so we're practically making the same bridge, and then adding a few peices of balsa wood to make a tower and such. We have the system down for making this type of bridge, so I'm sure we're going to be able to make it like pros this time. Hopefully, we're going to be real girly and color our bridge with markers and add rhinestones and cotton and stuff. Hehe! 女の子パワー！(Girl Power!)
On the subject of 女の子パワー, this school has a worse ratio than Rose. 7 guys to 1 girl! There are basically no girls anywhere, it feels. Oh well.
Well, my final is in an hour, so I should probably go study or print my journals or get money from the atm or buy my bus ticket back to Nagoya or put up my travel plans on the board - all things I should do today . . . hmm.
Monday, July 4, 2005
Day in Kanazawa
So, I know I just posted yesterday, and I feel like no one's read it yet, except my gorgeous Karen!!! But nothing happens during the week, so I'm going to post on the weekends when stuff happens.
Yesterday, for lack of other things to do, we decided we wanted to go into Kanazawa to look at the local sights and for some shopping. We chose to ride our bikes because bus fees both ways adds up to being about $6.50, which I'm a poor college student so that's too much for me.
After catching lunch at a local combini, we got on our bikes and started riding, which in itself was interesting since we weren't exactly sure where we were going, but when we started doubting ourselves, about half an hour into the ride, we saw the bridge that always takes us into Kanazawa so we were relieved.
We checked out one big department store in the area. I think it was about 6 floors or something so it takes a while to see everything. We didn't even buy anything there, but we were "shopping" in Phil's definition.
We then decided to run over to the 21st Century Art Museum. It's shape is a circle and all its designs are very contemporary. We were too cheap to actually go into the central area of the museum, so we walked around the perimeter and saw the store and a few exhibits and such. I liked its architectural design much more than I think I would have enjoyed the paintings anyway.
After walking around the museum, we headed back to look for Omicho Market, which is a famous market in Kanazawa, but since it was Sunday, it ended up being closed. On the way though, we stopped by Oyama shrine. It had an extensive garden (even though it was in the middle of the city) and we hiked around the hills and over the water! It was interesting. We also saw the tail end of some Bhuddist ceremony where the priest was blessing a family, and afterwards, he came out to even bless their car. We purified ourselves by walking through a reef of grass before heading back towards Omicho Market.
When we reached the market and discovered it was closed, we decided to go to the department store across the street. This was a very large department store about 7 or 8 floors, and we spent an hour or two wandering around inside. They had a few Japanese type stores that we bought おみやげ at. I was excited because I could actually use my credit card here!
We ate dinner in the market in the basement of the department store before heading outside and discovering our worst nightmare - It was raining!!!
Now, I know it's rainy season, and it does rain every day, but that didn't phase us when making plans to come to town without bringing an umbrella or raincoat! So, first we had to walk about half a mile in the rain to our soaking wet bikes, and then we biked home in the rain for half an hour!!
I was soaking wet. We all were! I took pictures at the end, don't worry. I guess I'm really funny in the rain. Even though it was raining, and we were worried on our flimsy Japanese bikes, I was singing and dancing the whole way! I think it was so everyone knew i was still there (even though I was in the front of the line, shh!)
Then there was a warm shower and dry clothes awaiting me!
Time for class! I hope everyone's 4th of July celebrations went well!
Yesterday, for lack of other things to do, we decided we wanted to go into Kanazawa to look at the local sights and for some shopping. We chose to ride our bikes because bus fees both ways adds up to being about $6.50, which I'm a poor college student so that's too much for me.
After catching lunch at a local combini, we got on our bikes and started riding, which in itself was interesting since we weren't exactly sure where we were going, but when we started doubting ourselves, about half an hour into the ride, we saw the bridge that always takes us into Kanazawa so we were relieved.
We checked out one big department store in the area. I think it was about 6 floors or something so it takes a while to see everything. We didn't even buy anything there, but we were "shopping" in Phil's definition.
We then decided to run over to the 21st Century Art Museum. It's shape is a circle and all its designs are very contemporary. We were too cheap to actually go into the central area of the museum, so we walked around the perimeter and saw the store and a few exhibits and such. I liked its architectural design much more than I think I would have enjoyed the paintings anyway.
After walking around the museum, we headed back to look for Omicho Market, which is a famous market in Kanazawa, but since it was Sunday, it ended up being closed. On the way though, we stopped by Oyama shrine. It had an extensive garden (even though it was in the middle of the city) and we hiked around the hills and over the water! It was interesting. We also saw the tail end of some Bhuddist ceremony where the priest was blessing a family, and afterwards, he came out to even bless their car. We purified ourselves by walking through a reef of grass before heading back towards Omicho Market.
When we reached the market and discovered it was closed, we decided to go to the department store across the street. This was a very large department store about 7 or 8 floors, and we spent an hour or two wandering around inside. They had a few Japanese type stores that we bought おみやげ at. I was excited because I could actually use my credit card here!
We ate dinner in the market in the basement of the department store before heading outside and discovering our worst nightmare - It was raining!!!
Now, I know it's rainy season, and it does rain every day, but that didn't phase us when making plans to come to town without bringing an umbrella or raincoat! So, first we had to walk about half a mile in the rain to our soaking wet bikes, and then we biked home in the rain for half an hour!!
I was soaking wet. We all were! I took pictures at the end, don't worry. I guess I'm really funny in the rain. Even though it was raining, and we were worried on our flimsy Japanese bikes, I was singing and dancing the whole way! I think it was so everyone knew i was still there (even though I was in the front of the line, shh!)
Then there was a warm shower and dry clothes awaiting me!
Time for class! I hope everyone's 4th of July celebrations went well!
Saturday, July 2, 2005
A Japanese Vet Clinic
So let's see since the last time I wrote, I had a presentation on bridges on Japanese, which went quite well considering I had one day to memorize it all. Then we had the final for the Japanese tech class the next day, which went good enough. That was my least favorite class because we had readings in Japanese and I always felt stupid cause I didn't know half the words they used because most of the words were more technical words that you wouldn't encounter in normal Japanese text books. So whew, that class is over.
Now the projects will start. We have to make two bridges with a Japanese partner. My partner is awesome, and she has about the same amount of caring as I do into making bridges (close to none). Neither of us really care about how we do in the competition because are majors are in more technical fields, so we talk about more important stuff instead. She's talked about how to make Japanese dishes because she likes cooking, and she's given me random vocab words like おりたたみがさ which is the word for a collapsible umbrella that folds up. And words for intense and hard with a tiring connotation in it as well - しどい。I like Japanese periods。 Aren't they fun？ I think all Japanese punctuation is cool、but I don't have the patience to change back and forth anymore. Sorry.
Yesterday, we had a "party" with the college of wind and air (or something like that). That's all we knew going into it, and so we were expecting to see more college kids that we would be suspected to speak Japanese with. There was food and drinks of course (even beer - which I thought was weird since it was noon), but I think the beer was meant for the students of that college. It ended up that almost all the students were middle aged or older, and their teacher was an American woman, and they had set this up so they could practice their English with us. We had 2-way conversations in that they would speak English to us and we would speak Japanese back to them.
It's getting to the point where after a little bit of time, I don't realize whether I was listening to people in English or Japanese. We we were paired up with 2 ladies first, and we showed them where we lived and some points of interest on a map of the country. We needed something to talk about so one of the ladies suggested we talk about our families. It was quite ironic because the first lady had 3 daughters, all about the same age as me and my sisters. The second lady's husband was a vet and one of her daughters was studying to be a vet.
It was so ironic all the similarities I had with these two women's families. It was also ironic, because out of all of our families, there were no sons or brothers. It was crazy. Well, I found out that the one lady's husband ran a pet hospital, so I decided I should ask to see it because my mom is a vet and my sister is studying to be one. I just couldn't pass up this opportunity. We decided that we would walk their afterwards, but then they had a rotating time where we changed partners.
It seemed Robyn and I were very popular with the rotation. At first we had 3 other poeple with us, and 2 other people joined in. I don't know why. Robyn is quiet and I don't think we are all that entertaining. So we talked with these people a while and answered their questions and such. They had a "photographer" going around taking pictures the whole time. I guess he was someone's father and he was 84. He really liked me for some reason. He said I was his 一番すてきな人。 (favorite person) He was a funny guy.
So afterwards we expected to be walking to the clinic, but instead after I went and got my camera, they had a whole group of them ready to take us to the clinic. There were 3 ladies and 1 man besides the wife of the vet. They had 2 cars so they could take us all (only Robyn and I).
The clinic was really cute. Like all Japanese buildings, it was very small, but tall and had 3 floors. The clinic was on the first and they lived on the second and third. The clinic was very small (I think smaller than Jill's before it renovated, Mom.) They only had like 7 animals there besides the family's cats on the higher floors. One dog that was boarding, one in for a spay, 2 cats boarding and one in for ear canal cancer. Outside there was a type of a bird called a spine that I guess the recuperate and then release back into the wild, and in their garden outside they had a fairly large turtle wandering around. The turtle was really funny.
He had a room that he must see patients in that looked like it could also serve as a surgery room. A room for prepping with a sink-table thingy, and a surgery room and a reception desk. That was about it. It was really cool to see though because I've seen so many clinics in my life in America it seems so it was interesting to see one in Japan.
After walking around in the clinic, the vet said it felt awkward so we went up to their house for something to drink. We chatted up there for about 1-2 hours. They did quite a bit of comparing of veterinary medicine in Japan verses America, and I got all sorts of pamphlets and magazines that I think mom will be interested in seeing. They talked about how it is a regular surgery to declaw our cats in America and how some people cut off the tales and parts of ears in certain breeds. I've never agreed to that so I didn't know how to respond.
Then the grandmother of the family came and she showed us some of the artwork she had done. She made these shells that she got from a restaurant into beautiful peices of art. She painted them on the inside and she put cloth on the outside. I guess these shells used to be used as a game for children of the higher classes where they tried to find the match to their half of the shell. They were so beautiful. She gave us each one, so you'll have to ask to see it when we all get back to Rose.
She not only did that, but she made dolls. One of the dolls was a Japanes doll, which she changed the kimono of for the season. She made the kimono out of her old kimono. And this kimono had at least 3 layers to it, with a complete obi (belt). It was beautiful. I couldn't believe she had more than one kimono for this doll. It was crazy. Then she pulled out some bag-like things that she said were used in the tea ceremony that she had made out of her old obi.
Japanese have the highest life expectancy on the planet. It's common to see these many Japanese of this age in the home of their son's family. From this experience, I guess that they normally take up crafts and gardening of types to fill their time. They normally don't get sent to nursing homes. Instead they live with the family of their son, and the wife is expected to take care of them.
After a few hours, the other Japanese guests decided we had outstayed our welcome and it was time to go. After a picture and instructions on how to come back so I can pick up my shell (because she hadn't put the cloth on the outside yet), we headed off back to campus.
Then Robyn and I needed something to do, so we borrowed bikes and randomly rode down a road that we thought would lead to Kanazawa, but it didn't. It was a nice bit of exercise though.
Have a great fourth of July everyone. I hope your celebrations are lots of fun!
My peeps in the Haute - Have a great time at the party on Sunday! I wish I could be there!
Sorry about that really long post just about vet clinics, but I'm sure my mom and Shawna might at least be interested in it.
Now the projects will start. We have to make two bridges with a Japanese partner. My partner is awesome, and she has about the same amount of caring as I do into making bridges (close to none). Neither of us really care about how we do in the competition because are majors are in more technical fields, so we talk about more important stuff instead. She's talked about how to make Japanese dishes because she likes cooking, and she's given me random vocab words like おりたたみがさ which is the word for a collapsible umbrella that folds up. And words for intense and hard with a tiring connotation in it as well - しどい。I like Japanese periods。 Aren't they fun？ I think all Japanese punctuation is cool、but I don't have the patience to change back and forth anymore. Sorry.
Yesterday, we had a "party" with the college of wind and air (or something like that). That's all we knew going into it, and so we were expecting to see more college kids that we would be suspected to speak Japanese with. There was food and drinks of course (even beer - which I thought was weird since it was noon), but I think the beer was meant for the students of that college. It ended up that almost all the students were middle aged or older, and their teacher was an American woman, and they had set this up so they could practice their English with us. We had 2-way conversations in that they would speak English to us and we would speak Japanese back to them.
It's getting to the point where after a little bit of time, I don't realize whether I was listening to people in English or Japanese. We we were paired up with 2 ladies first, and we showed them where we lived and some points of interest on a map of the country. We needed something to talk about so one of the ladies suggested we talk about our families. It was quite ironic because the first lady had 3 daughters, all about the same age as me and my sisters. The second lady's husband was a vet and one of her daughters was studying to be a vet.
It was so ironic all the similarities I had with these two women's families. It was also ironic, because out of all of our families, there were no sons or brothers. It was crazy. Well, I found out that the one lady's husband ran a pet hospital, so I decided I should ask to see it because my mom is a vet and my sister is studying to be one. I just couldn't pass up this opportunity. We decided that we would walk their afterwards, but then they had a rotating time where we changed partners.
It seemed Robyn and I were very popular with the rotation. At first we had 3 other poeple with us, and 2 other people joined in. I don't know why. Robyn is quiet and I don't think we are all that entertaining. So we talked with these people a while and answered their questions and such. They had a "photographer" going around taking pictures the whole time. I guess he was someone's father and he was 84. He really liked me for some reason. He said I was his 一番すてきな人。 (favorite person) He was a funny guy.
So afterwards we expected to be walking to the clinic, but instead after I went and got my camera, they had a whole group of them ready to take us to the clinic. There were 3 ladies and 1 man besides the wife of the vet. They had 2 cars so they could take us all (only Robyn and I).
The clinic was really cute. Like all Japanese buildings, it was very small, but tall and had 3 floors. The clinic was on the first and they lived on the second and third. The clinic was very small (I think smaller than Jill's before it renovated, Mom.) They only had like 7 animals there besides the family's cats on the higher floors. One dog that was boarding, one in for a spay, 2 cats boarding and one in for ear canal cancer. Outside there was a type of a bird called a spine that I guess the recuperate and then release back into the wild, and in their garden outside they had a fairly large turtle wandering around. The turtle was really funny.
He had a room that he must see patients in that looked like it could also serve as a surgery room. A room for prepping with a sink-table thingy, and a surgery room and a reception desk. That was about it. It was really cool to see though because I've seen so many clinics in my life in America it seems so it was interesting to see one in Japan.
After walking around in the clinic, the vet said it felt awkward so we went up to their house for something to drink. We chatted up there for about 1-2 hours. They did quite a bit of comparing of veterinary medicine in Japan verses America, and I got all sorts of pamphlets and magazines that I think mom will be interested in seeing. They talked about how it is a regular surgery to declaw our cats in America and how some people cut off the tales and parts of ears in certain breeds. I've never agreed to that so I didn't know how to respond.
Then the grandmother of the family came and she showed us some of the artwork she had done. She made these shells that she got from a restaurant into beautiful peices of art. She painted them on the inside and she put cloth on the outside. I guess these shells used to be used as a game for children of the higher classes where they tried to find the match to their half of the shell. They were so beautiful. She gave us each one, so you'll have to ask to see it when we all get back to Rose.
She not only did that, but she made dolls. One of the dolls was a Japanes doll, which she changed the kimono of for the season. She made the kimono out of her old kimono. And this kimono had at least 3 layers to it, with a complete obi (belt). It was beautiful. I couldn't believe she had more than one kimono for this doll. It was crazy. Then she pulled out some bag-like things that she said were used in the tea ceremony that she had made out of her old obi.
Japanese have the highest life expectancy on the planet. It's common to see these many Japanese of this age in the home of their son's family. From this experience, I guess that they normally take up crafts and gardening of types to fill their time. They normally don't get sent to nursing homes. Instead they live with the family of their son, and the wife is expected to take care of them.
After a few hours, the other Japanese guests decided we had outstayed our welcome and it was time to go. After a picture and instructions on how to come back so I can pick up my shell (because she hadn't put the cloth on the outside yet), we headed off back to campus.
Then Robyn and I needed something to do, so we borrowed bikes and randomly rode down a road that we thought would lead to Kanazawa, but it didn't. It was a nice bit of exercise though.
Have a great fourth of July everyone. I hope your celebrations are lots of fun!
My peeps in the Haute - Have a great time at the party on Sunday! I wish I could be there!
Sorry about that really long post just about vet clinics, but I'm sure my mom and Shawna might at least be interested in it.
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