Okay, so, well, maybe I didn't do as well as I wanted on this whole blogging thing, but I certainly did much better than I expected. So I will call it a success! Not to mention I got sidetracked with my stupid fashion blog as well. If I combined the two then I'd really have done well!

So many things have happened, especially recently. For about three weeks straight it was nothing but 送別会 goodbye parties and wild drinking and staying up late every single night. By the second to last week of July I was completely finished with classes, left with only an essay or two to whip up, so it wasn't like I had much to do anyway!

I've went shopping more times than I can count and spent so much money here it's ridiculous. Had to ship home a box that weighed over 20 kilos! It had books and stuff in it too though so. But lots of clothing. Hoo boy.

I leave on Monday, August 9th and it feels very strange. For a long while I was very ready to come home, but now I'm starting to finally feel that I don't want to leave. I think I didn't expect to make such amazing friends here, and I am very sad to part from them. Of course I have awesome people waiting for me at home - and if anything, being abroad has taught me who those people are.

A few of my friends I'll know I'll stay in touch with, because I'll be in the same state or city or uni - but some others, well, who knows if I'll see them again? Some of them I've become so attached to, I can't really imagine my life without them now. I guess that's part of studying abroad, though.

My goal in coming here was simply to become fluent in Japanese. I'm not sure I accomplished that, but I do think I've gotten better. More than that, though, I feel like I've grown up a little. I was able to live in a one-bedroom apartment and pay bills by myself and survive in a foreign country. I made new friends but I still had to take care of myself. I more or less managed my money and was able to do many things because of that. I didn't have any new revelations about myself, because I already know myself pretty well, but instead I feel like I've changed a bit. I guess I'll find out for sure when I get home, though.

In any case it's been one hell of a trip. I certainly don't know any more what I will do in the future, but I do know whatever it is it'll be in Hawaii. Because it's warm there. No more snow in April, thank you.

According to Wikipedia and various other internet sources, Sapporo (and Hokkaidou in general) is supposed to be a land of low humidity and pleasant temperatures during the summer.

( THAT IS A LIE )

I'm sitting here waiting for my class to start (got a little over an hour), so I thought I would ramble for a bit about life and Japanese/American culture analysis. Even though Japanese keyboards are really annoying to type on.

( mostly it's just that all the punctuation marks are in the wrong places )

May 17-- what!? When-- where-- ahhh! That means I have like 11 weeks left WTH

( summary of my weekend )

pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/nisecal/SapporoMay

Shopping + Clothing update!! fufufufu!

( things I bought. and some things I've worn. )

So even though today once again in my research class, our professor listed off several things pertaining to culture shock/fatigue that I could relate to (stiff muscles, dry skin, slight cold/allergy reactions), I guess I'm not entirely convinced... mostly because I'm feeling better today haha! I'm able to think of other reasons, like previously said my birth control, or perhaps the fact that for the past two days it's been cloudy and crappy while today the sun came out. Who knows.

Anyway, here's my class schedule!

( and various other activities that have occurred lately, like karaoke and modeling )

ps: this is the tree outside my window, does anyone know how to determine what type it is? I'm really impatient and wanna know if it's a Sakura tree haha (only a few more weeks til they bloom!)

So much for blogging consistently, eh? I guess that's what happens when my hard drive explodes, haha.

In my Japanese Culture class last week, our teacher talked about culture shock and the "honeymoon" period that supposedly lasts two weeks to one month, followed by a sharp drop in mood/performance/ect. Well, as of Sunday (yesterday) I have been here precisely a month and I think she's probably right. It may be a combo attack of having an especially long, busy & late weekend, missing a birth control pill and who knows what else, but for the first time I'm feeling especially drained today. I plan on hibernating this week to save money, which probably wouldn't be good if this mood continues but I don't wanna be weird and melancholy around everyone anyway so it's fine. Hopefully though I'll be better tomorrow.

For now though, I'll just end this super exciting blog entry and go play Pokemon or something. Still can't decide what to do about my Eevee but oh well~

It's been pretty easy-going for me since my last update, on Saturday and Monday I did practically nothing but lay around and watch dramas all day. (I finished Hana Yori Dango season 2 for the like bazillionth time and also watched all of the Wallflower drama~).

( Sunday was a lot of fun though! )

Tomorrow, I look forward to our first class and...... the PLACEMENT EXAM. augh I've never taken one before, they didn't have one for Japanese at my university back home... I'M SO NERVOUS What if I do terrible and end up in a low level class? Well, at least my homework will be easy...
But, conversely, what if somehow I do too awesome and I get put in a really really hard class...?!
...
ah well. I will がんばる.

I always thought that I could never have the gumption to go fully gyaru style, but if buying from Liz Lisa can give me this much of a high, then maybe I need to reconsider.

( Please click for ultimate cuteness. )

The rest of the day was really awesome but it pales in comparison to the happiness of owning Liz Lisa items hahaha. You can see the rest of the pictures here though!