Warning

Meme Time

brithla — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:23:21 GMT

A meme yoinked from 42lullabies

1 - Go to Wikipedia.
The first random Wikipedia article title that you get is the name of your band.
--Seabrook Potato Crisps (I like potato!)

2 - Go to The Quotations Page random quotations:
The last four words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.
--themselves as we did (uhhhh)

3 - Go to Flickr and click on "explore the last seven days":
The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
-- http://flickr.com/photos/follystone/2277796840/

Good morning....

brithla — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 12:59:48 GMT

I have a $10 coupon for Build-a-Bear. Ooohh!!

Psychoanalysis thingy!!!

brithla — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 20:19:25 GMT

Psychoanalyse Yourself; Don't read ahead, just answer the following questions with the first thought that comes to mind. Then read which each answer means at the end. (No cheating! )

1. You are not alone. You are walking in the woods. Who is with you?
The person on my mind...

2. You are walking in the woods. You see an animal. What kind of animal?
A fluffy rabbit!

3. What interaction takes place between you and the animal?
The bunny looks at me, starts to hop towards me, thinks again, then bounces away. (This is what the bunnies in my yard do.)

4. You walk deeper in the woods. You enter a clearing, and before you is your DREAM house. How big is it?
A big big BIG house!

5. Is your dream house surrounded by a fence?
Why yes, of course.

6. You enter the house. You walk into the dining room and see the dining room table. What do you see on AND around it?
A giant banquet with favorite dishes from all over the world. The table is surrounded by family and friends because it is Christmastime! ^_^

7. You exit the house and a cup is on the ground, what kind is it?
A holiday teacup from my Christmas party!

8. What do you do with the cup?
Pick it up. Duh! I can't just leave it outside. It could break hello!

9. You walk to the edge of the property where you find yourself at: what type of water?
Hmm... I've always loved the sea, but I don't want to live right on top of it. So instead there is a small stream.

10. How will you cross the water?
I will use the pretty little bridge.

The ANSWERS

1. The person who you are walking in the woods with is the most important to you.

2. The size of the animal is representative of your perception of the size of your problems in your life.

3. The severity of the interaction you have with the animal is representative of how you deal with your problems.

4. The size of your dream home is representative of the size of your ambition to solve your problems.

5. A lack of a fence is indicative of an open personality. People are welcome at all times. The presence of a fence indicates a closed personality. You'd prefer people not drop by unannounced.

6. If your answer did NOT include food, flowers, or people, then you are generally unhappy.

7. The durability of the material with the cup is made of is representative of the perceived durability of your relationship (with person in #1).

8. What you did with the cup is representative of your attitude.

9. The size of the body of water is representative of the size of your sexual desire.

10. The way you cross the water is representative to how easy or hard you expect your life to be.

Interesting... very interesting... especially #4 and #7 and #8. *thinking* o_O

Beware of flying crocodiles!

brithla — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 00:11:01 GMT

Read this news story. Because crocodiles escape through 12th story windows all the time! ^_^

Deathly Hallows

brithla — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 18:46:14 GMT

It's about time I got to writing my short, but sweet, review of the latest HP book.

Ok.... It was nice to see a good side of Dudley, but that was weird! It seemed so incomplete. I was expecting more out of the Dursleys, but by the end of chapter 3 they're gone forever.

Chapter 4 had the saddest death of them all for me. NO NOT HEDWIG!!! And what's really sad too is that we know exactly what happened to Hedwig, while we have no idea how Lupin and Tonks die. I'm sure it was putting up a fight, but you never know. They could have choked on sporks or something. That just really frosts my cookies.... They just die. DIE.

Can I just say that I love Kreacher now? I love him.... I was sad about Dobby. He was such a loyal friend to Harry. It seemed like Harry was most upset about his and Hedwig's death. Or is that just me?

Chapters 12 and 13.... How the heck did that Polyjuice Potion last so long? Did they each drink a whole gallon or what?

I was so annoyed with Ron when he left. Not so much because he quit the task and left his friends, but he really hurt Hermione in leaving. :( Bad, bad Ronald...

All the Godric's Hallow chapters really kinda shocked me. That Bathilda lady seemed so odd. I thought it was because she was old and crazy, BUT THE SNAKE CAME OUT OF HER HEAD OMG!!! I'm glad Harry got to see where he was born. I wonder if that's where he and Ginny move to when they get married. Hehe! Oh and Harry's wand! I seriously thought that broken wand would be his downfall in the end.

Bla bla bla lots of stuff happens and we get towards the end.... I love the Ravenclaw common room! And I like how it asks you a question to get in instead of a password. Hehe clever! ^_^

Hahaha we see Crabbe use magic for the first time EVER! That was great.

Oooooook Snape.... MY FAVORITE CHARACTER! It was so horrible how he died. But I was very happy with his parts in the book at the end. I always new he was good. His chapter (Ch. 33 The Prince's Tale) was my most favorite in the book. But how the heck did Harry go through his memories and get to Voldemort in time? It seemed rushed. Or I was just reading fast because I felt like Harry had to get through the memories quickly lol.

That rock thing was really bizarre. Odd. What exactly was the point of Harry's loved ones popping out of it? He knew he was walking to his death so I don't think he really needed that much encouragement. But I am glad that Sirius came out because it will settle once and for all that he really did die in OotP.

I was soooo sure Harry would die. And Hagrid too. Soooo soooo sure. But they didn't. Woo! Especially when Hagrid was carried away by the spiders. Oh no bye bye Hagrid.... But he came back! I like how in the end it was a mother's love (again!) that saves Harry. Had any other Death Eater checked to see if Harry was dead, they would have said no and, well, who knows what would have happened. But Narcissa's love for Draco saved him. YES! The whole pre-Heaven scene was odd, but meh. It was a scene that needed to happen, it's just weird how it actually happened (if that makes any sense). Oh! And Ron opening the Chamber of Secrets... what the.... ???? @_@

I'm not happy with how the story ended. I think there needed to be a bit more in the last chapter, or even another complete chapter to give the book a bit more closure before skipping to the epilogue. Which, btw, I wasn't happy with that either. My first thoughts upon finishing were seriously "Who is Victoire?", "What happened to Luna?" and a bajillion other questions. I need more info here!

Ok sooooo if you made it through that whole thing, then good for you! I wrote more than expected. :p I now have all seven books and still have to say that PoA is my favorite. I love the whole concept of time in that book and overall just love love love it. =)

The Wonders of Higher Education

brithla — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 13:35:23 GMT

What have five years of college taught me? Nothing. I have failed to open a simple bag of licorice. That is not a complicated task!

The Squirrel Thief!

brithla — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 14:03:06 GMT

Squirrels may eat pizza, they may eat chocolate cupcakes, and hey they may even eat gazing balls in the garden... but I have yet to see one eat a small and harmless garden gnome. Really I haven't!

It was a stormy, cloudy, windy day a couple weeks ago. I couldn't find one of my garden gnomes when I saw him at the bottom of the hill. Perhaps the wind blew him down? He is tiny, afterall. But yesterday was not a very windy day. Where did my garden gnome go? He's not at the bottom of the hill again! I look around. My poor little garden gnome is laying facedown defeated (DEFEATED), around the corner of the deck. Even on the windiest day, how could a garden gnome blow around a corner? My conclusion: it had to be a squirrel. What did the squirrel want to do with my garden gnome? Eat him?

I'm a bear!

brithla — Thu, 24 May 2007 13:13:29 GMT

It has been 8 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days since I left for China. Yup. My countdown clock is still on my profile page so now it's just counting up (???) the days since that date has passed. Woo! I just can't remove it... Exactly this time on August 31st all those months ago I was sobbing. SOBBING, PEOPLE. Because I was so terrified and was going to miss everyone and extremely excited at the same time. I felt weird. But anyways....

I haven't updated in forever! My poor lj must feel neglected. This term has gone by so fast and I'm glad. I can't wait to be done with that Vichy France class. I finally got back my short paper from weeks ago. I got a B- yes! It's going to be worth 25% of my grade. And then the whacko assignment that was due yesterday is another 25%. Seriously the strangest assignment ever. We were given a topic and told to write the paper in 70 minutes, as if it were an in class writting. What the heck? This was assigned on Monday so we had like no time at all to do it. Bah! And then we just found out more details about our exciting final paper due at the end of the term. I'm going to have what, a week or less to write that one? Because we still don't have our topics and are nowhere near close to the writing process yet. Booness! That paper will be worth another 25%. And then during our final class we have to present our papers (something I've never done in a Sophie class). That's the rest of the 25% of our grade. What is up with that grading system? Just got it yesterday too. So why exactly are we doing all these class activities and things if we have no participation grade? There's something really wrong here..... In conclusion, stay away from Sophie's classes. ;)

Have I mentioned that I hate Spring? Because I do. I like the nicer weather, but allergies stink. Bwah!

Pixie's Survey

brithla — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 16:47:40 GMT

001: Name:
Jackie

002. Nickname:
Jack, Jax, Jackie-O, Wacky.... Anything with Jack in it. :p

003. Single or taken:
Single

004. Zodiac Sign:
Leo

005. Female or Male:
Female

006. Elementary School:
McCarty Elementary

007. iPod:
30GB Black

008. How many buddies on your list?:
What list? There's a list?!? o_O

009. Screenname:
brithla

010. Hair Color:
Brown-ish/auburn?

012. Hair Long or Short:
Long

014. Eye Color:
Hazel/Brown/Green

015. Are you health freak:
Healthy, yes. Freak, no.

016. Height:
5' plush 1/2 an inch! ^^

017. Think you're awesome:
Maybe just a bit. ;)

018. Piercings:
One hole in each ear.

019. Tattoo:
Nope

020. Righty or Lefty:
I'm one of those weirdos who can do things with both hands.

___Your 'Firsts'___

021. First piercing:
Ears

022. First best friend:
Jessica Gross

023. First Award:
Uhh... I can't remember. Oh wait! I won something in 1st grade for a story I wrote. :)

024. First pet:
A guppy fish named "Bubbles". It lived for 3 days. :(

025. First vacation:
Disney World when I was 2.

032. First love:
Vinnie my best friend when I was 6.

___Favorites___

033. Movie:
LotR, Pride & Prejudice, lots really...

034. Favorite tv show:
LOST, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends

035. Color:
Blue

036. Music:
EVERYTHING. Except Rap and hip-hop.

039. Drink:
Iced tea, smoothies (especially pina colada flavor), and water.

040. Sport To Play:
None. Yuck sports!

041. Favorite Song:
Currently - I Hope You Dance (Lee Ann Womak) and Vivi Davvero (Giorgia)

042. Favorite piece of clothing:
My panda pants.

043. Brand Of Clothing?:
None

044. What do you sleep with?:
My teddy

045. Favorite School:
NCC!

046. Favorite Animal(s):
Elephants and pandas.

047. Favorite Books:
Little Women, LotR

048. Favorite Magazines:
None

___Currently___

049. Eating:
nothing

050. I'm drinking:
water

052. I'm about to:
Finish this survey and then study for my Japanese test.

053. Listening to:
silence

055. Waiting For:
People to come online because I'm bored!

056. Watching:
computer screen

057. Wearing:
Pants, shirt, sandals. The usual.

___Your Future___

058. Want Kids?:
yes

059. Want to Get Married?:
yes

060. Careers in Mind:
Professional world traveler.

__Which is better with the Opposite Gender__

068. Lips or Eyes:
eyes

069. Hugs or Kisses:
hugs :)

070. Dark hair or Light hair:
dark

072. Romantic, Spontaneous or karma:
spontaneous

073. Nice stomach or nice arms:
Stomach?

074. Sensitive or Loud:
sensitive

075. Hook-up or Relationship:
relationship

076. Sweet or Caring:
Caring, though they kinda go together...

077. Trouble Maker or Hesitant?:
An even balance of both.

___Have you ever___

078. Kissed a Stranger:
no

079. Drank bubbles:
yes

80. Lost glasses/contacts:
I somehow managed to lose a contact IN MY EYE while in Tokyo. How is that possible?

081. Ran Away From Home:
no

082. Broken a bone:
no

083. Got an X-ray:
Do my teeth count?

084. Broken Someone's Heart:
Not that I know of. I hope not!

086. Turned Someone Down:
yes

087. Cried When Someone Died:
Oh yes! I hope I don't start crying now just thinking about it...

088. Cried at school:
yes

___Do You Believe In___

090. Miracles:
yes

091. Love at first sight:
yes

093. Aliens:
yes

094. Magic:
no

095. Heaven:
yes

096. Santa Claus:
Heheh yup!

099. Angels:
yes

___Answer Truthfully___

100. Is There someone You Want To be with right now:
yes

Greece

brithla — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 13:37:51 GMT

Ok so I told this to everyone I wanted to tell first and so now I can write about it... I have officially decided to not go to China in the fall. It's just not working out right for me. In a way, I'm kinda relieved to have finally made a decision because I was stuck on being unsure for a long time. Right now I'm a mix of happy, sad, angry, annoyed.... all in one. I'm glad I'm going to be home this fall term, extremely upset about not going back to China, and angry that we have gotten barely any info on the program. My registration date for next school year is April 25th so I had to pull out. I'm back to where I was the beginning of winter term.... going somewhere over interim. My choices are France or Greece. I'm learning towards Greece because the France class just isn't speaking to me. Mom wants me to go to France. Haha! Well, I have a month to think about that.... But it would be super cool to see Athens! Plus, the weather is nicer than France in December. ^^

What the....?

brithla — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 00:21:15 GMT

So I totally just saw Professor Peterson walk past my house as I was going outside.

First day of Spring term :)

brithla — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 03:05:27 GMT

French class is, well, interesting. Still don't have my books for that one. But! I did order two of them through inter-library loan so I should have them within the next couple days. Now, only three more to go. I hope the bookstore will be getting them because I can use a book voucher which I obviously will not be able to use on Amazon. *crosses fingers* I was very surprised to see that Sophie now knows how to use technology. What is up with that? OUR CLASS HAS A BLACKBOARD!!! What the heck?!? She said that she learned how to use it. WHOA! And then we watched a video too. Yup. Using the VCR in the classroom. Wow. The sound didn't work, but that's ok. We made our own sound effects and dialogue. ^^

After class I dashed to the Cage to get lunch quickly, then went to the mailroom where my acceptance letter to BFSU was waiting in my mailbox, then to the LRC where I was waiting for Yusuke to come online so we could test a chatroom thingy. Yes it worked! And then I walked BACK to the Cage with Vasily where I then saw, like, everyone. And then there was the strawberry and pickle incident. Will not go into detail. (Photos to be posted on Facebook tomorrow.)

OM 521 was incredibly warm today for Japanese class. Seriously. The stairwell was cooler. Is that even possible? The stairwell is always stupid hot! But not today. Why couldn't we have class in there? So we also have Limpar Sensei again. Yes! I love her so much. She's my favorite Japanese teacher at NCC. She uses English in class only when we really need it, her Japanese is nice and easy to understand, and she's an easier grader. All wonderful qualities in a professor. Yup. My Japanese class with her last year was my best ever. Oh and then a few minutes after I get to class Valeria comes waltzing in. I was just all like, "Whaaaaaaaa?!?"

And so then Nina and I went to the LRC after Japanese class where we did not work today. Just because. Hey, it's routine!!!

The mute button is not working on my laptop. Just the button. The sound volume and such works fine, but my actual mute button doesn't. Weird. And I'm quite fond of that button too. Hmph.

Spring break plans!!!

brithla — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 03:46:52 GMT

I am soooo sleepy and it's not even 10:30 yet. But what am I doing? Sitting at the computer updating my journal. Wahoo!

My ONE AND ONLY FINAL is done. Complete. It was surprisingly easier than I thought, though I forgot the Japanese word for glasses and just remembered it now. Seriously. As I'm typing this. o_O

So my Spring break plans are, so far, as follows:

.:Tuesday (aka tomorrow) - Work-ish at 1pm. But I don't want to work. I'll "try", but I think I'm just going to watch movies or Bloo or something until Nina comes to the lab and we leave for Trader Joe's. Then at 7, I'm going to Tim's ice cream social. Oh! And I also need to sell back my sociology book at some point during the day because I sooo don't want it anymore.
.:Wednesday - Sushi House for lunch? I don't know really. I'm not a big fan of Japanese food, but there are a couple things I like on the menu. I just don't know if I want to spend $10. Haha!
.:Thursday - Staying home, unless something comes up.
.:Friday - Going downtown with Peggy and others yay!
.:Saturday - Mrs. G. is coming to visit and yay St. Patrick's Day! So this means St. Patrick's Day dinner gets moved to Sunday...

And that's all I've got so far. I still have a complete week to fill. My brother comes back from his conference in D.C. sometime this week. Tomorrow? Wednesday? I actually don't know lol.

Sophie sent the reading list for my Vichy France class Spring term. The list consists of five books. Not bad and one looks like it's in English!

Vichy France and the Jews (Marrus & Paxton)
Le Convoi du 24 janvier (Charlotte Delbo)
Auschwitz et après: Tome 1: Aucun de nous ne survivra (Charlotte Delbo)
Un Sac de Billes (Joseph Joffo)
Auschwitz (Pascal Croci) - une bande dessinée

I have totally been an emotional rollercoaster this whole term. Like today. I start off the day bouncing and happy, but now I'm feeling sad. I kinda know why. Don't really want to post about such things in an online journal, so just ask when you see me...

Green Soup

brithla — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 18:53:49 GMT

Everyone is posting their SPRING TERM SCHEDULES YES so here is mine:

FRN 338 Vichy France (MWF 10:40-11:50) - Yes, mes amis, I am going to die. For those of you in my Japanese class later that day if I am not there, you'll know why. Seriously. This class may very well be the death of me. Why? BECAUSE IT'S SOPHIE AAAH! I have survived many a class of hers, but only barely. The lit class where we had to read all of Candide en français in just two nights almost did me in. I'm not gonna lie, I did not do the assignment and instead did what everyone else in the class did. Read the stupid English cliffnotes yeah!

JPN 203 Intermediate Japanese (MWF 2:40-3:50) - Yay Limpar 先生 this term! I really love her. While I at first was a bit uneasy about having a different professor in JPN 103, she really grew on me and I'm excited about having her for another class. The next chapters in the textbook look, uhh... interesting. That's all I'll say about that.

So that's it. Two class Spring Term. Again. Woo! And then, of course, I will be working in the LRC. Most likely the same hours as this term since my class times are the same. ^^

Now to the green soup... That's it really. The Cage had green soup today. It was supposed to be vegetable. The end.

Squee spring!

brithla — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 17:49:49 GMT

This is going to sound really stupid... Last night I forgot how old I was. Yup. I told you it was stupid! *doh*

So I have this Japanese dialogue thingy to do this afternoon and usually I'm not nervous about these things, but today I am. I guess it's because this chapter is on giving directions. I'm hopeless with that in English! Directions + me = disaster. Oh dear. But who knows. It might not be as complicated as I'm thinking. As long as I'm not asked for train directions. If I have to go into transfers and lines and stuff, then I'm dead!

My sociolgy project is done. DONE. Yes! That was my last big thing for that class, so I'm obviously happy. Yesterday we spent the class in the computer lab looking up statistics and such. Hello? Why? I don't understand. I know how to do internet searches here. This last class is just going to be so pointless tomorrow. And then on top of that, I still have to go to the finals week class even though I don't have a final. What a bust! Someone help me to figure that one out.

I am about ready to throw those German records out the window at work. They're so frustrating! The computers can go too. Aargh!

Moving on to something less complaining-ish... The weather is getting nicer. And warmer. And nicer! Tuesday is supposed to be 60 degrees. Woohoo! OK weather you can stay there that's warm enough. ^^

Winter Joys

brithla — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 22:26:12 GMT

My China/Japan grades have finally been posted. Yes! I got the exact grades I expected. Cool! いい成績があるよ! Except for one. My Japanese grade does not exist. Eh? At least, I think that's the grade I'm missing. My grades page has a total of 9 credit hours so that means that three are missing from somewhere. It has to be Japanese because my seminar, Chinese, and culture courses are all there. Where on Middle-earth is my Japanese grade?!? 日本語の成績はどこ?

I went shopping downtown in the city on Saturday with Peggy, Chika, and Ayumi. Mission Peggy-needs-boots complete. Woo! It was cold. Very cold. とても寒い! We started the day chipper and ended frozen and clinging to each other. The stores were full of all the Spring fashion already. Haha! But I did get to try on an expensive orange coat at H&M. I had to. An orange coat? Hello.

Sunday was the 11th annual international festival at my school. Despite being at this school for the past four festivals, I have never gone until this year. Teehee! Even though I had no idea what this festival was like, it turned out to be exactly how I expected it to be. Weird, ね? I got to be Chinese for the day and ran around the field house dressed in a pretty red dress all afternoon. I also carried around my super cool panda fan that I got at the Beijing Zoo, in 中国 of course. Everyone kept taking it! The day was finished with a bunch of us, in our loony exhaustion, climbing onto a pile of mats in the corner and then going to the Boiler house for FREE PORTILLOS DINNER YAY!

And now, it's snowing. Or the snow is blowing. I'm not sure which. 雪が降っている!

Who invented group projects?

brithla — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 04:23:32 GMT

So I'm sitting here wondering where on Middle-earth my emails from my two classmates are. Hello? My sociology class was divided into groups of three for a project that is due Friday. FRIDAY, people! We have a five page paper to work on together, which we decided to evenly split and then put the pieces together since there are multiple sections. Well.... I need my group member's data. Have they sent it to me? Of course not. I could always just fudge the table I have to write and use my own data. Stupid sociology! Before this term began, I hated philosophy more than anything. Now I would give anything for a philosophy class because I really hate sociology. Will somebody please help me? But I am optimistic and still think my classmates will email me eventually. I just wanted this done tonight because I have so much to do tomorrow.

My study abroad application is in. Woohoo! I think I must have set a record or something for fastest completed application in the history of ever. Yup. It only took me a week to collect everything I needed, including recommendation letters. Yes! Though in all fairness, my resume was already complete. That was the hardest part to write last year and took me the longest to finish. I only had to tweak it slightly this time. Woo! My statement of purpose actually feels... purposeful. Is that a word? I wrote a whole page and a half yay and that's the watered down edited version! I just had a lot to say, unlike my China/Japan statement last year that can be summed up, "I just wanna go, darnit!" lol. :p Now I'm just waiting for a China program to, errr... happen. That'll be my luck. I'll be all excited and ready to go and the program won't happen. *note to self stop planning*

Taste of Asia tomorrow yay I'm making dumplings! ^^

I'm not done with you, China!

brithla — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 01:39:48 GMT

So.... I have compiled a list of things that I still need and/or want to do in Beijing.

- Cartwheel in Tiananmen Square
- Olympic Stadium
- Happy Valley (amusement park) because it looks so stupid it's funny and I want to see the ant parade.
- Old Summer Palace
- Temple of the Reclining Buddha
- Botanical Gardens
- Aquarium
- Climb the Great Wall again because it's SO cool!
- Drink bubble tea every day because I love it and it's the best. ^^
- Visit Beihai Park again because I was kinda in and out quickly last time.
- Black Bamboo Park because it's so pretty and peaceful and I just like it there.
- The Forbidden City would be nice to see while not under construction. Haha!

List of things I terribly miss...

- Taro
- Bubble tea
- Taro
- Taro pie at McDonald's
- Hot lemon drink at KFC
- Taro
- the subway, the bus, the taxis...
- Taro
- screaming at cars as I cross the street
- Taro
- Trying to communicate with people who don't understand English woo!
- Taro
- KFC
- Taro
- Olympic Friendlies galore!
- Taro
- Chaos and confusion of everyday life. Haha!
- Mochi ice cream yum!
- Taro
- Lipton ice tea icy cup thingy yummy!
- Uuuu... Movie night. I don't think this was ever an official thing, we just watched something pretty much every night. =)
- Taro
- Pushing people out of the way in the cafeteria and succeeding because I was SO good at this after a while yes!
- Taro
- Haggling
- Chinese food
- Taro
- Pirated dvd's haha!
- "Hello, lady! You buy?"
- Taro
- Trying to figure out what on Middle-earth is going on sometimes!
- Walking down the streets to the scents of corn and sweet potato. Smells like Thanksgiving which is so cool because autumn is THE best!
- Did I mention Taro?

I am also completely, totally, 100% DYING to go to a city near Shanghai called Hangzhou. It's one of China's ancient capitals (woo!) and is full of so much history, culture, and beauty and oooo. I wanted to go in the fall but I'm a big wimpy scardey cat and won't travel that far alone, plus I wanted to explore Beijing during my week off. I'm downright terrified of navigating airports! It's the one city in China that I HAVE to see more than any other. Yup.

Culture Shock

brithla — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 19:51:27 GMT

Could I be going through culture shock? My first week at home was fine. I was, for the most part, extremely excited about everything and being home and Christmas. But for about the last week and a half, I've felt horrible. Miserable. I'm losin' it! I'm finding it hard to adjust to life at home. It's strange because I want to be at home and yet at the same time I'd rather be living on campus because when I'm at home, I'm usually sad that everything and anyone that will make me smile is so far away....

So confused

brithla — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 00:34:34 GMT

Before leaving Japan, I tried to mentally prepare myself for my return home because I knew it would be different and would take some getting used to. But! I did not expect that I would forget how to flush a toilet. I'm serious here! I walk in the house, go into the bathroom, and proceeded to just stare at the toilet because I couldn't figure out how on Middle-earth to flush the thing. Do I push the handle? Do I hold it? How about pulling it? WHAT DO I DO HELP!?!? Luckily, I figured it out quickly. Whew! Though this is still quite a complicated task even a week later. I always nervously push the handle. Everytime. Weird!

And yes, I am freezing. I bundle up in my coat, scarf, and gloves when I go out. Buuuurrrrr!!!!

Would it make sense if I said that I'm homesick for Asia? Because I am. Despite not falling in love with Japan, I do miss it. I guess it's mainly my classmates I miss and the life I had gotten used to. Though, obviously, I miss some more than others and am about ready to go crazy because I won't rest until I see them. :( *runs around madly in circles* And also still on the subject of Japan, I am now 99% sure that I have decided not to go back to Japan next fall which means that I have to change my Japanese major to a minor. I just don't really want to go back anymore (except for maybe a visit). Though, strangely enough, I could live there again. That can't possibly make sense!

Home

brithla — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 01:47:39 GMT

I am a totally new person. Why? Because I have travelled through time. Yup. I lived through Monday twice. How was the future, you ask? Well... THE FUTURE!!!! Nuff said.

Final Plans

brithla — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 07:49:42 GMT

Our final days in Japan are winding down. I'm seriously exhausted. Just beat. Burned out. Japanese class has been incredibly stressful. It's probably the hardest class I have taken in college. Tomorrow is my final exam and I'm soooo happy. *almost done almost done almost done* I still have so much to do before my grand departure from Japan. The list is as follows...

Thursday
- Morning: Go to Daimaru (the real one this time) with Ashley and Vicky. Possibly meet Erik for lunch.
- 3pm: Japanese final
- 5pm: Farewell party

Friday
- Late morning/Early afternoon: Go to Uji with Parker, Jeff, and Jim (maybe?)
- The rest of the day I need to clean my room and pack and all that jazz.

Saturday
- Universal Studios Japan all day wooooo!!!!

Sunday
- 10am-ish: Go to teahouse place and sweets shop with Val.
- Rui and Judy will be stopping by sometime this day to give my apartment a final check.
- Final packing the rest of the day. Maybe go into Kyoto one last time.

Monday
- 3:30am-ish: Leave my apartment for the airport and begin my journey back to the other end of the globe.

So yeah, lots to do. And at some point tonight, tomorrow, and Friday I have to finish all my seminar papers for Judy's class. Guh. After that, I need to put together my final project. It shouldn't be too hard except that I don't really know what I'm doing.

Getting excited yay!

The Daimaru that wasn't...

brithla — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 10:01:41 GMT

Back in Japanese 103 spring term we were studying shopping and Matsubara-sensei gave us a map for one of the floors of a department store called Daimaru. Whitney and I turned to each other and were like, "Keeping this!" so that we could go there once in Japan. Six months later and Whitney-less, I am in Kyoto and ready to go to Daimaru. ^^ I spotted it a couple weeks ago while in downtown Kyoto. Ashley and I said we would go back another day. This past Wednesday was the day. We walked around for a while checking out Teramachi (a mini shopping city) and just looking around in general. It was getting late, not to late but late considering it was a school night, and decided to make our way to Daimaru. We thought we were on the right side of the street and thought it was further away, but out of the blue popped up a place called Fuji Daimaru. That had to be it! But wasn't Daimaru on the other side of the street? So we go to check it out. It was a department store, but didn't look very interesting. We weren't going to go in until we noticed a pet shop was on the top floor. And so our journey through Fuji Daimaru, the Daimaru that wasn't, began. We never did find that pet shop. This had to be the strangest department store in existence. It just didn't make sense. This is Japan, for goodness sakes! Shouldn't everything make sense?!? But I have discovered during my time here that Japan is a very mysterious, far from perfect country. Maybe my expectations were too high? I don't know. I find myself constantly questioning Japan. On the way to the subway, Ashley and I found the real Daimaru. It was exactly where we thought it should be. Darn you, Japan!

Homesick

brithla — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 00:42:59 GMT

I have just over a week left in Japan. I can't believe it. A 15 week long study abroad program and I'm in the end of week 14 already. At the beginning, before we even left, I thought, "Man! 15 weeks! That's an ETERNITY!" But now it's almost over. Wow. I mean, just WOW. Where did the time go? I was in China. Let that sink in. CHINA. It's been my dream since I was a child to see another country and learn another language. Any country and any language. Now I have been to two countries and am learning three languauages. It has all come true so far. I left home a terrified girl at the thought of living without a family member because I have never been on my own. If I could get through this, I could do anything. I have. I'm like supergirl now! There were so many obstacles, challenges, and unknowns thrown at me over the past three months. I've come out a new and better person.

On top of all this floating around my mind, I'm exhausted. 15 weeks is just tiring. In China, I was so into getting my work done and studying (though I didn't that much Chinese homework). I don't know what happened when I got to Japan. I just couldn't concentrate. Maybe because I was completely thrown off because of switching countries. It had a major effect on me. Japanese is hard. I so want to well, but I can only fairly grasp the new material. It's just going whoosh right over my head. We're being quizzed on EVERY SINGLE vocab term in each chapter on a single quiz when I know our same class at home hasn't done that. Yesterday our single quiz had two quizzes on it and our last kanji quiz was the same. What's up with that? I know I would have done sooooo much better on those quizzes had then been smaller. It's all too much for me and quite overwhelming.

Now I'm ready to go home. I'm going to miss my classmates terribly, but getting home is more important methinks. We haven't been doing as much together anymore like earlier in Japan and certainly not as much as China. It makes me sad. People run off making plans with others who aren't even in this program and it leaves me going, "Wait? Huh?" because I usually don't find out about these things until last minute. I understand that some need time away from everyone, but sometimes it feels like the group is falling apart. :( So yeah, it's time to go home. I think two weeks away from each other will be good for us all.

12 Days of Christmas ^^

brithla — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 13:19:48 GMT

My LiveJournal 12 Days
My True Love gave to me...
12 illyrianas a-hollering.
11 hobbit_angels a-singing.
10 prophet_maids a-chuckling.
9 strikhedonopia9s a-chewing.
8 danii_ellies a-piping.
7 hadji_hajeks a-commenting.
6 ladyceles a-hopping.
5 red aspoors.
4 hooting goddesstios.
3 Chinese saintseatpeachs.
2 guinea pig almost_heavenlys.
And a yuri93 in a cantaloupe tree.
Get gifts! Username:
Another fun meme brought to you by rfreebern.