ちょう がっかりしてんよ．．．

こんにちは！私は今ちょっと大変だから休んでここに私の思い出を書く。私はMCATを受けた後のよていはまだまだ決まっていない。それはね、私の一番大変なことだよ。そして、集中できないし何もしたくないし仕事も探したくないし大変。どうすればいいかしら？

みんなは今何してんの？遊び？アルバイト？休み？

ああああああ～

ひまだな～

本当に勉強しなきゃけど私の頭はからっぽいよ。

写真がないけど．．．

さよう～
テレサ

Google Maps is the Best

Happy New Year to all! I hope everyone had a great holiday season! I'm back from the bowl game which we lost literally in the last two seconds.. oof. It was a great game to watch though! And Jacksonville was so super warm! I've got a few days before I ship off to NYC for a Media Studies trip. I'll be there for a week, and hopefully after that I'll get to start break for reals! It'll be high time for some job-workin, self-improvin, Japanese-studyin hima na toki.

This morning I got curious and managed to find Sophia and the DK House on Google Maps! Here's the map I made. I marked the Sophia Yotsuya campus, DK House, and the Nishi-Kawaguchi Station near the DK House. If you draw a straight line from DK to Sophia it's about 9-10 miles. I tried making a line along the train route and it's about 12 miles, although I'm not sure whether we'll need to switch trains or anything en route. It's no UVA, but it's not too bad if you ask me!

So my anime pic post for today is a continuation of pretty much every pic I've posted so far; the ever suteki na, Kaleido Star!
If anybody wants to watch this show, I'd be more than happy to burn copies of my DVDs and mail them! It's a great watch with a super-motivating main character! Jen, this would be a good starting-out anime for you =D I got season 2 for Christmas XD

And Greg, I would be honored to sit by you on the plane, should the opportunity present itself! =D

Ja mata!

HAPPY NEW YEARS

hey all!!!

as my title states, i am present to wish everybody a wonderful NEW YEAR!!!! woot woot!!!

as to flights and other such matters, my father, who used to run a travel agency, is able to get me tickets to Japan on JAL or ANA for like $1,090 or so. i'm not sure if this is absolute or true yet because he tried to fax me the papers and my black ink cartridge is a bit wasted. i will see dem papers wen'z i hippity hop'z it hoooome'z. hahaha.

also, in referall to Natalie's question about visas and applications and all that. to my knowledge, we were all required to fill out the Certificate of Eligibility when we turned in our documents to accept our admission in Sophia. what follows next is lost to me, but supposedly they're supposed to contact us or something when we are able to retrieve our visas.

furthermore, greg, it seems like you'll be flying out of dulles. well, i find that prices and offerings are slightly better at reagan. also, a hint to all those who are flying, DO NOT PICK NEWARK AS A TRANSFER STOP!!!! EVER!!!!

Newark is like hell for transfers. All the people there are overworked and underpaid. They are also extremely short tempered due to the massive amounts of people passing through the airport. Construction is also a pain. Their security people are also muchos touchy. Pick ANYWHERE ELSE to transfer flights. I personally recommend Atlanta. I just like the airport there, it's really big and really clean.

Those are my two cents. *drops a couple pennies*

Oh yeah, Natalie, my picture of the post selection last time was actually about Saiunkoku. A more recent anime than Fushigi Yuugi. I recently got back into Fushigi and realized how freakin' old school it was. *sigh* Saiunkoku is my most recent addiction. It's about court life and the trials and tribulations of a poor high-blooded noble lady by the name of Kou Shuurei.

Jikan ga attara, zettai ni mitemite! Hontou ni omoshiroi kara!

Now, my next selection is.... *DUN DUN DUN*

This wonderful anime goes by Heroic Age. At first, it seems like another boring ole descendent of the whole Neogenesis Evangelion and Gundam ilk, but upon further viewing, it SUCKS YOU IN. Really good fun. I didn't watch all of it, mostly the beginning and end, but it's good times for all.

About buying tickets

Hey all,

So here's what I know about buying plane tickets; it's not much but I hope it'll help you all schedule your flights.

1. Buy on a Wednesday: For some reason buying your plane tickets on a Wednesday gets you cheaper flights.
2. Check out studentuniverse.com: I got my ticket there for $1091 so it was kind of a steal.
3. ...It seems I only know two things about buying plane tickets, so....

Also, a quick question, do we need to worry about visas? And is anyone planning on getting a job in Japan? I think it might be fun/a good way to practice one's Japanese.

Flight

Hey guys... I've been looking at some flights today and have found out that they're all DAMN EXPENSIVE. Being told that Japanese airlines are better in general, I first checked out ANA (All Nippon Airlines) and then I checked out United to see if there was much of a price difference. There's not. Here's what I did:


Depart: Dulles (IAD) March 24, 2008
Arrive: Narita, Tokyo (TYO) March 25, 2008
Depart: Narita August 2, 2008
Arrive: Dulles August 2, 2008


ANA Economy Class Roundtrip: $2,867.40
United Economy Class Roundtrip: $1,916.50
ANA Business Class Roundtrip: $10,171.40
United Business Class Roundtrip: $10,368.50


As you can see, there's an absurd difference between the economy and business class. My parents told me that they recommended business for some reason, but I definitely agree with them when they say that flying business isn't worth a semester of school. Dulles does have a few other airlines departing for Japan that day including Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways International, but I didn't check their prices or anything.


Thus, I'll be doing an economy class flight. If you all are down with that, let's schedule our flights together. Otherwise, I guess I'll be flying out of Norfolk International by my lonesome =(:::


Soshite, there's about a $200 difference in leaving/arriving on a Thursday compared to a Friday, and an even larger difference compared to a Saturday. August 2nd is unfortunately a Saturday, so we could get cheaper rates leaving on the 1st and even CHEAPER leaving on the 31st. The 31st is in fact the start of break, but would it be too much of a hassle to end exams on the 30th and go straight home right afterwards? We could always leave on Monday, too...


I'm about to call them and see what their carry-on size is and if they have any instrument protection policies or something... although I'm 95% positive they don't since neither of my teachers have told me about ANY airlines that do...


Update: ... and indeed! No one supports instruments larger than 22 inches (my saxophone is a whopping 32... even the alto is 26 or so), so I guess I'm going to buy that $400 case and hope for the best for my poor wittle horn : ( (the agony...!) So, I'm game for any airline... especially ANA.

Sayonara! For now...

So to echo Greg a bit, hope everyone's holiday has been and continues to be great! Merry Christmas! And Happy New Year as well!

I'm heading out in a few hours (catching an early flight) for my eagerly-anticipated and much-awaited Korea/Japan trip! I'll be gone until the 14th of the new year, and needless to say, I'm sorely going to miss this blog for that time period (though I'll probably be able to get online a few times...) It's tradition now for me to pack everything the night before (even when I head to college! though I feel I'll probably start packing for Sophia a biiiiit earlier. At least I should...) Right now I'm in the stage where I'm trying to figure out what I can actually leave behind to free up some room in my suitcase. Packing in winter STINKS because clothes take up so much more space. I'll just warn my fellow travelers that they will see me wearing the same stuff...

My goal is to not buy too much. According to mother, I really don't need so much clothing. I plan to spend my money mainly on experiences, like Disneyland (woohoo!) and seeing places and going out with friends. Let's see how this goes!

So goodbye for a while, keep up the blog! And now I leave you with...Detective Conan! What a cutie.

CAAAANDLES BURNIN' LOW...!!!

I just wanted to say that I hope everyone has had a absolutely fantastic Christmas.


And that I think I'm going to buy a DS... what's that game? "Kanji no shou" or something?


And! Sorry that I wasn't on chat last night XD XD XD I tried to nap and wake myself up, buuuut I had an AWESOME Christmas sleep instead, waking up to the smell of breakfast. It was fantastic! Despite all of the feelings that it wasn't Christmas up until today, it was TOTALLY Christmas on Christmas day. The only thing was that I didn't go to mass (shame on meeeeee!!!!!!!!!!) ACTUALLY the truth is I was going to go to midnight mass and then I was like CRAP I HAVE TO CHAT WITH THE SOPHIA PEOPLE AT MIDNIGHT CAUSE I SET IT UP AAAAGGGHHHHH IguessI'llgoto7ammass. Wellll my parents didn't get up for mass, so guess who else didn't? Blarggg.


I thought I'd get some pretty harassing e-mails/comments, but actually I just got nice phone messages from Jen. It was very Christmas-y of her to be very pleasant as I dreamt of sugar plums and candy canes (... or at least I probably did... I don't remember my dreams from last night).


Anyway, hope it was awesome for everyone.


P.S.: Anyone get anything cool?


P.P.S.: Listen to the Stevie Wonder Christmas song before the night is over because it's SOOOOOOOO HOT!!!!