I'm sure most of you have figured out by now that I have officially retired this blog. As huge as an impact my year abroad has had on my life, I am now moving on to bigger and better things. Thank you to everyone who followed my travels!
In case you haven't quite had enough of me yet, I have recently started a new blog/website focusing on my life as an aspiring video game writer. It's called Video Game Goddess (modest, aren't I?) and you can find it here: http://videogamegoddess.blogspot.com Feel free to drop by and visit now and again. Cheers!
Friday, March 26, 2010
Monday, September 7, 2009
Big Dog on Campus
Howdy peeps. Thought I'd take some time out of my labor day to update you on my readjustment progress. Did I mention it's raining outside in Pittsburgh right now? Yeah, lovely labor day.
So I've been through two weeks of classes already and things are going okay. My literature courses are proving to be quite interesting. We've already started discussing Tess of the D'Urbervilles in Major Works of Modern Fiction. If you haven't read it before, allow me to sum up the moral of the story: bad things happen to good people. Oh, and don't fall asleep in a deserted forest with a rapist. Yeah, great book. I hope Lord Jim is a bit more upbeat.
The only class I'm really not enjoying is Calc 101. I've never liked math, but I'm not bad at it, it's just that I haven't taken a legit math course since high school. So I know I've learned all this stuff before in AP Calculus, but I totally don't remember. And of course, since it's a freshman class, all the little newbs are like, "This is so boring! Hurry up and get to the hard stuff!" whereas I'm praying the TA slows down so I can copy every single little detail into my notebook. So embarrassing. There is an excellent chance I'm the oldest person in that lecture. Why oh why didn't that Humanities Scholars course on philosophical mathematics count for my required course???
I also got my first taste of my new internship, but I won't post on that until I take some photos of my office and the hallways. Trust me, it's worth the wait.
On the reverse culture shock side of things, I've begun to notice some major changes that Japan has wrought in me. One of the negative changes would be that I'm super lazy now. I mean, by CMU standards. I'm so unused to having multiple assignments at a time and going to the same class more than once a week. In Japan I had lots of time to play games, watch movies and TV shows, write, etc. Now I find myself feeling ridiculously guilty for not having my nose buried in an assigned book or reading every waking moment. I haven't even begun to factor in my internship hours or my thesis research! It's going to be an uphill struggle readjusting to the work load, but I've never been afraid of hard work before, so I'm not really worried.
A more positive change I've noticed is my insatiable sweet tooth is gone. Seriously, I think my taste buds are having their own type of reentry shock! In Japan, I ate TONS of sweets and junk food, which is how I gained Xpounds over the course of the year (did you really think I'd tell you the number?). Now all I want every day is healthy food: yogurt, hummus, pita chips, fruit, etc. I even tried to go back to Ben&Jerry's, my ultimate guilty pleasure, and just couldn't do it. It was way too sweet! It's not like I ate healthy food all year long in Japan, so I'm really not sure why this is. But I like it. Makes eating healthy (and losing my Japan-fat) painless. Maybe my body just really really missed vitamins and is now compensating by giving me healthy cravings. For once, I'm just gonna sit back and let the cravings take over. Thank you, Japan.
I am also much more relaxed in general. I've always been a bit of a control freak- I have to know every detail of what's going on, I have to make all the plans and follow them to a T, and god forbid if I'm not at least fifteen minutes early for every single thing. Maybe I just used up all my anal-retentiveness in Japan, but I'm so much more chill now. It's easier for me to be flexible, to roll with the punches. I can be spontaneous, and if I'm two minutes late, it's not the end of the world (so long as it isn't important, like a class or interview). I guess Japan taught me that there is no way I can be in control of everything; in fact, I know I can't control the great majority of things in my life. But it obviously didn't kill me there, so there's nothing I can't handle here. I'll save the stress for when my computer inevitably breaks down sometime in November. It's become an annual event now.
And finally, what I'm really happy to have brought back from Japan with me is confidence. I wouldn't say I strut everywhere, but I certainly hold my head high and nothing and no one can intimidate me anymore. I'm a senior on campus, a big dog, and I just returned from a year in Tokyo. That makes me super cool. Yeah, I said it. I speak Japanese (casually), I will likely graduate with a 4.0 in my major, and there are iPhone apps with my name in the credits. I am so ballin'.
Of course, at CMU, I'm still only one of the many impressive students here. I have a loooong year ahead of me and a lot on my plate, so I'm still going to have to work my little bum off just like I've been doing since the fourth grade. But honestly, after Japan, I feel like there's nothing I can't handle. Even the insanely expensive price tag of grad school, the GRE, and an economy in recession. Bring it on.
So I've been through two weeks of classes already and things are going okay. My literature courses are proving to be quite interesting. We've already started discussing Tess of the D'Urbervilles in Major Works of Modern Fiction. If you haven't read it before, allow me to sum up the moral of the story: bad things happen to good people. Oh, and don't fall asleep in a deserted forest with a rapist. Yeah, great book. I hope Lord Jim is a bit more upbeat.
The only class I'm really not enjoying is Calc 101. I've never liked math, but I'm not bad at it, it's just that I haven't taken a legit math course since high school. So I know I've learned all this stuff before in AP Calculus, but I totally don't remember. And of course, since it's a freshman class, all the little newbs are like, "This is so boring! Hurry up and get to the hard stuff!" whereas I'm praying the TA slows down so I can copy every single little detail into my notebook. So embarrassing. There is an excellent chance I'm the oldest person in that lecture. Why oh why didn't that Humanities Scholars course on philosophical mathematics count for my required course???
I also got my first taste of my new internship, but I won't post on that until I take some photos of my office and the hallways. Trust me, it's worth the wait.
On the reverse culture shock side of things, I've begun to notice some major changes that Japan has wrought in me. One of the negative changes would be that I'm super lazy now. I mean, by CMU standards. I'm so unused to having multiple assignments at a time and going to the same class more than once a week. In Japan I had lots of time to play games, watch movies and TV shows, write, etc. Now I find myself feeling ridiculously guilty for not having my nose buried in an assigned book or reading every waking moment. I haven't even begun to factor in my internship hours or my thesis research! It's going to be an uphill struggle readjusting to the work load, but I've never been afraid of hard work before, so I'm not really worried.
A more positive change I've noticed is my insatiable sweet tooth is gone. Seriously, I think my taste buds are having their own type of reentry shock! In Japan, I ate TONS of sweets and junk food, which is how I gained Xpounds over the course of the year (did you really think I'd tell you the number?). Now all I want every day is healthy food: yogurt, hummus, pita chips, fruit, etc. I even tried to go back to Ben&Jerry's, my ultimate guilty pleasure, and just couldn't do it. It was way too sweet! It's not like I ate healthy food all year long in Japan, so I'm really not sure why this is. But I like it. Makes eating healthy (and losing my Japan-fat) painless. Maybe my body just really really missed vitamins and is now compensating by giving me healthy cravings. For once, I'm just gonna sit back and let the cravings take over. Thank you, Japan.
I am also much more relaxed in general. I've always been a bit of a control freak- I have to know every detail of what's going on, I have to make all the plans and follow them to a T, and god forbid if I'm not at least fifteen minutes early for every single thing. Maybe I just used up all my anal-retentiveness in Japan, but I'm so much more chill now. It's easier for me to be flexible, to roll with the punches. I can be spontaneous, and if I'm two minutes late, it's not the end of the world (so long as it isn't important, like a class or interview). I guess Japan taught me that there is no way I can be in control of everything; in fact, I know I can't control the great majority of things in my life. But it obviously didn't kill me there, so there's nothing I can't handle here. I'll save the stress for when my computer inevitably breaks down sometime in November. It's become an annual event now.
And finally, what I'm really happy to have brought back from Japan with me is confidence. I wouldn't say I strut everywhere, but I certainly hold my head high and nothing and no one can intimidate me anymore. I'm a senior on campus, a big dog, and I just returned from a year in Tokyo. That makes me super cool. Yeah, I said it. I speak Japanese (casually), I will likely graduate with a 4.0 in my major, and there are iPhone apps with my name in the credits. I am so ballin'.
Of course, at CMU, I'm still only one of the many impressive students here. I have a loooong year ahead of me and a lot on my plate, so I'm still going to have to work my little bum off just like I've been doing since the fourth grade. But honestly, after Japan, I feel like there's nothing I can't handle. Even the insanely expensive price tag of grad school, the GRE, and an economy in recession. Bring it on.
Monday, August 24, 2009
My Room!
'Ello, chums! I just finished throwing away my storage boxes and decorating my side of the room, so I thought I'd take some photos and post them. Allow me to take you on a tour:
Our room is shaped like a fat L; the first leg consists of the closets and my desk area, the middle is taken up by our beds, and in the second leg is Alex's area and our food area.
Using the remarkably versatile substance known as sticky tack, I put my fan and postcards on display as well as hung up the picture cloth from Kyoto that my sister Heidi gave me. Notice how I have my PS2, PS3, and video games out on display. In case you're tempted, just know that all the individual bedroom doors in the house lock ;) I'm not losing this PS3 too!
This lovely lady is my roommate, Alex, aspiring doctor and noted college athlete. As you can see, her desk is quite the opposite of mine: a live ivy plant, Giovanni the goldfish, and various flower-themed decor. I love the contrast :)
As for our beds, I have the top bunk and yes, that is a coat rack standing next to the window. Stylish yet functional, it's easily our favorite thing in the room.
So that's the grand tour. Hope you enjoyed it!
Our room is shaped like a fat L; the first leg consists of the closets and my desk area, the middle is taken up by our beds, and in the second leg is Alex's area and our food area.
Using the remarkably versatile substance known as sticky tack, I put my fan and postcards on display as well as hung up the picture cloth from Kyoto that my sister Heidi gave me. Notice how I have my PS2, PS3, and video games out on display. In case you're tempted, just know that all the individual bedroom doors in the house lock ;) I'm not losing this PS3 too!
This lovely lady is my roommate, Alex, aspiring doctor and noted college athlete. As you can see, her desk is quite the opposite of mine: a live ivy plant, Giovanni the goldfish, and various flower-themed decor. I love the contrast :)
As for our beds, I have the top bunk and yes, that is a coat rack standing next to the window. Stylish yet functional, it's easily our favorite thing in the room.
So that's the grand tour. Hope you enjoyed it!
Sunday, August 23, 2009
The fat lady has yet to sing!
Hey loyal readers! You probably thought I had left you for good. Well, fear not! Though I am returned from the land of samurai and Sony, my study abroad experience is not quite over. There is still the delightful process of reverse culture shock, which, I am told, could be as lengthy a process as the original culture shock. Oh joy.
Now, I could tell you all about my three-week vacation at home in Texas, about the amazing steak I ate every other day, the awful experience my mother and I had watching District 9, or how my dad ended up buying me two PlayStation 3's after the first was stolen; however, none of that is related to my experience abroad. So I'm gonna save myself some time and write only the relavent readjustment stuff. Like the fact that Ben & Jerry's ice cream, once my kryptonite, now tastes far too sweet, or the fact that American bread tastes absolutely terrible to me. It's like a big doughy ball of grossness in my mouth. Ew. But let's move on, shall we?
I'm blogging from my new room in my new sorority house- Tri Delta has moved from our residence on Maggie Mo to a house on the Greek Quad which is twice as large, which means twice as much estrogen under one roof. Scary, I know, but they're my sisters so I am obligated to love them. Luckily, I really do love them, or at least the ones I know.
Yeah, that's another thing that's somewhat confounding my return to the house: a good third of the girls are strangers to me. They initiated last fall when I was in Tokyo. It's a little awkward to pass them in the hall or share a sink with them in our community bathroom; we smile at each other, but neither of us knows who the other person is, but we both seem to be living here so we must be sisters. I'm sure that will wear off with time as I get acquainted with the house again, but for now, it's kinda weird.
That little awkwardness aside, I am really happy to be back. I've been spending a lot of time with the sisters I'm closest to, catching up and whatnot. They're really helping to make my transition back into the house and CMU much easier, especially the sisters I've kept in contact with over the year. I have no idea what I'd do without them!
Oh, and did I mention my room is awesome? And that it comes with an even awesomer roommate? As a senior with a strong history in the house, I got pretty much first pick when it came to rooms, so I'm in the GIANT room on the second floor, the third-floor-twin of which is a triple, if that gives you any idea. And my roommate Alex, who is also a senior and in my pledge class, just returned from a semester in France, so our room is going to end up with very international-themed decor. It's been great swapping stories with each other. I feel lucky to have a roommate that I can relate to concerning such an important event in both of our lives.
Classes start tomorrow, but I only have one hour of math; I consider my real first day to be Tuesday, on which all four of my classes are scheduled (my fifth spot is for my thesis). So though I may not have time to blog as often as in Japan (nor will I have as much to blog about), I will keep writing about how my readjustment goes, how my thesis develops, progress in my service projects, and various other areas of my life on which my time in Japan has had a lasting effect. Stay tuned, sports fans!
Now, I could tell you all about my three-week vacation at home in Texas, about the amazing steak I ate every other day, the awful experience my mother and I had watching District 9, or how my dad ended up buying me two PlayStation 3's after the first was stolen; however, none of that is related to my experience abroad. So I'm gonna save myself some time and write only the relavent readjustment stuff. Like the fact that Ben & Jerry's ice cream, once my kryptonite, now tastes far too sweet, or the fact that American bread tastes absolutely terrible to me. It's like a big doughy ball of grossness in my mouth. Ew. But let's move on, shall we?
I'm blogging from my new room in my new sorority house- Tri Delta has moved from our residence on Maggie Mo to a house on the Greek Quad which is twice as large, which means twice as much estrogen under one roof. Scary, I know, but they're my sisters so I am obligated to love them. Luckily, I really do love them, or at least the ones I know.
Yeah, that's another thing that's somewhat confounding my return to the house: a good third of the girls are strangers to me. They initiated last fall when I was in Tokyo. It's a little awkward to pass them in the hall or share a sink with them in our community bathroom; we smile at each other, but neither of us knows who the other person is, but we both seem to be living here so we must be sisters. I'm sure that will wear off with time as I get acquainted with the house again, but for now, it's kinda weird.
That little awkwardness aside, I am really happy to be back. I've been spending a lot of time with the sisters I'm closest to, catching up and whatnot. They're really helping to make my transition back into the house and CMU much easier, especially the sisters I've kept in contact with over the year. I have no idea what I'd do without them!
Oh, and did I mention my room is awesome? And that it comes with an even awesomer roommate? As a senior with a strong history in the house, I got pretty much first pick when it came to rooms, so I'm in the GIANT room on the second floor, the third-floor-twin of which is a triple, if that gives you any idea. And my roommate Alex, who is also a senior and in my pledge class, just returned from a semester in France, so our room is going to end up with very international-themed decor. It's been great swapping stories with each other. I feel lucky to have a roommate that I can relate to concerning such an important event in both of our lives.
Classes start tomorrow, but I only have one hour of math; I consider my real first day to be Tuesday, on which all four of my classes are scheduled (my fifth spot is for my thesis). So though I may not have time to blog as often as in Japan (nor will I have as much to blog about), I will keep writing about how my readjustment goes, how my thesis develops, progress in my service projects, and various other areas of my life on which my time in Japan has had a lasting effect. Stay tuned, sports fans!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Sayounara Japan!
I just wanted to do a really quick post before I have to leave. Today is my last day here, and in ten minutes I have to lug my under-50lbs suitcases downstairs. Sorry I didn't leave time to post a lengthier goodbye-Tokyo message; I was too busy packing, cleaning, and downloading WoW (you'll hear all about that in the next post ;) ).
Fear not! This is not the end of my blog! I plan on continuing it to document my return and the eventual, inevitable reentry shock. And hopefully I'll get to post some photos of my time in Texas with the family, too. Talk about culture clash.
So bai bai, Nihon! It was fun/weird/crazy/amazing/expensive/scary/frickin' magical!
Fear not! This is not the end of my blog! I plan on continuing it to document my return and the eventual, inevitable reentry shock. And hopefully I'll get to post some photos of my time in Texas with the family, too. Talk about culture clash.
So bai bai, Nihon! It was fun/weird/crazy/amazing/expensive/scary/frickin' magical!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
The Photo!
Here is the photo that was taken of us on the Indiana Jones ride the second time we went:
Isn't it awesome?
Isn't it awesome?
It's Frickin' Magical!
So for those of you who haven't heard my gleeful cries of eight-year-old joy, on Tuesday my homies and I went to Tokyo DisneySea, one of the two parks at the Tokyo Disney Resort. In opposition to its neighboring park Tokyo Disneyland, DisneySea is more for adults: the rides are scarier, there are more shows, and you can purchase alcohol (not that I know this from experience cough cough).
In case you are
wondering how it was, check the title: the phrase of the day was "it's so frickin' magical!" and we repeated it every time we saw something amazing, which was about every 1.3 seconds. My comrades were Melanie, Sarah, and Michelle, and out of the three of us, Mel was the only one who had ever been to a Disney Park before. So as you can imagine, the three of us newbies were freaking out the entire ride there.Tokyo DisneySea is the most expensive theme park ever built, and it shows: every ride is meticulously designed to emerge guests in whichever world that particular area of the park encompasses. The Tokyo Disney Resort is also the only Disney park not directly owned by The Walt Disney Company- it is licensed to The Oriental Land Company. But trust me, you totally can't tell; according to Mel, the experienced veteran, going to Tokyo Disneyland is just like going to Disneyland in California. And even though all the speech at DisneySea is in Japanese, all the writing is in English, if not both English and Japanese.
Maybe it's because I've lived here for nearly a year, but it was easy to forget that every employee in the park was Japanese and we were only fifteen minutes outside of Tokyo. All I saw was the Magical World of Disney, and my inner eight-year-old couldn't be happier.They even have a ~1910's era Americana area called "American Waterfront", which is home to Hotel Hightower, a.k.a. The Tower of Terror, and the U.S.S. Columbia, a full-size luxury cruise ship.
The first thing that struck us was how incredibly detailed everything was. From the train to the lampposts to even the employees' themed costumes, everything was meticulously designed to reflect the theme of whichever area we were in. Sarah actually took photos of all the bathroom signs we saw!
Since we went on a Tuesday and it was somewhat rainy all day, there were very few people at the park- the longest line we waited in all day long was 20 minutes! We arrived at the park thirty minutes after opening and stayed until the moment it closed. We went on every major attraction, saw several shows, and hit the vast majority of the souvenir shops. Needless to say, we made the most of our day ^^.
The center and icon of the park is Mount Prometheus, a volcano that smokes during the day and shoots fire at night during the light show. It stands over a tall ridge line that forms a ring in the center of the park, inside of which is the Mysterious Island area. This is a picture of the view of Prometheus from inside this area; the things sticking out of it are part of the Journey to the Center of the Earth attraction, which at one point shoots you out of the volcano's side!
The ride we most anticipated was the Tower of Terror, to which we made a beeline the moment we entered the park. It is seriously insane how much design goes into the waiting areas for the attractions- you have to see it to believe it. Seeing these areas is really half the fun.
But our favorite ride of the day, which we hit once during the day and once at night, was the Indiana Jones Temple of the Crystal Skull ride. It was fast, scary, and action-packed the entire way through. They even had three impressively life-like robotic Indi's spaced along the ride to help create the story! The best part, though, was the picture- we knew they would snap a group photo sometime during the ride, so we discussed how we should pose beforehand and settled on complete terror. And by a stroke of good luck, we four got to sit in the front row, with Mel in the driver's seat! She gripped the steering wheel and made the most ridiculous face! Sarah looked aghast in the photo, but I, being the genius I am, ducked the moment they snapped the photo because of a boulder bearing down on the car, and Michelle just looked confused. But when we went again at night, we all did it again and the result was perfect- everyone looked horrified at Mel, who was grinning maniacally while steering us to certain death. We all bought one or both photos, and as soon as Sarah scans hers, I'll post them here!
The "most magical area" award definitely goes to Mermaid Lagoon, a reconstruction of King Triton's castle from The Little Mermaid. On the outside you see the castle, but the attraction area itself is all inside. They created a giant room using dark lighting and watery shapes so it actually feels like you're under water! It was really beautiful. 
It would take me all day to give true justice to how amazing DisneySea is and what an awesome time the four of us had. This was the one thing I wanted to do most in Tokyo, and the one thing I didn't think I'd get to do. I'm so grateful I was able to go with my friends and I will remember it as one of my happiest days in Japan, if not the happiest. I don't care if The Walt Disney Company is a giant conglomerate with sweatshops in southeast Asia and criminally overpriced merchandise. It's frickin' magical!
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