The half-way point

Howdy, readers! Sorry about the lengthy silence, but I was studying hardcore for my exams. My last one was on Saturday, so I am finally free to enjoy two months of break. Unfortunately, those two months are the coldest in Japan, so I won't be doing a lot of adventuring around Tokyo, but I certainly welcome the break.

In spite of the frigid weather, I am going to the Snow Festival in Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido, next week. My friends and I found a great deal online that includes a round-trip flight, four days/three nights at a hotel, and tickets to a TV station (they happen to be popular tourist spots in Japan) and the Sapporo zoo for about $300. So around the end of next week, expect a post about the festival. I'll make sure to take LOTS of pictures!

Even though I'm on vacation, I still plan on doing a lot of work over the next two months. At the end of March, I'll have to take the placement test again, and I'm determined to get into at least level 6. So I'll be studying kanji and grammar every day. I've also vowed to only speak in Japanese with my friends as of last Sunday. It's going to be quite frustrating, I know, but it's the only way my speaking is really going to improve. It's just too easy to use English everyday. I must resist!

This is also a good time to take care of things for when I return to CMU. I need to make my senior year schedule, for starters. I have to apply for my Seniors Honors Thesis by the start of April. I've decided to do a project on Japanese video games in America (surprise). I'm very excited about it, and I hope to do some research and interviews while here in Japan. I've also started writing again. My Creative Writing advisor has agreed to do email correspondense with me for Fiction Workshop credit to help clear up my senior schedule a bit.

So that's about all that's going on right now at the start of break. Shout out to Mel: Happy 21st Birthday! We'll be celebrating with okonomiyaki tonight, a delicious Japanese dish ^_^ Also, love to Mark, who fell down the stairs earlier today, but seems to be alright. And to my fluffy white cat, who set his tail on fire yesterday. Don't worry, he's fine, but my god the mental image is HILARIOUS. Imagine a fat, long-furred pure-white cat running around with little flames on the tip of his tail, my mother running after him trying to pat the flames out. That'll teach him to sit on the kitchen counter while a candle's burning. Cheers!