By Request

Well its been quite an eventful week, but a good one.

To start off, a couple of my friends and I went out to Oita last weekend and on a completely spontaneous whim, we all got our hair cut and colored. It was quite the experience, trying to communicate with the hairdressers and explain what it was I was trying to get done.

Pierre dyed his natural Swedish blond hair black. That was interesting. Carlos told them to cut it any way they saw fit, and got some brownish highlights to his already black hair. I just got a little bit of a cut and blond highlights in mine. It was actually pretty cheap for me, considering I took the longest time out of the three of us. I must say, I am really satisfied with the outcome, and I think the three of us started a new trend for the rest of our friends. Two of them are planning on going to Oita this weekend to get their hair cut and colored. Posers.

Anyway, here's what I look like now.



I think in a month, Carlos and I are going again, and next time I'm going to go more blond. The parents told me to do it, so I will be the obedient child I am and do it.

As for classes, its been going pretty steady, and I've been working really hard in my Japanese class. I'm practicing my kanji every night, and I'm working on my personal goal of making my hiragana and katakana neater and prettier. So far, its going well, and my improvement is quite evident.

We still go to the tatami room pretty much every night and "study". Most of the time we are talking and such, but we do get serious when we have to. Here are pictures of the tatami room. And my homework.







As for my quarter break, its been decided that we are going to Okinawa! I'm super pumped for this trip, and we are getting good deals for the hotels and flight. Right now there's a small group going, but we sent out invites to anyone who wants to go. (Plus its cheaper for more people to share a room.) But I'm seriously looking forward to this trip. White sandy beaches and sunshine, palm trees and ice cold beer, bring it on! I believe that our break is four or five days long, but depending on everyone's exam schedule will determine when we leave. I think my exams actually end a few days earlier, and depending on how much money it will cost, perhaps a few of us will leave earlier? It doesn't matter to me, but I can't wait to get to the beach!

I can finally call it "Summer" over here. The weather has been extremely nice, and I'm so happy that the rain has finally died down. I was getting tired of having soaked socks and carrying my umbrella everywhere.

Hope everyone is doing fine back at home. I was fortunate to get a lovely little care package in the mail from my parents a few days ago. Inside was a heavenly light of precious cargo consisting of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, two Hershey Symphony bars, and my favorite flavor of jelly beans. My parents rock.

That night I made the mac and cheese while several of my friends made home cooked meals. A few of my friends had never had mac and cheese before, so I allowed them to taste it when it was done. They were completely and utterly fascinated with it, but I was too determined to be selfish that night and wouldn't share much more of it. As my parents said, it was basically $13 dollar mac and cheese I ate that night, and it was worth every penny.

I was able to skype with my friend Alex who lives down in Georgia yesterday, and it was so good to hear from her. I'm going to miss everyone this summer, especially since there are going to be so many special birthdays this year. But I will make sure to have a drink for them on their birthday, and we can celebrate together in spirit.

Until next time.