Bit sad no? This semester has just been one wild trip with so much going on. Totally my fault for not updating more often.
Biggest thing that happened...I got an internshp! YAY! All business majors have to have an internship before they graduate. Most do it in their junior year but as I was away for all of junior year, I had to defer it to spring of senior year. I DO NOT recommend doing this. It was very stressful trying to get one before the thanksgiving break and december 1st deadline. Suffice to say, I was in the career offices at least once a week. Thanks to the help of the career counselors and the internship coordinator I was able to get an awesome internship at Burlington City Arts. I'm going to get to help plan events and at the end of the year set up my own with other interns! Should be fun! If you want more information about internships and such send me a message. This was exactly like going through all the research about studying abroad only a bit more stressful. Like I said, I don't recommend holding it off until spring semester of senior year if you don't have to.
So that was one hurdle that I am so happy to have overcome. The next...finals. Dun. Dun. Duuuun. They are next week. I am not to worried about them but I will definitely be happy that this semester will be over soon.
Another big event was one of my favorite teachers is retiring. Professor Putzel taught XB this year; a management theory class that is unlike any class you will be in. Basically students run it from planning the class, to activities, to discussion. Everything. It was the most frustrating yet fun class I have ever taken. It is probably the one class that everybody in the business department goes..."OH you're taking XB". Unfortunately he is not going to be here for you to experience the Putzel XB, but a new professor will be taking over. I hope she does really well and continues the madness and awesomeness of XB. Congratulations on retiring Professor!
What else? Thanksgiving break came and went. I brought home my three international roommates with me and I think they enjoyed their first Thanksgiving. We also went into New York and saw Macy's, shopped (a lot), and walked around. This was on Saturday so even though it was crazy and crowded, it was probably not as bad as Black Friday.
So Christmas break is coming up. What to do? RELAX! I am not going home until the 23rd because I am working up here for a bit. But I am planning on not thinking about anything until January 16th. Then the fun starts. Graduation planning. Next semester will hopefully be a little less hectic then this last one but I doubt it. Will be spending most of my life working at part time job, working at internship, and working at senior classes. Work. Work. Work. Fun times ahead! I am really missing Japan! Did not nearly work as much. Ok I lied. I worked plenty but it was different kind of work and it was more aikido related then anything.
Other then that really not much more to say. Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas holiday and see you in the New Year!
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Procrastination - Just do it :P
I am coming to realize that despite my being a semi-workaholic person who takes on one to many things, I am a HUGE procrastinator. I have no idea why. Sometimes I just can't bring myself to get the (usually large) amounts of work I have finished. Ever go through that? I thought I had learned my lesson before I came back to the states. Don't want to go through the all-nighters finishing papers that maybe...possibly...could have been done weeks prior to the due date...again. That was not fun. And as a write I am procrastinating doing the small bits of work that I have left. See....so many things to do...other then the work I am supposed to do ^.-.
Anyway on a different note does anyone watch America's Got Talent? I am not a huge fan of any talent shows, reality tv shows, soap operas, what have you. I have my particular shows (Burn Notice, True Blood, Leverage, White Collar <-- go watch) but I have never been into watching any of the popular reality shows. That said, I will watch youtube clips on occasion and I was really impressed by this years AGT group. My favorites went to the top 4, fighting gravity and jackie evancho, both of which were incredible to watch. Thing is...neither one won which completely FLOORED me. The guy who did win, to me, came out of left field. I saw clips of him...I thought he was good but not as good Jackie and its hard to compare singing to an original dancing group. Personally, I don't think he should have won. But that's me. What do you think?
So to end this on a fun note, and because I am praying for a good weekend as it is miserably raining right now, I am posting a picture. Has anyone seen the Double Rainbow Song on Youtube? Well...my British friends showed it to me awhile back and just the other day here we had our own DOUBLE RAINBOW!! And my lovely friend had her own double rainbow moment. She would kill me if I posted the video of it (nearly tackled me when she found out I did tape it). So here is the picture instead.
Have a great weekend! Go find a DOUBLE RAINBOW!
OH! And welcome to all of the parents for the New Student Family weekend! Have a good time. And adding one shameless plug: come find out a bit about studying abroad at 9am in the McCarthy Center!
Anyway on a different note does anyone watch America's Got Talent? I am not a huge fan of any talent shows, reality tv shows, soap operas, what have you. I have my particular shows (Burn Notice, True Blood, Leverage, White Collar <-- go watch) but I have never been into watching any of the popular reality shows. That said, I will watch youtube clips on occasion and I was really impressed by this years AGT group. My favorites went to the top 4, fighting gravity and jackie evancho, both of which were incredible to watch. Thing is...neither one won which completely FLOORED me. The guy who did win, to me, came out of left field. I saw clips of him...I thought he was good but not as good Jackie and its hard to compare singing to an original dancing group. Personally, I don't think he should have won. But that's me. What do you think?
So to end this on a fun note, and because I am praying for a good weekend as it is miserably raining right now, I am posting a picture. Has anyone seen the Double Rainbow Song on Youtube? Well...my British friends showed it to me awhile back and just the other day here we had our own DOUBLE RAINBOW!! And my lovely friend had her own double rainbow moment. She would kill me if I posted the video of it (nearly tackled me when she found out I did tape it). So here is the picture instead.
Have a great weekend! Go find a DOUBLE RAINBOW!
OH! And welcome to all of the parents for the New Student Family weekend! Have a good time. And adding one shameless plug: come find out a bit about studying abroad at 9am in the McCarthy Center!
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
What are the dominant social groups on campus?
That could go over a wide range of groups. Are you looking for a list of popular clubs?
Some of our biggest ones are MOVE, Fire and Rescue, Student Association and the Wilderness Program. We also have culture, language, art, and scholastic related clubs.
For a complete list you can go here:
http://www.smcvt.edu/clubs/default.asp
I heard that students have to take two religion courses. How do non-religious students feel about those courses?
Because St. Mike's is a Catholic college, it is required to take two religion courses to complete your Liberal Arts Requirements.
I have friends who are not very religious and who are of other religions like Muslim, Buddhist, and Jewish who have taken these courses and from what I heard from them it really isn't that big a deal. Think of it more as a history course or just an interesting thing to learn about if you feel uncomfortable taking it. Always remember that St. Mikes will NEVER force religion or faith on anyone. These classes do not preach nor will your grade be based on how faithful you are or not.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Returning and Adjusting
So I am back at Saint Mike's and it is the second week of school. I was reading over my last post where I said I was ready to come home. I was ready to come home but now that I am home I am wishing to be back where I was. I am going through the same adjustment period that I went through when I first got to Japan only now in reverse.
It is odd being back. I do not recognize any faces and many of my friends have graduated. I am reconnecting with friends that I left here and trying to meet new faces that I might have seen but have never known. But because I have not been around I missed a year of their lives and they have missed a year of my own. It's a time thing and hopefully around the next few weeks I will feel comfortable again at the place I consider my second home.
Another adjustment: travel and work. I have never felt so isolated at Saint Mikes and have never wanted a car so badly up here. As much as I complained about the transportation system in Japan, I truly miss the freedom of being able to get to any city I wanted and get anything I needed without having to ask someone for a ride. However there is the free bus so I will be putting that back into use.
Also work. And I am talking about school work. At Musashi the homework was minimal until the final papers and last test. Being back, I forgot how much work a day I get. And I am also taking 18 credits both semesters to catch up and graduate on time. It is going to be tough but I think I can handle it. And hey, I have friends who can keep me sane. ^.-
If you are planning on studying abroad don't let this scare you. But also don't think that you are not going to go through any adjustment periods. Both times I did this and it created a bigger adjustment period time for me then had I just recognized that yes I am new here or adjusting and it is going to take time.
Well...its the beginning. I am probably going to be referring back to my experiences in Japan a lot because right now that's all I know. But I do know Saint Mike's as well and I do know about the studying abroad process. Drop me a line if you want to know more about it. I love questions!
HI SMC! I'M BACK!
It is odd being back. I do not recognize any faces and many of my friends have graduated. I am reconnecting with friends that I left here and trying to meet new faces that I might have seen but have never known. But because I have not been around I missed a year of their lives and they have missed a year of my own. It's a time thing and hopefully around the next few weeks I will feel comfortable again at the place I consider my second home.
Another adjustment: travel and work. I have never felt so isolated at Saint Mikes and have never wanted a car so badly up here. As much as I complained about the transportation system in Japan, I truly miss the freedom of being able to get to any city I wanted and get anything I needed without having to ask someone for a ride. However there is the free bus so I will be putting that back into use.
Also work. And I am talking about school work. At Musashi the homework was minimal until the final papers and last test. Being back, I forgot how much work a day I get. And I am also taking 18 credits both semesters to catch up and graduate on time. It is going to be tough but I think I can handle it. And hey, I have friends who can keep me sane. ^.-
If you are planning on studying abroad don't let this scare you. But also don't think that you are not going to go through any adjustment periods. Both times I did this and it created a bigger adjustment period time for me then had I just recognized that yes I am new here or adjusting and it is going to take time.
Well...its the beginning. I am probably going to be referring back to my experiences in Japan a lot because right now that's all I know. But I do know Saint Mike's as well and I do know about the studying abroad process. Drop me a line if you want to know more about it. I love questions!
HI SMC! I'M BACK!
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Winding Down
Two weeks from today I will be on my way to Narita Airport back to reality. Or what I consider reality as this entire year as been so out of the ordinary for me I feel like Alice in Wonderland except no Tweedle Dee or Dum... No actually they were here! 
Anyway I can honestly I am ready to come home. As much as I have loved being here I really miss Saint Mike's. And I only have one year left!! I think I miss seeing green everywhere as here any green you see is in between HUGE buildings. Speaking of huge buildings I just found out that Tokyo is building a big one again called the Sky Tree. I am going to see it on Tuesday with some friends in its beginning stages - its already huge.
In the wrap up weeks I am pretty much busy everyday. And have been busy everyday since about two weeks ago. Between tests, papers, end of Aikido (which was awesome), and trying to fit in last minute trips its been a non-stop (emotional) roller coaster. I will miss it all but I definitely plan on coming back sometime in the future.
On to Aikido. I think I've written more about Aikido in this blog then anything else. About 2 weeks ago the club finished up its 7am practices. Yes as I mentioned back in the winter - we had one week (I called it Hell Week) of 7-8:30am practices during the school week. Which meant classes afterwards. This also meant that I was up at 4am every morning so that I could catch the train on time to get there. Can NOT WAIT to get back to a place where I don't have to take a train anymore to get somewhere. And not just one or two places...but EVERYWHERE!
Sorry sorry ranting a bit. One thing I will not miss. Anyway back to Aikido. At the end of Hell Week we had another party where our master came and many older graduated students (I'm talking like in lat 50s to 70s range) and us had a lot of fun talking and drinking and enjoying ourselves after hard work. This day I also gave out my presents which were Saint Michael's t-shirts to the whole club. They all wore them the following Saturday when we had my graduation practice. Which was incredible.
This was on July 10. We had normal practice for about 45 minutes practicing techniques and what not and to my surprise they were taking pictures of me performing the techniques! It is the first time I have any pictures or video actually doing Aikido and I was really excited. After practice we did another performance like event where younger students paired up with older students and vice-versa and did a number of moves. Of course I was concentrating so much on remembering my techniques I got up and forgot to formally ask my senpai to do them with me. But it was alright as I ran right back and asked and then we went together to the front and performed. Afterward, it was my jyuudori which the best way I can describe it is that I get to throw everyone around for about 5 minutes and then they throw me. I was at the front of the dojo facing them and when my captain said START they all came at me. Suffice to say I was ready to run but it was a lot of fun and Yusaku-senpai was taping the entire thing. I can't wait to see it. I was exhausted after just throwing but then it was my turn to be thrown and boy did they have fun doing that. I could barely get up but what seemed like a gesture of helping me up was just a cover for getting ready to throw me. Then as soon as it was done, I was still on the floor recovering they all attacked again and threw me in the air Yip Yip Hooray! style. I thought I was going to drop to the floor but it was fun and totally unexpected.
After that was done they asked me to give a little speech which I did to the best of my ability (and did not cry!). And then we took pictures! Which I will get from them soon hopefully. Then it was on to a fun filled night of eating and drinking. The most incredible thing of the night though was that they all gave me presents and things that I thought were way too much. The biggest one which was from all of the 4th years was my own wooden staff and sword set with a carrying bag. I was speechless. I could not believe they got me this. And it is beautiful set. And they all got together and made me this beautiful photo album with pictures throughout the year and they signed it with cards. Even my master wrote me a card! There were other gifts too like gorgeous hair pieces from the graduated senpai which I am planning on wearing to a local festival with my yukata-summer kimono- (that Hatano senpai gave me for my birthday), awesome video game posters and the new God of War game compliments of Sekizawa senpai, and this amazing My Neighbor Totoro picture frame set within an actual scene from the movie from the 3 years. Takae (my fellow 2nd year) gave me a t-shirt with my favorite character from One Piece and pencil case with another character which I loved. The first years gave me these really adorable gifts like a fan, a bauble to hang in the window, and a hilarious spoof aikido folder. My captain gave me a book in Japanese that he said he really enjoyed and thought I might like. Apparently it is in English but I really want to try to read it in Japanese.
The whole night was amazing and I am going to be so sad to leave them. Some even want to come with me to the airport! I don't want to inconvenience them as the airport is really far away but it will be nice to have company on my way there and I would get to see them one last time before I left.
I am really glad I decided to join a club here and stuck with it. I suggest to anyone studying abroad in a school program to join a club and really get involved with the school. It really does add to the experience and you make incredible friends along the way.
Anyway I can honestly I am ready to come home. As much as I have loved being here I really miss Saint Mike's. And I only have one year left!! I think I miss seeing green everywhere as here any green you see is in between HUGE buildings. Speaking of huge buildings I just found out that Tokyo is building a big one again called the Sky Tree. I am going to see it on Tuesday with some friends in its beginning stages - its already huge.
In the wrap up weeks I am pretty much busy everyday. And have been busy everyday since about two weeks ago. Between tests, papers, end of Aikido (which was awesome), and trying to fit in last minute trips its been a non-stop (emotional) roller coaster. I will miss it all but I definitely plan on coming back sometime in the future.
On to Aikido. I think I've written more about Aikido in this blog then anything else. About 2 weeks ago the club finished up its 7am practices. Yes as I mentioned back in the winter - we had one week (I called it Hell Week) of 7-8:30am practices during the school week. Which meant classes afterwards. This also meant that I was up at 4am every morning so that I could catch the train on time to get there. Can NOT WAIT to get back to a place where I don't have to take a train anymore to get somewhere. And not just one or two places...but EVERYWHERE!
Sorry sorry ranting a bit. One thing I will not miss. Anyway back to Aikido. At the end of Hell Week we had another party where our master came and many older graduated students (I'm talking like in lat 50s to 70s range) and us had a lot of fun talking and drinking and enjoying ourselves after hard work. This day I also gave out my presents which were Saint Michael's t-shirts to the whole club. They all wore them the following Saturday when we had my graduation practice. Which was incredible.
This was on July 10. We had normal practice for about 45 minutes practicing techniques and what not and to my surprise they were taking pictures of me performing the techniques! It is the first time I have any pictures or video actually doing Aikido and I was really excited. After practice we did another performance like event where younger students paired up with older students and vice-versa and did a number of moves. Of course I was concentrating so much on remembering my techniques I got up and forgot to formally ask my senpai to do them with me. But it was alright as I ran right back and asked and then we went together to the front and performed. Afterward, it was my jyuudori which the best way I can describe it is that I get to throw everyone around for about 5 minutes and then they throw me. I was at the front of the dojo facing them and when my captain said START they all came at me. Suffice to say I was ready to run but it was a lot of fun and Yusaku-senpai was taping the entire thing. I can't wait to see it. I was exhausted after just throwing but then it was my turn to be thrown and boy did they have fun doing that. I could barely get up but what seemed like a gesture of helping me up was just a cover for getting ready to throw me. Then as soon as it was done, I was still on the floor recovering they all attacked again and threw me in the air Yip Yip Hooray! style. I thought I was going to drop to the floor but it was fun and totally unexpected.
After that was done they asked me to give a little speech which I did to the best of my ability (and did not cry!). And then we took pictures! Which I will get from them soon hopefully. Then it was on to a fun filled night of eating and drinking. The most incredible thing of the night though was that they all gave me presents and things that I thought were way too much. The biggest one which was from all of the 4th years was my own wooden staff and sword set with a carrying bag. I was speechless. I could not believe they got me this. And it is beautiful set. And they all got together and made me this beautiful photo album with pictures throughout the year and they signed it with cards. Even my master wrote me a card! There were other gifts too like gorgeous hair pieces from the graduated senpai which I am planning on wearing to a local festival with my yukata-summer kimono- (that Hatano senpai gave me for my birthday), awesome video game posters and the new God of War game compliments of Sekizawa senpai, and this amazing My Neighbor Totoro picture frame set within an actual scene from the movie from the 3 years. Takae (my fellow 2nd year) gave me a t-shirt with my favorite character from One Piece and pencil case with another character which I loved. The first years gave me these really adorable gifts like a fan, a bauble to hang in the window, and a hilarious spoof aikido folder. My captain gave me a book in Japanese that he said he really enjoyed and thought I might like. Apparently it is in English but I really want to try to read it in Japanese.
The whole night was amazing and I am going to be so sad to leave them. Some even want to come with me to the airport! I don't want to inconvenience them as the airport is really far away but it will be nice to have company on my way there and I would get to see them one last time before I left.
I am really glad I decided to join a club here and stuck with it. I suggest to anyone studying abroad in a school program to join a club and really get involved with the school. It really does add to the experience and you make incredible friends along the way.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Friends, Birthday, and Judo
Hey!
So its a bit late here and I haven't updated in quite a while but I wanted to share with you a bit of what has happened over the last month and a half.
So I am officially 21! Yep now I am legal where ever I go. Because two of my friends came from the states in May we celebrated a little early with them and went to a fun filled night of Karaoke! 3 hours of singing (and screaming) our voices hoarse to the sounds of various musical titles in English, Japanese, German, and French. Very very fun night. On my actual birthday we went to an English Pub called the Hob Goblin and I had my first taste of English sausage and mash which was very tasty. I had an awesome birthday! And my aikido senpai (older students) have now decked me out in a yukata with a fan and pretty change purse to wear in July for the summer festival. I am very excited.
As for my friends they came for 10 days in May and I am hoping they had a blast. Because I had classes and practice I couldn't be with them all the time but we worked around my schedule enough to go to different places and explore. Since they were staying in Shinjuku they were able to explore that a bit, and we saw Sumo Wrestling, went hiking in Kamakura to the huge Buddha, and explored Akihabara, Ikebukuro, Harajuku and Ueno park. We also took a trip to the Meiji Shrine and met two really nice guys and between me and them we were able to have a somewhat good conversation mixed with English and Japanese. I think it was a very successful trip for them. Unfortunately we didn't get to go to the Ghibli Museum as I had assumed tickets would still be available on a Monday but I was wrong and it was sold out. But we did go to Disney Land and had so much fun. We road every ride, Bunmi got her turkey leg and I played in the shooting gallery in Western land. Very fun day. Since we were there all day until closing we got to see the day and night parade. We've now made plans to go to Disney World in the states sometime next summer.
Onto Judo. I don't do it but my friend Jon does and he just had a match recently and broke his finger in the process but said it was well worth it. And boy was it fun to watch. I didn't get to see his first match but I was there to see his third (he won his second by default). Everyone was cheering for him. It was really interesting to watch these guys try to drop him as he was the tallest and was literally twice the weight of any of the other competitors. It was painful to watch the other contestants drop with him on top pinning them to the ground but I was cheering along with everyone in the room. Our school came in third overall and he won an MVP trophy for winning all of his matches. Congrats to you Jon!
Other than that nothing big has happened really since May. I have classes until July and deadlines for papers. Only 6 weeks left until I come home. I really miss home and St. Mikes but I don't want to leave at the same time. So much still left to do but I am really itching to get back to St. Mikes.
That's about it for now. Goodnight!
So its a bit late here and I haven't updated in quite a while but I wanted to share with you a bit of what has happened over the last month and a half.
So I am officially 21! Yep now I am legal where ever I go. Because two of my friends came from the states in May we celebrated a little early with them and went to a fun filled night of Karaoke! 3 hours of singing (and screaming) our voices hoarse to the sounds of various musical titles in English, Japanese, German, and French. Very very fun night. On my actual birthday we went to an English Pub called the Hob Goblin and I had my first taste of English sausage and mash which was very tasty. I had an awesome birthday! And my aikido senpai (older students) have now decked me out in a yukata with a fan and pretty change purse to wear in July for the summer festival. I am very excited.
As for my friends they came for 10 days in May and I am hoping they had a blast. Because I had classes and practice I couldn't be with them all the time but we worked around my schedule enough to go to different places and explore. Since they were staying in Shinjuku they were able to explore that a bit, and we saw Sumo Wrestling, went hiking in Kamakura to the huge Buddha, and explored Akihabara, Ikebukuro, Harajuku and Ueno park. We also took a trip to the Meiji Shrine and met two really nice guys and between me and them we were able to have a somewhat good conversation mixed with English and Japanese. I think it was a very successful trip for them. Unfortunately we didn't get to go to the Ghibli Museum as I had assumed tickets would still be available on a Monday but I was wrong and it was sold out. But we did go to Disney Land and had so much fun. We road every ride, Bunmi got her turkey leg and I played in the shooting gallery in Western land. Very fun day. Since we were there all day until closing we got to see the day and night parade. We've now made plans to go to Disney World in the states sometime next summer.
Onto Judo. I don't do it but my friend Jon does and he just had a match recently and broke his finger in the process but said it was well worth it. And boy was it fun to watch. I didn't get to see his first match but I was there to see his third (he won his second by default). Everyone was cheering for him. It was really interesting to watch these guys try to drop him as he was the tallest and was literally twice the weight of any of the other competitors. It was painful to watch the other contestants drop with him on top pinning them to the ground but I was cheering along with everyone in the room. Our school came in third overall and he won an MVP trophy for winning all of his matches. Congrats to you Jon!
Other than that nothing big has happened really since May. I have classes until July and deadlines for papers. Only 6 weeks left until I come home. I really miss home and St. Mikes but I don't want to leave at the same time. So much still left to do but I am really itching to get back to St. Mikes.
That's about it for now. Goodnight!
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