HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

a very happy birthday shout out to my mom and my cousin alex!!!!!!!! happy birthday and have a great day!!!!

down under

yesterday i was accepted to study away! the first step to going to australia has been completed. now i just have to apply to the university of sydney and be accepted there and then i'm off. very exciting!

emotions like whoa

here i am back at trinity. it's only been 24 hours and lots have taken place. i found out yesterday that my best friend and also roommate yumi will not be returning to trinity for this semester. huge bummer. we were so close and things are going to change a lot without her around. not having my best friend this semester is going to be very hard but hopefully within the next week or so i can start moving forward. on top of all that, classes started today at a ripe early age of 8 AM this morning. so that was a lot of fun. luckily one of my classes was cancelled so i could watch the inauguration. which was number three on my list of things that have happened so far at school. such a historic event. i've never watched one before and i was happy to say that i was able to vote in this election and watch the president swear into office. i thought it went great. and tonight i start softball practice already. it's still not official yet, but in three weeks we will have officially begun our season. can't wait! so a lot has happened already with lots of emotions attached. thankfully i don't have too much work yet and i can sort of ease into the semester. it all should be very interesting. i'll keep you posted!

not a whole lot

well not much has really happened since i've been home from japan. i'm still sort of suffereing from jet lag since i've been waking up at 8am on my own every morning. and while that may not be very early for some people it's VERY early for me to be waking up on my own. i've mostly just been running errands, watching a lot of tv, and visiting old teachers, coaches, and friends. most nights i watch movies and tv with my friends and/or parents. so just taking advantage of the fact that i'm home, can eat good food, and don't have to do any school work. while i want to see my friends at school and plus i'm a little bored not doing much at home, i really don't want to start writing papers and reading lots and lots of books again. but nonetheless i do go back on monday. this weekend will be, however, packed with lots of good ol' family time. can't wait!

domo arigato mr. roboto

yumi and me standing in front of the Golden Pavilion

yumi and me in a rickshaw
yumi and me standing at the top of roppongi hills in front of tokyo tower

mount fuji from the bullet train
yumi and me with some harajuku girls
yumi, yumi's friend yuh yuh, yuh yuh's roommate chris, and myself at monkey park with a monkey!

holy cow. christmas, new years....japan! christmas was great. as most people can tell, i love christmas and i love being around my family. christmas eve was great, trivial pursuit was quick (although each year i start to answer more and more questions), video games were played, and family that wasn't physically there was in my thoughts (in michele's case she was in my computer!). christmas day was filled with more family and friends, good food, a dog (don't worry, not mine), a christmas story, and relaxation. my time of relaxation wasn't very long though. two days later i was off. 13 hours on a plane all the way to tokyo, japan to visit my roommate yumi. 10 days of awesomeness. it was so great. i got to see shrines and temples, walk through the imperial palace (which only happens 2 days out of the year) get to know yumi's family, learn some of the language (alright, not that much. geez japanese is hard), meet yumi's friends, site see around tokyo, experience the night life, and eat great food. omg it was really an amazing trip. new years is very big in japan. we had a great night filled with yumi's friends, a jazz bar, and lots of dancing. then i was able to go to the Meiji Jingu shrine which is a shrine for the new year. i just got back yesterday so i'm still jet lagged, but it was definitely worth it. japan was amazing and sooooo much fun. these are some pics to prove it!