So the good news...

...is that I AM taking a photo every day.  the bad new is that I'm TERRIBLE at maintaining a regular blog that's not a tumblr.
I'm writing this post on my phone so i don't have to email myself the million pictures i've taken since JANUARY 27TH. So, here in a mash of unnamed pictures is the last like week and a half of my life. It's been busy and fun.

Days 28-39/365
They're all blurring together and I'm posting more than one picture for some days so sorry about that. I'll try to be better now and save myself this annoyance.

Rainy Weekend

It has been a incredibly gray and rainy weekend, which has been wonderful and beautiful.  I love this kind of weather and as a result I've been in an very good mood.

It's been obvious to me that winter has set in here in Flag.  We get most of our snow in January and February, so our season is a little later than other places.  But, on Thursday when I left class at 6:30 it was suddenly completely dark out, which it hadn't been the previous week.  Crazy if you ask me, but that's winter for you. 
I made a great rice bowl for dinner with egg, spinach, and bonito flakes and then went out with my friends to Hops.

Day 24/365, January 24th: "Rice Bowl"

Friday was the beginning of my weekend.  Thank goodness for no class!  I went to the first meeting of 日本語テーブル (Japanese Table) which is a sort of tutoring/practice time for Japanese students.  It's nice to go and get practice and go over the stuff that I struggle with (Adjective conjugations SUCK).  Angelo and I are friends with our tutor which is nice because we get extra practice when we see him on campus as well.
The great thing about Friday was that my housemate/roomie, Blaise and I were twins.  I got dressed and he asked me to help him pick an outfit and I accidentally grabbed a cardigan almost identical to mine.  He grabbed it and said he had a shirt almost the same color as the one I had on and we decided it would be funny to be twins.  It was great fun when we went to lunch with our other roomie, Lucy,  and Angelo.  Lots of stares, but all in good fun.  We decided to change before going for tacos and out to see the Hobbit (my 4th time in theaters, his first).

Day 25/365, January 25th: "Twins"

Saturday I spent the whole day on the couch with Blaise, Angelo, and two of their brothers watching Easy A and just relaxing while it poured rain outside.  It was nice to procrastinate and just relax for once.  I can definitely feel senioritis working its way into my system.

That night I was sitting in my car and the rain on my windshield looked really pretty.  When I shot the picture it looked like stars.

Day 26/365: "Rain Stars"

Today, Sunday, I picked up Angelo and we powered through the first season of Girls, which he has been wanting to watch ever since I told him about it and made him watch the first episode.  We cooked gyoza and it was delicious and lots of fun.  Yet again it rained and now it's so cold it's going to snow.  I am excited for it and at the same time dreading it.  Anyway, here's more raindrops I photographed today.

Day27/365, January 27th: Not Titled

Hope everyone had a nice, safe, and enjoyable weekend!

Namaste

Master Post

Wow, how the days fly by once school starts back up.  

I have been taking pictures each day but with all the readings/homework I've been bogged down with already I haven't had time to upload them here.  So, I've decided to do a bit of a master post of the last week.  All of these were taken with my IPhone, sadly no time for Lensbaby (which I really want to name...).  Here goes nothing.

Day 18/365, January 18th: "Haiku for Martin"

Last Friday I went with my friends Daniel and Paisley to have coffee with a professor we all had (and loved) last semester.  It was a lot of fun and we talked about a whole bunch of things, one of them being my obsession with all things Tolkien.  Our professor had never seen the Lord of the Rings, so when he left we wrote him a haiku, one we probably will never show him...

The rest of the evening was spent at home with my newest roomie, Blaise.  We ate froyo and watched Sherlock (which I shamelessly got him hooked on).  A perfect Friday night if you ask me.

Day 19/365, January 19th: "Don't Suck Today"

Last Saturday I "marathoned" season 2 of Game of Thrones with my bestie, Angelo.  He's an RA in a freshman dorm on campus and this was the advice some of his residents decided to tape up in the stairwell.  Thanks guys, I'll try my best.

Day 20/365, January 20th: "The Peaks at Sunset" and "Hops"

Sunday was a fun day for me.  I spent the whole day reading for my Sexuality and Power in Antiquity class and was actually reading for fun and for class at the same time.  The material so far really truly interests me, partially because it's something I know next to nothing about and also because the book is literally titled "The History of Sexuality Volume 2: The Use of Pleasure" by Foucault which is just a very intriguing subject matter.  Anyway, my roommate and her friend made me break in my reading to go for froyo (yes, again. no regrets) and then later on I went to a slam poetry night at a great bar called "Hops on Birch".

Day 21/365, January 21st: "Wisdom from Hot Sauce"

Monday was MLK Day, which means no class for me!  Angelo and I finished our marathon and then he, Blaise, two of their frat brothers, and myself all watched Pocahontas and drank wine.  It was a lovely time and I saw this leftover sauce packet from Taco Bell on my dining room table.  It reminded me of studying abroad and how when you are abroad you should always just say yes to everything (within reason of course) because that way you don't miss out and have a full experience.

Day 22/365, January 22nd: not titled

Ok, yesterday was pretty boring as I had lots of homework, but I came home and found that my new IPhone case had arrived which made me super happy.  The design is of The Hobbit and each zigzag is a different part of the book.  I really love it.

Day 23/365, January 23rd: "Ring"

So today I was super busy. I came home and did a ton of reading and I also called Taylor so we could discuss more ESL teaching recruiter agencies.  We decided not to go with the one we've been accepted to because they informed us that there are currently no programs that they send teachers to Korea through that accept joint applicants.  That was something they had said would be fine and then all of a sudden they said no, so we're going to apply elsewhere.  The search goes on!  Anyway, that's one of my rings there.  It was a Christmas present and I love it.  It was there, so I took a picture.

Hope you've all had a wonderful week!

Namaste.

I'm On My Way!

After today I feel like my plans are going to go my way!  Not only was it a beautiful day, I got an email back from Teach Away,and it's good news!

I created an account last night and uploaded a resume with it, but I had to finish editing my cover letter, so I haven't uploaded it yet.  I wasn't expecting to hear back from Teach Away until I had that up there, but I was wrong!
I checked my email after dinner and there was an email saying I am a great candidate for teaching in South Korea and that they'd like to move me on to the next stage of the application process!

I am so beyond thrilled right now!  When I was making plans for Spain it never felt real until my program accepted me.  Now that I'm being seriously put through an application process I feel like I'm seriously on my way to South Korea, that it is finally within my grasp, it's tangible.  So, I'm sure you won't be surprised that my photo for today is a screen shot of my acceptance to Teach Away!

Day17/365, January 17th: Accepted to Teach Away
Obviously taken with my IPhone

 I am so happy! It's going to happen!
Just for fun here's a shot of me today taken with my iphone while walking to class.

I hope you've all had wonderful days too!

Namaste

Day Two

The second day of classes went just as well as the first.  I went to my Modern Japan class which I'm very excited for, especially since I'm auditing it.

The beginning of the semester is always great because there's not much homework to do.  So, yesterday Angelo came over and we watched some Game of Thrones and tried our best to curl one of his wigs.  It didn't turn out at all but it was a lot of fun trying and teaching Angelo to use hot curlers and a curling iron.

Day 15/365, January 15th: "Angelo's Curls"
Taken on my IPhone

Today I started working on registering with Teach Away, a recruitment agency that helps people find teaching positions abroad.  After a few hours of work I have a very decent draft of a cover letter and an updated resume, as well as my account set up on their website.  I hate cover letters.  I find it very difficult to sell myself and make myself look awesome.  It's just not how I operate.  But, with the help of Taylor, my person and the one I'm planning to live with while we teach in Korea, it will be a great letter and I'll get an awesome position in Seoul!

So the highlight of today besides getting all that work done on my teaching plans was definitely the weather.  We've gone up 10 degrees every day since Monday and it's only going to get warmer.

Day 16/365, January 16th: "Beautiful Day"
Taken on my IPhone

Have a wonderful day!

Namaste

Last First Day

Today was my last first day of school....well of undergrad that is.....

It's hard to believe that I'm already on my last semester.  Freshman year feels like just yesterday.  I've seen and done so much so far and I know I have much more to come.  Let's hope I can get through this without succumbing too badly to Senioritis!

I've very excited for my classes:

Sexuality and Power in Antiquity (SAPIA)
Modern Japan
Europe in the Inter-War Years (my capstone)
Anthropology
Japanese 102

The first three are all history classes, the Anthro satisfies a science requirement I need, and I;m continuing Japanese just for fun.  

So, I went to Japanese and  SAPIA today and then went and picked up my books at the bookstore.  When they grabbed my order they were amazed that I had so many books.  The girl counted them all and totaled 16 (but I counted when I got home and there's only 14).  She was amazed and I told her simply that I'm a history major and that we read a lot.  And she asked if I would have to read all of those books this semester, to which I replied with a "yup".  She and the workers helping her apparently had no idea that someone could be required to read so much and they continued to freak out until I left.

All of these books look fascinating, so maybe that will motivate me to do more than skim this semester!

Day 14/365, January 14th: "Scholar's Tools"
Taken on my IPhone

Namaste

Playing Catch Up

I had a very busy last couple days so today I'm playing catch up with my photos.