So this week was a time of much busyness and studying. I had my 2-day marathon of a Japanese mid-term and an IPE mid-term. But I think I did alright on them, it's the weekend now, and I'm mid-term free until next Friday, so I'm in a pretty good mood right about now. I'm going out with Ana and Maja tonight to celebrate this week being over with some Mexican food and hopefully a large margarita. They have kiwi margaritas here, and they are seriously delicious. So what's new with me? This week I pretty much just studied, worked oh, and went to a used kimono sale to find my aunt a kimono. New kimonos are really expensive here, but if you can find a used kimono sale, you can generally find quality kimonos at decent prices. I really lucked out at this last sale, because most of the cheaper kimonos weren't very good quality, but I happened to find one that was 100% silk and one that I think has never been worn(the stitches were left in). So that made me happy. Apparently, I'm a good kimono bargain shopper, both my host sister and mother said that I have good taste. I just make sure to look for the kanji that means silk, because polyester kimonos don't really do it for me. It's been really hot and humid here this week. So hot that I'm actually looking forward to the rainy season (when it will rain for a month straight), because then at least I won't be sweating all the time or the rain will wash away my sweat if I am. July and August are going to be awful though, I'm dreading the painfully hot weather almost as much as I'm dreading having to listen to my parents bitch about the hot weather when they come to visit.:-) Oh, the bands starting up soon, probably within the next two weeks. I'm pretty sure we're going to suck because we're not going to get to practice much before I have to go back to America. But it should be fun, just hanging out in the studio and attempting to be a band. I can't quite imagine myself in a band, but sometimes I can't really comprehend the fact that I'm living in Japan either. This past year parts of my life have just seemed somewhat surreal. Living in Japan, hanging out with people from all over Asia and Europe, going to Sapporo, Kyoto, Okinawa, sometimes I just look up from it all and think, is this for real? It's crazy to think that I've been here for 8.5 months already. So much has changed, people have graduated, babies have grown and been born, relatives have died, friends have gotten married. No matter where I'm living, life goes on just the same, I guess. My friends are probably different, I'm probably different too, I guess I'll find out when I return to the states in a couple of months. Sorry for the introspectiveness, but I only have 8 weeks left, so I'm starting to think about what all my time here has meant. You know me, I think too much. Well, I'm just rambling now, so I guess I'll go do some research now. I'm writing a paper comparing the recent French immigrant protest movements to the American immigrant protest movements and I'm pretty excited about it, cause I'm a dork like that. So sayonara peoples.