Omg sooooo much has happened since my last entry (nearly a year ago... holy crap I'm slack lol)

I managed to get into the university I applied for - chose an International Trade major with a minor in Japanese, and it has been INSANE! Working part time, commuting an hour each way to school twice a week taking a full load of classes...  Somehow I've managed to complete 2 semesters now...  Unfortunately my artwork has fallen to the wayside - the little bit of art I have produced has yet to make an appearance online.  >_<;;

In the last several months I've been networking like crazy and meeting people from all over the world - so awesome!  It started as just a search for Japanese pen pals, but I've had a blast meeting so many new online friends.  I've also greatly expanded my world music collection, most notably with a new interest in kpop and tamil music... (dhanush!!!)

The real craziness began in January - just 2 weeks into my Spring semester, my Japanese professor left! (quit? fired? who knows? no one is talking...)  She was the only Japanese teacher, so that threw a big upset into my plans - after all, my whole motivation for going back to school and choosing that particular university was for the Japanese courses.  The next nearest campus I could go to is about 2-3 hours away.  So, I decided to tackle in one month what most people spend a year preparing for - study abroad.  After many sleepless nights, tons of essay writing, gathering paperwork, making phone calls, and begging for favors, I made it!  I'm going to Nagoya, Japan from September of this year until July 2013 - 10 months! I'm still waiting to see if I'll be awarded any scholarships (fingers crossed!) and hopefully applying for more now that I'm done with the semester from hell (though I still have summer transient classes... bleh).

So yeah, what a crazy year - I can't believe that this time last year I was only getting started on my application!  I never would've imagined I'd be where I am now.  I'm so super excited about going to Japan (squeeeeeeeeeeeeee), but the thought of figuring out how to pack/arrange shipments of stuff for a 10 month stay is overwhelming...  O_o