Here's to one last...

OH-NINE!

Christmas decorations

It looks like a hurricane went through campus last night. It was so windy. There are trees down everywhere.

It also looks like winter went through the cafeteria last night. I've never seem so many Christmas decorations go up in so little time. I guess people in Hawaiʻi make up for not having winter by overdecorating everything...

Possibly studying in Kobe this summer?

I can't believe my first semester here is already almost over! There's only about a month left until winter break. It feels like I just got here.

I've definitely advanced with my Japanese from what little I knew when I first got here. Previously, we had only been using the polite forms of verbs, but right now we're working on learning the plain forms. Fun fun fun.

A sensei from the study abroad department came to our class yesterday to talk to us about a summer program in 神戸 (Kobe). I would love to do this, but I'm not really sure if I can right now. Here are the facts:
- It's open only to intermediate students (as in, those with one year of formal training only, no more, no less).
- It goes from June 6 to July 19. Probably a good amount of time for my first time living over there?
- I would take classes at 甲南大学 (Konan University). In one and a half months I would finish two Japanese courses that would take me all next year at University of Hawaiʻi.
- I would stay with a host family, so I would get the experience of actually living the culture, rather just staying at a dorm at school. And the host family lives on the outskirts of Kobe, so I'll get to experience the city life during school and more rural stuff when I go back to the family.

I think it would be a good experience. Any ideas on whether to do this or not? The application is due sometime in February, so I've got some time to decide...

Hello Lost. Goodbye free time.

Oh god.

I finally watched the first episode of the first season of Lost on Hulu.

I think I just kissed my free time goodbye.

Well... I'm soaked

Even though it drizzles for two minutes everyday here, today was the first time it rained more than just that. With perfect timing, it starting pouring right at the start of band, and we kept going despite it. I was completely soaked by the end, my flip folder is all wrinkly, and my charts are pretty much unusable now because the ink has smeared off it. Good thing my roommate isn't here, because I'm using the whole room to spread out my clothes and backpack and instrument and music and charts to dry them. Maybe I'll be able to salvage some of the charts?

First marching band show

I has the videos of the marching band from the last game! I think we still have a lot we could fix, but for the first game of the season, I'd say we're off to a good start! (Feel free to watch them in the little video boxes right here, but I'd suggest you actually click the link on watch it on Youtube. It's in HD).

Pregame (The stands weren't that full at this point, but it was still awesome how much cheering there was) (The first minute is just us standing there waiting to start, go ahead and skip it):



Halftime (FIFTY THOUSAND PEOPLE!!!) (Oh, and the part where we stop playing and put our instruments down is when we do the moonwalking and pelvic thrusts and all that jazz. You can't really see it that well in the video, but let me tell you, it was awkward. The crowd loved it.):

My dorm on the island

College has been quite an experience so far. Classes are going pretty well. Japanese class is pretty easy right now, since I've been studying it for a while already, but once we get past the basics, it'll start getting tough. As of right now, all we've been doing is learning hiragana, for those that don't already know it.

And now, I present to you: my first video! Here's a tour of my new dorm!

link

"Hey, Ryan!" "Huh?" "Yea?" "What?" "Huh?"

Our first marching band show is all Michael Jackson songs. At one point, we all put our instruments down and start doing Thriller, and at another point, we're supposed to moonwalk. Don't know how that's going to work out.

We have one set where there are four Ryan's standing next to each other. Not very convenient when someone calls out "Ryan!" and four heads turn.

Pearl Harbor

Went to visit Pearl Harbor today. It was weird. I've never been so proud to be an American than when I was standing in the memorial over the USS Arizona, and over the graves of over a thousand sailors that gave their lives for our country. Wow.

The Journey Begins!

Well, it's official. Starting this fall, I'll be heading off to the University of Hawaii at Manoa to study computer science and Japanese. Because of the large Japanese population in Hawaii, it will be a great place to practice my speaking skills. I hope to study abroad in Japan sometime, and possibly teach English as a second language over there.

I might not update this very much until I get there, but check back often. Once I get to Hawaii, I'll start seriously writing on here. Keep looking forward to that update! I'm promise it won't be too long until it's here!