Stressy stress

Ah. The upcoming months before going abroad. Always the most stressful moments. I'm trying my best to remain relaxed and optimistic. But the whole "down $2,600" bit is extremely hard to put aside.

This is going to be an emo-heavy post.

We're fixing this situation through e-mails, which can be cryptic. I figured the only way to get the money is to ask FinAid. Dad sent them emails, they replied saying sure whatever (yay??), only now I'm being told that they're giving his loans more money, which is no bueno. I hate that I'm doing this to my father. I know it's not my fault that my mom was suddenly diagnosed with cancer - and any money we would have had is non-existant now.

They said studying abroad isn't too expensive. This is because all the money is first going toward your home school, then essentially & indirectly, the affiliated the school. It was supposed to be "easysauce" but it's getting complicated. Firstly, plane tickets are expensive. I have no clue how to handle money like that (yes. I am a child.) so my dad's taking care of it. I can tell you that I can get a free ticket from Southwest due frequent flier miles - it would take me to the west coast where I can get another plane to Japan. And it's coming out to be the same price as it'd be without the reward...? How does that work?

Whatever.

Secondly, I'm living in an apartment with a May to May lease. The apartment is great. I can live with my boyfriend without any problems, and it's nice. Problem is that I'm leaving March 31st - and Kinjo offers apartments themselves, not so much dorm rooms; gotta pay monthly rent, electric, water, all that. The landlord at my apartment was very nice in letting me change my lease from August to August next year and keep the same rates. But I've still gotta pay two extra months rent for April and May. Despair!

I've also gotta find a rental cellphone for when I'm over there. Another big price for my bill.

Everything seemed good before. We could afford the plane ticket, we weren't worrying about the extra months. I was guaranteed a scholarship (80,000 yen a month anyone?) by Noo-sensei, only I've heard nothing about it from Kinjo. I sent them another e-mail about it, and I feel absolutely horrible. They're letting me into the school, I get to experience Japan, and I'm essentially harassing them to give me money Y__Y

Oh well. So until then, I'm trying to treat this "break" like summer - but with snow. I won't be able to relax and get fat when I get back! I'll have about two weeks until WVU's fall semester. Then winter break. And then a spring semester.

So - shut up and let me sleep =P

A Little Preface

Now that I've gotten Blogger figured out, maybe I'll let you in on what's been going on, and what this blog will be about. In two months ~ March 31st ~ I will be leaving Morgantown for a 24+ hour plane trip to Nagoya, Japan, where I will study Japanese at Kinjo Gakuin until the end of July. And I could not be more excited.

I'm not too gifted at words, nor am I artsy enough to keep you entertained with stunning photographs, but I will do my best to chronicle my adventure in a pleasing manner. I'll try to keep my ramblings strictly Japan centered. That being said, there probably won't be too many updates until I'm actually there, but perhaps the journey up until that point will be interesting =]

Everyone reading this should know me, but if you're some stranger who happened upon my blog somehow, I'll give you a brief synopsis. I'm twenty years old, a junior at WVU studying Japanese, I have the best boyfriend in the world (back off, creepers!), and - as you would have guessed by now - I am going abroad this semester. My ability to speak Japanese is extremely limited. Do not try to have a conversation with me, I won't be able to keep up. I've only taken 2 years of it, and the past month I've been "auditting" Japanese 304. Not actually enrolled, due to the semester in Japan starting in April. And I haven't been doing much of the homework, so I'm falling behind in actual comprehension. But that's a story for another day. =]

So! Until the Big Day, I still have many many things to do.

• Buy a plane ticket. Looking at ~$1550 round trip. Ugh.
• Get my visa. For this, I need my CoE, which has yet to arrive.
• Fill out some random forms Kinjo has given me.
• Have my chest x-rayed for them
• Send said forms!
• Get a job??

Big problem with the latter. No one will hire me when I only have 2 months left in the country. Unfortunately, I'm in crazy debt. Don't let your school tell you that studying abroad is "surprisingly affordable." Cause it's not. I have a scholarship that's covering my tuition, and I am still about $2,600 short. Not sure where I'm going to get that money... But! That's another conversation for another time.

I really just meant to start a nice, quaint introduction. It turned into a ramble. ^^; Oh well. Til next time~

Mainstream

Yes, I have decided to make a little blog for my not-so little adventure. Everyone does it. I'm so mainstream! But it'll be cool =] This first post is nothing. I must now play with Blogspot to make it look nice!