late night metro--not good

After spending 2.5 hours at a bar on Friday night, I tried to take subway to go home. That was a super bad idea. It took me 2.5 hours from East Village to my house in Queens! I hate all those late-night and weekend services. I think they should list all the service changes on the system all over subway stations, so I can plan my trip back home accordingly. I got off at one station to change the train, just to find out that the connecting train was not running, etc. This type of stuff happened one after another on Friday night. It was such a disaster, going back and force on subway with my pretty but uncomfortable shoes on. ugh.

Lessons learned
1. check service changes before I leave when I'm taking subway after midnight or on weekends.
2. or, just take a cab home. that's so much easier
3. carry some extra cash for cab fare

Saturday night was much better. Went to a jazz performance in midtown with my roomie and friend. Vocal wasn't that impressive but the piano was wonderful. And I got home relatively quickly. thank goodness!

AC...broken???

I'm in my lab finishing up a manuscript (short one), and it's so super hot in here! I think the AC is either broken or turned off...I'm about to choke to death. What is worse, my lab doesn't have window, so I can't even open windows to let some fresh (but hot) air in.

Guys are disgusting...I will try to find a civilized man (if that's possible).

I'm feeling dizzy...

By the way, haven't heard about the comps' results yet. It's making me super nervous. They were supposed to have results by the mid-July but they haven't even finished grading them yet. slacker.

back in NY

Came back to NY yesterday evening (around 5pm). My flight from Osaka to Detroit was only about 50% filled, and I could use four seats by myself. I thought that I would have a comfortable flight but I couldn't sleep at all!!! ugh.
I was worried about immigration and custom but they went OK. The INS officer(?) asked me whole bunch of questions about my student status but he let me through afterall. When he asked me how much money I brought in from my home country, I told him I only have $60 with me (which is true), and he got a bit suspiscious. He asked me, "how are you going to pay for school and other expenses?" If I answered that I will work in the U.S., he would have sent me straight back to my home country! I simply told him, "scholarship and parents' funds...they wire money to my bank account" even though my parents don't pay for almost anything. He was satisfied with my answer and let me go. phew...! That was close!

When I finally got to NY, I was exhausted from not sleeping for almost 24 hours and long flight. I cleaned up my room, changed sheets, and collapsed on my bed. But I ended up waking up around midnight, so I watched "Blind Date" This show was crappy as usual. hehehe.

Today, I came to school with an intention to do some work...but as usual, I ended up wasting time on internet and e-mail. Oh, well. My mentor e-mailed me, and we're meeting tomorrow morning...I don't know what to talk about because I didn't think about anything academic for the last 2.5 weeks or so. I hate it when she asks me, "tell me about your thesis idea?" I have no clue about what I want to do...bad graduate student.

By the way, I wonder when they are gonna let us know about the comps results. According to other test takers, they were supposed to let us know by mid-July...I thought I would have the result in mail by the time I get back to NY, but there was nothing from school in the stack of mails I got while I was away. I had a nightmare about failing the comps...I hope this won't really happen in real life. scary.

two more days in Japan

So, my visa didn't get here by the 13th (my returning flight to NY). I had to rebook my flight, and the earliest I could book was on the 18th because the seats are pretty much sold out for almost every flight. ugh. As I was saying earlier, I'm getting tired of staying in Nara. So, I really wanted to go back to NY on the 13th. oh, well.

Nothing much going on in my neighborhood...it's been super hot and humid. It finally stopped raining yesterday, and they are ready to announce the end of the rain season.

Ok, I'm gonna head out to Mr. Donut to have some coffee and work on my paper...

getting tired of Nara

I can't believe this...but I'm getting tired of being back home. I want to go back to NY :-( It's nice that I don't have to do anything...like, all meals are prepared by mom and all I have to do is to sit at the table. But I'm so used to having freedom of living by myself (away from family), and it's hard to get back to living with my family.

I wish I had more time and money to travel in Japan, though. I wanted to go to some "onsen" (hot spring) in country side. Japan is such a small country but there are so many neat places to visit.

Went to Umeda with my mom. There were big "bargain (sale)" going on everywhere, and there were soooooo many people. I got tired after an hour or so. It was more crowded than anywhere else I've been in the U.S. It made me wonder where all these people came from. Too many people! My mom and I went to Gap because they were having a big sale. I tried some pairs of jeans but I couldn't fit into any of them! I guess I'm kinda fat in Japanese standard! Most of the sizes they had were 00 or 0! I think Gap in Japan have different sizes...I can usually fit into size 1 or 2 in the U.S. but size 1 was too small for me when I tried some jeans at Gap in Osaka....hmmm Maybe I've gotten fatter during my stay in Japan.
After shopping, I tried "kinako" ice cream--it was soooooo yummy. Apparently, this ice cream is very famous in Kyoto, and they opened one of their stores in Osaka. There are so many yummy stuff in Japan...this is something I will miss once I go back to NY.

rain lady

I probably have brought rain from NY to Japan...ever since I got to Japan, it's been raining everyday...I mean, everyday!!! It kinda sucks because I don't feel like going out when it's raining out.

Anyway, I went to my sister's college and sat in "transpersonal psychology" class. It was boring, and I almost fell asleep. ugh. But it was fun to get a feel of how it's like to be a college student in Kyoto. hung out with my sister's bf, too. Afterwards, I went to Umeda to meet up with my best friend from high school, Wendy. It was great to see her! The last time I saw her was when she visited me in Cali....so it's been little over 2 years. She hasn't changed that much from 2 years ago. We went to izakaya to eat and drink. I admit that I had little too much...but Wendy was drinking twice as much as I was. She came back from Bolivia in April, after completing her Peacecorps mission. She told me a lot about her stay in Bolivia, as well as about her Bolivian bf. As usual, we chatted a lot about relationships ;-) We just couldn't stop talking, and I ended up taking the last train of the day...phew, I'm glad I made it!

Today, I'm gonna go to Kyoto with my mom...then, have dinner with my cousin tonight. busy day, again.

By the way, here are some states I've visited. Looks like I've visited many states in South...

Mass update...again!!!

It's been almost a month since the last time I updated my blog. So much has happened in the last few weeeks.

1. took the comps...ugh...it was traumatizing. I'm almost positive that I failed and I even had a dream about it a few days ago.

2. I came back to Japan on June 30. I was supposed to get to Osaka on 29th, but I missed my flight...so I ended up flying out from NY a day later than my original plan. enjoying my stay in Japan...good food!!! My sister's boyfriend drove us to Kobe yesterday. It was so much fun. I wish the weather was nicer, though. It was raining/crowdy all day long. Then, he drove us tour high/middle school afterwards. It was a surprise from my sis and her bf. Pretty cool to see the school after such a long time.

3. just chilling at home today. it's raining all day long!!!