Orientation actually took place like...three days ago, so this is late. Regardless, this is my intended very detailed entry (as opposed to my brief LJ entry). :D Here goes.

We woke up around 5:15 AM and ended up getting there at 7:15, which was way too early. So, we walked all the way from the parking structure to my dorm, just to see what the outside looked in person. It looked really ancient compared to the brand new dorm next to it, which I hope to be in next year BECAUSE IT HAS AIR CONDITIONING! But the rooms are smaller than the ones in my dorm.

Anyway, we walked to Campus Center and eventually checked in for the NSO (New Student Orientation). We had team leaders for each group, about 8-10 tables, and I totally forgot who my people were as I went up the stairs. I grabbed some cantaloupe slices for breakfast, and then proceeded to guess who my team leaders were...amusingly enough I ended up going to the right table anyway, although I looked kind of flaky because she was like "Grace and Keith?" and I was like "Oh, maybe it's them..." ...and they were Grace and Keith. Hahahhahaha.

I sat down at the table, where another girl was. Yet another girl sat down and sometime later they both said they didn't drink (or party, I assumed) and I was like "HOPE FOR OUR GENERATION!" or whatever. That girl seriously reminded me of Alice; smart aleck, a tendency to talk back to elders, read a lot, etc. Hahaha. Other people among our friends who have gone to orientation have told stories of people who reminded them of Zama people, and I definitely experienced that too, lol.

I won't talk about the boring stuff, like Gen Ed requirements or my college (the College of Arts and Sciences), but other than that we had some corny "ice-breakers" that thankfully I didn't really have to participate in. There was another girl named Nadine and someone I recognized from my elementary school here in Hawaii, but I wasn't really friends with her or anything so I didn't say anything, ROFL.

Lunch was good. I missed the food here, haha. I hope I don't eat and eat and eat, though. After that we went on the campus tour, which was not lucky at all because Grace nearly got killed (or knocked out, or whatever) by a renegade palm tree branch thing, and it started raining on us (I think only one girl had an umbrella). And it was pretty hot...but whatever.

I found a few clubs and whatnot that I wouldn't mind being in.... Hopefully I can work on UH's newspaper in the future; I don't know about freshman year yet. I have to see how I can handle extracurricular stuff with my classes and all. There's a ICS Club that I'll probably join (assuming it's not all boys =__=) and probably the Japanese Culture Club so I don't get homesick. XD There's a Korean Culture Club but I'm not sure about that. And yeah, there is an Anime Manga Club; I might just consider contributing to their club but not joining, which is weird, LOL.

We had this...health portion next that was probably the lamest thing. The "gather in a circle and talk about concerns" part was fine, but then we had to listen to some Rainbow of Opportunity thing that was really corny...we had to split into six groups and come up with the most number things for each color of the rainbow. Winner got a (lame) prize, but everyone got candy anyway. Next we played jeopardy that wasn't even jeopardy; we had to pick a team name using a kitchen utensil. I got stuck in the lazy group that didn't want to do shit, so we ended up with Something Ricepots (see, I don't even remember). At the end we still had zero points even if I knew the answer to the question that was worrth 1600 points. XD

We headed back to the ballroom where the Campus Resource Fair set up; I immediately registered to vote, and then went to pick up a Study Abroad pamphlet thing. The only place that offered my major was LONDON, ENGLAND which I don't mind at ALL XDDDDD It's probably upwards of $17,000 not including airfare, books, other miscellaneous travel costs, which is HELLA expensive, but I still want to go anyway. *___* Sooner or later my parents came up from their parent orientation thingy and we signed up for the Housing Tour.

That marked the second time I walked all the way from campus center to my dorm, which...was a very lengthy distance, and I will probably have awesome calves by the time I see you guys again in May, or whatever. According to what I've heard, there is NO AC in any of the older dorms, but no one really uses the AC in Hawaii because it's a money-sucker for the power bill. I think there are only like, two bathroom stalls per floor. Fun. At the top floor the kitchen looks kind of...sad, and there only six washing machines so I figure I'll wash clothes every Thursday or Friday, or something.

We ran back to get my Student ID, which they said was going to be open until 6:00 PM, but they lied and we rushed back for absolutely no reason. :| I'm going to try to get it on the 14th or so, after registration, and whenever I have to go buy my books.

Umm...in other news, I found out my roommate and she's either full Japanese-American or half, but that's still funny considering Alice's roommate.

Now that I'm ~*~in America~*~ and all, I can finally update this blog with something more interesting than usual. XD Anyway, because of the lovely time difference, I've had two Sundays...today (I'm still going through my second Sunday, actually). So, here goes.

JAPAN: Sunday, August 3, 2008

I set my alarm for 5:45 AM the night before, which I apparently ignored in my deep sleep, because my mom came in around 6:20 and told me that the flight was leaving later at 10:30 as opposed to 8:30. I was cool with that, and just had to go on the Internet before I left. We finished packing, got in the car, and went to Yokota. After sitting around for a bit we were all really nervous that we wouldn't actually get on the flight (we weren't called until like, the middle bunch of people), but we got on.

I was disappointed to hear that we were flying on the same aircraft I'd flown on before, with no windows, where you're flying backwards, and it variates from way too hot to freezing cold. We took off at 1:15 PM. We amazingly got a seat together, but it was like RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE BATHROOM, so my mom said it stank. Thanks to a stuffy nose, though, I smelled absolutely nothing. :D I played FFTA2 for an ungodly amount of hours, and then sat around with my iPod playing (and failing) at Music Quiz 2. We had those lovely lunch boxes with what seemed to be the same kind of sandwich I ate all those years ago, and it wasn't...that great, but whatever.

We didn't get dinner so I just scarfed down my random junk food snacks, and my dad ate my snacks, and...yeah. I really didn't sleep at all during the flight because of the time...but good thing there weren't any windows to see out of, because that would've prevented me from even closing my eyes. Hah.

HAWAII: Sunday, August 3, 2008

We arrived in Hawaii around 9:30 PM Japan time (2:30 AM HAWAII TIME HOSHIT), but didn't actually get off the plane until an hour later. I felt dead tired even if it really wasn't that late in Japan. My uncle picked us up around ~4 AM, and we ended up grabbing breakfast at Zippy's even though I was hungry enough to eat a full dinner.

Eventually we took off and went to Costco, where I unexpectedly got my phone, a T-Mobile Samsung T819. Originally I was kind of skeptical about getting it, but now that I've touched my phone and all I love it. Generally. I'm not entirely used to the menu yet and I will probably have a crap ringtone for awhile, but whatever. I hate the fact that it's BROWN, though. And it's a slider--but American flip phones feel like they're not sturdy at all.

My head is spinning right now; I've only slept a little bit for like 10 to 15 minutes at a time. It's hot in the house, like, as much as people want to turn on ACs here they don't really do it because of the power bill. And I feel very out of place, hahaha.

We're supposed to go somewhere else, but it doesn't look like we will be as my dad's asleep again, and I don't know what my mom is up to.

See, good thing I said eventually instead of right away. I finally edited this template to my liking (lol it's so GEEKY) in honor of the DS game I am currently obsessing over, yay.

There are still a few problems with this template...like the color of the bullets are still green, and the date stamp isn't working properly, although that's not my fault by any means...I just don't know how to fix it. But, whatever.

I won't say that I'll be blogging on a regular basis yet, maybe once I get to Hawaii. I don't know if I'll have a stable Internet connection over there, and I might have to use freakin' dial-up with AOL, but I'll try to update regularly as I'll obviously be doing more exciting things there than here. XD

ADIEU!