College College College

I not even halfway through my junior year, but these past couple of months, I really have been thinking intently about what I want to do in the future and what college I want to go to. I've been talking with my mom a lot, and she's been helping me choose, which I am so thankful for.

I hate math.
I'm not really talented in art, but I love it.
I'm indifferent about science and social studies.
government/law seems so boring to me.
I love English, but I'm just average in it.
My whole family works with computers. My dad, my mom, even my sister is majoring in computer science. I want to be different. I don't want to major in that.

These are just the basics. There are so many degrees out there, so many things to major and minor in, yet I can't even pick one.

But what I do know is that I want to minor in Japanese. And Anime and Manga is the portal that brought me into the world of it.

If in sixth grade, I hadn't asked the girl in front of me what she was reading, where I could buy it, and then proceed to go to the bookstore and buy one myself because it looked interesting, I wouldn't have gotten into manga, or anime, or Japan. I wouldn't have the same friends I do now. I could have turned into a person who was passionate about Spanish, or Science, or even Math.

Anime and manga is like steps.
I've experienced it, I loved it, I still like it, but it's time to move on up the steps.
I still like it, of course; after all, I draw in the style and still occasionally read a select few manga.
But I'm definitely not obsessed anymore.

My friends (most of them) have also moved out of the whole anime and manga stage.
Lots of my friends love the Korean Culture. Kpop, you know, that stuff.
They're not in anime club anymore.
Anime and manga is rarely brought up in conversation.
We've all moved on to a less obsessive state.

And I've realized that I'm pretty much the only person who's still  interested in the language, history, culture, and pop culture after we all got over that obsessive state. I mean, i don't see anybody else pulling out their 2,000 kanji book to study. I guess it isn't one of their passions.

But I'm embarrassed, terrified even of people thinking of me as a weaboo. I still draw in the style we were all once so obsessed over.
I'm so scared to pull out my Japanese study books at lunch when I have nothing better to do...

I wish I could be like S.
S rides my bus, she's a senior.
During the international culture fair, I was running the Chinese booth with her and was surprised to see that she loved Japanese too. She "Fell in love with the language " those were her exact words to me. She took 2 years of it in high school. She took French, Spanish, and is taking Chinese now. Amazing.
What's even more amazing is that she didn't get into the language through anime and manga.

I wish I didn't get into Japanese by anime and manga. It would make my life a whole lot easier.
But then again, I have to be grateful for it.
It's a love hate situation I guess.

Back to the whole college thing, Georgetown was suggested by my mother.
They have an excellent Japanese program.
They even have sister universities in Japan where students are required to study abroad for a year or semester.
Georgetown is also Christian/Catholic. I don't have a problem with that, since that is my religion.
But I'm still searching.

I really want to stay in my state!
I still have a little less than a year to decide.


I really want to study abroad my senior year though, but my mom already shooted down the idea.
In my senior year, I have only 1 English credit to take (AP Lit) and then all of my credits are done.
Why spend my whole senior year taking dumb filler classes when I could be doing something better with my time?

I may not even like Japan.It may not even be what it seems in my head. Isn't it better to go and see If I like than to minor in it and hate it later?
If money's the problem, than I won't go!
Is my mom worried or something?




I'm so jealous of those parents who make their children study abroad and the children complain.
They don't know how lucky they are!

11/1/11

It's November already, I can't believe it... time flies by so fast; it still feels like it was my first day of school, back in August. My sister's birthday is tommorow. Mine is on the 20th, and I'm excited!
This year, I don't want to ask for anything too expensive because the economy is bad. My family isn't suffering financially, but I feel so guilty if I get a new i-pod, or laptop for my birthday and Christmas when there are people out there that get nothing. it makes so sad and appreciative of the life that I have.

I want a harvest moon game because it seems like I play my DS less and less these days; that's because I don't have that many interesting games to play.
 I want some art supplies too. Mainly background books and refills for my copic markers.

I also bookmarked a lot of study books! I've gotten to the point where I can read hiragana, katakana, some kanji, and I know a ton of phrases and vocabulary. But... it feels like I'm not going anywhere with this. So I'm going to continue studying. I have a total of four books I want to get on:

• Paticles: this book will show me how particles work,a nd how I can make sentences
• Kanji: this book has 2,000 kanji in it for me to study
• Sentences: along with knowing which paticles to use, I need to know how to correctly write a sentence with corrcet grammer. This book will help
• Sentence patterns: You know how you always say "Eat you dinner" instead of "Consume your dinner"? well, In Japanese, even though several words have several meanings, there are some phrases and sentences that just go together. This book teach me that.

This will further my studies.

I was so excited about going to Japan with my school next year over the summer.
But I heard that the cost is $3,000!!!
O___________O

I knew it would be expensive, but I was hoping it would be in the hundreds.
Guess not.
They said we'd fundraise, but my mom NEVER does fundraising, so that's not going to help me.
I guess I can't go, which saddens me D:

School is an annoying fly in my ear.
Math is, of course, hard as always. I managed to get a C out of the class though.

APUSH is fun but at the same time stressful. I got a B out of the class. I think I could get an A if I read every night like I'm supposed to.

APlang is kind of easy, it's just the essays that we have to write and analyze is tedious work.