Minneapolis baby

Thanksgiving is great!
I am currently in Minneapolis staying with Ayano. I will be here till Sunday Arvo.
The neighborhood that Ayano's aunt and uncle live is really nice. It reminds me of Camberwell.
It is really relaxing. We went for a walk yesterday, because there was nothing that was open because of the Thanksgiving day. It was really good. the little river was frozen. I walked on it, it was a bizarre feeling.

Ayano's uncle cooked an awesome meal for the thanksgiving dinner. TURKEY!!!!!
hehe yummy. He also made this carrot, cranberry Jelly thing. He said me was savory, but I swear it was a dessert. So good.

Last night, we got invited to Ayano's friends house for just a few drinks. I already had a home-made wine at Ayano's and my face was flushing red, so I did not drink at all. But everyone else did. The people at the place were about mid to late 20s. it was really cool. everyone was quite happy. It was only 8 of us and people were so nice. Hehe it was so Japanesey. It was really a nice and quite party until someone pulled out UNO. We started playing UNO. It was so much fun! haha everyone was just playing so evil! Ayano lost 2/ 3 games. and she was pissed off!! that was so much fun.

Today was a shopping day. There is the biggest shopping mall in US in Minneapolis. Mall of America. It is gigantic! there are 500 shops or something in. we were there for 6 hours bought a few things. BUT i dont think we have seen them all... It was absolutely packed as well though. all the shops were just crazy... BUT So good. good thing that I came here with a huge empty backpack :D

hehe I have a headache so ciao for now

Enjoy summer
Ku
xx

Thanksgiving :)

Thanksgiving break till Sunday :)
I didnt go to Uni on Monday or today, so I pretty much have a whole week off :)

Tomorrow morning, I am going to Minneapolis/St Paul to spend my thanksgiving with Ayano's family. It is going to be a relaxing time :)
I will take lots of photos to show them to you guys.

I promise. I will be good

Ku

Biggest Disappointment in US so far and others.

Hi all.
I probably have spoken to most of you about this, but I write about it anyway.

I have been waiting on this 2 parcels from Australia that Pat sent me about 1.5 months ago.
One of them finally arrived last week with all the goodies like jumpers and jackets and all that. They are keeping me really warm. But my favorite coat that I bought at CUE just before I came here and a black down jacket that i also bought just before coming here were not in the box. These two things I really really need for the winter here. It is already cold enough. It has been about 4-5 degrees Celsius max for the past week. it is really really cold. I cannot believe it. and i just cannot stand it.
But anyway
Yesterday, I received a lid of my another box from the post office... JUST LID!!!! saying "it came loose from the rest of the box, so if you want us to search for the contents, fill out the form with detailed descriptions of the contents so we will try to search for you, but if we cannot find it, BAD LUCK." I was seriously seriously disappointed. i have been looking forward to the coat and the jacket for AGES. and now its telling me that they are lost :( really really sad... i cannot believe it.

i sent the letter of request ASAP. the recovery centre is in St Paul, so it shouldnt take too long to get there. oh by the way, my box lid was found in St Louis. So maybe my contents are somehow transferred from St Louis to St Paul. Damn, they are travelling much more than I am.... Jealous.

I have spoken to my mom about my coat not arriving and she was like "why dont you just go buy it" IT IS NOT THE SAME!!! my CUE coat was just so awesome. it was just so pretty!!!! I miss it :( I hope it arrives to my hand safe. I really do hope so.

Other highlights

• Halloween!

hehe yeah probably you saw the photos of me on facebook. Sorry Matt... I was SPONGEBOB!! It was so much fun. I had volleyball games on friday and saturday. we had to dress up for the friday night, so it was fun. But actual friday night was a little bit lame. I think I was a little bit homesick then for some reason too. But anyway, Saturday night was a BLAST. Caroline's was having a party, and it was so much fun! i dont know what time I got back, but i remember it was quite late. hehe makes me giggle just thinking about it. Everyone looked great, Tim did a great job being an emo, and Erik was seriously scary being whatever he was being. but his white makeup was all over everyone's face because he was being a little bit crazy about kissing people on their cheeks.... I will definitely be bringing back the spongebob costume so that you can appreciate how awesome it is :D

• Guys/Girls Basketball

Finally the basketball season has started. Last weekend, it was the 2nd exhibition game for guys basketball on Saturday and 1st exhibition game for girls on Sunday. I am in the girl's basketball band (GABS) and I was also asked to fill in for the guys band (Boiler Brass). Boiler brass was so much fun, even though about 2/3 of the bands were gone to Michigan State doing marching band stuff. The game itself was a little bit boring, I think they didnt have their best players playing for the game because it was an exhibition game or something. We won though, easy. So that was good. The student section for the guys was HUGE i think it took up about 2 or 3 sections of the arena. dunno, about 100 or more people? The girls was alright. It was not as fun as Boiler brass. The student section was really tiny. It was about 20 people or less.. I think the band was pretty much the student section. We have about 70 people in the band. I dont know I still like te Box band so much better than GABS though. Box band is so laid back and do whatever/whenever. But GABS, so strict. I dont get it.

• Assignment and shit

This week is not too bad. I have a lab exam tomorrow arvo, but you can bring in all the textbook and stuff so Im not too worried about it. I should though, seeing that it is worth between 10-20% depending on how well you do it. On Thursday, I have another exam for process control. I really should have taken this subject in Australia. It seems so much better. the lecturer here is so dry and it always makes me want to fall asleep. it is really bad. I just spent about 1.5 hours in the tutor's office trying to make any senses out of the topics that is on the exam. Suppose I have a rest of the day with me to figure out whats going on, and also tomorrow. So I should be alright. I am somehow motivated for this exam than the previous ones. After the Thursday exam, I dont think i have any homework due on Friday, which is quite unusual for me. But AWESOME :)

Thats about it for now. I shall go grab lunch with GG and Remi.

Missing you heaps here!
Love ya

Kumi xx

the night before a lab report due date...

Hello all.

I write a bit about the hectic night last night...
I had a lab report due today at 7:30am. It is a group work.
As I was a group leader for this experiment so I had to get everyone's piece together make sure all the fonts and styles are correct and write an abstract.

So I needed the other members' part before I can complete mine.
one of the members didnt give her part (result and discussion) till 11pm yesterday...
WHAT THE!? godo thing I wrote everything else up to her part so that all I needed to do is read through her part and write an abstact for her part...But I thought it was ridiculous.
sigh...
Good thing that it was handed in without any troubles this morning...

I feel disgustingly fat.

I will start going to the gym again. i feel heavy...

anyway, hope you are enjoying the last part of your exams and looking forward to the holidays.
hehe, all of my friends are ready to go back home (as in to their countries) and i still have 6 months to go.
I cant wait for pat to come.
it will be exciting.

Kumi

oh, halloween! I will write about that later. It was so much fun!

Homecoming

Hello! I'm alive! I have been again seriously busy. I have probably had 2 exams and about 5 quizzes. But its not a new story anymore...

Probably the highlight of my week so far was the homecoming weekend last weekend. Last weekend was homecoming for Purdue. so all the alumni comes back to watch the homecoming game and all the crazy parade/shops/stuff happen. It was an exciting event. Friday night was the start of homecoming weekend. there was a homecoming parage. All the clubs and societies (mainly sports) and AAMB marched from somewhere to the Slayter hill where the big outdoor stadium is located. Stacey was in the parade for her rowing club. so my kiwi friend David and I went joined the parade with Stacey. We met up with others at the hill and watched a bit of AAMB perform. The night was seriously freezing and it was possibly raining. But it was again good to see AAMB perform. As now I'm in the girl's basketball band and the box band, all the songs seem so familiar now. I enjoyed heaps. At the stadium, they announced the homecoming queen and king for 2008. I have no idea what is the benefit of bing a queen or king but all the people look smart and stylish. I enjoyed

On Saturday, we went to the homecoming football game with Sakeena, Tim, Akio and David. It was so cold. we were freezing our arse off. But it was good. I enjoyed it much more than the last time. I understood more. It was against Minnesona and we lost terribly the score was 6-17 or something. But I got to see the marcning band. So it was good time :) I love AAMB!!! After the game, those two idiots (Akio and David) went for a fountain run. they looked sooooo cold. I was glad that I have already run through the fountain when it was hot. After the game, we went to maccas and bought 50 chicken nuggets for $10. It is a game day special. I shared with Dave and Akio. But I only had about 14 or it and I feld disgusting....

I have been going to Caroline's house quite a few times this week too. It is just so much fun to chill with people. Unfortunatelly there is always an alcohol involved... I think one of the nights, me and David finished a whole bottole of smirnoff.. It is seriously cheap. you can get 750mL for about $12. But others are so much worse. I dont htink I have ever gotten drunk, but others... hehe just too funny.

I just finished my oral presentation on the lab work that I was doing today. It made me so happy. I was seriously nervous about it. I dont feel comfortable of talkig infront of people at all. But now it is all over. I am just relaxing and all.

I have uploaded all the photos on facebook. but I will do that on picasa now :) just wait for it non-facebook people.

Love you guys heaps!

Kumi

xx

Getting Cold in Lafayette

Hello!
Again, I have not been posted any blog for about 2 weeks... I am alive though.
Definitely the highlight of my past 2 weeks is:
I WENT TO CHICAGO FOR 3DAYS!
It was a beautiful city. I keep on wondering why I did not go to a university within a big city. (eg, NY,LA, Chicago, Boston, DC...) oh well.
I went up there by myself, thinking that I will be able to enjoy the time on my own, which I did. BUt I spent some of the time with guys I know from Purdue. It was really nice.
highlights in Chicago.

• Went up to the tallest building in the US (Sear's building)
• Went on a cruise at night, saw the view of Chicago from the River and the Lake. It was the most beautiful thing I have seen in a while. For some reason, the view reminded me of Melbourne. maybe something to do with walking along the yarra or something. It was just gorgeous. I totally fell in love with the city then. I will put some photos on picasa later.
• Went bit of a shopping. Magnificent mile was full of expensive brands. I didnt like them too much.
• TOKYO HOTEL!!!! just too funny
• Saw some architecture madness.
• Just walking around the city was just fascinating
• Went to an aquarium, spend pretty much all day there. I was seriously relaxed and charged :D :D :D so good!

It was time and money well spent. I loved it.

Other than that, I have been again busy with all the uni work and stuff. I have an microbiology exam on Wednesday and I have no idea! and also ,i really dont like bioinformatics... I am hungry so I shall go get something to eat or something. Good luck with the exam then :)

Kumi

Marine Band

Hey Guys.
Long time no post...
there has been heaps of stuff happening

Highlights are:

• Had about 4 exams
• Had about 15 quizzes
• Had my first box band games (vs Iowa-Win, vs Minnesota-Lost)
• Lost my voice for yelling too much
• Had a whole weekend to organise the shit that I had been leaving behind
• Studying, studying and studying
• French crepes are similar to the crepes Matt makes
• Had a rotten banana and got a massive headache
• Did some kayaking/canoing

That's about it. hehe exciting stuff.

But anyway, tonight I went and saw the "president's own" United States Marine Band. It does not play underwater (thanks dane). But it is thought to be one of the best concert band in the state. Sure was! it was fantastic. They played from the songs from the army,navy and air force to the summon the heroes. That was awesome. I was seriously close to tears because it was so fantastic. One of the things I like about concert bands is that they play march!!! So good! makes you wanna walk around for no reason :) that was a worthwhile. especially as it was free :)

One of the piece they played had a singer in it. she had a fantastic voice. she kinda reminded me of Emily someone from phantom. like opera but not too much. I liked it.

This weekend, I am going to Chicago! I am so excited :) it will be so much fun and relaxing. Going away from Lafayette is going to be cool :)

Guys in Melbourne, have fun at the nursing ball and the bendigo med ball.

Kumi xx