Gus it is!

Okay, the name for my bike is Gus. Woohoo!

After I went out for the dinner last night, Gus broke down on me.... I had no idea about the bike, so my Swedish nerdy friend Erik took a look at my bike. He said he could fix it if he had his "tools". So hopefully Gus is going to be fixed by today sometimes. Apparently the nut? for the back wheel is really loose so every time I try to paddle, the chain is pushing the back wheel forward and causing a massive friction to actually ride a bike. Or something like that.

Last night, we went out to the bar first time ever in Purdue (well for me anyway). It was quite fun. The atmosphere in the bar was definitely different to the bars in Melbourne. I met heaps of people and they kept on shouting us drinks. The drinks are so much cheaper! I ordered my usual Vodka with OJ but it only costed me $3.75. We had this really sugarly shot. Have no idea what it was called. Red something something... Oh well.

Oh my god, check out the massive Corona bottle!! It is pretty much twice the size of what you can get in Australia! It is really gigantic! I couldnt finish even half of the bottle before getting to the point of if I drink anymore, I would throw up...

I think I saw fair bit of strange "bar tradition" at harry's last night. I dont know I cant quite explain, but if someone drops his/her drink, there is this chanting that we all have to do and stuff like that. It is pretty crazy. Apparently Harry's chocolate shop was actually a chocolate shop back in the day with a hidden bar at the back...

We left the bar at about 12:15, Erik and I dropped Stacey off at her apartment and went pick up his bike and he walked me home... It took about 2 hours. by the time I got back to my apartment, I was pretty much sober but really really tired. Had a very good night I suppose! You know what? I really really felt like maccas last night and we walked passed it on the way to Stacey's. but I resisted my temptation... when I come to think of it, I dont think I have had maccas in US yet... hmmm HOW CRAZY.

Anyway, Brunch time! I'll talk to you guys soon!

Love you heaps and missing you even more!

Kumi

xx

Name my bike

Hey! I finally got a proper time to myself after uni. It is actually really relaxing. Since Monday, after uni I was always doing something and I didnt really have time to relax and stop for a while. it is quite nice to actually have time to write my blog properly :) Last time, I was rushed by Pat.

Yesterday, I went to this Internation Centre and grabbed a free bike. How adoreble is she! she is like an old school bike. If there was a competition on the oldest bike in the campus, I think my bike can win. I was talking to my frined from Indiana about my bike and she told me this tradition that they have going on here. Aparently if you are naming stuff, car or bike or whatever, you have to pick the first letter of the colour of your stuff (in this case its G-reen) and you have to pick a name from the opposite sex (Male). So we were thinking about it and all we could come up with was Greg and George... but my bike doesnt look like Greg or George. We kinda thought about Ginger, but its not really a guy's name is it... so if you could think of something, let me know.

I had 2 music auditions today. One for the Volleyball team and the other for the symphonic band. I got in both! I was so excited. The Symphonic band is the top band interms of the wind symph, and if you couldnt get into the Symphonic band, you are going to be put in the Concert band. There is a time conflict for me for the symphonic band so I knew I had to go to the concert band. After the auditon, the guy was trying to convince me to drop the class with the time conflict so I can get into the symphonic band! isnt that great? they said I had a realy good tone and technique was excellent! I was sooo happy about that :) That's probably thanks to my awesome sax teacher Ms P :D :D

anyway that's all the news for me apart from my crazy assignments due on tomorrow... I shall go check out the laundry now tata!

Ku

First Day "Back" to Uni

Yes. I finally started uni here! woohoo!
Today was a little bit full on. Started at 9:30 in the morning and had 5 hours of lectures till 5:30pm. I had a lecture for every single subject that I am taking this semester.

I thought Monash was hard working university comparing to some of the Japanese university, but you have to come to Purdue to find out what the actual hard working university is like! Every subject has at least 10 Homework assignments to hand in and 10 little quizzes, as well as 3 mid-semester sized exams at night every month kinda thing... Hmmmm it is good that it is going to keep me busy until the end of semester but I might actually be popped by the end... This week, I already have 3 things to be assessed including 2 quizzes and 1 HW assignment.

Tomorrow, I have my first 7:30am class EVER! nope, I am not excited at all.... But I finish at 1:30pm so its a plus, i suppose.

The past weekend has been quite a blast, actually. I met so many exchange students like I am through a picnic that was happened to be held right next to my apartment. I met a couple from Australia, about 4 from Japan and so many from France. One Swedish guy that I met was quite nice too. after the picnic, we went to some guy (that i had never met) for a party. It was quite a blast. His house was quite tiny but there were about 50 people in there... it was really hot inside so we had to spend some of the time outside breathing... It was quite fun! I dont know why I didnt meet these people before...

Sunday, I went on a trip to Lake Michigan. The Lake Michigan was HUGE. it looked like an ocean. There again, I met quite a few nice people too. I really like the girl from Adelaide, Stacey. She is quite funny and really fun to be around :) The bus trip from West Lafayette to Lake Michigan was 3 hours. so we had to spend 6 hours in the bus, but it was kinda good chatting away with some total strangers in the bus :) I love talking random stuff!

Apparently today there was a welcome reception for exchange students... but I had a class right on the reception so I couldnt get a free lunch or meet new people. hmmm I actually havent met American kids apart from a couple I met through the band camp. Oh by the way, I could not get into the Marching band here :( Well I am kinda sad but not really at the same time. I really dont know what to feel about it. It would have been a blast, but by doing 2 hours of practice everyday and Saturday game, I would have no other time to do anything else, you know. I am still going to be playing in some form here. I am having an audition for the concert band and Basketball Band or something to support basketball players. No time for Jazz though, sadly my timetable doesnt let me to any Jazz apart from the top one. well I dont think I am good enough for the BEST Jazz band at Purdue... hmmm no.

Meh, I am kinda neutral at the moment. I cant really say I am the happiest person in the world but I am pretty happy :)
hmmm yeah I probably should go to bed preparing for the class at 7:30 tomorrow :S

Love you heaps
Kumiko

Official Last Day of the Band Camp

Today I had my last day for the AAMB try-out band camp.
Till yesterday, we either did playing rehearsal or marching rehearsal.
But today, it was both! it was so hard! As well as trying to play the un-familiar music, we have to make sure that everyone is in the line for sides and forward/back. It was really hard.

I dont know if I did a very good job of it. But i think the experience I had for the past week has been so tremendous that it does not even matter if I get in or not. Being able to play in the marching band would be so awesome but it is a lot of commitment.
You will have a rehearsal for 2 hours everyday and every Saturday we are playing somewhere.
I am not really sure if i am up for this kind of commitment. Being in US I kinda wanna see and travel around for the weekend and stuff if possible. So either way I win, I think.

If I get in the marching band, it will be a really American experience. and if I didnt get it, It would still be okay, because I can still join Jazz/Concert bands which have less commitment and have a weekend to myself! When I was talking to upperclassmen (3rd/4th year), apparently chem eng here in Purdue keeps you really busy. So it might actually better if I wasnt part of the marching band... not too sure. we have to see.

also, we marched from the drill field to the Elliot Hall of music (massive Robert Blackwood Hall est place to practice/perform music). It took us 30 min! but we did crazy moves and played 3 fight songs. by the end, I was sweating so much! apparently they do that every friday for rehearsal and every saturday pre- football game! That would be awesome awesome fun!

I will find out the result tomorrow morning. But I will have to attend the international student mandatory meeting, so I wont be able to be at the actual meeting. I will find out the result later than everyone else, which could be good :) And I'm finally meeting up with this guy from Adelaide, Daniel! We have been facebooking each other for a while while trying to organize the trip to Purdue. So I'm going to go grab lunch with him and go to Walmart to get a mobile phone so you guys can text me :D

Finally uni is starting up next week! I cannot believe I am looking forward to it so much...
ah yeah, also, I went and bought text books. the text books here are SOOOOOO expensive. I found an eng book I used in heat and mass transfer at Monash here. they were selling it for like $200!! i got it for $100 or something... even considering conversion, it was ridiculous!!!!

Okay, I am stinking hot so I might go have a shower :)

Love you guys heaps!

marching Day 3

Today was so tiring so I shall go to bed...

was under the sun for about 9 hours.
it is band camp dane, I left the home at 8am and didnt come back till 9:30pm...\

good fun. i think I'm gtting used to it a bit by bit. but I still cant march for shit...

Marching Band Camp

Hello again.
Well, I still havent got my internet connection yet in my room. (arrrggghhh!)
First of all, Thank you guys so much for all the lovely emails. You have NO idea how much better that makes me feel :) They were awesome!

Well, I cant remember what I did in LA anymore. But all I can say is "Do not go to LA for more than 2 days" it is seriously seriously boring!
It is not a city that is worth going for like a week. Go to Las Vegas or San Francisco instead! There are much more to see in those 2 places than in LA!

But anyway, after getting to Purdue on Saturday early morning at about 8am. I had to quickly organize my bank (Purdue actaully has its own bank...) and my Student ID. I had to also go to Walmart to get stuff so that I could sleep on that day (as in I had to go get bedlinens and blanket and stuff). Coming back from Walmart, it was so hard! i had laundry basket full of stuff and it was sooo heavy! the walk from the bus stop to my apartment usually takes 15 min but it took me almost 1 hour. I had and still has some cuts and swallen bit across my both arms. It actually looks like I was trying to kill myself so many times or something.

Sunday night, I had an audition for the AAMB (All American Marching Band in Purdue). It was just a playing audition. The student leaders there were the nicese people around. The audition itself was alright. I think I did my best I could being nervous and not getting my music till the 1.5 week before the audition and all. We have to see how I go with it.

This one girl, Vicky, is the girl I met at the AAMB last night. She is actually senior at Purdue and she was born a day after I was. What an coincidence! She is one of the student leaders. and She could possibly be the head of the student leaders. who knows. As I didnt have a proper pair of shoes Vicky was nice enough to drive me to the Walmart at 10pm. We chatted fair bit and she dropped me off. We had an icecream on the way home as well. So last night I was quite happy that I think I found someone that I can properly talk to here in Purdue.

This moring, we started an rehearsal at 8:30 in the moring. It is going to be like that for the rest of the week I am assuming. I missed about 5 hours of rehearsal becasue i had to go do pre-orientation check in for exchange program, but after coming back to it, there were some intence training that I had to do.

The marching itself is so hard. There are all the movements and callouts that we have. It is so hard to think and do it immidiately after we were told. We were all so uncordinated. But suppose its the first day... No one can expect too much, I suppose. I dont know whether I can actually get into the marching band. but the experience i can get in this week would be something I could never experience in Japan or Australia. So I am thinking it is alright either way :)

The apartment that i am staying is alright. It is quite small considering there are three people living in there. Luckily, one of them hasnt turned up yet so it is wuite roomy here. There is nothing though, like microwave or anything. so I am kinda confused. All that was supplied was bed kitchen fridge desk and some closet. Thats about it. ah of course bathroom as well. very small bathroom though. So you can imagine what I had to buy at walmart on Saturday. EVERYTHING.

My roommate is a little chinese girl, coming from China. She doesnt speak very good english and she seems to be hanging around with her chinese friends a lot... So i dont think I can communicat/socialize with her too much... not really what i was expecting from my room mates but oh well!

That is all i can think of for now.
I am doing better than the last time i wrote my blog. Thanks to you guys :)

Love you heaps

Kumiko

Hello from Purdue

Hi. I finally got to Purdue University. This is a gigantic university. even though I live within the campus, I think it might be further away from where I used to live from Monash... To get to the centre of the campus, it is taking me 15-20min. I just wanted to tell you that I might be coming back to Melbourne in 6 months instead of a year. I'll see how I go with all the Purdue stuff but i am considering it. Once I get my internet connection settled down in my room, I will try to update photos and blog in details. With Love. Kumi