Study Abroad: Making the Decision, and Finding the Programs

A major reason I started this blog was to chronicle my upcoming study abroad trip. This is the first of a series of posts leading up to my departure.

The biggest obstacle to studying abroad wasn't the 'abroad' part. It wasn't money, it wasn't time, it wasn't academics. The biggest obstacle I faced was making the decision to do it.

As you may know (or have inferred from my father's bio down there), I'm an Air Force brat and spent half my childhood living overseas--by the time I was nine, I'd lived in four different countries. But we moved from Germany to Hawaii at the end of 7th grade, and that was the last time I was abroad (save for the Scandinavian cruise I saved for as a graduation present, but that doesn't count because it was short and touristy).

Fast forward to summer 2010. It's the summer before my junior year of college, and I'm still riding the high that comes from switching majors and realizing that you actually like the new one (communications from I.T./graphic design). I've been playing with the idea of studying abroad for over a year, but haven't actually pursued it. Then comes the realization that I'm halfway done with school and only have one summer after this one, summer my only study abroad-option since a regular semester isn't a possibility.

At this point, I was looking for summer programs in Japan. Despite never living in Asia (the closest we got were the 23 months--yes, we counted, it wasn't fun--in Hawaii), I studied Japanese as my high school language, and what better place to put that to use?

 Also, this.

In the middle of summer, I had to face the fact that a) there were not a whole lot of Japanese programs that worked, and b) Japan is EXPENSIVE. I expanded my search to include any other country I was remotely interested in (Spain, Greece, Ireland, Germany, Korea). How to pick and weed programs is a subject to wait until my next entry, because there is a much bigger problem you must first address:

Friday Ephemera: Not-Really-Food Edition

It's time for Friday Ephemera, the part of the show where Kato comes out and posts about silly things!

These are cupcakes! I'd like to try but mine will inevitably end up looking like a compost heap, so instead you should try it and send them to me!

And since I apparently have something against Friday Ephemera posts that don't include a video, have singing vegetables! You know what's weird is that I remember when this was new, and it's from 1995. Eek.

I think my favorite part is that the entire thing takes place on a kitchen countertop, with a clearly fake set.

This has been Friday Ephemera with Kato. Tune in next time to hear more vegetables sing!

Friday Ephemera

Granted, this is only the second time (since I missed last week) that I'm doing this, but I'm switching Thursday Things You Didn't Know to Friday Ephemera, and making up the difference by posting an hour before Friday. Why, you ask?

1)I feel that ephemera encompasses more than just "things you didn't know, and more importantly
2) emphera is a fun word. Also: alliteration.

Ephemera: n
1. something transitory or short-lived  
2. something that causes Kayto to lose track of time on the computer again

To start us off, here is an impressive stop-motion video with a cute ending.

At the Opera from Juan Pablo Zaramella on Vimeo.


And since it's graduation season, here's a reminder of the differences between high school and college.

Finally, and only because I love you all so very much, is a beautiful gift: a comic about running a speakeasy during the Prohibition, in which all characters are cats. Lackadaisy is gorgeously illustrated and quite humorous.

A Church Service, As Seen Through Kayto's Brain

1) Pay attention to welcome, announcements, greeting, and everything up to the songs.
2) Sing songs.
3) Try to find harmony.
4) Fail.

An approximation of our pew

5) Sing off-key in hopes that there is harmony in there somewhere.
6) Sit down.
7) Stand up.
8) Sit down again. Start to contemplate church-service aerobics.

And 1, and 2, and praaaaise the Lord!

9) Oh shoot, we're praying! Attempt to pay attention.
10) Hmmm. There are pen marks on the pew in front of me.
11) Toddler? Or just bored people?
12) I think this one looks like an iguana.
13) Oh, yeah. Amen.
14) Thirty seconds into the sermon, notice that the PowerPoint (which involves a circle and a cross getting progressively closer to the center) resembles a radar screen.
15) I wonder, if Jesus comes back flying, would he show up on radar?
16) I bet aliens would show up on radar.
17) Epiphany! Preacher-man looks like my religion professor! Maybe they're secretly related.
18) On the front of the bulletin, there is a picture of the church. Draw aliens landing on it.

19) Preacher-guy is illustrating a point using Dennis the Menace. This is relevant to my interests.
20) Oooh, attendance. I commandeer it and write all of our names using the Momster's last name instead of our own, just because.
21) When she rolls her eyes, point out that this is better than writing everyone's names backwards, which I prefer. Backwards and upside-down.
22) Praying? Again? Oh, dismissed. Can we have Mexican for lunch?

Home Again, or Back in the Land of Having to Share My Car

Summer, for most college students, means spending a significant amount of time at home, which is either their worst nightmare or a break from pulling all-nighters while being surrounded by people who don't quite understand why you're happy-dancing about being away from the cafeteria for four months but love you anyway.

Since it's entirely possible that I may have to reference them at some point in the future, here is a handy-dandy guide to the current cast of characters in this house.

MAIN CHARACTERS

 

The Momster would like you to believe that she's still sane after homeschooling for fifteen years and counting. I would say more, but she knows where I sleep.







Mr. Colonel General Daddy Sir dragged his wife and unwilling daughters around the globe via the Air Force. Now that he's retired, they're thankful and he's smug.




 
        
Kayto (Kayt) is the blog author and has run out of room on her bookshelves for the fiftieth time. She's very visual, which is why the blog has so many pictures, and very weird, which is why they happen to be these pictures.
Also, she used to go by "Kato," a shortening of her name, but people kept wanting to pronounce it kah-toe, so the Y got added for pronunciation help. Now she occasionally drops the O because she's sneaky like that, plus "Kayt the Great" has a nice ring to it.
 



Chameleon Head ("Lee") asked to go by Her Royal Awesome Dancerness Maylee the Magnificent or some other ridiculous thing. She's following Kayt to college and will be attempting to steal her car quite often. Her hair also changes colors quite frequently.



 

The (Not So) Jolly Green Giant is much too tall to be the youngest sister. She has the wingspan of an albatross and the power of Chuck Norris. Beware, all ye who would annoy her.


Minor Characters

She Who Must Be Obeyed is a cat. Obviously.

Fox is an adorably hyperactive 2.5 y.o. border collie adopted from the shelter where Lee and the Giant work. His last owners were jerks, and he likes long walks on the beach...and the woods, and the county fair.

The Scottish Play is a 6-month-old kitten who has taken up the mantle of annoying younger brother. He play-fights with Fox before taking over the dog's bed, and thinks that She Who Must Be Obeyed is just kidding when she threatens to kill him for continuously batting at her tail every waking moment.

Thursday Things You Didn't Know Existed

Because who said blogs can't be educational? Granted, this isn't really educational so much as it just fulfills my desire for a five-minute distraction.

Welcome to Things You Didn't Know Existed, which will be posted on Thursdays because I like alliterations.

1) Pink fairy armadillos. Admit it, they have the greatest name ever.

Do want

2) A LEGO-illustrated version of the Bible. Illustrated by an atheist, no less, just to mix things up.

3) A serious concert piece consisting of only meows.

Yes, really.




For more stuff you didn't know, click on the label!

Second Impressions: Practicing For My Old Age

Right now despite being, you know, a college student whose life depends on technology, I am not feeling as coolly confident as I should be, when faced with a blogging service that makes it literally as easy as clicking a button to blog.

Rather, it's more like "what is this dadgummed thing and how do I get the doohickey to work?"

HTM-what now?

It's an odd feeling, with foreshadows of how I'll spend entire days in about fifty years when my grandchildren are jetting off to Mars to escape my lectures about how when I was their age something something old technology was better what is this junk mumble mumble.

Also, I'm an honor student. Dean's List my entire college career. I am smart, I am capable, I refuse to be beaten by a bunch of ones and zeros hiding behind my computer screen.

If binary does not have anything to do with this, don't tell me.

In all seriousness, it's the same when you start anything new: it takes a bit to learn the ropes. I'm excited by the possibilities, and with an international trip coming up in a few months, I'm glad to have a tool to help chronicle that. Until then, I'll leave you all to giggle at 'dadgummed.'

First Impressions

Flibbertigibbet. Obstreperous. Vivisection. Tintinnabulation.

First impressions matter, and in the world of blogs, those impressions are done through words. I have one chance to impress upon you the complete [pick a word: awesomeness/intelligence/charisma/weirdocity] of me.

I'd go with the last choice, if I were you

For that reason, I picked the above words. They're a few of my favorites, though it's fairly difficult to work them into everyday conversation, and when I do, I get that look you just made. Yes, that one.

Now when I find a blog, if I'm at all interested I try to find the first post. Who are you, blog-person? What are you about? Do you have a sense of humor? Why do you think that we should use "hornswoggle" in everyday conversation?

Answer: because it sounds funny.

I am not going to answer any of those because I like to annoy people, and definitely not because the answers are really, really boring. But if you have a sense of humor and a need a distraction for five minutes, welcome to my world.