Time is tickin’, T-Time is tickin’ away…

"One (feat. Ji-Sun)" by Epik High is a prettttty cool song.  I just looked up the lyrics, conveniently found a translation, and ummm, gosh, I think I'm going to need to re-read this a few more times before I understand...

BUT the point is:

4 days left.

no way.

no way.

no way.

...

I always knew the end would be difficult, but...oh, this is ridiculous. ;-;

♥ Our Christmas/Holiday/Goodbye/Final Family Dinner ♥

I won't say that there's nothing good about good-byes (ha, just look at the name!)...but [no words left to properly express how I feel]...

~*~*~*~

it suddenly got suuuper cold these past few days (single digits, in celsius, admittedly still positive numbers), but according to tenki.jp, will warm up again next week...very slightly.

this is FINALS WEEK

trying to write final papers on top of overwhelming feelings of anticipatory sadness is difficult.

figuring out what topic to write on the night before the paper is due was a bad, bad idea.

a note to future KGU exchange students: do as much of your work as you can, as early as possible.

Otherwise you're left juggling:

• FINALS--studying for tests, writing papers, projects/presentations....
• packing
• sending stuff home by post
• goodbyes, goodbye parties
• last-minute traveling
• souvenir shopping
• selling your bicycle
• all the fun of "terminating" your status as a student at KGU
• a deep desire to slow down, really pause and reflect on how damn quickly this semester's gone

shrinkage

I have much pleasanter things to record later, when there is time to spare, but right now....

the USD-JPY ($ /￥) exchange rate is deeply saddening to me.

US$1 = ￥83.5 (thank you google.)

That's market price....so if I go exchange my traveler's checks at a local bank, the rate I receive will be 1 or  points(? don't know this terminology..) lower.  ￥82 or ￥81 per US$1.  It's pretty close for the post office's international ATM, too....

should I try and wait it out for a better rate, or just get some money?  The highest it's been this month is about ￥86, I think.  Bahhh..... my wallet's going to be emptied tomorrow (paying for insurance), and I'm going to Osaka for a field trip on Saturday, so I'll probably just suck it up and do that ATM-thang.  Cash disappears so quickly...really forces me into consciousness of how much I'm spending and how constantly I'm buying.

*sigh*