Oh and one more thing...

I just recieved the information about the host family I will stay with while I'm in Japan! I'm staying in the Shiga prefecture near Kyoto. According to maps, pretty much the entire prefecture is taken up by the biggest lake in Japan (formed from the same movement of the Earth as Mount Fuji) called Lake Biwa. I will be staying with one 18 year old high school girl, one highschool boy, one 13 year old junior high boy, their father, mother, grandmother, and grandfather. And no, it is not normal for a japanese family this big to be in one house (because houses there are so TINY), but it should be extremely fun. I will be leaving for Japan on March 31 and coming back sometime in July.

Now I have to get back to work.

Wish me luck!

Snow?! What the !@#$ is that?!

This morning was my first time ever seeing snow... it's mesmerizing... Too bad it made the bus to get to CERM insanely crowded and wet. Oh well, it was still awesome.

For anyone who hasn't heard of The Kleptones, they are this insane mashing acid punk hip hop kinda thing. If you get a chance to, download (legally from their website via Bittorrent) A Night at the Hip Hopera, which really is pure genius.

Italy is pretty nice these days, although it would be nice if I got more sleep.

Leave comments and be sure to email me!

Doing well in Italy

Although not too much is going on, just doing my independent studying of chem and trig and learning a bit of art history from my dad, I am doing well. I miss people though... It's hard to be away from everyone you're so used to seeing. And as an added bonus, I have no friends or even acquaintances my age here. Anyway, I have a plenty fast Internet connection, an iPod, my camera, and my sidekick II, what more can I really ask for?

Answers to the comments:
Katy: HIIIII!!!~
Erica: Cool, 11th grade stephie would be correct.
Jinno: That was a pic taken at the beginning of 10th grade... at my house... in LA. Sorry to get your hopes up, I do have an awesome pad though. The time difference from LA to Italy is ahead 9 hours, so at 5 pm in LA it would be 2 am in Italy (I would be asleep). I can only get on MSN during the hours you are either asleep or at school, and on weekends I won't have access to MSN.

Good news! Now you can comment without having to make a blog! I know it's a little late... but for anyone else who reads this and was reluctant to comment because of this you do not have to worry about it anymore! "Now your visitors can comment without having to sign in to Blogger. They can just fill in their name and web site and post that sucker." So there you go.

Ciao

Posting has been rather difficult...

I forgot that you had to make a blog in order to post a comment, sorry about that. I'm not doing much sightseeing so far because I'm still getting used to the 9 hour loss and I've been sleeping way over 12 hours a day and getting up at the strangest hours. The situation right with the phone seems to be that T-Mobile needs to activate international calling or something and that the only way to call, without paying hundreds of dollars, to the US is to get good deal on a phone card. When I start going to the lab in Florence with my mom I'll have a fast connection and might even be able to talk to people on AIM (if they happen to be awake at some insane hour). I'll start posting pictures then, and when I get the charger for my camera in the mail (I forgot it at home) I'll post most of the pictures to my Flickr acount which is at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shadowhound/
OR
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mtlalchemist/

which is a photo blog thing. I'll get it all sorted out so there is one central site for the photos.
I'll post again later.

Ciao

Made It

I've arrived in Italy, Florence to be exact. Plenty jet lagged; spent all night up and reading. I'm in a nice little apartment around the corner from the David (the statue). Finished one of my many books on the dreadful flight out here. I hate my parents right now and it is here for everyone to see, they are incredibly annoying. I'll talk to everyone later.