Relaxing

I remember being bitterly disappointed when I was told high school under NO circumstances would support school credit earned abroad. I still don't quite understand why they don't support something colleges seem to encourage so much.

Of course now that I've graduated early, I spend the days sleeping in and doing what I want to do. It's really weird for me, because I've spent the last two summers working a lot. I still am working, of course, but its just so surreal and nice to never have to go to high school again.

Of course there were aspects of high school I loved, but I realize now it was simply things like meeting people and learning: things I have my whole life to do. 

Even with that, I find myself just relaxing these days. I do remember enjoying being busy. The stress of it pushed me to be a better performer. And yetttttttttt

This break is nice!

These days my thoughts are primarily on studying abroad and college. I wonder what I will miss most while I'm gone for so long? Definitely Mexican food. Oh yesss. I will miss that. Friends. Family. Josh...

But I can't wait to learn Japanese. That may sound odd coming from someone who took so many classes, but honestly I learned so little. And I can't even express how unhappy that makes me. I feel like they were such a wasted opportunity. If only I had listened and taken the classes at IVC, I would know so much more by now.

But no matter! Expressing my thoughts and comprehension will surely be a headache, but I have three months to get it down to a science. In the end, the trip is about me. What I'll learn, what I'll experience. It's also about meeting people and doing things differently.

To be honest, I find work is not so satisfying as before. In fact, sometimes I feel like it becomes so monotonous and useless. I may have worked over 1000 hours last year, but what if, with that time, I was developing a life skill? I could be soooo good at math if I used the time for that, etc. And so that is one of my reasons for studying abroad. BREAKING THE MONOTONY. Escape. Escaping from work, from life,  and just doing something entirely different. A fresh start for a little while.

Of course, college looms OMINOUSLY ahead... lol

The question remains permanently in my head, without answer: which colleges will accept me? And which will reject me?

It's nothing to take personally, but in the end rejection still hurts.

It's nice to know I have UCR as a back up though. That's something :)

But the more I think about it, the more I realize how nice UCI would be.

And then I get my hopes up for Berkeley and ALL the opportunities it would give me.

I really don't care for UCLA. They don't seem to have much going for undergraduate business (lame).

In any event, this is what has been on my mind... Too much, really!

Studying abroad, college....I feel like I'm in such a waiting period right now. 

P.S. The bear is a famous Japanese character, Rilakkuma (a combination of the Japanese words 'bear' (kuma) and relax (rilakkuzu) Or something like that!