only 2 weeks left XD

holy crap! I can't believe that there's only 2 weeks till I leave for Nippon and it just feels like there's still heaps of crap to do before leaving. Most things for the japan trip are organised (i think) except deciding on the method of getting to Sydney airport and getting to the hotel in Osaka (fingers crossed Jetstar won't have a bloody flight delay and screw up our plans on somehow getting to the hotel via public transport before midnight ><). had to go to STA and get my ISIC reissued because they printed my date of birth incorrectly. it wasn't the fact that they couldn't input 10 correctly into the computer that annoyed me, it was the way they decided to fix it up when I visited them. the STA girl seemed really clueless about what to do with ISICs if there was something wrong with it. she asked her colleague what to do, i didn't hear what that other girl said, but apparently the solution was to change the 01 to a 10 with a black marker. are you kidding me??? what kind of ID card would be acceptable if there was an obvious texta mark to modify the details on the card? and this card is supposed to be internationally recognised... such a dodgy solution.... so after a session of annoyance and outrage over this solution, the girl told us to come back in 20 minutes. we came back and the new solution was to reissue me a new card, but it'll take a week to process. jeez... why couldn't they have told me that when I first walked in instead of wasting another hour of my day.... *shakes head* it's just simply incompetence and the failure of double checking data entry of STA staff which has resulted in wasting my time.... which I don't have much of left.

Message received....Destination: KOBE!!!

omohwkjfohefefejf!!! I've finally received some news on where I'm going to be living for (at least) the next 5 months, and as the title summarises this piece of news in a nutshell, yes, I'll be staying in Kobe this semester. Hello Kobe beef, nadagogo*, Iron man no.28 and many more things to explore and experience in this culturally rich city! It seems that I'll be staying with an elderly couple, so hopefully they'll like me and won't be too strict on me with curfews that I've heard some people have received with host families in the past.

I'm writing this up at 2.30 in the morning just because I am simply too excited at the moment. It is such a contrast to how I was feeling this morning when I had just realised that I couldn't completely fill up my VISA application since I still had no idea this morning where or who I was gonna be living with. This has just totally made my day.

So update on the progress of my pre-departure preparation:

• KGU fall semester fees TICK
  
• KGU arrival info form submission TICK
• pick up ISIC TICK
• apply for VISA
• book flight TICK
• change flight itinerary
• book accommodation HALF TICK
• dental check up
• update on wisdom teeth situation
• get remaining three vaccination shots
• revise Japanese
• clean up room
• learn to cook some meals
• organise 21st
• fix up sleeping pattern
  
• continue compiling "To do" list in Japan
  

Looking from this list I've still got a heap of crap that still needs to be done.... gahhh...

*some sort of sake specialty from Kobe