From the Midwest and Around the World

   When this is set to be published, I will have boarded the plane and will be about five hours into my flight to Japan.    I am currently in Detroit, sitting at my terminal and charging my laptop so that it has full power going into the 13 1/2 hour flight to Japan. Looking out the window, the plane which I will be boarding in about two hours is quite big. It has two floors (the second being 1st class only), and has ten seats in each row. I am seated in the middle of the three-seat row (no window seat), but I have economy comfort seating, so there is more foot room. In a few minutes, I will go walk up and down the terminal so as too stretch my legs and buy a snack or two for the flight. For lunch I had Chirashi sushi at a Japanese resteraunt here at the airport...it wasn't great, but it was food and I need long-lasting nourishment for this long flight.    I am really excited for this trip and am prepared to be totally immersed in the language and cul...

   The Midwest blizzard that occurred this past weekend (January 5-6) affected travellers and news reports internationally. I was one of those unfortunate travelers that got stranded in an airport as I was attempting to get to Japan in time for orientation and placement tests. Unfortunately, I did not make it and a combination of weather and overbooked flights prevented me from actually leaving Indianapolis until Friday morning. I therefore missed one day of orientation, all the placement tests, as well as two days of class. However, I have to remind myself to turn my life-lemons into lemonade and I got about four extra days at home. I will also have to be totally imersed as soon as I get to Japan, as there will be no guide sent by the school to get me to Hikone. I also got to experience being stranded at the airport for 30+ hours because there were no taxis working and I was still hoping for a flight that would take me to Detroit.    One learns a lot while travell...

　　Well, it has certainly been busy! I have not had much time at all to really sit down and tell you all what I am up to. So, now I actually have time.         First off, I had a job at Sears and then I was too busy, so I just recently quit. School has been very busy (three 300-level classes and a 200-level religion class with a mildly crazy professor). On top of all that, I am maintaining a 2nd job, tutoring with Student Academic Services ($8/hour!). Grade-wise, because of timing (the job at Sears), I was not able to be as studious as I would have liked. However, I am hoping to bring some of those grades up in order to regain the scholarship that I lost as a freshman.           Currently, it is my last night as a teenager. At about 5:45 AM tomorrow morning (October 27), I will have officially lived 2 decades on this earth. In honor of this achievement, I finished most of my homework for the weekend so that tomorrow I can relax and celebrate/...

Sunday: I woke up early and with my family drove from Indianapolis to Grand Rapids. I got all moved in to my single room and watched "Serenity" with a few friends in their apartment. Overall a nice, relaxing day Monday: Labor Day. Again, just relaxed, and mentally prepared myself for the beginning of classes on Tuesday. Bought a few decorating items for my room and went to Starbucks with a friend. Tuesday: First day of classes. Quite a busy day! I had three classes (two of which are 300-level classes). From 8:35-9:50, I had The President and Congress (POLS-314) which seems like it will be a very entertaining class. From 12:05-1:20, I had International Organizations and Law (POLS-309) which also appears to be interesting. After that, I had Oral Rhetoric (CAS-101) from 1:30-2:45. Seems like it will be a fairly easy, relaxing class. It was really nice being able to bike to and from classes. A lot easier on the feet and definitely faster! Wednesday: I only have two clas...

     I promised you all that I would show you my room today. So, below are some pictures! The entrance to my room. This year, the floor's theme is baby animals. So cute! My room looking in from the door. The top bed is my sleeping bed and the one on the bottom is a couch/guest bed. This is my desk area. My "living room" with the "couch" on the left, a little side table on the middle, and a cute chair on the right.      The next post will probably be a report on my first day and my initial reactions to my profs and classes! Have a great Labor Day!

     The first few entries of these "Political Tuesday" posts will serve as an introduction to my political beliefs and why I believe what I believe. I love to get into political debates (as long as they remain civil) and this often gets me into trouble because I am often sarcastic (and it is surprising how many people do not understand sarcasm and think that I am being serious!).      First of all, a little bit about my basic political ideology before we get into the hairy debates that so polarize American society. I enjoy personality quizzes and I will start this series by taking the Political Compass Quiz (so that you, the reader, can get a general idea of my ideology). My political ideology on the compass is as follows. I am fairly economically conservative and barely libertarian when it comes to social life. While personality quizzes are never fully accurate, they offer a window into a simplified version of oneself.     

     This is the first of (hopefully) many entries that I will post throughout this year and beyond. I am now entering my Sophomore year at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. This year I will be pursuing my double major in International Relations (IR) and Japanese by taking three IR classes in the fall and then traveling across the world to Japan in the Spring Semester. Hopefully this blog will follow that journey.      While this blog is mostly for family and friends, I welcome any readers that do not know me personally and I hope that you will enjoy my musings, rants, and narratives about my life. Please feel free to comment or email me ( elizmarfos6@gmail.com ) with any questions.      Generally, I will post narratives about my life. However, I will often post political opinions and thoughtful musings about pop culture, Christianity, etc. If that is not your thing, then this may not be the right blog for you...but I always enjoy a civi...