Today was not one of my finer days so far. This morning was really rough for me. I was talking with people back home and I kept feeling like I was being petty and bitchy. That's not in my nature at all. I can't help but think that being stressed about classes was probably the root of that behavior and if you encountered that at all, I'm terribly sorry. I don't like taking my stress out on other people but occasionally it happens and I'm sorry. 

After those fiascos, I began tracking the Duke basketball game. I would have been ok if it weren't for the fact that the ONLY reason I ever watched Duke basketball was if Genie was watching it. We'd go out before a game and buy chips and queso and take over Dustin's apartment to watch a game. It kind of became our tradition. 

Reflecting on this memory quickly turned into me crying for about 20 minutes this afternoon. I felt alone. I didn't want to be at the university anymore. I was tired of all the stress and things not going like they were supposed to. I wanted to be with my friends and family back home at Tech. Fortunately, Genie was able to give me a pep talk and calm me down a bit. 

So after that, I ate lunch and decided to go take some pictures around campus. As I walked around, I heard something that I needed to hear -- ongaku aka music. Since coming to Japan, I had not heard any music that wasn't mainstream crap. I wasn't able to figure out which ensemble was playing but it was classical music. I heard an oboe and a trumpet and it made me smile again :) As I turned the corner, I also managed to hear a group practicing "Salve Regina" which is a hymn honoring the Virgin Mary (PS: My favorite hymn ever; PSS: For those who aren't Catholic, the Catholic Church has like 200 hymns that they use and once you go to Mass for as long as I have, you pretty much memorize them all which is why I'm able to have a favorite.) It was really nice to be reminded of how awesome music is and how universal it is as well. 

After taking pictures, I met with Maria to go check out phones in town. We walked around and managed to find a beach that we plan on visiting when we have time. I'm still not sure what I'll do about a phone yet. The cheapest deal I can find is for $130 for 4 months which seems a little excessive for my taste. We also shopped for a bit and even tried some local treats. So even though my day started off kinda crappy, it ended on a rather positive note :) 

Random note: Even though I don't have a phone at the moment, I do have video calling on Skype so if you would like to video chat, let me know :) <3