The Legendary Swordmaster Miyamoto Musashi Completed his Master Work on Kendo( the Way of the Sword) Only Days Before Dying

Next Monday classes start up once again! I’m super excited with an exhilarating dash of stress thrown in for good measure. I’m to move in this Saturday, but this year without the joy of climbing up to the third floor of Thomson to my tower-like domain; this year I’ll just be moseying in down the hall of Welch and making a turn. I’m crossing my fingers for good window placement, lest my dear plants not get the sun they love so! I do get to re-experience the going into a room without knowing a roommate at all, but this time I get to meet three new people instead of just one. (Hopefully none of us end up strangling one another over something as vital as having a welcome mat or not.)
Before I get too absorbed in contemplating my new rooming situation, I need to finish (read: start) packing. Last year I had no clue what I would end up wanting about, and I think that I have a better idea this time around, or so I believe, and general question marks remain, particularly on ever important details such as whether or not to bring both wooden swords the very first day. (I am, by the way, far too excited about MARRCA, a.k.a. ‘sword club,’ starting up again. If you’re at all interested, sign up to get an e-mail and come to our first practice once we get that worked out, or at least stop by the table we’ll have on the J-walk during the club fair!) But I digress! Packing! Last year I was so busy sorting out how to best cram my several-inch thick German dictionary in amongst my rolled t-shirts, CDs, and ramen noodles that I nearly forgot to toss in a few notebooks for class. (Thankfully if one is indeed far too excited about getting to the dorm to concern one’s self with thoughts of the schooling attached to this, the bookstore has a plethora of school goods both useful and ridiculous to remedy this.) This time around I’m just hoping that I don’t leave behind something that I intended to bring along. (As MARRCA secretary I get to watch over a few notebooks, which I purposely placed in clear sight so as to not forget, though I wouldn’t put it past my ADD-prone brain to let that slip.)
I’ve also been working on finishing up the pair of traditional Japanese pants that I timidly started a few weeks ago with help from my seamstress aunt. (I was terrified, you see, of messing up my fabric since the ‘pattern’ comes with no real pattern for making them; one has to measure and re-measure and neurotically worry about every wee detail.) I finally whipped them out in roughly two days, with liberal time for tea and chatting with my oma shoved in. I need to make a few final adjustments before wearing my hakama out, but they look lovely if I do say so myself. (I miss being able to lug out my sewing machine on occasion at the Uni, though I do know of a few people that bring theirs along, and, if I have the room this year, I may as well… I think I’m beginning to prefer the hand-sewn bits more, though, as they can be quite meditative, and sewing one’s own finger onto the fabric more than once is somehow symbolic despite its randomness and seeming idiocy; I like to connect with my art.)


German Word: I have often simply used the term ‘Uni’ in place of ‘university’ in my blog, or at least I think I have. (Perhaps not!) But this is an oft confusing thing when spoken, because I have confused not a few with statements about the ‘oo-nee’. In Deutschland one can shorten the term Universitaet (you-ne-ver-sea-tate) to simply Uni (as aforementioned, ‘oo-nee’).

Pictures! Here are a couple more pics from my pond; I almost fell in taking these, but then again I have next to no balance. Also a shot of my stuff once I finally got packed, and my hakama pants! Pleats may be the death of me…