the weepies.

this time last year, i was asleep on a plane. i had gone for dinner with my family the evening before, and stayed up the whole night with some of the people who mattered most to me. my family and my friends had seen me off at the airport with hugs and tears. i wasn't excited or nervous, thanks to my strategy of depriving myself of sleep over the week or so leading up to my departure.

i remember waiting in the hong kong airport with rebecca for our connecting flight. i remember landing in san francisco and realizing that i was supposed to have my i-20 with me - and it was in my luggage that i had checked in. i remember that it was 80 degrees farenheit outside, and i had to convert it to celsius before i knew how cold or warm it was. i remember being picked up at the eugene airport by dick and peggy, my host parents. i remember the room i slept in. and i remember receiving my first phone call.

in a few days last year, i would meet sean jin, my international student orientation leader who arrived late because he had just been sworn in to the navy. i remember his bagpack and him bringing us through the knight library. i remember him trying to help me figure out why i could not get access to the internet from my dorm room yet. later in the week, i would meet bryan (who's still not my friend), adrian and beth at the welcome picnic. i would also go for my first football game at autzen. i remember being invited over to adrian's house for a party and not asking for his phone number, then getting kinda lost but making my way there eventually. i remember playing i never and having lotsa fingers left over. oh, and i remember playing truth or dare jenga! and playing the penis game with yu lin. which sounds a lot more vulgar than it really is lol.

one year ago. six days to go. and the world spins madly on.

ducks in alton baker park, taken at the iso welcome picnic 2007.