I got a Kindle for my upcoming trip to Cambodia. Actually, my parents got it for me as a delayed graduation present.

The logic went something like this: “Hm. I read a lot. I’m going to a place where the primary language isn’t English. They probably won’t have many English-language libraries there.” At that point a family friend suggested getting a Kindle (she already had one). “Hm…yeah!”

Like a good nerd I tried to feature-compare, but really there was only one contender besides the Kindle: Barnes & Noble’s Nook. The Nook has actually gotten better reviews than the…

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During my last semester I had a tentative plan to go somewhere, probably Japan since I speak Japanese. To put it euphemistically, this turned out to not be a good year to go to Japan (AND I HOPE THAT WILL SOON NO LONGER BE THE CASE).

Instead, going off of a suggestion from a friend, I started looking for other volunteer opportunities in East Asia. Why East Asia? No particular reason, but I’m more familiar with the languages and the cultures, and I had to limit my search somehow.

In any case, the point was not to go to…

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A lot of people have asked me what I’m doing after graduation. Actually, you could say that’s the hot new question—or the new “nice weather, huh?”. It’s just what you ask people who are graduating.

I don’t know.

But I have an idea. During the semester I’ve been super-busy, or at least felt like it, and I’m not good at planning ahead in general. So I haven’t really done anything yet about this summer, or next year, or Life.

But I did decide that I want to go to Japan. Not as a tourist—I’ve done that—but to actually live there…

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