Aha!!

The internet in the dorms (not just mine, ALL of them) has been having a lot of trouble, so I haven't been able to use my own computer for about a week. Of course I have needed to check my email frequently, use my online resources for class, get into my class schedule... but it worked out, and now the internet is BACK!

I'm not sure how much of that has to do with Labor Day and the fact that a lot of students are gone. Yesterday at work it was very empty... I got bored at my job for the first time.
So it may very well die again.

One thing I have decided is to drop a class, which takes me down to 16 units... and two jobs and a rather intense exchange research program. The exchange is the main reason I've been feeling overwhelmed, but I think even if I pulled off all of my classes this semester, I wouldn't be able to do the same in the spring.

This means that I will most likely NOT be graduating next Spring. It's disappointing, but I'm hoping to avoid the excess stress that was a large part of the reason I got so sick last semester. (Of course the other reason is the vog, which by staying I will not be able to get away from... so there's downsides any way I go.)
It's a very nerve-wracking decision, but I want to take more Hawaiian next semester, and now it will fit in my schedule. I LOVE my Hawaiian class, the language is beautiful and the entire program is just really interesting.

Plus, being a Linguistics major puts me under the Hawaiian Language College, so I feel like I should live up to that somehow.

I will now celebrate this holiday by finishing my homework early before I go pick up my first exchange student, Miki, from the airport! We're doing our Hilo-based research and projects this week, and despite getting delayed by a typhoon in the airport, the Nagoya students are coming in today!
Hopefully I can write a little more about our research later, it's really interesting!

It would be a lot less stressful if I had a car or other form of reliable transportation. I hope she doesn't mind walking...

A hui hou!