New Zealand Pre-Prep

I applied for this fund called San Pietro Travel Award that pays for all your expenses to go and travel to anywhere you want. And I did not get it.. but I had spent weeks and weeks working on the proposal and thinking about all the things I wanted to do!

So I purchased a plane ticket anyway, planning to backpack/couchsurf to minimize costs. It was going to be still pretty expensive, but.. this is the time for small paychecks, and big memories! I did it anyway.

Then, there was this other fund that paid up to a thousand dollars in expenses for students to do whatever they really wanted to do but couldn't pay for. I wrote up a proposal, and hallelujah, I got $850 to cover my transportation costs. $513 + 36 (traveler insurance) for flight from Narita to Auckland, and $900 for flight from Christchurch to LAX. But I would have had to pay at least $700 to return to LAX from Narita, so the additional cost was $200. I spent $10 NZD to book buses.. each for $1 with $4 total booking fee! Smart & Frugal to the max.

I have my waterproof hiking shoes from Alaska, I bought a mini waterfilter for $21 on amazon, bought the Lord of the Rings book for $12. I was looking into buying a rugged camera.. which would be nice, but I recently just tried using Dennis's camera again and re-realized how gorgeous the pictures were on a DSLR. So for a while I considered getting a new camera, but instead I ordered an old lens off eBay for $37, $12 for memory card, and $12 for the filter. The book and the camera lens parts don't count for expenses for New Zealand only though! I'll be using the camera for Japan and everywhere else. I'm also planning to buy a mini octopus tripod and a remote controller for the camera.. but via eBay that's chump change.

I'm gonna pack 2 changes of clothes, lots of socks, a pair of flip flops, bug spray, 2in1 shampoo, eating utensils, my leatherman, sheets, sunglasses, waterbottle, basic medicine stuff, a small towel, hand sanitizer, lots of underwear, ski jackets/northface, camera, toothbrush & paste, sunscreen, headlamp, deodorant, lotion, lipbalm, a watch, gloves, headphones, and a notebook & pens. It'll probably all fit in my blue backpack.. hopefully, with sufficient squishing and lots of carabiners.

Im debating on whether I should take my longboard or not. It's gonna be heavy and annoying to have to carry around, but I realize I have to walk a fair distance in the city to get to each of the stations too..
Welp. not even sure if I can pack that in with the rest of my other stuff, so probably not!

Japan Info

After months of waiting, I finally found out what my project will be for the internship at Mitsubishi: Development and evaluation of peer-to-peer data delivery system on multiple web browsers.

My trainer is Jumpei Hato, my "supporter in daily life" is Kotoyu Sasayama, and the responsible person is Masahiro Abukawa. I have no idea what those titles mean.. but I guess I'll find out soon.

I heard the work wasn't too interesting, but the summer in Japan is awesome (:

Here's my dorm floorplan! Looks like its a suite.. I wonder if Joanne will be my suitemate. But otherwise, seems super spacious. Score.

I have to pack so that I can fit my grandparents' gifts and my stuff into one big suitcase and one small suitcase. I'm pretty screwed.

Also, apparently there is no wifi in the dorm.. the heck. I just asked about any source of internet.. but I'm not extremely hopeful. I can get a portable wifi hotspot thingy for about $16 a day. But that is a crazy amount of money to pay for 10 weeks of stay.. And it is pretty ridiculous that they expect CS interns to live without internet..

Mitsubishi only pays $2000. So.. flight was early $1600. They don't pay for lunch or weekend food or transportation. So, I might break even if I stay frugal! I'm really really hoping that I can somehow use google voice to make calls within japan for a cheaper price or something. Renting a phone and getting internet sounds like a lot of money.. I guess ill decide on the phone situation after I hear about the internet situation in the dorms!

2014 Summer plans!

It's been a really busy year.. being a Caltech student, UCC, and president of Lloyd House.. and it's gonna be one intense summer, too!

June 13th: Graduation
June 14th: 6AM flight to Incheon, Korea (visit grandparents)
June 19th: flight to Narita, Japan (Mitsubishi Internship)
August 30th: flight to Auckland, New Zealand (Backpacking)