I'm back in the city after four weeks of rest, relaxation, travel and, of course, shopping. My winter break was very enjoyable, filled with family and friends. After coming back to the US from Tokyo, most of my time was spent vegetating in my house but I did change out of my sweatpants for one fun weekend in Chicago. Now I'm sitting in my room, mentally preparing myself for spring classes to start tomorrow. I'm definitely excited to learn new things, make new friends and come that much closer to achieving my goals. Speaking of goals, I've decided on three New Year's Resolutions to stick to: 1) Exercise more - so far, this has been going great. Since coming back, I've gone to yoga twice and the fitness room three times. After gaining a bit of weight during break, I really hope I stick to this one. 2) Make more friends - i would say this one is going relatively well, too seeing as I made a bunch of new friends in Tokyo, two of whom I've already seen in the four days I've been here AND classes start tomorrow so there will be plenty of opportunity there. 3) Be more well-mannered and refined - this one is more difficult. Anyway, 2010 and this semester is looking good from where I stand so I hope as time progresses my feelings remain the same!