これが最後。

That line was written on all the Harry Potter movie posters. The meaning is, this is the last. Last day at my school, last time climbing the sixty stairs of the art school, last time eating delicious bread from our frequented bakery, last time going to the edge (aka sixth floor of the school that's not really a floor and is really more of a storage space), last time having an elevator dance party, last time taking a bus to school, last time waiting at Kinrin Shako Mae for my 93 bus to take me home, last time sitting in the cafe to use the internet, and last time in this part of Kyoto (probably). I'm going home tomorrow!! I still can't believe it. It's almost unreal, this summer has flown by so fast! I would never trade this experience for anything. I actually think I want to come back and study here (or maybe in Tokyo) in a year or so. These past couple days have really just been me studying like crazy for my finals, which didn't go too badly actually. I'm definitely going to miss it here. I've grown really accustomed to this way of life and it's going to be a bit of a shock going back to Dartmouth (and America really). The Japanese language is one of the most difficult languages for English speakers to learn. That is for sure. I made a pact with myself to work even hard to learn this darn language. 

I can't wait to learn more!

Until later, (perhaps in the airport.....)

Jya~

DAY FIVE

Well. Yesterday (day five) was half bust half great. The whole day was basically spent travelling so it was a little bit dull, but the transitions were smooth and the traveling was all around pretty good. I fell asleep on one of the trains with my mouth open. the guy next to me must've been juding. but that's okay i'll never see him again. anyway the whole point of yesterday was to get to this mountain and look at the volcano and scenery and stuff. however, we got there through mist and fog and rain, so when we actually got to the top of the mountain (by cable car), we couldn't even see the volcano for fog. It killed juliana's umbrella and miller juliana and i had to take shelter in this weird cave hut thing we found for like five minutes. it flipped my umbrella inside out, i fixed it, and then used it as a shield because the wind and rain were so strong. Thoroughly put out, we took the cable car back to the first place and made the journey to our hotel. Before that whole thing though, we got lunch. we tried to go to this restaurant that was empty with plenty of seats. They took us in the end after christian's negotiation/ persuasion. the whole thing was just uncomfortable. But we got to the hotel and had dinner at this cool ramen place. hung out a bit and went to bed. pretty uneventful. this morning (day six), jeff, christian, miller, sugi, and i went to see this castle after breakfast. it was really pretty. we didn't get to go inside or anything but the outside was great. and it was a nice walk. now we've taken a street car to the station and got on our shinkansen. we'll switch and eventually end up in nagasaki! yayy! haha funny thing though- the guy from the hotel tried to speak to us in english, but his english was harder to understand than his japanese hahaha. so that's all for now!
Yeah I forgot to write about day six and day seven was just travel.. sorry this is so late! ah!

Day Four woot! So yesterday I wrote from the shinkansen after the very stressful morning. We then got off the train, but our baggage in coin lockers and met up with Sensei-sama’s former student Vera and went to have lunch. We ate at this little place on the main street next to Beppu station, very good. Then we met up again and took a bus to the hotsprings! It was called the Rounds of Hell. There were six but we only went to three. However we did get to see a zoo!!! It was kind of sad though because the animal cages were rather small and not original habitat-looking. It was tiny too, there was one hippo, a few flamingos, three baboons, two llamas, and an elephant.. Haha it was great. The hotsprings were really cool though, the way the clay and stuff boils. We also passed a couple places (and stopped at one) where you can take off your shoes, roll up your pants, and put your legs in the hotspring. It was a little too hot for me and my jeans didn’t roll up that far, so I passed on that. But all around it was really cool. After that we went to a sand bath. About six of us went with sensei-sama walking to the place, the other half went with Vera on apparently a different route. They were really far behind so I just assume.. plus they got there before us so.. We accidentally went the wrong way a couple times, but got there in the end! Oh and it was pouring rain, so that was interesting. Actually it was really fun. So for the sand bath, we got there, put on yukata (summer kimono), took all our clothes off and then went out side where they buried us in naturally hot sand and we relaxed for fifteen minutes under the mound. It was really great. Then, much to Juliana and my dismay, we went into the ofuro where you must be without clothing. So we were awkward, but sam and anna weren’t hahaha. That was okay though. Then we took a bus back to the station, grabbed our bags, and took taxis to the inn! We had the banquet dinner then went and did karaoke!!!!!! It was so much fun! Contrary to popular belief, you and the people you go with get your own room and just have a blast. We sang Disney and maroon five and all sorts of things, it was so much fun! Then we came back hung around before going to bed. What a great day. Now we’ve left the hotel and I’m sitting on a train taking me to…. Aso I think were we’re going to the top of a mountain. Woot!

Jya~

DAY THREE

Now sitting on a Shinkansen after a stressful commute to the train station from our hotel! We had a tight schedule so we left our hotel, got on the ferry (more on that later), and had eight minutes to cross a tunnel (going up and down all these stairs with our heavy luggage), walk a ton, go up some more stairs, and get on the train. It was hectic, but we made it! Then we got off and boarded the shinkansen (bullet train) where I'll be sitting for an hour before we get off at Kokura (i think?) and transfer trains. But anyway, yesterday was day three.
So we ate breakfast at the hotel from yesterday, which was this great buffet with great chocolate croissants. Feeling full, we missed our first train because people were late (I was murderous at that point because we were planning on going to the beach later and sensei sama said if we missed the first train we couldn't go, but everything turned out okay). Got on the street car and thought we'd missed the train by like ten minutes. It was veryy hot yesterday. Although not as hot as day one, i think that was the worst. We got to Miyajima finally and it turned out the train we thought we missed actually ran a different time, so I was happy. We got on a ferry (in the ocean!!!!! yaaayyyy!!!) and took it over to the island. We saw this really pretty shrine and the famous Tori (sorry if i spelled that wrong) which is the red/orange thing in the water that slightly resembles a pi symbol. It was super pretty. Then we broke for lunch/saw this other temple that was a practicing temple. We sat for a moment and listened to monks chanting and beating drums and stuff which was really cool. Then we walked around some more, had lunch, and had shave ice! A DEER (silly deer!!! they're everywhere!) ate sugi's last dango (little round mochi-ish things with sauce on sticks like skewers) off the stick, then stole my seat!! it pushed me out!! i was very disgruntled at this deer and moved to a different seat, then it kicked me out of that one!! rude!!! Anyway then we took a van to THE BEACH!!!!!!! How I've missed the beach. One thing that was sooo wrongggg with this beach was that there were DEER on it. stupid deer. we played in the water and the sand and it was glorious. then we packed up and went back to the hotel, showered, and had a banquet-type thing. I tried to eat all my food, but there was so much I couldn't finish it all, though I tried valiantly. Had some good conversation with Yeh-san, Juliana, and Sensei-sama and then went to go see the tori lit up at night. That was gorgeous, the lights cast this eerie green glow over the ocean and the orange was so vibrant. It was really awesome. Then we went back to the hotel, hung out a while, and went to bed! All around a rather pleasant night! On to day four! Yatta!
Jya~

DAY TWO

Sitting here in Hiroshima.
Yesterday was crazy. Had a breakfast buffet at the hotel, which was supposed to be youshouku(western style food) but really it was japanese food with like sausage and eggs and bacon... then we went off to Himeji and Himeji Castle! It was ginormous. There was this beautiful mote around it and one section that was enclosed by cherry trees (although not in bloom now, still pretty). We go up to walk around the castle and we meet this little Japanese woman named Yoshiko Nakamura who was a volunteer tour guide at the  castle who gave us a tour along with these two Italian people (I don't think they were a couple? But maybe they were, I was confused)who were really nice. She gave us the greater picture of what Japan's history was like when the castle was prominent and during the different periods and stuff. She was great!! She reallyy knows what she's talking about. She said I think she's been giving tours for twenty eight years (as a volunteer!!!) to practice her english! It was so good too!!! She was incredible and adorable. The castle was actually being renovated and has been for a couple years now so we got to go inside and see how the renovation works and stuff. The airconditioning was probably the best part.. no just kidding. But really. Anyway, the castle architecture was really unlike anything I'd seen or expected to see in a castle. Yoshiko told us that it was considered a lucky castle because it was one of the only four that hadn't been totally rebuilt and that withstood earthquakes and battles and had never been taken or destroyed or anything really. The doorways were really short (Jeff had to crouch) and there were these rectangular steps in the doorways so that enemy troops would trip and all fall. The walls were angular so then enemy couldn't climb up adequately and there were no rain gutters on the walls for the enemy to attach their hooks to to scale it. the stairs were all different sizes to make it harder and the whole place is set up to be really confusing, which is probably why no one had penetrated it yet. She walked us through this long winding hall that was where Princess Sen had stayed for ten years. The whole thing was pretty fascinating all around. From there we went to Hiroshima where we saw the Atomic Bomb Dome, walked through the Peace Park, and into the Peace Memorial Museum. That whole experience was really heavy. We looked at the Dome for a while, which is a miracle in itself when you look at how the city was destroyed. Then we went to Sadako's monument. A lot of American kids read that book pretty young, according to Sensei-sama. It's about a little girl who got radiation poisoning around age two and I think by age twelve developed Leukemia? Or before that, the ages are sketchy for me, but anyway, she was in the hospital and thought she could save herself and grant her wish if she folded one thousand paper cranes. She only got to 500 before she died and her classmates folded the rest for her in memory. It was really sad. There are thousands of cranes in glass cases around the monument, it was really beautiful. Apparently a couple of years ago, some vandals destroyed all the cranes in a fire and the amount of cranes the society received increased by four times. From there we went through the peace park and looked at the monument and the shallow lake thing that was really pretty, then into the museum. This was the hardest. I cried a little. The images of the people burnt by fire and the whole atomic bomb thing were just mind blowing. It made me feel a little bit sick. We saw items that were burnt and deformed and pictures of people and Sadako and there were videos. I was very sad coming out. So we all sat on a bench waiting for the others to come out (Sugi and I came out first) then we split for dinner. We had Hiroshima style Okonomi Yaki! So tasty. Then back to the hotel where I couldn't stop laughing for the hilarious company and talk. Then I took an ofuro and bonded a little bit with Juliana.. She's such a crack up I love her. I didn't sleep very well though and my back kind of hurts. But then I never really sleep well in hotels  I guess.. Off to Miyajima today! (Really famous shrine) SWIMMING IN THE OCEAN SO EXCITED.
Jya~

KYUUSHUUUU TTRRRIIPPPPP

Day 1
yeah! it's finally here! --sad thing is that that means i only have 16 days left here. i'm kind of growing accustomed to living here and I rather like it. But that's besides the point. So we got to kyoto eki bright and early this morning and took a SHINKANSEN (oh my gosh bullet train) to Kobe where we are now!! We walked around a lot, had lunch in this really great chinese place (we were in china town.... in japan... anyone else find that weird? my okaasan always says that the japanese hate the chinese.. or my family does at least haha). We toured these really old houses that were western. They were really pretty, looked like eighteen hundreds washington dc or.. england? but really great. Got lost a little (but always find our way back thanks to sensei sama dorsey, our fearless leader.) and saw some more house-ish stuff. Got to check out this really awesome art museum, a lot of oil paints, some soft pastels, an acrylic or two and some water paints. All really beautiful. IT IS SO HOT HERE. i thought i was going to die all day. seriously. then we tried to go to some sake brewery but today's apparently a holiday so it was closed. so instead we went to this sake museum which was a little boring and a little interesting. Then we went to this AWESOME Mountain (Mt. Rokko) where we took a cable car up and got off to look at the gorgeous view of the city and the ocean. It was really stunning. Then we went back to the hotel! i would just like to say that our hotel is amazing. we all got single rooms (which is glorious, not that i'm opposed to roommates, i've just never had a single hotel room before and it's SO COOL). So they gave us eye warmers and bath salt and some tea as well as shaving stuff, comb, toothbrush and toothpaste, etc. it's so amazing. and A BED! oh my gosh it's been so long since i've slept in an actual bed. how am excited am i? to quote oppaman san, the most excited. Yeahhh.. ANA Crown Plaza Hotel for the win. So I guess that's all for today. we saw this superrr creepy old man (i think he was homeless) coming back from dinner (which we had at this cool little place that played a ton of jazz music and the food was phenomenal. of course the meat is bound to be. we are in kobe after all haha) which scared us all to death. Now I've taken my bath and I shall go to bed! YAY study excursion!!!!
Jya~

Umai deshou???

So I definitely have the best homestay family in the world. First of all, chichi (dad- his name is actually takanari but we all just call him chichi i dunno) has had three days off of work which is really rare since he usually only has tuesday off. I don't know if I've mentioned this before or not, but he's a chef at a high end italian restaurant. So he cooked one of the pasta dishes for us on monday which was amazing. tuesday we went out to eat at this udon place (noodles) and tonight we had curry rice that he made. It was delicious. So I take my ofuro then go upstairs to put the finishing touches on my packed suitcase and rei bursts in the door and babbles something about eating on the shinkansen (bullet train). So I was like okay let's go downstairs. I get down there and yuki was like hey let's go to the suupaa (super market) and buy some okashi (sweets/snacks) for you to eat on the train!! I was like awesome! So we went and she bought me four things of snacks!!!! Rei was then bitter because he only got to pick one hahhaha. So we get home and I saw this cake that Yuki had made in preparation for her next class and I said Oh that looks awesome! And she said some weird word that I didn't understand, and when I still didn't understand it after they gave me the italian and french words for it, she says, I'll draw you a picture! So she does and looking back after I knew what the word meant, it was a very accurate picture, but she drew what the cake looked like next to it, which really confused me. So I'm sitting there trying to figure it out and and chichi hands me his phone which had translated the word into "chestnut" so I let out a loud OHH! and then yuki looks at the picture and then at me and goes "UMAI DESHOUU???" and I couldn't stop laughing because that means "it's really great, right???"-talking about the picture. So then chichi looks down at the picture of the cake, which really looks like a cartoon of fecal matter, and he draws a fly coming off of it and I laughed even harder and continued laughing when yuki exclaimed that was wrong and drew what a cartoon of fecal matter is SUPPOSED to look like, correctly. Then i said, and with that.... good night. and we laughed some more as i walked up the stairs. all in all, a great night. and KYUUSHUU TRIP TOMORROW SO EXCITED!!!!!
On a side note, however, today I had two  successful Japanese person interactions. Here's the vocab that'll help out (keeping in mind that these conversations were in japanese!!!! yeahhhhhh)
ojiichan-old man (really grandpa, but they use them interchangeably), tenin-lady at the drug store
okay great.

1)
ojiichan: (coming off the bus)  it's really hot isn't it??
me: it sure is!!
ojiichan: where are you going?
me: i'm going to kirindo (over there).
ojiichan: Oh okay, bye!

2)
me: excuse me, this is sunscreen, right?
tenin: yep!
me: is it for adults?
tenin: it is, yes.
me: ahh. why does it say baby on it?
tenin: oh, that's because it's for people from babies to adults.
me: okay great! thanks!
tenin: no problem!

So really, today was pretty good after I left the cafe. I was kind of in a weird/bad mood all day, but it got significantly better after I talked to the ojiichan. Yay! Okay back to packing!
Jya~

O Hisashiburi Desu Ne!

So the title of this means long time no see (loosely)! Because it's been a bit since I've written. I'm currently sitting (or I should say roasting) in my room that is 36 C which is.. I don't know what that is F but it's really hot. Usually I come back to my room being 32 or 33... No good. Hah but anyway! I forget what the last thing I posted about was and I don't have internet so I'll write about this weekend! We went to Nara (the next prefecture over)! It was great, took an hour train ride and were there! We ate kamo nanba, which is duck, mostly because we in a song we studied in sensei's class (Toire no Kamisama) she talks about eating that with her grandma. From the restaurant, we went and explored around a couple temples that were really pretty. It was a really long day. Most important thing about Nara: FULL OF DEER. literally they're everywhere. They come up to you and eat your stuff if you're not careful. (Jeff had his pamphlet eaten by one and Miller had his shirt bit by one that he so lovingly christened Jack) So we frolicked among the deer and got to this one temple with a HUGE buddha inside. Behind the buddha they have this pillar with a small hole carved out at the bottom that is supposedly the same size as the buddha's nostril. It is said that if you can crawl through the hole, it was lucky. So I definitely crawled through the hole. A good majority of us did, it was really hard!!!! The hole was very small. Then we left Sensei-sama and his wife Yukari-san (I think I've written this before, but when all else fails, do what yukari-san does!! That's my lsa philosophy!) and ate okonomiyaki on one of the main streets and walked back to the lake where we sat and waited for the lantern festival to start. It was absolutely beautiful. The lake was illuminated and everything was gorgeous. Then we walked back around, saw the temple all lit up and took a train home. Luckily my mom called me while Gaby and I were waiting for the bus because she was close to Kyoto Eki and so could pick us up. We didn't have to ride the bus back! Not that I have anything against the bus..
Anyway, on Sunday (yesterday) Yuki and Rei and I went to the River Kamogawa and played in the water and ate ice cream and over all just had a very pleasant afternoon! We were all exhausted afterward and they took a nap while I read Harry Potter. It made me miss sitting on the lake in Park City with my family, which is what they're doing right now (Shout out to you guys!! Miss youuu!!!!!). Then we ate thin udon noodles for dinner and went to a school Matsuri (Festival) with Gaby's family! We played little games and I was the only white person. Actually no, there was a french guy, but he lives in Kyoto and is married to a Japanese woman so he doesn't really count. I won some fireworks which we'll probably use later and Gaby's little brother got a bunch of fish. I also got three more mosquito bites which puts my total at.. seven I believe. Really fun though. I was exhausted afterward.
Then today we went to this loom/textile place and made little table decorations on the loom!!!! It was great! I admire those women who sit there and do it for hours, my back would be dying, they're amazing. So that was really fun. We leave for our "study-travel-excursion" as called by dorsey sensei-sama on Thursday morning!!!!!! going to Kyuushuuuuu and I think Hiroshima? More on that later. Two more days of class!!
OH! Last week we also watched this flower arranging presentation which was really neat. She showed us how she cut the thick stems and peeled this one green plant away to make a cat-tail looking plant, then added flowers in the water and everything, it turned out reallyy pretty. Some of us (myself not included) got to try it too, which was really amusing to watch. Japanese crafts are so cool!!
I have a presentation to give tomorrow, so I'd better go do that. More later!

Jya~