We're going to pretend that I didn't completely ignore the AWESOMENESS that was the ICU festival (although I will be trying to document that at some point in the near future) and the end-of-semester franticness and move right on into the awesome!travel portion of the program.
Friday
Spend the day getting moved out of my homestay and waiting on Katie and James waiting on their landlord. Finally get out of the house about 4 hours later than originally intended. Get driven to Kouenji Station by my host mom to catch the train to Tokyo to catch our bullet train. (We also had a lovely little chat with a random Japanese man who got on the train with us at Kouenji and accompanied us as far as Shinjuku.) Get really confused about said bullet train and accidentally get on the reserved seat portion of the train rather than the non-reserved section for which we had bought tickets. Proceed to spend the first half of the train ride standing, although we did get seats for the last leg. Wander through Osaka Station looking for the correct way to our hotel, only to stumble outside and find it on a whim. I don't think that I have ever been SO GLAD that I can read katakana in my life. Get moved in, go out to dinner at Gusto, go to BED!!!
Saturday
Drop our stuff off at the front desk, where we intend to leave it until Sunday. Katie and James walk out with nothing but their wallets and cell phones (plus James' camera and iPod) which I bring a whole bag's worth of stuff, including, but not limited to, the guidebook, an umbrella, and my computer (which had all the information regarding our intended lodgings for the night). Oh, I also had both my sweatshirt AND my huge jacket, which made for tons of fumbling fun. Anyway, we hopped on the JR train to Tennouji, this random shrine in the middle of the city. We met Kimbia there, but not before we sat and had a lovely little chat with ANOTHER random Japanese man in the park nearby. After we met up with Kimbia, we headed over to the temple proper, which turned out to be not as awesome as we had hoped, on account of it being a weekend. Then we wandered over to the Pokemon Center (not as cool as it sounds) and then to a happy little 11-story shopping mall, which ate up most of our afternoon. After THAT, we headed over to get okonomiyaki, although I didn't eat any on account of my not feeling so hot. After that, we headed over to a 24 hour internet cafe, where we got a nice little space to spend the night. James and Katie spent most of the night on the computer, while I passed out almost right away.
Sunday
Get up early, go to breakfast, wander over to the Osaka Aquarium. We spent the morning walking through the aquarium which was tons of fun. After that, we had lunch at this random Turkish place nearby. Then we headed back to the hotel and got moved in for the night. Then we went out to dinner and came home to watch some Glee and sleep.
We're heading out later today for the Kyoto portion of the adventure. CAN'T WAIT!! Hope all are well!!
~ Anna
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