6-20-12

I made it to Yokohama!

Sorry for taking so long to post. So for my last post I had just made it to Fukuoka. I’ve done a good amount of stuff since then, but I’ll just go over the highlights.

The first day I was there Eri’s parents took me to Moji Port and North Kyushu while Eri was at work. I saw a lot of nice scenery and we drove through the Kanmon Tunnel, the tunnel which connects Kyushu (the lower island) and Honshu (the main island).

The next few days I traveled around Fukuoka during the day while Eri was at work. Fukuoka is one of the largest cities in Japan (I think the rankings go Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama, Fukuoka, but don’t quote me on that), so there was a lot to see. 

I also rode the Shinkansen to Kumamoto and back two consecutive days. In Kumamoto I went and saw the castle, some gardens, and got to meet with my Japanese teacher.

Overall, I spent a little over a week at Eri’s apartment. On Friday morning, I left and headed north to Matsue. I decided to go to Matsue because I was planning to meet with my host family Sunday night and stay at their home, and I wanted to do some traveling on my own before I started my classes in Yokohama. Matsue was perfect because it was between Fukuoka and Osaka geographically, and it was in an area I’ve never visited before.

Overall, I had a great time in Matsue. I was able to relax and tried not to worry too much about packing every day with sightseeing trips. I still managed to see a lot and also went for a really nice jog along the lake the second day I was there. 

After my second day in Matsue, I headed to my host family’s house and ended up staying two nights there. I had a ton of fun. It was nice to be able to see everyone again and see how much the kids have grown up in the last two years. It was also nice to be able to stay two nights because I got to sort of “relive” a little bit of my homestay experience.

I got to Yokohama and my apartment/dorm room yesterday. It’s pretty nice. Nothing too fancy, but it definitely works. I have some stuff I need to buy since I was unable to buy it yesterday due to the typhoon. I plan on working on that today.

Alright, this was a really short blog post, but I really need to get looking over my Japanese books before my mini exam tomorrow. Until next time!