最後の日(Last Day of Classes)

So today has now more or less ended, and the semester is practically over. I just have final exams on Thursday, Friday, and Monday and then… I go to Tokyo. It’s hard to believe how fast it’s gone, really. I know everyone told me it would, and I know that trips always seem to speed by in retrospect, but I swear this trip went by faster than light. So, to commemorate it and to look back, here’s a review of my favorite pictures and places in Japan that I’ve been to, and the people I’ve met:

 

This greets me every time I return to AP House. It’s basically saying “EII is Open, Smile, but also it is Your Home.” It still makes me grin.

More Nagasaki. That’s ground zero. I can’t describe what standing here felt like. You’ll have to go for yourself.

My favorite picture of the sunset that I’ve managed to get while I am here.

This was the nicest hotel I’ve stayed at so far, and the cheapest. Thank you AP House Fees–5000 yen for two nights AND bus fare? Ah-may-sing.

Group D is the BEST! Yaaaay Nagasaki!

Japanese stew! Which is amazing. And should definitely be sold in America.

Remember this? Remember it?!

…Needs. No. Explanation.

The show in Kyoto. This is when the two servants get drunk from stolen sake and are being dorks.

The one and only time my bookcase looked this organized. Haha. This place has too much paperwork, I swear~

And this is one I do not believe I have posted. It’s another sculpture outside of the Peace Museum (this trip influenced me greatly), that of the chaos caused by bombs everywhere.

Two of my friends, Sho and Chihiro, just messing around on board the ferry to Osaka. We were all so hyper to finally be escaping Beppu (it’s nice and all, it’s just… Beppu… ^^;)

A Korean Traditional Dance group at the Opening Ceremony in early April… wow, the time has gone by so quickly…

At Kaiyuukan in Osaka, the largest aquarium in Kansai.

These bloody stairs will be the one thing I will not miss too terribly much. c: Sixty. Four. Stairs. And the elevator is practically hand-cranked by dinosaurs…

Karate Club. Tomorrow is the last meeting.

This was the first time I’d really been out of Beppu, and wow, did it leave an impression. I will never forget Nagasaki.

You guys rock. I’ll miss being able to see you everyday.

This is my Japanese class. Sensei’s the one who looks like he’s twelve. Just kidding–but really, once, we actually mistook him for another college student. He’s got this coat that makes him look 19, I swear, and it was only when he went “Konnichiwa minna-san!” That we were all like, “…Sensei?” (this was after a meeting of Nihongo Net)

The iconic picture, taken while standing ON THE LITTLE PAINTED FOOTPRINTS with a camera in between them. Haha.

Beppu Nightscape, the best I’ve taken, I think.

“If you fold a thousand paper cranes, your wish will come true.” All of these wish for the end of nuclear weapons or for world peace. I think this is my favorite picture that I have taken, period, since I got here.

It’s amazing how different the campus looks after hours. Like something out of a horror movie, only more creepy.

This is in front of the NHK building in Kokura. I found it too cool not to photograph.

We made homemade udon. Yabai! (Oh my god) So. Delicious. Not to mention the homemade gyoza (pork dumplings)…

One of the Bloody Hell Ponds. I still chuckle at that name.

China’s gift to Japan for the International Peace Park. Such a pretty statue, ne.

We had to wonder if it was a very large cigarette or a very small person… yes, we are dorks.

 

This is far from an exhaustive collection, but it’s got a bit of everything. Even GASP pictures of me. I know right?

 

I will never forget this place or these people. Thank you, APU.