Off to Kyoto!

I woke up early this morning and went off to campus with Kaylie. We had to see our course schedules and pick up our student IDs. Turns out I didn't make it into Sumi e T-T. The only class I actually had a choice about that I wanted to take. Oh well! I'm not going to bother replacing that class, because one of the professors urged us to only take four classes, and I am going to heed that advice. Also, they didn't offer the Communication through Culture course I wanted to take, so I'm going to end up taking pretty much exactly the same class I took last semester so I can cover a requirement for Education licensure. It stinks :(

We went to the McDonalds again! This time I had a hamburger. Again, it tastes exactly the same, no joke. I also had another Coke. Second Coke in nearly 5 years. Japan doesn't offer water as readily as America does, to my dismay.

After killing some time in the computer lab, it was time to go to Kyoto! They had this really efficient way of pairing people up with tour guides. And by tour guides, I mean Japanese students who want to go on a trip with all of us foreigners. We formed two lines -- one for foreigners, and one for Japanese students, then they matched up the groups based on the number of people involved. Kaylie's and my group of two people ended up getting merged into a group of five people, so we were a rather large group that got paired with a group of 5 Japanese people - 4 girls and 1 boy.

We went through introductions. Turns out there were four other people from Ohio in our group, so it was kind of weird! We walked aaaall the way to the train station in what looked somewhat like a mass foreigner exodus. Hopefully the locals weren't alarmed!

We made it to the station, and they told us which tickets to buy. We don't really understand the train system quite yet because they just told us which button to push and we followed them around like lost ducklings, but it was still a good experience overall. You buy a ticket for which line you wish to ride through a vending machine, then feed it through a turnstile type of thing where it punches a hole in your ticket. You put the ticket in a safe place and board the correct train.

Travelling by train is pretty nice, but only when you get to sit. Standing on the train is a little annoying, but it can't really be avoided, especially somewhere where everyday life is so dependent on public transportation. Two of the girls, Yuki and Erika, sat by us after doing a cool trick with the back of the train seat that turns it into a backwards facing seat, facing us. Apparently, they had been saying that Kaylie looked like Sailor Moon! I was feeling pretty shy though, so I wasn't trying as hard to talk to them as I sometimes do. But whenever we would do certain things, they just said we're cute. Also, apparently, neither of us look our age. EVEN IN JAPAN. XD

We arrived in Kyoto at last! Upon surfacing from the train station, I was shocked to see that Kyoto isn't all so traditional as I had thought. It was a bustling city full of many shops and tourist traps. We were able to partake in the art of window shopping! Since we were in such a large group, it made it difficult to really shop for anything, which was sort of a bummer, but when we go with a smaller group, I'm sure I'll be able to get a little something to remember the trip by!

This is one of the first things we saw as we made our way through Kyoto! It's a Kabuki theatre. Kaylie and I would really like to go see a play some day....

After walking down a rather busy street, we made it to the Yasaka Shrine. Our tour guides, while really friendly and cute, didn't really explain that much to us about the shrine, so I apologize for my lack of knowing what all of this stuff is.

The main gate. Just inside, there was a spot to wash your hands to purify yourself before entering the shrine. I have a picture of the hand washing area by the temple that you can see for an example.

Lanterns!

A torii gate leading up to a place where you can pray.

Pretty shrine stuff ^-^;

Here is the biggest part of the shrine where you can pray, or as Fumi explained to us, "make a wish." Young Japanese don't seem to view these types of activities as seriously as older Japanese do. It's much less solemn, and they view it more as something like making a wish on a star. What you do here though, is you throw some money in the donation box, then you ring the bell twice. We were with this one kid from Canada who was absolutely obnoxious with the bell. We all laughed, and the Japanese girls were dying! XD Anyway, then you clap your hands twice and bow, making your wish or prayer. And then you're done!

Giant gate thing with lanterns! It led to this nice shopping district area with all kinds of souvenirs. Again....we didn't buy anything. But we always took advantage of the free food samples!

I found it amusing that even in such a traditional area, you would find these little ice cream cone things. It made me crave ice cream, which I ended up not getting. Still craving it though. >.>

A road we passed by -- it just looked cool :)

DO YOU!? Even the Japanese girls caught this bad English and were laughing, saying "京都をする？" These little instances of bad English are just hilarious!

Looking down at a traditional style area...I don't know what was down here.

Fumi offered to take a picture of us....soooo we got out the peace sign. :P

Parodies of the "PUMA" logo -- I took this one especially for Bryan. :P

Adorable sign for Takoyaki! (balls of fried octopus)

Stalker picture -- school girls! I felt like I was in an anime :x

After climbing a large hill full of shops and vendors, we saw Kiyomizu Dera!

A look down at the shops where we had come from.

Up some stairs leading to the temple -- the scenery really was beautiful.

The sun was starting set -- apparently the tower is the Kyoto tower? Is there even such a thing? The Japanese girls weren't really sure either....

More stunning architecture!

You can see all the detail that went into this structure.

Sun setting through the trees~ :)

There's the city of Kyoto! Again, the view was absolutely stunning.

The mountain rising up behind the temple -- it was so beautiful! Apparently, in the spring during Sakura season, a lot of these trees bloom, making it a really popular place to go for Hanami (sakura blossom viewing).

Information about the temple!

Washing my hands before going into the temple. You pick up the ladle, fill it with water, then dump half of it on your left hand, switch hands with the ladle, then pour water on your right. You can also then put the water in your hand and drink it. But....I'm clumsy so I have a feeling I'd just end up with a lot of water on my front. The Japanese girls were complaining about how cold it was, but...I thought it felt really nice! Then again, the weather here is actually warmer than back home, so I'm used to much much worse, AND I always wash my hands in cold water.

Putting the ladle back -- Fumi took these last two pictures for me. Thanks Fumi! :D

Beautiful scenery! And Fumi made it into the picture too. >_< Erika tries to lift the heaviest of the two metal poles. These are made out of really heavy iron, and everyone attempts to lift them. It's supposed to symbolize your strength and worthiness of protecting the temple. The one in the back is easy to lift, but upon trying, the Japanese girls just said "ぜったい無理！" Two boys in our group were actually able to team up and lift the pole though :P

Fumi the Geisha jumps in to save the day and help Erika! Keiko is picking up the iron geta.

A view from off of the Kabuki stage.

Here is the the main building of the temple. It's a national treasure! The stage that you see was apparently used for Kabuki performances. The amazing thing about it is that it was made without using a single nail!

Pretty trees~

People line up especially for the chance to drink water out of these waterfalls. It was described in English on the signs as "holy water," so it's supposed to have purification and healing properties.

Blurry picture of a major intersection in Kyoto.

We all went for dinner afterwards and talked about all kinds of things! Here, Fumi had given us all of her purikura (Print Club - fancy photo booths where you can decorate the pictures. It's very popular with girls!) pictures to look for. Erika liked poking fun of all of Fumi's dumb faces. XD

After that, we all rode the train back and then hitched a bus to the Seminar Houses. I had so much fun, and even if they don't read this, I'd like to thank all of our lovely tour guides! Erika, Keiko, Fumi, and Yuki -- 本当にありがとうございました！楽しかったです。また出かけましょう☆