Annyyywayyy. Friday I had practice for the performance I have to do for my mime class (out in the park at night which is probably why I'm sick actually). To be honest I was dreading this performance, but the practice was actually a lot of fun, so I'm kinda looking forward to it now!
Saturday and Sunday I was in Minakami in Gunma Prefecture for the spring retreat of Japan Study. It was way more fun than I thought it would be (and way more fun than the fall retreat in Karuizawa!). The ryokan was super nice, and our room was beautiful. Also got to take a walk around the area. So beautiful and the air was so fresh. And the food. Oh god the food. Probably one of the best meals of my life. So gooodddd. And so much food. The weight I lost from the Yamanote hike was all gained back. Oh well. Totally worth it. Also did karaoke for two hours with some friends which was super fun too. Then went to the foot spa/bath area which was outside (and also super nice. Yay for detailed descriptions! haha). After that I went into the onsen with Shiori and some other girls from our program. The onsen were so nice! The inside one was pretty big (which meant Shiori and I swam around in it) and the outside one was so relaxing! After that tried out the massage chairs in the relaxation room and then went to bed (but didn't get much sleep due to the fact it was super hot in our room/snoring roommates. which is another reason why I am sick).
The next day we went to the Dole farm area (where we couldn't pick any fruit though since nothing was in season) where we had a BBQ and I ate blueberry and sakura flavored ice-cream (SO GOOD). After that we went to an area called Takumi no Sato which is like this craft village area where we had some free time. Mainly hung out with Shiori and Jhanus and just walked around. Also decorated this frame thing with dried flowers. Pretty cool!
We got back to Takadanobaba around 6:30pm, and at this point I probably should have just gone home, but instead I went with Shiori and Jhanus to Waseda to help greet all of the people (from the club I'm in) who walked in the 100km walk event Waseda had that weekend. To be honest I really wanted to walk in the event (even though I would have died) but since the JS trip was the same weekend I couldn't >_<
But picking up everyone was a lot of fun. Everyone walked so much. Crazy. A couple of people were pretty far behind, so I went with some friends to go walk and find them, which was probably a bad idea since it was a bit cold and then it started to rain and I didn't have an umbrella and then at one point two of the guys who were part of the group we went to go pick up and I started running for a bit so yeah. A combination of many things is why I am still sick. But it was a lot of fun! If I am in Tokyo around this time next year I am definitely doing the 100km hike!!! Oh but since we couldn't do the hike Shiori and I are planning to do another night hike in Tokyo, kinda like the Yamanote hike but from Waseda to Tokyo Sky Tree, Sky Tree to Tokyo Tower, and from the tower back to Waseda!~
Now I'm going to finish painting my nails and go to bed!
Oh, but also finally bought my ticket home...going home doesn't even seem real at this point. For a while I was freaking out about it, but I guess I've come to terms with it? I dunno. I'm glad I'm going to be visiting my brother in Yosemite for about a week though. Looking forward to nature and to be able to adjust back to America in a place that won't make me feel pissed off about America....haha?
