Trip to Kyoto

Wow, I have to start coming up with catchier titles for these blog posts.
Well, yesterday I went to Kyoto with some other international students and some Japanese students. We were randomly paired together by the KG powers that be and set off on our Kyoto adventure. I took the train for the first time which was kind of exciting (but I was super glad we had some Japanese students to navigate). Kyoto was a surprisingly short train ride away. I don't think it took more than a half hour to get there. Some of our group didn't speak Japanese and some didn't speak too much English, but we all somehow managed to communicate with each other pretty well anyway. Charades and Spanish were sometimes involved and there were plenty of miscommunication jokes. My favorite miscommunication moment was when my friend Kristin was asking Yumie what was 'left' and 'right' in Japanese. Kana and Yoshimi were walking ahead of her on her left and right and for some reason Yumie thought Kristin was asking what their names were. So she answered that Kana is left and Yoshmi is right. We all quickly realized what was going on and pretty soon we were just kind of stumbling around the street because we were laughing so hard.
(That's another thing: jokes and moments that maybe aren't so funny in straight up English are hilarious when they're a weird Japanese/English hybrid so... apologies if this anecdote is unamusing!)

When we got to Kyoto we walked to Yasaka Shrine and Kiyomizu Temple. It was really beautiful, walking up into the hillside. And it was so different than anything else I'd ever seen before. There was so much to look at. I could try to describe it more, but I feel like my photos do a slightly better job.



There were also lots of little shops around (shrines have a lot of businesses surrounding them, surprise, surprise). We checked out a Studio Ghibli merchandise shop (Kiki's Delivery Service, Totoro, Spirited Away, etc.) which made me wish I had a bigger budget. There were about 20 different things I wanted to get there. I settled for the cheapest thing I could find! I took some pictures but it really doesn't do the place justice. We also saw some geisha there which was kind of surreal to see. (I was dying from how hot it was - I can't imagine how they felt in heavy kimono and make up!) I also tried some traditional Japanese sweets (free samples! haha) and just thinking about them again makes my mouth water.



The sun was starting to set and we were sweaty and tired, so we left and stopped to eat at a swanky restaurant. It was easily the nicest restaurant I've ever eaten in, but it didn't feel at all stuffy or like you had to use the right fork and speak softly. Our table had two little grills in the center, so our okonomiyaki (sort of like the Japanese version of an omelette/pancake hybrid) would sit on that and stay nice and hot. You would divvy up sections and take them off the grill and eat them out of a small bowl. It was my first time trying okonomiyaki, but I'm eager to eat it again because it was delicious! My okonomiyaki had cabbage, beef, pork and squid in it topped with hot sauce and mayo. Okay, I know that may not sound great to some of you, but believe me, it was phenomenal.



After that, we took the train back to Hirakata though we stopped to do some purikura in the train station first. (Purikura is a Japanese photo booth.) Once I was back to the dorm I pretty much collapsed onto my futon and went to sleep.