A New Hope

*This post refers to Friday, September 28th*

At last, relief has come. It was a rough week, featuring the first test of the semester, followed by the first paper of the semester. But both of those have been completed!
I met the first of my two language partners for lunch - he seems like a really cool guy. It was mostly just "getting to know you" sort of questions, but I think it will work out well. Lunch was cut short by a text from kenji - I was late to the field trip! I dashed across campus, and met up with the rest of the class just in time to catch the bus to ~. We met Katsu-sensei in front of the shrine. We walked through what looked to be the very traditional part of Kyoto. On the way, we grabbed some green tea refreshments. We trekked up a steep hill, finally reaching the museum. We split into teams to explore: our group chose to focus on the shinsengumi. To be fair, I think everyone did. After we finished, Katsu led us over to Kiyomizudera, my favorite temple. On the way he treated us to ice cream - the specialty was honey-sesame. It was really good! The temple was beautiful as always, but parts of it were undergoing renovation. After being teased by Katsu and the class about the enmusubi shrine (its where you go to pray for a lover), we got in line for water. I was shocked when Ryuji, a local, didn't know that the water came from a mountain spring. It was cool and delicious! Just like I remembered.

After walking through, we all went our separate ways. I went with a few of the KCJS students back to Doshisha, on the way to the party. Running into a bunch of friends on the way, we managed to get to the dorm without much trouble.

It was a good party. An American style party, really. Lots of people and cheap alcohol. And loud (by Japanese standards) music. I was able to meet a lot of new people, and had a ton of fun. Interestingly, there were a lot of non Americans there. And all the Japanese students had studied abroad. I spent most of the time chatting in Japanese, meeting new people. At last, I feel like my student life in Japan has begun!