First Day of School, Pt. 2

After we went and looked at the gym (there is a pretty ramshackle set of work-out equipment up there), we made our way back downstairs and towards the library.

The library.

We learned where to go to find English books (not really sure why I'd want to do that), and where the computer lab-type area is.

Next we headed over to a courtyard on top of a building. It was a really cool looking courtyard.

Rinku Gate Tower. Ayaka told us that this
is the tallest building in Japan. She was mistaken.

We then all lined up to have our picture taken. We all immediately started handing our own cameras to Ayaka, one of the Japanese students who was showing us around. Another student, who happened to be up in the courtyard studying, came up and offered to help. He had to juggle like 8 cameras and phones. It was pretty impressive, really.

This photo took a lot more work than you'd think.

There is an awesome view from that courtyard.

We returned to i-talk and rested for a moment, but it didn't seem like long at all before we were being grabbed by our collars and dragged to the next activity: A tour of the city.

Fujiidera

Fujiidera is a pretty huge city, considering it's a "small city. There is a mall, and several separate shops, including a Toys 'R' Us, a bookstore, a McDonalds and a dollar store.

After arriving by bus, we first went up into the train station and Ayaka explained to us how to buy tickets for a train. I didn't really understand some of the finer points, but, whatever. We moved on.

Inside Fujiidera station.

Next we walked over to the dollar store. Oh sorry, I mean the hyaku-en store.

A little cul-de-sac by the station where taxis
and buses line up.

There were some birds nesting underneath
a canopy in front of one of the shops.
The glare prevented me from getting a
good picture.

The mall.

Little corner shop.

We all gathered in front of the dollar store and Ayaka and Takayuki were just like, "We'll meet here in an hour, go crazy." Unfortunately, I hadn't brought very much money, and I thought it would be a bad idea to bring my card out and about. We were gonna be needing a bus fare to go home, so I only bought a couple things that I needed, like this towel.

I wasn't in a super good mood because of this, and also because I was pretty tired. I just followed members of the program around and looked at the various cheap, bizarre goods on the shelves.

The dollar store.

I hope that isn't Pikachu-flavored curry.

Engrish.

A cool sign on the top floor.

Eventually me and a couple others left the dollar store and visited 7-Eleven.

The lovely seijin-muke section I forgot to take a
picture of last time.

A spicy nigiri for when I got home.

After we we all met back up, we decided to go find somewhere to eat. We decided on an Izakaya nearby, where everything was just 280 yen, or about 3 dollars. I was gonna skip out on it because I didn't offer any money, but my buddy Christian said he would help me out, so off we went.

We had two tables right next to each other.

The place was very neato.

They sold many kinds of yakitori, and various other kinds of appetizer-type foods. We probably tried half of the menu and shared it between us. In the end, we split the bill evenly and I didn't need to borrow any money.

Heading Home

We decided to walk home, and I wasn't against it at all, considering I barely had enough coinage for the bus fare.

A shrine across the street from the izakaya.

It was a pretty pleasant walk. I have an app on my phone that gives me an offline map of the area, so I pretty much led everybody home. We were walking really slow (compared to the pace I like to walk at), so it took us almost an hour to get home.

I actually took these pictures in the morning.
Ssh. Don't tell anybody.

It was dark by the time we got home, so I dropped off my stuff and we all led the girls to their dorm, about 10 minutes away.

I got home, took a bath, and keeled over into my bed. It had been an exhausting, ultra fun day. I was about to find out that every day was going to be that way.