Wrapping Up the last post...

 Above is the bridge I talked about! And to your right is a sumo match. There were quite a few of these, and we watched every single one. TOTALLY worth it.

 Moar 鹿。

 Red Bull Mini Cooper staffed by Japanese girls giving to thirsty 外人！

 No Shave November! I worked hard this month...

 The Australians and the Texan. Love these guys.

 The Aussie and his 日本語 partner at the school festival! The festival gave us a 5 day weekend and was filled with every Japanese person i know asking me to buy their club's food to support them. I bought so much food... Japanese marketing is obviously a good department at this school. Also they had an AMAZING dance contest. The most memorable was the 50 women group dressed all as Charlie Chaplin and dominating the rest of the competition. That's a hard thing to do, especially when the board makes you perform first. That's right, these girls swept it as the first performers! It blew my mind.

 This is my first haircut. My good friend Yuna called her connection up and got me into a salon (lolwut) for free. These women who cut hair are rockstars. They cut my hair, washed my head, rubbed my shoulders, and made their scissors dance on my scalp! It was fantastic, but they all talked SO fast. And my Japanese isnt quite on that level yet. LOVED IT

 To your right is us riding to the Sanda Campus Coffee Hour. It was a great time, lots of snacks, charades, and tours of the beautiful Kobe Campus. I successfully Charaded "Pyramid". I am awesome.

Top left is Whale Sushi! It was delicious, and tasted like the tears of a thousand screaming PETA protestors... I loved every second of it.

Top is our visit to the elementary school! There I was shown around by a little girl who is so good at english at the age of whatever her age was that she put some 大学生 to shame! That little girl is gonna be a CEO someday.

The school itself was amazing as well; it was more high tech and well kept than American HIGH SCHOOLS. I'm fairly certain the curriculum was better too... These kids were so dang smart. Makes me think that I may be applying for JET after the Marines.

The last picture is the No Shave November Finale! We bearded so hard this month, it had to be documented!

Also during my absence from the blogosphere; lots of studying. Took my first final, my first midterms abroad, Thanksgiving was rather lonely because it's an american holiday, and been just been doing LOTS of studying. I'm learning alot, and it's hard to keep up.

Only a month left, and I'm feeling the squeeze. I gotta do alot in my last weekends and winter break, two term papers included! Working hard, playing hard, and all that noise. I don't want to leave this place.

It's a dream come true, and I dont want to wake.

Hiroshima, Awaji, and Pizza.

 Well lets start this one off with a korean bbq pizza.
Amazing, if a little expensive: 4,000 yennies for this puppy.
Luckily I had my boy CRAIG and Miss Annick to split it with me. Took a trip for this sucker, and boy was it worth it!

This is the start of the Hiroshima Trip. My Master Logistician, Master Michael Enghofer planned the whole thing. We started off strong with some serious trips to Osaka late at night to get to our all night bus. I got COMPLETELY lost in Osaka. I got there two hours early to find the place we needed to get to, and I got there 10 minutes before departure.
My Master Logistician definitely printed the directions out in German. I forgave him the second i got off the bus though lol.

I was too big for the bus, but I rode that puppy ALL NIGHT.

 Yeah, this pic is my gift to you. We went to Hiroshima to see a sumo tourney! This is just a scant preview of all our adventures. The sumo tourney started at 8 am and ran till 3pm. They did all kinds of warming up, ceremonies, and even did a match against the kids. It was great, I think the sumo are great guys.

 As well as brutal and terrifying. I love this sport because of it though. These guys beat on each other like continents colliding. It was fantastic. However, Sumo tourneys are not the place where you should attempt to buy beer. I tried once, and they were selling beer in dixie cups because they ran out of real ones, and when i came back and they had regular cups, they were out of beer!

That was my only complaint though.

I got to see the two Yokozuna pound on each other. They are the grand master rank sumo, and they are AMAZING. I think I have a picture of them in here somewhere...

 These guys would sing in between matches too. So much ceremony.

 Also went to the A-Bomb Museum. This place was somber. And so so sad. Everyone who went in left in tears. I'm glad I went though.

This is the boat to Miyajima, the famous shrine island with a GIANT Vermillion Torii. We went with our Czech friend we met at our hostel. By the way, hostels are the way to go. I wish they had them in the US.

We hopped the boat, rode it over, and began exploring.

 Everything in Hiroshima was eaten on a stick; sausage, beef, corn, squid... everything. It started at the food festival (OMG SERIOUSLY) we passed by at Hiroshima castle after the sumo match, and it just kept coming.

 To scale.

 Everyone was taking pictures with their tablets... I really hope this doesnt become a thing.

 Nara-style. They ate our maps. No paper was safe.

 Most american pipe ive ever seen. Yes I bought it.

 Michael loved artsy instagram shots... so I indulged a little.

 ON. A. STICK.

Everything about Hiroshima was amazing. I love that city so much. It was so beautiful and peaceful. Also had hambaagaayaki, a style of Hiroshima-yaki that every 日本人 was surprised by: 2 burgers and cheese in an okonomiyaki.

I miss this town already.

 And I just had a bit of a photo issue with the blogger client, so I have them all loaded on here.

This is the Kyoto Field Trip I went on for my Shinto Class, led by Dr. John Breen, one of the leading historians on Shinto ON THE PLANET. My teacher. No big deal.

 The founding spot of Yoshida Shinto, and one of the only shrines on the planet with a burial site inside of it. (Shrines view death and burials as a type of pollution, so they let the Buddhists do the burying).

 The rain and the lightning as markings of the god of thunder. Can you see it?

 Yoshida Shinto description by the priest.
All encompassing, included everyone and everything including all other religions. Very very interesting.

 Dr. Breen and the priest!

 SHRINE OF CAKES

 Said jellyfish on the menu, turned out to be mushrooms. Not disappointed at all, this was amazing!

 So the host parents took me and Annie, my other exchange student host sister, on a trip to Awaji Island. This is definitely an amazing place. It has what I understand to be one of the worlds longest suspension bridges, a giant whirlpool, an England/Aussie Theme Park, and everything that can be made of onions is.

This is onion ice cream.

No I did not finish it.

 Monkeys that would grab your fingers and play with you at the Aussie zoo! They also steal umbrellas.

 WALLABIES

 Hoot hoot.

OH YEAH KOALA TIME!


I love my host family so much.
Will continue this post on the next one, this one is rather long.