Weekend Recap

A quick recap of my weekend (including pictures!) :

-I got to spend some time exploring more of Otsu...lovely. I am feeling blessed to live in such a beautiful city and more specifically, I am so thankful to be a 5 minute walk to the lake; which I have already fallen a little bit in love with...

-I got a bicycle.. yay! The process (all in Japanese) was quite frustrating and it involved registering and getting insurance for the bike but luckily our tutor Tomo was there to help us with that. Now, it will be so much more convenient to get around and do more adventuring and exploring. 

-I also went to a little pub/bar on Saturday night called Popeye which was alot of fun - although the inevitable happened and I had my first accident with eating what I believed to be meat...I ordered Tofu Lasagna which through the language barrier I understood did not have any meat in it (unlike the tofu pizza I wanted, that I was told had bacon in it). Anyways, it was very small amounts and once I realized, I passed the rest of the dish onto my friend Teemu. I was upset at the time but I guess given the circumstances, it was bound to happen and probably will again until I can develop a basic Japanese vocabulary. All the more motivation to learn!

-Sunday evening the group and I watched the sunset at the lake which was spectacular... I included the most pictures from that :)
-This morning (Monday) we decided to also watch the sunrise. We woke up early and left our dorms by 5am to bike across the lake to nice spot to watch the new day greet us. It was a little cloudy, but that was fine with me. Every sunrise is a gift in my eyes. & with the clouds, it almost made the whole thing more special.. the reality of how fleeting these moments are becomes even more apparent because after the sun was at its brightest point of breaking through to bring about a new day, it was quickly engulfed by the clouds. We stayed and watched the sky for a bit and then explored this other side of the lake.

-I made it back to my room by about 8am and spent the rest of the day relaxing and preparing for my upcoming week. I am happy to finally be starting school here. I've realized that with the places I travel, I feel much more comfortable when I have a sense of purpose. I was starting to feel a little bit like that was lacking here, since I've spent the last two weeks free to roam and do my own thing..Not that I am complaining- it's been nice, but I think studying and being part of the university community will benefit me greatly!

My new set of wheels ;) 

Francesco, Jaana, myself & Teemu @ Popeye bar

琵琶湖 

Sunset <3

Painted sky

Rowin'

Night, falling.

Daybreak - the camera on my phone definitely didn't do this justice...

Sunrise

New findings 

I wish I knew the meaning of this statue with the bird & baby..beautiful.

Kyoto, Otsu, & Tings

So a little update on my last couple of days (including some pictures!)...my little crew (Jaana, Wiktor & Teemu) and I decided to go exploring in Kyoto on Monday. We took the train from here which was about a 20 minute ride and got off at Kyoto station... none of us had a map so we decided to start walking around aimlessly but because it was so hot we quickly agreed that we should go eat and make a plan for the day. We headed to a big mall called Yodobashi right by the station (it had like 6+ floors!) which had a selection of different restaurants. We wandered around to check out all of our options but settled on a ramen place which to my delight had a vegetarian option made from spirulina- the noodles were green. It was interesting because the server doesn't take your order but instead you order from a machine similar to a vending machine where you press a button with your choice of meal and then you get a ticket for it. So you pay before you eat and can just leave after (apparently tipping doesn't really exist in Japan and is actually seen as an insult in many cases) Once you are seated you just give the ticket to your server and then they prepare the meal. My veggie ramen was pretty tasty, maybe a little bland but I fixed that by putting a bunch of seasoning/spices in it... & honestly, I will take the bland option any day if it means a little peace of mind while I am eating. We were lucky enough to get some veggie gyoza as well...those were super delicious! 

My veggie Ramen ;)

Lunch!

After lunch we decided to head in the direction of the river because the rest of the group had some idea where to go from there. The river was beautiful and I felt really happy as we were walking along it. It was one of my favorite times of day, late afternoon when the sun is starting to lower in the sky. It was still super hot in the sun but in the shaded areas, I couldn't have been more content.

Strollin'

Beauty by the Kamo River

We eventually reached a more central part of Kyoto, I don't know if it is considered downtown or not, but it was quite lively and there were tons of tourists/foreigners so we weren't stared at as much as we are in Otsu lol. On the way we walked through some cute little streets / almost like alleyways with restaurants and bars (most of which backed out onto the river - I'd definitely love to go back sometime). We then went and explored some more shops in 2 different malls which were sort of like covered streets with a ton of shops. Eventually we stopped for a drink and relaxed. It was a busy day with alot of walking but it was nice to see Kyoto since I hadn't yet. Getting home was somewhat of a task as the train system here is super confusing if you dont speak or understand Japanese. But we managed to make it with the help of some friendly Japanese people who assisted us in ensuring we got on the right train. By the time we finally made it home I was exhausted and basically went straight to bed :)

Shopping Mall

On Tuesday, the crew went to our favorite sushi restaurant... I am thinking it might be our spot throughout the semester haha. After we finished our delicious meal we went to a mall in Otsu. It has a grocery store on the bottom level and I was so happy because this particular store had much more variety (especially for produce) compared to the other grocery story I went to on my first day here. I was able to buy so much more. I feel like the vegetarian situation is looking up a little bit. Undoubtedly, it is going to be hard but I am feeling more optimistic and not as discouraged. I think it will just be a learning curve and take time to figure out. All part of the adventure ;)

Today will probably be a relaxing day. I am quite tired for some reason, even though I had a good night sleep last night (I slept in until 7AM yay!) I think we might just go explore the lake in Otsu (Lake Biwa, which is the biggest fresh water lake in all of Japan). I love being by water so I am excited to see it. Hopefully I will have some more pictures to post soon <3