The weekend began with an opening ceremony in which we were forced to stand in front of several prestigious members of the Hikone community and introduce ourselves in what measly Japanese we could muster. Name, major, school and hobby we'd done it all before and all that after sitting through the warmest and longest speeches ever given. Afterwards though at the reception we were shown a slide show from a pottery artisan that we are to be visiting on our very first group field trip. We were also given a chance to try our hand at the pottery in which I was told that I was quite skilled and had very soft hands and made a pretty little rice bowl. The where abouts of this bowl are unknown as I'm unsure as to what he was planning to do with the things we made afterwards but I suppose I will have to find out on our visit to his shop and the local ninja house nearby.
It was after a delicious shrimp dinner in which the real fun began. A few drinks with friends and we were off on our bikes to find Japan's infamous past time... karaoke. We stopped by an extremely chill bar first for some of those in the group who hadn't brought a drink along with them (as the karaoke places in Hikone don't serve alcohol , just soda) and after a few rounds it was off to two hours worth of singing our hearts and lungs out at the karaoke place next to the train station. After we'd gotten back it was a free for all in our room in which several others from the dorms decided to hang out with us until 4 in the morning.
Saturday everyone met up for a group picnic with some local Japanese friends on the beach. We played a few rounds of ultimate Frisbee, ate to our stomach's content and then swam for a little before the sun began to set and it was time to return to the dormitories. Off to bed early as we awoke early the next morning only to start out on what would turn into a 40 mile bike ride to the northern side of the lake. I soon learned that 40 miles of road, added with a one speed Japanese bike, makes for an intense work out as well as a literal pain in the ass. If I'd thought our 3 hour tour of Hikone was bad, that was just a drop in the bucket compared to what we experienced on Sunday. But along the way of our trip we were able to see so many things that we'd never had the chance to see had we stayed in that day. In the beginning we stumbled across a large statue of Buddha as well as a zen garden decorated with other statues and what looked to be a temple of sorts. The only thing missing were the monks, but it was a surprisingly large piece of serenity in an outer city.
After that we made several stops along the way until we found a secluded spot of beach where we took a refreshing swim in the lake to wash away some of that days sweat. By that time we'd been on the road for several hours and everyone agreed it was time to head back the 20 some odd miles to home. We stopped and ate a delicious meal at what I would guess was Japan's idea of a rest stop and then made it home. Dragging my tired body up the stairs I took a refreshingly cold shower and curled up in bed to finish some homework and prepare for the strenuous week of classes ahead...
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