“WOKE UP, GOT OUT OF BED, AND REALIZED WE HAD JETLAG”

Today felt an awful lot like one of those daylong trips to Niagara Falls, the local museum, or the zoo that so many of us took as 6th graders. The day was full of riding around in a bus, getting on and off countless times, taking guided tours, and being surrounded by hundreds of people at each visit. The main difference was that instead of water, artifacts, and exotic animals, we saw temples, palaces, and shrines. You may find this interesting and/or hilarious, but typically, there are just as many Asians snapping photos and taking video of the landmarks as there are at... let’s say... Niagara Falls? Or Disney World? Try and keep in mind though, that these historic landmarks date back to the 8th century. That’s roughly 700 years before the America was even discovered by the Europeans, which is over three times the duration that the United States has been a sovereign nation! Most of our oldest buildings date back to the 18th century, I think. The point is, while standing in front or inside of these sanctuaries that were constructed from tree bark and ceramic, which were home to very powerful shoguns, emperors, and Buddhist leaders and were able to survive tons of earthquakes due to various ingenious foundation designs, one cannot help but feel awestruck and maybe even a little envious of another population and its history. Now, I’ve never been to Rome, or Pompeii, the lost city of Atlantis or anything else quite as remarkable, but from what I understand, we may be experiencing a similar reaction. By the way, has anyone been to Atlantis? I bet it’s sweet.

When we arrived back the hotel, exhausted, sweaty, and more informed. Also, we were starving! Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, we were to eat a traditional Japanese 21 course feast of delicacies. Sure, as cultured, open-minded graduate students, we were thrilled to experience a meal that was commonly prepared for emperors and the like, but as hungry hamburger-loving Americans, we may as well have been contestants on fear factor or survivor! Speaking personally, I must congratulate myself on trying each and every dish at least once. To give you some examples, dishes ranged from charred tadpoles, raw eel, uncooked suction cup laden tentacles, some type of brownish greenish sashimi (what yinz call sushi) that crumbled and slimed all over your tongue and tasted like nothing mixed with garbage, and lastly, you know when you bite into a piece of chicken and you hit a piece of fatty membrane that instantly triggers your gag reflex, effectively making you temporarily regret you were alive? ... well yeah, some of that too. All in all though, it was a wonderful experience that could not be repeated outside of Japan. We will certainly never forget it. Did I mention there was Ashai beer and plenty of warm Sake to go around? Kan’ pai!

This section is for those of you over 21, okay? Before, during, and after our questionably delicious dinner, some to most of the group decided to partake in a little to a lot of wonderful, and most certainly deserved alcoholic beverages. Even some of the “chaperones” joined in on the fun, but shhh, don’t tell our Dean! Anyway, after dinner, the majority of the group walked aimlessly through Kyoto in search of a fully stocked bar. Apparently, the section of town we were staying in was nothing like Pittsburgh’s South Side. However, we found a very quaint bar/restaurant that served us some beer and plum wine (for the ladies). Some fellow group members and myself spotted some ladies and decided to test out our “excellent” Japanese language skills and to use the latest word we learned, Kirei, which means beautiful. Needless to say, we went home rejected and alone that night... KIDDING! Seriously though, we mingled with a group of Japanese peers for over an hour, learned how to play “rock, paper, scissors (jyankenpon – gu, cyoki, pa),” as well as many other phrases. I also met a fellow skateboarder and so then as a sign of acceptance, we had to high five! So many stories, so little time to convey them all to you. Sorry, but I think you understand.

Next Blog = THE MOST AMAZING DAY OF MY LIFE!

P.S. Some of us had some Absinth, but failed to experience the trippy results... oh well, it still tasted good!