Hahahaha

Knows me too well. I'll try and write as much as I can about each portion of the trip and MAYBE Alex will fill in extra details.

Actually, I feel like it would be more fair if we switched off, like I wrote about Hakone and he DESA, etc. But whatever ;)

Anyway Saturday morning we all met up at Doshisha's side gate. After a lot of waiting around, we finally boarded the bus and were off. It was a pretty long drive and I had a lot on my mind so I didn't end up napping as planned. I went and played tennis with 7 of the DESA members and I really enjoyed it. I was freezing for a little while but after you start running, it's fine. After an hour or so we went to the lodge and met up with everyone else. Dinner was this massive yaku (?) niku event. They split each table up to have some first years, some second years, and some foreign students. I felt bad cause they basically cooked everything and I just ate ^^;;; Useless ... And after our two hour dinner ... onsen. SO. We got changed and brought our towels and soap, etc. We got there. Little did I know we were supposed to have not one but TWO towels. One is more of a washcloth, but whatever. I did have a small face towel so I brought that. BUT that is not enough!!! It took Maki a long time to convince Yoon-sun (who had both towels even!!!) and I (who did not!!!) to come out into the open. I mean I had accepted the fact that I would be bathing naked. It took awhile to accept the walking around to get from the changing rooms to the baths naked -__- But we did. And it was wonderful. No, Michael and Alex, there was no comparing -_- And the outdoor bath was nice but it was really just like a glorified hot tub. Literally.

Upon returning, the nomikai pretty much started. Japanese parties are so weird o___O They had 3 long tables filled with snacks and we all sat there eating them and sipping at our wine coolers. Then at the leaders table they started chugging and cheering people on. Eventually the ranks broke and we were free to mingle with other tables. I spent the night dancing in a little side of the room with like 6 other people, playing ping pong, and taking a night hike. It was also this night that my dying voice peaked and by the time we were sitting around on the futons chatting, I was rendered nearly voiceless. I think, besides the one drunk guy, I was the first to bed :D

Everyone else was going to Arashiyama but we were headed to ... Hakone! Bus rides, train rides, meeting up with Ly and Christine, train rides, bus rides ... finally we made it! Our ryokan was very cute and I don't think we ended up leaving it once from the time we got there. Everyone was very welcoming and kind too. They dressed us up in yukatas and fed us tea. Aaand then we onsen-ed. Good times. This place's outdoor one was a sulfur bath. So we all smelled delightful afterwards, to be sure. And we could hear the guys just on the other side of the bamboo wall. Dinner was pretty crazy. Soo much food!! Good wine, even if a bit corky ;D Also this was the first time we really began appreciating my wacked up voice and they made me say things really seductively. It seems you can make anything sound seductive o_o.

After dinner, we decided to move the guys' futons into our room and had a huge massive sleepover. It was very inappropriate for the proper little ryokan but we all had a great time. And John looked like a yakuza boss the whole time.

The next morning consisted of breakfast and packing up. And Ly and I snuck another onsening in there. We took a ferry across Lake Ashi and found our cabin, which was very sixth grade science-campy :) We had lunch, went paddling in swan boats, and went up a mountain in a sky trolley thing. Then Michael and Christine decided they wanted to HIKE down the mountain. A few hours later they texted us telling us if they weren't back by midnight to call the cops. -_- A bunch of us onsen-ed but it wasn't nearly as nice as the ryokan one, especially since there was a building with a prime view of the ladies' outdoor bath. We bought dinner at a conbini and then tried some of the assorted alcohol. GIANT SPIDERS! Ly and Yoon-sun killed them. Eventually. Several hours later Alex threw them out. John was the only one who winded up sleeping in that room and in the morning he had welts of bites on his legs. o_o Finally Michael and Christine made it back. Ridiculous. In the morning Ly and I onsen-ed AGAIN :D and we packed and left.

We found our hostel in Tokyo with relative ease and were able to leave our luggage there. Had the most amazing curry for lunch eeever. We returned 2 more times (bear in mind we were in Tokyo for all of 2 days). So we explored Harajuku and tried to go to Roppongi for dinner and clubbing but so much fell through that it ended up being just me, Alex, and Ly wandering around Roppongi Hills. We found a club that had ladies' night and good music coming from it, so went it. For a long time we were the only ones but eventually others in our group made it ... just as Alex and I had to leave to catch the last train home and make it in before curfew. Oh, we also karaoked the first night there. And explored Akihabara. (Can you tell I'm losing interest in writing this?) Shinkansen to Sendai. The next day we went to Matsushima and explored the islands and whatnot. The next day we left for Tokyo early in the morning, stored our luggage in coin lockers (hahah) and explored Akihabara even more. Ly and I did a maid cafe which was very tame compared to stories I had heard and concocted in my mind. I'm a little obsessed with them right now. I know this feeling well. Once I finish my paper though, I'll be free :)

Aaand we came back to Kyoto late late at night, bussed home. And that brings us to today! All in all, a splendid Golden Week. Unfortunately my voice is still off (I had forgotten about it but my host mom mentioned it) and I'm starting to wonder if it'll EVER be back to normal -_-