姫路城と四国

This Thursday and Friday all of the exchange students in the KUINEP program went on a field trip to Himeji Castle and Shikoku Island. It was a really fun trip. First stop was Himeji Castle which is absolutely massive. It's about 90 meters from bottom to top and while that may not seem that high by modern standards, the whole thing was done 500 years ago, all in wood, by hand. That night we got to stay in a traditional ryokan that had an artificial onsen on the roof. It was really cool, but a bit weird being waited on hand and foot. Also yukata and futons are sooooo comfortable. It's crazy how good the sleep was that night. The next morning we visted the Konpira Shrine which is built into a mountain and is 1368 steps from the bottom to top. After this the final stop was the Nakano Udon School where we learned how to make udon noodles. The area we were in is famous for it's udon noodles and after eating lunch at the school it's easy to see why. The noodles were great and so easy to make. Afterwards we got a nice graduation certificate scroll which is currently hanging up on my wall. All in all a very enjoyable field trip.