We made it to Japan!!
Officially in Week 19!! Final homestretch as we only have a week left of study abroad once we return to
Korea :(
After finishing up our finals which was honestly not as bad as I thought, we immediately hopped on a plane to Tokyo! To start off, my finals consisted of 5 final papers and one in person test. I made sure to get the papers done first before I started studying as I wanted to be fully focused on studying. Once everything was over, I felt satisfied with my work and will be receiving my final grades on July 1st. Continuing on, we caught another late flight to Tokyo but not as late as our Singapore flight as some restaurants were still open by the time we got to the airport. This time around, we each bought a large suitcase as we knew we would do a lot of shopping. It was also exciting because it was the first time Kylie and Christina have ever visited Tokyo.
The plane ride was a short two hours and we decided to take a cab to Itabashi City where our Airbnb was. Once we got there, Christina, Jamie, and I rock, paper, scissors, to decide who will be getting their own bed and unfortunately, Christina and I ended up sharing the bed haha. This trip was the longest we've all taken during the entire study abroad since finals were over consisting of 6 days. On our first day, we hung out with our friends Aiden and Ocean who had previously visited us in Korea a few months ago and met up in Shibuya. There, we explored the area and tried to grab some food but all of the restaurants were packed so we ended up in a McDonald's catching up for a few hours before we all took the train to the airbnb.
The second day, we met up with Ocean and Aiden again and wandered around Shinjuku where we did some shopping and sightseeing. Although I have visited Tokyo before, I had completely forgotten about how confusing the railway system is there. In Korea, there are different Lines and Line numbers that you take to get to certain parts of the country whereas in Japan, you must find the specific platform and where exactly on the platform to stand. For dinner, we ate yakitori with Christina's friends from high school that were visiting Japan at the same time as us. After eating, we all paid a visit to the big Don Quixote and came out with five big bags worth of cosmetics, snacks, keychains, pain relief patches, face masks, hair masks, etc... Luckily, we were able to catch the last train out of Shabuya and arrived back to the airbnb safely but with sore hands as the bags were extremely heavy.
On the third day, the four of us booked a guided tour around different tourist attractions in Japan. We visited different shrines, gardens, got to try high quality fruit such as huge fuji apples, and we were supposed to get a good view of Mt Fuji but it was quite cloudy so we ended up skipping that part. Overall, the tour was fun and we got to see landmarks I had never visited during my prior trips to Japan.
The last few days consisted of TOKYO DISNEY!!! We checked out of our airbnb the day after and lugged our heavy suitcases to the Tokyo Disney Resort Where we stayed for two days. The room itself was magical as it had Disney themed patterns all over the room and we were each able to have our own beds.
On our first day of Tokyo Disney, we went to Toskyo Disneyland! There, we bought our headbands and went around the park. Surprisingly the lines had short wait times in comparison to Disneyland California where you normally wait hours for one ride. We got to go to Beauty and the Beast which was so mesmerizing, It's A Small World, Snow White, Star Tours, and Baymax. It was a fun filled day so once we got back we all were exhausted and called it an early night.
The last two days we spent at Tokyo Disney Sea! This side of the park was so crowded as it is the only Disney Sea in the world. We met up with Ocean, Aiden, and Saya on the third day and we rode so many rides. Unfortunately, the third day would have to have been the hottest day but we were able to cool off once the sun set. Saying goodbye was kind of sad as Ocean and Aiden will be returning to Hawaii in August so it will be a while until we see them again. Nevertheless, we grabbed some dinner and headed straight for the airport as our flight was at 2 AM.
