field trip! part 1

2/15/10 room, post breakfast - I didn’t have a chance to write an entry last night so I will write up until I have to leave this morning.

Yesterday I got up at 6:20. It was the day of the IES field trip to Iga. IES is the program through which I am studying abroad and we have trips we go on throughout the semester.

Just as I was leaving the house my host mom said I had mail and handed me a red envelope postmarked from the US. It was a Valentine’s Day card from my parents. I was so surprised; I hadn’t been expecting anything. It arrived ON VALENTINE’S DAY!! What timing! :D It was so sweet of them.

I got to Nagoya train station and wandered around looking for the Daiichi Fuji Hotel. We were all meeting there and it was the same hotel where we were taken after arriving in Nagoya on the 5^th of January. Actually I was looking for the correct exit to leave the station from.

I ran into Leigh who was looking for it too. Then we came upon Erin who was also searching. Finally we found the correct exit to take out of the station. It is a huge station.

We met up with Tsukamoto Satoshi Sensei and Kanede san, his assistant, 10 minutes early. Satoshi Sensei gave me my reimbursement for my commute (SWEET!). The bus ride to Iga was long. I did homework and slept (I am still a little sick.) Half way we stopped at a rest stop and I purchased a small matcha bun, which was yummy. :d

After two and a half hours we arrived at Mokumoku Farm. We did lots of cool things. We looked at the farm animals and the scenery and such. We went to the strawberry greenhouse and ate / picked strawberries. :d (You were totally allowed and encouraged to eat them.) The strawberry plant is really cool by the way. I intend to do research on it at my next convenience…

Then we ate at the bbq restaurant they had there. (I seemed to be the only one who found it unsettling that they had a bbq place on the farm where all the show animals were…) :o The Japanese style bbq was really good but my whole table didn’t get enough to eat. I ordered milk to drink!! I know it was fresh too!! I wanted to purchase some goat’s milk at one of the gift shops but it was a bit pricy. Lunch was on IES, which was nice.

Well that’s all for now. To be continued… (7:26)