-Lyrics of some sort go here-

I can't think of much today. For that matter, I can barely think today. Welcome to finals, I suppose.
I'm really happy that I've decided to stay here until February--it's really hard to imagine being about to leave right now. With the ties that I'll have made by February, it'll be that much harder, I'm sure, but even so. It's at least delayed for another few months.


...
Well that was depressing to think about. 
Let me put something happy here to shift focus.

Mm. That mouthfeel.

All right. Now that a humourous beginning has been indeed created, let's start off with the week's recap~

I wrote stuff down again so that I'd remember. Really, I should have thought to do this weeks ago. Sorry about that, my loves.

Thursday!
I went out and ate sushi with a friend of mine who paid for it, as I'd paid for her dinner several months ago. Somehow, she had remembered, so I didn't argue. At the moment, though, because I'm going to have to pay next month's rent, it was very conveniently timed. We met up in my room, since I'd gotten out of classes before she did and just did not feel like hanging around on campus. After sushi, we went back to my room and did some general hanging out. There was some shaved ice and doodling together involved, as well as a pleasant music swap. I love music swaps.

At about ten or so that night, she retired back to her room, and I got ready to go to bed. 

Friday my week caught up with me, and from stress and general lack of enough sleep, I was exhausted. Nevertheless, I struggled through my classes, even taking a friend of mine between my break to go and buy herself a yukata at the second-hand store. She found and bought an entire set for about 1500, which was the same price of mine. Upon closer inspection, they also sell honest-to-goodness kimonos for about 3,000-4,000 yen, which I'm pretty sure is pretty fantastic for such a formal piece. 

After classes, I slept, and at about 8:30, I went up to a friend's room and hung out and played Mario Kart with them until about midnight or so. 

Saturday, oh Saturday. I had a fabulous weekend, really.

Saturday was my trip to Studio Ghibli's museum! I had to wake up a little early in order to be able to get myself dressed and ready on time, but before I knew it, I was on my way with seven other people to Mitaka, the area that the museum is. 

Here's a map.

We got on the bus headed to the museum and after about ten minutes, arrived at our destination, where my friends distributed the tickets they had been holding on to for each of us.

Rainbow!

And then...

Well, then I looked up.

Keep in mind, I'm a huge fan of Miyazaki's works, so I was thoroughly amazed. 

My first sight was the robot from Castle in the Sky? I loved that robot.

It felt like, besides the tarps to keep the workers in the shade, I had been transported into some Ghibli wonderland.

I suppose that's supposed to be how it feels.

So they did a fabulous job of it.

Couldn't take photos on the inside, but I did take more from the outside.

The inside, too, was fabulous. Three stories of movie storyboards, film reels, some interactive things, beautiful architecture, a gift-shop, book-store, and just... Everything. It was a perfect combination of things to be appealing both to children and adults and, although I'm sure I would have liked it even if it was more strictly aimed at children, I enjoyed it all the more for its catering to both.

The third story had the gift-shop and book-store. I bought myself a phone charm--the cat bus from Totoro, a small pin of Howl from Howl's Moving Castle, and, since I doubt I'll be able to go again before I leave, I also bought a book of the entire storyboard of Howl's Moving Castle, as it's been one of my favourite Ghibli movies so far. Bought a small gift for a family member, as well. 

The third story also had the exit that lead up to the outside level that was seemingly based off of Castle in the Sky--

This was the staircase leading up to it--the birdcage-looking structure in the first picture.

Walking along a path~  

It was quite humid that day.

The stone block based off of the instruction stone in Castle in the Sky.

Awwwhhh! The robot, which these guys were one of the best features of the film. 

I took a photo with it, which I would show you all, but I'd much rather my readers who don't know what I look like to continue imagining me the way they are. I'd hate to disappoint. Haha.

The view from the rooftop.

After Ghibli, we went out to get some late lunch and headed back home afterwards. I retired to my room and was seen for no longer that day.

Sunday was relatively cheap, all things considered, and a wonderful time. I met up and went on a Japan adventure with a friend of mine who I hadn't had much opportunity to hang out with before. We went to a place in Kanagawa Prefecture called Aikawa, which legitimately means "Beloved River," and may I say that the river was positively beautiful and very obviously beloved. 

Aikawa is about a 2 hour walk, 35 minute bus ride from where I live. My friend and I walked about 3/4ths of the route on the way there and rode the bus back, so I discovered both of these on the same day.  The reason it takes so long to get there by foot is because it's up in the mountains, so the walk is a little bit difficult. It was well worth it, though! Not only is the scenery positively beautiful, up in the mountains (I think I found where I wouldn't mind living in the future, haha), but the people were kind and friendly. I finally got some of the spontaneous "Hellos!" and friendly waves from vehicles I missed so much from my area of the US, and at one point, an older Japanese woman looked at my friend and I, grinned really big, and said "It must be great to be so tall, huh?" I was so charmed.

Here's some of the scenery, though, as well as a photo of my feet to show you just how clean and marvellous this river really was. They're pictures from my mobile phone, though. Sorry in advance for the poor quality of said photos--our trip was a little spontaneous.

Kind of going in backwards chronological order, head's up. This was the view that evening. 

LOOK AT THE SUNSET. I was amazed. 

I would officially love to live in the mountains now.

I had thought I would want to, before

but now I am absolutely certain that I love this idea.

Mid-calf deep in water and I can still clearly see my feet. 

I could still see them when I walked even deeper in, but I wanted to keep from dropping my phone or get it wet, so I put it away while I played for a while.

So blue.

This was one of the first views I saw, and I did fall quite in love with it. 

We got to the river at about four and stayed until about six, where I did a lot of sitting and relaxing (one of the first chances I've had to actually sit down and breathe since finals and the end of the semester really began) and my friend wandered around the bank of the river, picking up trash and enjoying the view. I'm sure he was relaxing, too. By the end of it, we both really wished we had brought swimsuits so that it would be all right to just jump completely in and have a blast, but it was still a lot of fun. Next time, though, I think I'm going swimming. 

He and I went to the actual town of Aikawa afterwards, and wandered around and explored a bit. I was only able to get one photo of decent quality, but I still enjoy it.

There was a festival going on that day, and I enjoyed the sign.

After wandering around, we found a Taiwanese restaurant and decided to eat dinner. I was happy we chose where we did, too, because it was really quite cheap, all things considered.

About 12 US dollars, for all of this. Normally, I would consider that expensive, but that bowl of ramen was absolutely monstrous, and there was so much other food to go with it. It was delicious, and well-worth the money.

We ate, caught the last bus back to Fuchinobe, and I came home and finished up a report I needed to write for Japanese class.

Monday was boring--You all certainly do not want to hear about me writing four short essays to finish half of my required work for one class all at once. All I have left now is to write a final essay, and that is simple enough.

Yesterday, too, was relatively boring, save the trip to the sushi bar I made with some friends after class. I had to prepare a presentation for today last night, so I was up until around 2AM, the slacker I am, working on that. It went well today, though, all things considered. There were some technical errors in the beginning, and I went last, so my time was cut a little short, but it went well, overall. 

Tomorrow I've got another test. Friday I have what I think is my last presentation. 

I've made it through today, though. I can handle the rest of this.

One more week until summer! I'm so ready. 

The biggest piece of advice I have at hand for all of you at the moment for saving money is find nearby places, or places that getting there, the walk is enjoyable, to visit and explore. Not only does it give you good exercise, but sometimes you can find amazing differences in lifestyle (in my case, city-life versus country-life), scenery, and, well, prices. Haha. I'll definitely be going back to Aikawa during the summer. It's cheap, convenient, and incredibly beautiful.

That's all I've got for now, though.

Hope you all have a fabulous week.
'Til next time!

-RD