Burst High Up In the Sky, Vanish Out With the Smoke

Like 花火, you all. 

Well, we've come to the end. I'm currently sitting and waiting on my first flight back to the US, where I'll have a layover out in LA before landing in Chicago that night.
Thank you all for reading. I'll have one more post next week to let you know how I've acclimated back into the States and all. We'll see how things go.

じゃ、終わってきました。今、私の飛行機に待っていて、LAで乗り換えがあって、この夜、シカゴで着きます。
皆さん、このブロッグを読んで下されてありがとうございます。来週(の月曜日)、アメリカで私がどうしているについて、最後のブロッグを書くつもりです。順のして頑張ります、私。

I'll have to keep this kind of short, though, I think, since my plane should be boarding in about an hour.
So let's see!
We'll skip over packing up and leaving the dormitory. It was just that, and that was quite boring. And difficult, since I was still kind of sick. 

I did manage to travel, for which I was grateful! I skipped out on Nara--I had initially thought I would go, but there just was not enough time. Skipped out for 大阪城, which was only a short walk away from my first hotel room, so I was able to manage to get there without spending a dime. Or a yen, in the Japanese case.
But I did spend a few days in Kansai, mostly in Osaka and Kyoto. 
The night buses aren't so bad, contrary to what everyone told me before--as long as you can fall asleep, the time passes by really quickly. Walking to find my bus stop was a little tedious, and had I not asked for directions, I would have never been able to find it. However, I stopped at the nearby police station and asked where to go, and then proceeded to head out to find the place.
It wasn't too bad, once I knew where I was supposed to go. I found the station, and then went to go find some dinner. I find that I am absolutely terrible at feeding myself when I am without company or a kitchen to cook for myself. Got my food, and then went back and froze at the bus stop, eating and trying to be patient. 

It eventually got there, though, and I was off to Osaka. 
I arrived at around eight in the morning. 

 I want to upload pictures, but I cannot just yet--the internet is too slow in the airport, you see.
So I'll upload them next week.

At Osaka, I headed off to find my hotel, which was further away from the train station than I had initially thought. 

A police officer explained how to get there, though, so I found the subway station I was directed to and eventually reached where I was supposed to.
I dropped my bag off, and since I couldn't check in yet [although I desperately wanted a bath], I decided to go see the aquarium in Osaka that I mentioned before.
It was hard to find from my hotel room, but since I asked a lot of people for directions, I got to where I was going. 
And it was so worth it, even the charge to get inside. It was 2,000 yen, but the aquarium is beautiful and I loved it. 
They have a whale shark and other huge marine animals, and just... It was incredible.

After I killed a few hours there, I went to ride the ferris wheel right near the aquarium--it was overcast and so I couldn't see too far into the horizon, but the view of the city was still lovely. 
I checked into the hotel and stayed there after that, though. I had slept a little bit on the bus, but I was still worn out and not inclined to move after I got my shower.

The next day, I headed to the shower and managed to finally get a hot meal. Because, as I said before, I have trouble remembering or caring enough to feed myself when travelling alone or living without a kitchen. I ate near the castle, and after that, I went into the castle museum, which was spectacular.
I couldn't take pictures of all of it, but I did take some pictures and will show you all as soon as I can.

I spent the day in the castle park, and headed back to the hotel at about lunch time.

The next day, the friend that I was waiting on arrived, and after some technical difficulties of finding each other, we finally met up and began the part of the trip that I was most looking forward to. She had asked a friend to help give us something of a tour around Osaka, we did silly things together, and just generally goofed off for the day.

And then the next day was Kyoto, which was positively brilliant. 
Went to a temple and two shrines, and though we didn't have time to see everything, I did love what I saw.

The next day I headed back up to Tokyo and spent the night with a friend.
Left Tokyo at around noon via the Narita Express--if you take the train instead of the bus, you'll save about 500~600 yen. 
Got checked in and got my boarding pass, and here we sit. 

Now that you're up to speed, I'll let you go.
I'll try to make a post some time in the middle of the week before next Wednesday of just pictures, but if I can't, check next Wednesday.
Wish me luck, guys!

-RD