Quick Update!

I apologize for being behind again and unfortunately I don't have time to catch up soon! I had a great last week with my boyfriend -- we had a jam-packed itinerary and I felt like I was on vacation as opposed to in the middle of the semester, but now it's back to reality. My finals start this week and next... I have a big group paper due on Wednesday that we've made good progress on but still has a long way to go. 

Some highlights from last week: we went to the top of Tokyo Tower at night and had a beautiful view, made sushi with CIEE on Wednesday, went on a rickshaw tour of Asakusa on Thursday,  went to Kamakura on Friday and saw a beautiful temple and a giant buddha statue, and then this weekend we went to Nagano and Matsumoto. In Nagano we went to Zenkoji, a famous Buddhist temple, and happened to see the governor of the Nagano prefecture! We were really lucky to be walking around with a volunteer tour guide so she pointed us out to him. Then, Saturday night we went to a really nice ryokan (traditional Japanese inn), Kelvin got to try the onsen, and then on Sunday we went to Matsumoto Castle before coming back to Tokyo to have dinner with my homestay family~ It was a great week but I'm completely exhausted.

Daibutsu (Great Buddha) in Kamakura

It's really hot in Tokyo and unfortunately it's going to stay this way. There's more air conditioning than I thought there would be, but everyone is still concentrating on conserving electricity. It's going to be a hot summer, but I can't believe that I go home in about four weeks... this semester has flown by. I'll post more pictures and details soon!