The night before we enter each port, we have a pre-port meeting to learn some culture, history, and bits of the language. It was so so much fun. One of our professors has lived in Japan for 19 years and he had us all dancing learning how to say hello, good morning, good evening, and goodnight. For all of those curious:
Konnichiwa = hello
Ohayo (pronounced like Ohio) = good morning
Konbanwa = good evening
Oyasumi = good night
We also learned a phrase that I think is the most important thing to learn in every language—Sorry/excuse me (Sumimasen).
These pre-port meetings make me SO EXCITED to finally get into the country!
Another thing that's been so sweet has been my ship family. We are assigned to families on the ship and mine always leave me notes telling me they hope I have a good time in country and they're just so adorable I love them. I love Semester at Sea.
The first day we came into Kobe was cold and awesome. You never really realize how much you love land until you haven't seen it in twelve days. And after twelve straight days of class, we were ready for a break, too. After we finished customs and immigration (and got our first new passport stamps!), my friends and I decided to lay low and walk around the city. We got rolled ice cream (because it's never too cold for ice cream) and toured the History of Kobe museum. We learned about how since Kobe had a port it was able to grow into a prosperous city. Twelve miles later and several hours later, we made it back to the ship to meet up with our friends who had field classes.
We also spent a big chunk of our day in Chinatown. While in Chinatown, we learned we were no longer going to go to China due to the Coronavirus and instead going to Vietnam for a whole extra week! So, naturally, we ate our weight in steamed buns and lots of Chinese sweets to make up for the fact we were no longer going to visit. It was so beautiful at night. They had all of the lights strung around the buildings to celebrate Chinese New Year. Even though we won't be able to go to China, it still felt like we got our own special little corner of it.
The next morning we got up really early to take the train to Kyoto. We visited the bamboo forest, which the Ministry of Environment says is the "soundscape of Japan." It was such a serene place. I love how quiet Japan is everywhere. We also went to the Golden Pavilion. It's a gorgeous Zen temple that's over 600 years old. Afterward we hung out in the little marketplace and ate Indian food for lunch (we've formed a habit of eating food not from the country we're in). That evening we got on the Shinkansen (bullet train) to head to Tokyo! This train goes about 130mph and got us to Tokyo in just a couple hours! We got into our airbnb and are so excited for the rest of this adventure!
I loved both Kobe and Kyoto. If I were to go back to Japan, I would definitely spend more time in both of these places.
Pictured below: my group at the Bamboo Forest, my friend Sean and I on the ship by the Welcome to Kobe sign, and my group at the Golden Pavilion
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