Last Sunday, my international student friend from America and I went hiking together up a local mountain named Adachiyama. The peak reached 545 meters (about 1788 feet) above sea level, and we had a beautiful view of the ocean from the top. It was so nice, we returned the next Saturday with 6 other friends. In the morning, we took a train to the mountain's base and completed the trip in 6 hours. It was difficult for some of us, but we enjoyed the lunches we brought from the nearest 7/11 convenience store and admired the views together. It's always amazing spending time with other students here who otherwise might feel lonely at times while in Japan.
Before we take our placement Japanese tests at the beginning of next semester, I have been studying Japanese from the Genki Japanese Grammar Textbook. On the side, I've been reading a book called Siddhartha by Herman Hesse, especially on long train rides.
On Saturday, I had a fun time with my international student friends. We gathered at one of their apartments to play their copy of the Skylanders video game on a Japanese Nintendo Wii they purchased at the beginning of the year.
This week I turned 23 on the 30th! It's very strange knowing I turned this age in Japan.
