Day 13

Today we took the day off school to visit Osaka castle. We met at school at 8:30am to board the bus. Chelsea Mullens had the day off to so she could come along. The bus trip took around an hour. Some people talked the whole way, while others slept. Almost everyone who chose to sleep was in danger of having their photo taken by Mr. Rankin.
We arrived in Osaka half an hour before our ferry ride, so we had some time to relax, eat or get some money from the ATM if we had run out. After that we boarded the ferry and took a trip up the river and back. There apparantly carp in the river that were over 1m long. But no matter how hard I looked, I did not see any. The ferry was a nice cool way to do some sight-seeing, as it was a really hot day.
After we hopped off the ferry, we walked through a beautiful park to find a shady spot to eat lunch. Even in the shade it was hot. Most people bought cold drinks and ice-cream before heading to the castle.
The five storied castle, with its gold towers was very beautiful and was surrounded by a huge moat. When we entered the castle, we were able to look around on our own. The top story gave a magnificant view of the city and there was also a nice breeze up there.
To get back to the ground floor, we had to use the stairs, and there 200 (I counted).
When we left the castle, primary school students who were on an excursion were waving to us. So a few of us gave them some koala toys. They immediately started jumping around and so we took some photos with them to make them even happier.
At about 2pm we got back on the bus to meet our host brothers or sisters at school. When we arrived back we split up into different things. Some people went to club activities or to their homes.
Myself and a few other people went to a shopping mall to get photos taken in the photo booths. It was so much fun. But of course the boys all got hungry so we left the photo booths to go and eat tea at the food court. We talked, laughed and ate until about 7:30pm when we walked back to the train station to go home. I was extremely tired when I got home so after a bit of time with my host family I climbed into bed in Japan for the second last time!

By: Cate Rushan