Yesterday was my last full day in Osaka. 😦 I’m sad to go, because I’ve enjoyed it so much!! Not just being in Osaka, but getting to spend some quality time with Yukiko. Yesterday, she mentioned how natural it was having me here, being roommates… Maybe I should just move here and we can live together. Haha… Where wouldn’t I move if I could just move all of my close friends with me? Gosh. Anyway… we decided it was a must to visit Osaka Castle before I left. Here’s the view from the Castle Gardens. It was really cool… I love Japanese architecture and landscape, so I really enjoyed it.

It was a beautiful day! It’s the rainy season here, so it’s been cloudy and rainy every day except for yesterday when we hiked up to the waterfall, and then today. So that was a pleasant surprise! It’s never a win-win though… If it’s rainy, it’s a LOT more humid (like 3 or 4 times worse than Houston), but it’s not as hot. Maybe in the low 80s. BUT, if it’s not a rainy day… It feels like… say… Louisiana in the summer. So, gross either way.

Now, you also get to go inside the castle and you can go up to the top balcony. You can see all of Osaka around the castle. I’m so glad it was a nice sunny day so we could see so much! The only thing is that, I was maybe wearing heels. I know, that sounds crazy. Me? Wearing heels? I know. It’s can’t be true. But you see, I’ve been trying to be as ‘Japanese’ as possible, and people wear heels a lot. I mean, I realize I stand out regardless, but still… it’s the concept… embracing culture or something… I actually didn’t pack any heels myself, but the great thing is, most Japanese are small, like me, so I can fit into Yukiko’s shoes!! So fun, because that never happens for me!

After the castle, Yukiko had class (universities here have different semesters than us), so she took me to her campus of Osaka University. I hung out in the cafeteria while she had class. I bought some Japanese snacks… not bad not bad.

For dinner, we ate Ramen Noodles… Ok, so everyone could probably guess that we got Ramen from around these parts, but I didn’t realize how big of a deal it is here… They have entire Ramen restaurants! What?! That’s so funny to me.

Oh… and… when you eat noodles here in Japan. It’s ok, and even good and polite to make loud slurping sounds as you suck the noodles up from the chopsticks. But I still haven’t figured out how to eat them without splattering soup juice all over my face 😛

Also, the Japan vs. Paraguay World Cup game was last night… We tried to find if there were any bars or anything in the area that would be showing the game, but were unsuccessful. So, we just watched it at home. I fell asleep at the end of the 2nd normal half, and woke up at the end of the shoot out, when Paraguay won 😦 In all honestly, Paraguay deserved to win – they were clearly the better team, but I don’t like them. (No offense if you’re from Paraguay).

So, that was my last full day in Osaka. Today I fly to Okinawa to meet my cousins that are in the airforce there. I’m excited to see them and also Okinawa. Okinawan culture is somewhat different from the mainland, I hear. So that’ll be cool.