お待たせしました～

I've kept you all waiting! Who's the biggest failure for not properly updating in... what... two weeks? Ridiculous. Let's update this all in one go!

Friday Oct 29th: First trip to Roppongi and EXTREME PANIC in Shinjuku!

So Friday was the first day of our fall break! I decided that it was high time to get me to the Tokyo Hard Rock Cafe in Roppongi and buy certain SOMEONES their gifts. But first, we decided to make a stop at Shinjuku. You see, that night (11:00PM in fact), we had plans to take a night bus (HARRY POTTER) to Shin-Osaka, where we would be spending our fall break staying in a youth hostel. So since it would be a hassle to go to Tokyo and then come back and get our stuff, only to have to go to Tokyo again, we decided to bring our stuff with us and store it in coin lockers inside Shinjuku station. The coin lockers we put our stuff in? Right across from a delicious looking Curry shop! Easy to remember, right?
So after leaving our stuff there, we headed to Roppongi's Hard Rock Cafe. Oh, and by 'we' I mean Ayako, Brenna, KC, and I. Emily and Marie were to meet us later in time to board the night bus. Have some pictures~!

Ayako and I in Hard Rock Cafe! It was her first time going to one.

Hmm... it doesn't look as appetizing as it was. It was quite good. With real guacamole! ♥

On the way out, we found a giant Sex Pistols poster. I had to get a picture with it. God Save the Queen!!

The building itself!
Afterwards we hung around a bit longer in Roppongi, then moved to Shibuya. We walked through the famous 109 mall there. Which I have mixed feelings about. I hate it, but I feel like I only hate it because I wish I could wear the sorts of clothes sold there without feeling uncomfortable. Oh well, the styles are too young for me anyway.
After walking around in the awful mall, we went to a little cafe for some rest! We'd been walking around Tokyo since about 1:00PM, and by that time it was around 8:00PM!
We had some sweets, etc at the cafe:

OH SO GOOD.

My caramel latte. It means... well, it means a lot to me. You'll know why later.

KC and her churros. Way to represent, KC! Well, represent half of me that is.

We stayed around chatting until about 10:00 when we got a call from Emily. She had arrived super early and was waiting in Shinjuku station. Apparently some drunk guy was also trying to take her picture. Naturally, we decided to head over right away.

We got to Shibuya station and while Ayako left to go home, we headed back to Shinjuku station. Upon exiting the train and walking around for a bit, we came to a realization; Shinjuku station is HUGE and we don't remember where we left our stuff. But, without panicking (yet), we call Ayako and ask if she remembers. She doesn't, and tells us to show the locker key to a station worker and ask them. So we did. "Is this even from Shinjuku?" We were told. We asked a different one. "I don't know where these lockers are, go ask over there." We asked a different one. Nothing. Another. Nothing. ...not okay station people! Just how much are you being paid to be this unhelpful? By this time it was around 10:30. Finally I remember that there was a curry restaurant right across from our coin lockers! So we asked the nearby attendant. "There's a curry restaurant just around that corner." He said. Yesssssss! So we power-walked our way around the corner. Nothing. Closed shutters. Another unhelpful station attendant!! Another call to Ayako, this time panicking. "Let me check something really quick, ok? I'll call you right back." She says.
By this time it's around 10:45. We come up to a place that looks promising; the Keio Line. I go up the one of the station workers and show him the key, asking where the lockers are located. He looks at the key and tells me the time for these lockers is already up. I look at the key. 6:00-22:30 is clearly written on it. I ask him if there's anything he can do, and he says no, that I'll have to wait until the next morning to get my things.
Now it's around 10:50 and I'm about to cry. I'm in full-on panic mode, because if we can't get our things, we can't get on the night bus and there would go 4600 yen from each of us. Not to mention, how would we get to Shin-Osaka? Shell out another 10200 yen (~$130) for a Shinkansen ticket? No thank you!!! In her panic mode, KC suggests that we go on ahead and try to get on the night bus, and that she'll wait around until the next morning and get our stuff and then get on a Shinkansen and meet us there. By this time, the hobos in the station already had their "beds" made up. The trains stop running at 24:00. It was almost 23:00. She wouldn't have been able to make it back to her host family's in time. I told her that her idea was ridiculous, and she agreed.
Finally Ayako calls back and tells me to hand the phone to the station attendant. I make my way back over to the Keio Line and give the phone to a different station attendant. He tells Ayako there's nothing we can do, and that we'll have to wait until tomorrow morning to get our things. He looks at me. At this point, I was actually about to cry, so I suppose I looked incredibly pitiful. But who cares, it worked! He hung up with Ayako, and took us to our coin locker place, running the whole time. We got to the place, and he ducked in to a nearby station attendant standing area (what am I trying to say?) and got the key to the shutters! With a great swing, he opened the doors and FINALLY we got our bags!!
Yelling "THANK YOU SO MUCH!!", we ran off to join Marie (by this time, Emily had joined us), and RAN ALL THE WAY to where we were meeting our night bus.

And at 11:28 we were aboard the bus. By 12:00, we were headed to Shin-Osaka.

For the first half an hour on the bus, I couldn't sleep. I was (incoherently) chatting with Emily about the whole ordeal. About how nice that last station attendant was, whom we decided to nickname 'Junya'. I was too busy being panicked I didn't bother to look at his name tag. Then I preceded to tell her all about my caramel latte, and how delicious it was. I cried a bit. Mostly from laughing so hard at how high I sounded. Then I fell asleep.

This story may not sound very stressful to you, but trust me, it was. For several reasons! First of all is the waste of money already spent on the night bus. Next, what would people say if we had never made it to Shin-Osaka? People would think I wouldn't be able to hand traveling by myself! Well, not really by myself, but you get the picture. But regardless, it all worked out! じゅんや様、ありがとうございました！今度キャラメルラテ飲みに行きましょうね♥♥

Saturday Oct 30th: First day in Kyoto! aka リアちゃんお久しぶり～♥

So we arrived in Shin-Osaka at around 7:30 in the morning, and got to our youth hostel shortly thereafter. Since check-in wasn't until 4:00, we weren't allowed in our room, but we could store our things in their luggage room. We did get to freshen up a bit. And I mean a BIT. As in, wash our face, brush our teeth, change slightly, and try and do a damn thing with our hair. Which after the great panic of last night and several hours on a bus, doing anything with my hair was of extreme difficulty.
After that, we had some food at a small cafe and then got on a train to Kyoto to meet Leah, a friend from Linfield who is studying at Doshisha University.
We got to Kyoto and met with Leah and first set off to a mall to get me some new shoes, because mine had been RUINED from the day before. Apparently they were not as water-proof as I thought they were. After new shoes, we set off to several temples/shrines (I hardly know the difference anymore). Enjoy some pictures!




These little statues are said to be the protectors of miscarried children.

Afterwards, we went here:

Which was a very beautiful place.

I think I see a photo contest winner!

This is hard to see, but it was a very old tree. Apparently more than 2000 years old.

This one is even harder to see. My camera takes awful pictures at night! Can you see that gray stone statue thing in the center? Leah told me it was a tribute to 'white snake'. "The band????" I asked. Apparently not :(

We then had a yummy dinner at a convenience store, and made our way back to the youth hostel! And thus ends our first day in Kyoto!

...

I had planned to get all of this updating done in one go, but I just took a look at the time. It's almost 11:30. This would be fine, if I didn't have to get up freakishly early tomorrow to go on the WORST FIELD TRIP EVER.

Want to know where we're going?

An elementary school. Then a middle school. Then a high school.

It's everything I hate, all in one day!! I'll need some ice cream to cheer me up afterwards. Maybe a caramel latte, too.

I'll continue with this tomorrow!
Goodnight~