Wo de Shengri

So I decided to make the day eventful and go down to Beppu City.

After spending 20 minutes trying to figure out how to read the damn bus schedule, I gave up and decided that 6 kilometers wasn't that far of a walk. (Note: This was before I did the math to realize that 6 kilometres is almost 4 miles. Yeah....)

So the walk started off great! Found out there's a path leading right off of the dorms( this was of course after walking full circle around the campus due to my directional challenge, but I didn't mind that cause now I know where EVERYTHING is.) There's a nice bridge there with a shallow view of the waterfall, and it's really high up so my vertigo came into play and I felt like I was going to die the entire time I was crossing it. Being afraid of heights is less funny when you're clutching the ground in tears hoping to god that your bladder doesn't give out (again).

Anyways, after that I walked about a good mile on the curved mountain road and looked up at APU. Good, I still know where I am. Head up to the intersection and check the map... both roads lead into Beppu. Well hey, let's go straight cause that's convenient!

Enter the raven. Or the crow. Karasu, whatever. GiGANTIC bird in my path, just staring me down. Probably should've gone back to campus at that point, but I heedlessly walked down the road for another 45 minutes, and, checking the roughly drawn map again, realized I had JUST made the big bend about a quarter of the way there....and no houses or restaurants yet. Nothing but construction.

WEll, looks like I should turn around. And holy shit it's a lot more difficult going uphill on a mountain. Going down it's about twice your walking speed, going up is less than half.

Anyways, get back to the intersection and take the turn that the bus took to go to the medical center the other day (no I don't know why I didn't take that hint, go eat a dick). There's a good indication I can go this way, what with the fact that there was a crosswalk in this direction and tourist information pointing me down the road. Thanks helpful sign!

Too bad it didn't warn me about what the road was like. I've discovered where the sidewalk ends, and it ends in hell. About a block down there was no room to walk anymore. Sheer cliff face on one side, high mountain wall on the other. No sidewalk. Cars only. Final destination.

After realizing that I could not walk on this path barely two cars wide without dying in the event that two cars came down the road on opposite sides, I became disheartened and ventured back. Immediately after I got back to the sidewalk two cars passed by on either side of the road. Hurray.

The walk back was painful and also terrible. The entire time I could see APU at the top of the mountain. No longer was it a placemarker. It was the face of God himself, laughing at me for thinking I could do battle with his creation, his mountains. They had beaten me, and I was nearly a dead man.

To make matters worse, thoseJapanese Giant Hornets that I was so terrified of before coming to Japan? I saw one. And then I came back and researched them again and found out they primarily live in areas like where I'm at. Oh, and they're attracted to darker clothings, you know, like I wear.
Here the hornet mutters to himself "Behold, for mine is the face of your death.


AWESOME.

So then it started raining. And I walked to the cafeteria in the rain, miserable because my venture failed. Ate dinner alone, and went to a vending machine to get some mountain dew. Then I ran into Jenny (Jen? Jennifer? I never actually asked what she preferred. Oh well.) and she made me go back into the cafeteria and eat with her and some other students. So hey, that was pretty cool. And she forced me to try some Egg Foo Yung that was pretty good so why not.

Now I'm sitting in my room in my boxers eating oreos.

Next time I am taking the damned bus.