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It was going to be Holy Crap! but apparently I've used that title already. [shakes fist at past self]

First thing's first: I finally uploaded all the pictures! All four hundred and some odd count! Which means I didn't go through and delete the doubles or blurry ones like I was pretending to do! Oh well. They're still up there and you should check a few out, especially the ones of the deer.

Those deer are wicked awesome, yo.

Right, that cultural event. Myself and a bunch of other exchange students (who apparently I knew? Who knew! Well, me I guess) went to Saiki, which is a middle of nowhere city that is probably lower class American suburb sized than it is city sized. Really, no buildings over 3 stories.

We were told to go there by the academic outreach office, and that the event would cost us 1500 yen. We were not told, however, that the ticket to reach there would be itself 1430 yen, each way. And also that the ride was slightly more than two hours.

Also we were given the wrong contact information for the people we were supposed to meet.

Long story short, we made it there, we wandered around the city for a bit, then we managed to get a hold of Funaki-san and he told us the correct number and things went well from there. So well, in fact, that we didn't have to pay the attendance fee and the group agreed to drive us back to Beppu the next day to make up for our inconvenience.

I really hate having people wait on me like that, but it was counteracted by how much I love not spending money, so it worked out in the end.

We were there for 花見(hanami) which is the cherry blossom viewing festival. Well, less of a festival, and more a... you go there. And see the cherry blossoms.

They're pretty?

You're also supposed to drink with friends, and possibly picnic with a significant other (I have neither of those things! Suck it Japan!). We did hang out at the party with random Japanese people and played some games before heading back to the bar that we were staying at. Two of the people I traveled with made us some Korean food for dinner and it was hot damn delicious. I forget the names of them, but it is some unpronouncable foreign gibberish so don't worry about it.

We all struggled (well, two of us did. Everyone else didn't) to speak Japanese with the people hosting us. This one guy (Yoshi) was really interested in my iPhone and the American music on it, so he kept making me play random songs so he could rock out to them. He's an architect, and I refuse to believe that he was sober throughout the entire day. We watched some Imoto (really.... odd Japanese comedy show) and then went to bed on some futons in a drafty room. They offered us the shower, but I didn't really have any clothes to change into considering I wasn't planning on spending the night.

The next morning was the drive back to campus (which was about an hour and a half shorter) and then Funaki suckering us into working the Exchange Student Orientation which is what occupied me today.

So after the previous night where I slept uneasily due to being on the floor and in a strange house, and last night where I slept very little due to having to wake up and be ready at 8 am to do announcements, I was exhausted. But guiding the students went well, so that was fine.

Then we were asked to come back later to give them a tour of the campus.

Oh...

I'll be frank. I don't know the campus that well. There are buildings that I have never been inside, and I still get lost looking for the occasional classroom. So I weaseled my way into combining a huge super group with one of the other guides, and basically just rebounded off of what she was saying and made idle chatter with some of the new students while also trying to answer their random questions. So that went well.

New students are cool, looking forward to this semester already.

I also got my R4 chip for the DS so I can emulate games play multi media formats (totally not a lie, Nintendo). It works pretty dang well. The video quality is nice, there is an e-book program in there (if you want it for some reason). I put a kanji dictionary in it and a bunch of games and played with it while all the dang pictures were uploading. Hell yes hour and a half of Taiko DS!

I think I need to lie down.