i started day two off on a much better foot than day one, not only had i gotten nearly 12 hours of sleep, but we had free time to do essentially whatever we wanted. so after hitting up the 7/11 for breakfast with katherine, checking out and storing our luggage, it was off to the races! a big group of us —jess, belle, liam, skyler, cam, megan, and i— went to the aquarium which was conveniently attached to the hotel.

once we got inside a few of us went on a pirate ship ride, which was pretty fun all things considered. after that though is when we really started looking around. there were so many cool fish to see; i really liked the ones that could camouflage to look like coral, the fluorescent ones, and the silly looking guys. after the tiny little fish we went to the jellyfish room, and i felt kind of bad for them since the tank was so small, but they looked really cool. especially because there was blue, pink, and green lighting that highlighted the jellyfish pretty nicely.

after the jellyfish exhibit we moved on to the larger sea creatures, like sawfish, leopard sharks, stingray’s, and a bunch more that i don’t even know the name for. and for some awesome reason they also had capybara’s which was actually sick. following that was an otter show which was potentially one of the cutest things i’ve ever seen. he did so many cool tricks and listened to his instructions so well!!

once we were done with the aquarium it was time to meet up with everyone and head to the bullet train so we could travel down to kyoto. the train ride was nice because i got to chat with those around me —jas, cam, megan, fabian, and jess— and also enjoy looking out at the scenery we passed by.

when we arrived in kyoto it was time for dinner, and i was pretty excited going into it. i knew that they were probably going to serve things that were outside of my comfort zone, but i was willing to give things a go. the first plate they brought out was… interesting. there was tiny raw squid, fish, collared greens, vegetables, and beef. i’m proud of myself because i ate both of the raw squids, but the best thing on the plate in my opinion was the beef. after that was raw fish, and i gotta be real, i am not a raw fish fan. next up was pork and vegetable hot pot, which was probably my favorite thing the whole night. following the hot pot was a salad which was standard, i enjoyed it. after that was shrimp that were in some sort of fried batter, and that was pretty good too. next up was this tofu gelatin thing?? i’m honestly not too sure, and frankly the texture was just not it. we had sushi after that, and since i’m not really a raw fish person, i wasn’t too keen on that either.

all in all it was a really solid day. i had fun hanging out with everyone, and despite the fact that dinner was touch-and-go, i still really enjoyed it. kyoto has very cool architecture from what i’ve seen so far, and i’m excited to go on the bus tour tomorrow!