Retreat to Karuizawa

This weekend we had the Japan Study trip to Karuizawa. First and foremost, I am really tired so this will most likely be a fairly short post.

We all met in Takadanobaba to leave for Karuizawa. The program chartered a bus for all of us. There was just barely enough seats for everybody. The thing that surprised me the most was that some people had their backpack and a small suitcase. I could not believe that someone would need all that stuff for a single overnight trip. I brought a change of clothes and my gameboy, nuff said. The ride up was alright. It took about 3.5 hours to get there, but we also made a stop for lunch. My first impression was that this place was in the middle of nowhere. There were mountains and farms all over the place. When we arrived my first impression was that I wanted to go hiking in the woods. I am disappointed that we never did.

The facilities were really nice. I was assigned to a large room with 12 or so of the guys. As soon as we walked in, we started setting up the futons. Everyone asked us why we were doing it so early. Little did they know that the plan was to be able to walk in and sleep wherever one may fall. Outside there was a large baseball field, tennis courts, and basketball courts. There were also other buildings for housing as well as a nice cafeteria. Apparently this place is often used by Waseda for club outings.

First off about 10 of us went for a walk. Being around nature was a nice change of pace compared to the center of Tokyo. A few people explored some of the woods nearby, but I did not join in. It was a very rural area with not very many houses.

When we got back from our walk some of the guys and I went back to our room and turned on the heater. It was so cold outside. By some freak reason I felt the need to not bring a sweatshirt. Bad choice. I ended up wearing a t-shirt and two long sleeve shirts the entire time. I did not realize that it was going to be that cold such a short distance away from Tokyo. We had dinner, a meeting afterwards about how things were going, and then a party. We all drank, danced, played games, and generally made fools of ourselves. We had to be out of the building by 11pm, so the party ended up moving to my room. Everyone loved the fact that the futons were all set out. It was very homely. I ended up going to bed around 3 or so once the party faded and people returned to their own rooms.

Today I was so tired. Breakfast was at 7:30 in the morning. This announcement came on and woke everyone up. I saw many people sit up, look around in sleepily, and then roll over and fall back asleep. I for one, wanted some substance so I forced myself to get out of bed and head to the cafeteria. I was very glad I did because it made life so much better afterwards. We had another short meeting and then free time before departure. Many of us enjoyed the warmth of the sun by playing frisbee and badmiton. We had lunch and then departed.

As soon as I arrived home I took a nap. It felt so good.