Submitted by Kaede Snyder on the 2016 summer session program in Kobe, Japan sponsored by the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures…
This week I went to a lot of places around Japan. On Thursday, my classmates and I went to Himeji for the Himeji Festival. Most of us bought yukatas and wore them to the festival. Before the festival, we learned how to wear the yukata which was pretty difficult. Luckily, our friends from Shoin University came to help out. We went to Himeji Castle which was beautiful and all white. We climbed a lot of stairs in our yukata which made it really tough, but worth it because we got in for free.
On Friday, our class went to Miyajima which is an island near Hiroshima. We went to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and the Hiroshima Museum. It was really hard not to cry because the stories of the Japanese people were extremely sad and tragic during the atomic bombing.
Afterwards, we spent the night on Miyajima Island and I went to a couple of shrines. The most famous one was the Itsukushima shrine which had a beautiful gate in the water.
That night, I finally was able to go to an onsen, a Japanese bath, and relax. It was really nice and peaceful. Saturday, I climbed Mt. Misen, my first ever mountain climb. It was really tiring, but definitely worth it once I got to the top. I also had a chance to participate in another homestay in Hiroshima. It was so much fun! My family loved music and their daughters and I went around Hiroshima to sightsee. I went to Hiroshima Castle and to a beautiful garden nearby. There were so many koi fish and the garden was huge. I also got to make some traditional Japanese sweets on Sunday and ate famous Hiroshima Okonomiyaki. 
This week was probably one of my most favorite weeks here in Kobe. We went to so many different places, and I did a lot of things for the first time.