weekend! We got there in about 3 1/2 hours which I definitely slept through. Upon arriving, we ate dinner at a really nice hotel restaurant and then had a couple of minutes to explore so we toured the oldest Chinatown in Japan- which happen to be right next door. It was such a beautiful day and we all hopped back on the bus and headed to our next destination- Dejima.Dejima is an artifical island built a lonnng time ago for trading purposes. I have never heard about this place before so it was a great learning experience. The Dutch were the last to own it so the whole island was very European.
The Dutch traders used the island as a trading post because it was the furthest point off Nagasaki so everyone who was dropping off cargo would
post up at the island. They also were not allowed to have their families live on the island so the Japanese would supply them with Geisha Girls!! We walked around there and learned some pretty neat things about the area and the island (which actually isn't an island anymore since the Japanese expanded past it and further into the ocean).Afterwords we got back on the bus and headed to our next
stop, the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum and the Peace Park. It was a quick ride to the museum and a couple of sightseeing spots on the way so it went quickly. All 34 of us stumbled out of the bus and entered the museum. They did not allow any pictures to be taken inside- like most museums, so all I did was take in all of the information. I learned so much about the atomic bombing like how the bomb was detonated before it hit the ground for it to have a bigger impact and that 100% of the people in 3ish km died from the bombing. It was a pretty intense museum but I feel like going to the Holocaust museum before coming to Japan helped a little. They had piles and piles of paper cranes all around the museum and park. They told us that 1,000 cranes represent getting well if you are sick and also represents peace. Children that would come and visit the park with their schools would make 1,000 cranes and donate them to the museum for peace (these are some of the cranes that students have made on chains). The Japanese do not 
necessarily have an army anymore because they do not have a draft so they only have a safety group that people can volunteer their time to help in crisis. They focus heavily on peace and no war instead.
After the museum we went to the Peace Park which was just a few streets away. The Peace Park was built to house sculptures that are representative of the bombing as well as ground zero. They have a famous statue of a blue man who is holding his hands and placing his feet in certain places to represent different symbols like peace and meditation (The picture above is me standing in front of the statue, being a crazy tourist). There was also a beautiful fountain and a memorial for those who have died from the bombing as well as related causes to the bombing. The number is around 150,000 and is still growing today- fascinating!!
We got some ice cream while there and then got on the bus for our next destination, Glover Garden.
Glover Garden was named after Thomas Glover since his house is located in the garden. It is located at the top of the hill so we worked our way up the hill passing dozens of small souviener shops that sold a lot of the casella- the Spanish bread that Nagasaki is famous for that has been around for years. We reached the top after a steep hill, stairs, and two moving walkways to find ourselves with a beautiful view of all of Nagasaki. There was a coi pond at the top of the hill that was filled with huge coi that just swam around eating the food that was given to them by tourist- I of course joined in. There were pigeons there also that learned to sit in your hand and ate the fish food also. We walked around the plantation and his house that was located a little ways down the hill. There was coi fish all along the way down to the bottom of the hill so we stopped to feed them a couple of
times. Thomas Glover was not only a famous entreprenuer but also the creator of Kirin beer- a famous Japanese beer, which I've tried and liked!After Glover Park we went shopping in the shops on the way down to the bus, I surprisingly didn't get anything- just taste tested foods and pet some tailless kitties on they way down. We got back on the bus and by this time it was 5:30. We checked into our hotel and had half an hour before dinner and then going out- and the hotel had real beds thank goodness, I'm so used to sleeping on a Japanese bed which is practically a board with a thin futon mattress that I slept like a baby when we got back. Our tour guide took us to a traditional dinner place in the middle of Nagasaki that was hard to find- she even had to ask for directions a couple of times. We got a set dinner that was filled with rice that had egg noodles- real eggs made into noodles, fish soup
that was solid, daikon- pickled radish, pickled cucumbers- that were definitely not American pickles, a slice of beef in a sauce, and some watermelon. It was actually all very good but I was one of the few that ate or tried everything and liked it. Some people stopped at our now favorite Japanese burger joint called Mos Burger. They have delicious burgers that are healthy and some even have rice patties for buns. I didn't eat anything because I was so stuffed from dinner but I joined the crowd for the conversation. We then hit the town to find a local bar or some place that was playing the World Cup game. We ended up stopping at an outside bar to watch the game 
and it was across from a pachinko parlor!! We all just hung out during the night and drank while exploring this unknown city. We actually found Nagasaki's makeshift red light district that they call the pink district. The girls here wear business suits and prom dresses here though if they are "workers"- Japanese style is so confusing. Some of us retired back to the hotel later and went to bed so we would be ready for day two. (The picture to the right is one of the many Japanese people we met during the night).We got up in the morning and had breakfast at the hotel restaurant before hitting the town- and of course it was pouring down rain. We split up into
different groups and my group decided to head to a famous shrine. It was located right in the middle of houses and shops in the city. It seemed to fit perfectly even though it was an old shrine that did not belong with the modern buildings standing around it. We walked up the many flights of stairs to find us at the top of the hill in front of the main building. We washed our hands in the communal pool before entering the shrine. There was a wedding taking place in one of the buildings so we could not enter but we walked around outside and found many different places to explore. There were shrines hidden in many different places in the yard but we managed to find some of the pretty ones including a beautiful wishing pond. After exploring some cultural 
aspects of Nagasaki, we headed over to the local mall. We took the street cars to get from place to place which reminded me so much of Amsterdam. If there wasn't as many cars on the road and no Japanese characters on the buildings then I would have sworn I was still in Amsterdam from looking at everything.Most of the mall was expensive but it was a good break to be able to shop after all of the walking we had done before. We met up with a couple of other groups and hung out before getting back on the bus. The bus ride home I fell asleep for most of the time also and we then arrived back at APU. We were all exhausted so we all managed to get to our rooms and take naps before we had to work on our homework and get ready for school the next day. It was an interesting and informational weekend to say the least but I had a blast!
This week is mostly going to class everyday and doing homework. We are going to all go to karaoke on Wednesday and then many a public onsen (public bath) and dinner while in the city. It should be a fun day!
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