Downtown Part 2, Osaka Castle (30th-31st March)

On Friday and Saturday, it's finally all about Osaka and no other university appointments. Not that it was incredibly exhausting, but a free weekend in a bustling city is not to be underestimated. And what can I say, Osaka is just great! The city has a very relaxed atmosphere and is built more horizontally than vertically, so you don't feel lost. Everywhere you discover small shops, pretty houses, and parks with cherry trees that probably won't bloom for much longer. The three of us set off and discovered Shinsekai, a brightly lit, loud and bustling tourist street with the biggest sensory overload that buildings can offer. It mainly consists of food castles and kitsch. In the middle stands a metal tower reminiscent of the Tokyo Tower. We ate our first Okonomiyaki there, which is very famous in Osaka. For me, it's more like an omelette with cabbage, vegetables, and optional meat. The restaurant we were in is very small, so we sat directly in front of the bar and our dish was placed on a heated metal plate in front of us before we could shovel it onto the stone tablets. That's pretty cool because the food doesn't get cold no matter how slowly you eat. Another great thing is that you get free water everywhere in Japan. And what can I say, Okonomiyaki is simply delicious. I'm so excited about all the new flavors I can experience here. After our meal, we went to the port, where there was refreshingly little going on, and then to the 112m high Ferris wheel. From there, my trained eye immediately spotted the Hogwarts building of Universal Studios, which I also want to visit.

Of course, on the first weekend, we had to visit Osaka's landmark, the castle. It is really beautiful and we probably took as many photos there as the Japanese do of us.

On Sunday evening, there was the official matriculation ceremony, which started with everyone present singing the Kansai University song. We couldn't read the lyrics due to the many kanji, so we just listened. It was a dress code ceremony, with almost all men wearing suits and women wearing dresses. After the song, several speakers, including the university president, told us something, but I have no idea what exactly he told us. Then we toasted with cold tea, 'Kampai' is the Japanese cheers, and finally, we could go to the buffet, where there were noodles with spinach, various skewers with meat, fish, and vegetables, and salad and rice. Strangely enough, there were no chairs, only small plastic plates and tables at seat height, so coordinating the eating was a bit difficult and I even dropped some food, but I don't think anyone noticed. When everyone was full, there was another speech and then it was already over and we moved on to a karaoke bar. Karaoke is a Japanese thing and I have to admit, even though I sing like a dying seal, I can understand why it's so fun. It doesn't matter how well you can sing, it's just hilarious. We sang English-speaking oldies because, as I said, most of us are still struggling with Japanese. If we had sung the university song the same way, we would have rocked the house. In our karaoke room, I also encountered the bright green melon soda, which actually tastes like bubblegum. Out of curiosity, I mixed it with beer to get a melon radler, but the effect was almost non-existent, the soda covered the beer 99%. So I'll skip that next time. We ended our 'session' with a beautiful rendition of 'My Heart Will Go On' and took the train back to the dormitory as we were pretty tired.