Hiroshima Excursion!

Welcome back!

Over the past weeks I have been studying for various midterms, and now I am done! In the middle of my midterms though was possibly the best excursion that CIEE provides for the program. Going to Hiroshime is eye opening. As beautiful as the city, the peace museum, and memorial park are you can see how atmoic bombing affects the town. There we got to hear a survivor's story which was both sad and inspiring.  From the Shinansen ride to Miyajima Island our 3 day trip was filled with adventure and education, and it was hard to believe it was so short!

Let's talk about food. Everything I tried was delicious! A couple of must haves is okonomiyaki, oysters, and momiji manju. For okonomiyaki there are many shops for you to try. The place my friends and I went to was Okonomi-mura (Okonomiyaki village). There are many different shops in the building, and all dedicated to okonomiyaki. Based off of the opinions of my friends, all the shops serve delicious okonomiyaki. For those that like to know the cost of things the okonomiyaki there can range between $8 to $15.

Although ramen is a pretty popular dish in Japan, Hakata Ippudo ramen shop was good and costs about $9 for a bowl. This was a good and quick meal to have, and will do the trick between events! 

On Miyajima Island, there was a lot of restaurants and stands to choose from. There are a couple of stands that sell fried oysters (about $5) and I recommend trying those because they were delicious! Although the name of this particular shop escapes me it is the only one on the main shopping street that sells icecream in cornets. The one I got was black seaseme which ended up being pretty good (~$8).

While at Miyajima island I would advise getting momiji manju boxes to give to your friends and family, and get some for yourself. Also, I would recommend some of the warmed up ones while you are there since they are more enjoyable. There are momiji manju shops everywhere so I don't have a particular one to recommend. Although I could not tried it there was also fried momiji manju which I bet are delicious!

When you go on this excursion there will be a lot you will learn, and it will be a rollarcoster of fun and saddness. You can op-out of this excursion, but since it is the main one of the program I definitly do not recommend skipping out even if you have a mid-term that following monday. On the Shinkansen you have a 4 hour ride so that is plenty of time to study!

Best wishes on your excusion there!