Structured Free Time & Hiroshima Shinkansen

Rain was falling this morning as students woke up to classic Japanese scenes in their homestays. Despite the rain, students were in high spirits as they had their first opportunity to engage in structured free time. Needless to say, our CIEE Kyoto participants hit the ground running! Many arrived at the Kyoto Keizai Center with plans in place and were ready to go enjoy a little time with their peers outside of classes. 

One popular way to spend time that emerged across many groups was animal cafes! Students sent check-ins from various cafes such as Cat Cafe MOCHA, mipig, and Noah's Ark. Several student groups spent time shopping and enjoying Kyoto's metropolitan energy. 

After lunch, students spent time reflecting on their experiences so far with their class peers, and presented their weekly projects for week one. It was a big accomplishment for many! Students’ Japanese skills are already improving in just one short week! 

After classes today, we headed straight to the shinkansen - bullet train - a first for many of our participants! While at the station, students selected their choice of ekiben, bento meal boxes prepared with a train ride in mind. We enjoyed these selections on the train as we enjoyed a nice ride down to Hiroshima. Then we hopped on the Hiroden, Hiroshima's local tram, to get to our hotel.

Having arrived and settled for the day, we look forward to the next day's adventures in Hiroshima!