Its been a week!

Alright so, I think when i left i was just about to head out to Hiroshima? Well, I went, Thurs until Monday I spent with Rich, and I had a really nice time. Thursday we travelled there, and the 6 hours went really fast, just chatting on the train. Friday we went to Miyajima, which is really famous (youll maybe recognize it when i put up photos) - its an island close to Hiroshima. Its very pretty, and has lots of deer, and anyone who watches america`s next top model will know it! The huge red temple thing they made over into a super long runway? Thats in Miyajima. Anyway, it was gorgeous, marred only by rich`s camera being broken (partly my fault.. oops). After that caught a nap, some dinner, and then several heated rounds of tetris and button mashers at the arcade. I lost at Tetris, but won fighting games. (damn you tetris!) Played some DDR too, which was nice - and get this.. the boy thinks my geeky tendencies are cute! (Keeping him around, just for that!) Saturday it poooooured rain, so we saw the Atomic Bomb Museum, which was depressing and horrible, but im glad i went.. just glad i didnt go alone. What got me the most.. more than descriptions of suffering and awfulness (although the pictures done by survivors were intense) was learning about how they picked Hiroshima as a target, because they thought it would do the most damage, strategically, to the people and area based on the landscape. They didnt think "gee, its an atomic bomb, strong enough that anywhere will do" nope. "Where can we drop this puppy where it will cause the most damage in all respects?" I guess since Ive always heard it described as this god-awful terrible thing, it never occurred to me that once upon a time, people plotted how to get the most out of it. Informative, though i wish i hadnt looked at the pictures of what it did to individual people. After dinner, it had stopped raining, so we walked around by the river and saw Genbaku (Atomic Bomb) Dome at night (very pretty).

Anyway, Sunday was absolutely the most perfect day. The weather was sooo lovely. We trolled around the peace park, and saw all kinds of statues and monuments. When we crossed the bridge to the other side of the park (after i talked to religious zealots in japanese), there were hiroshima`s local bands doing a concert by the river! We stayed for the whole set done by the Ventures, a group of 60ish year old men doing 1960s guitar music - it was Sooooooo good, really fun, really cute - the lead guitarist reminded me of my dad a little. After that we just walked around, stopping for bits of other bands` sets, eating ice cream, enjoying the sunshine - when we got in later i realized i had got enough sun for a slight tan -well, pink-ing - of my face, yay!

Monday we just packed and stuff and then came home. And that was my trip, except add in a ton of making out (I had the reddest chin from stubble burn!), more tetris/ddr/video games, and some really good Italian food. There were some really nice romantic moments - and all in all, i am still a big fan of the brit. And! I managed the whole thing without embarassing myself too much! Go me! Got home to find out that the date of my placement test has been bumped forward a week, so i have another week to lounge away before i need to study, yay! Cherry blossoms should be coming up soon now, and i cant wait.

well, i could waffle on like a mad badger (ramble, in brit!) for ages, but instead i will sleep.