I went to Ueno Zoo with my friend last month. Ueno Zoo is an urban zoo that maintains nature and its landscape even though it is located in the center of Tokyo, and houses 3,000 animals of approximately 300 species. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to see the famous pandas, I was able to see various animals such as gorillas, tigers, and peacocks. We brought paints and pens and had fun sketching our favorite animals. I draw birds, so when I looked closely at the actual bird, I could see the details such as the way its feathers grow and the colors, which was very interesting, but it was very difficult to accurately express that with paint. My friend sketched a gorilla. He had a unique sense of color and painted very interesting pictures. We were so passionate about drawing that we continued to do so until the last minute before the park closed. A Turkish food festival was also held at Ueno Park. There, many local Turkish dishes were sold and traditional Turkish dances were performed. We enjoyed Turkish food including kebabs.

 

During the break period of the Sophia Festival I went on a trip to Gunma Prefecture with five friends from the English Literature Department. We made all our plans for the trip the day before. Despite the short notice, everyone showed up for the trip, including two of the six students who skipped their part-time jobs to come on the trip. We didn’t even meet early in the morning, but one of us was 30 minutes late, and there was trouble right from the start. We rented a car to go to Gunma Prefecture. The atmosphere in the car was good because the latecomer showed his disciplined character by buying a dish at a convenience store for all of us. We each had lunch at the service area. Tanaka brought his own lunch because he had no money. As we approached the lodge in Gunma Prefecture, we were surprised at how rural it was. The closer we got to the lodge, the colder it got, and the colder it felt when we opened the windows. Near the lodge, we bought firewood and BBQ ingredients. When we arrived at the lodge, we were surprised at the high quality of the lodge.

After making a fire and taking a sauna, we were very happy. After the sauna, Hiroto drove with some of them to go shopping, but they did not come back for a long time, which worried us. It took them an hour to return from a five-minute drive one way. When we talked to them, they told us that Hiroto had made some blunders, such as driving the wrong way on the road. Hiroto also hit the car when parking at the lodge.

 

After that we had a BBQ and were impressed by the delicious meat. After that, we played poker all night and slept. The next day we took a sauna before checking out and it was a great trip. By the way, the picture is Taiyo dying of a hangover.