Oh, you've never walked on a red carpet before?...

"Rachel, what's the weather like outside?"

"It's beautiful and sunny, a perfect first day in Japan..."

The view from our hotel room, showing off how well Japanese utilize space in every part of their daily life.

Opening Ceremony:  We were welcomed on a red carpet, students waving our flags and enthusiastic waves of high-fives as we went.  The brief introduction included our names and hobbies shown to the entire campus on a jumbo-tron!

In the afternoon we visited Shinto shrine with Technos students.  Top photo shows a faculty photographer showing us how to properly cleanse ourselves before entering.  Bottom shows a sweet scene of an old couple praying for a wish after 2 bows, 2 claps, and a final bow.

The four of us all speak different native tongues.  Left to right Carolina speaks Italian, Rosa speaks Spanish, Yukino is Japanese and I, well English.  I enjoyed watching Rosa and Carolina teach Yukino bits of Spanish using limited Japanese and English.  The conference is full of interesting backgrounds and random points of cultural exchange.

Our banquet style welcome dinner at a local restaurant helped us get to know all the students much better.  Shouts of "Gan-Bai!" (cheers) rang loudly throughout the evening. 

An assortment of Japanese sodas, coffee and red bean ice cream that our group accumulated over lunch.  The fan in the background was our first place prize for winning the morning scavenger hunt around the college (Go Bobcats!)

Can't wait to head to Mount Fuji tomorrow!
Sandy and Rachel