The morning in Kyoto started off at the elaborate Hotel breakfast, with so many options it’s almost a little overwhelming at 8 o’clock in the morning. I stuck with my usual omelette today with ratatouille and green onions, the omelette chef serves it up to me faster than I would be able to crack an egg in the pan. She stirs it around in the sizzling pan with two chopsticks and neatly plates it in a perfect dome shape. It’s soft and a little runny, but not undecooked, and hoenslty exactly how I like it. I pair it with some roasted zucchini, peppers, and potatoes, and a generous bowl of fresh grapefruit, pineapple, and watermelon. I have definitley been taking advantage of the large selection of fruit since I feel like I won’t get another chance to have any all day. And last but not least, probably my favorite part of this beautiful breakfast, the honeycomb. I have never seen a whole honeycomb displayed like that at a hotel breakfast, and I love it. I filled up a little bowl of yogurt and drizzled a good amount of honeycomb onto it, the sweetness is able to cut through the sour yogurt, and the little crunch of the wax is a perfect contrast to the smooth yogurt. Ready to start the day after my full breakfast.
Today we are off to Ryokoku University, where we will have class and meet with our student buddies from the university. Once we got to the university and spotted the Starbucks, we knew it was over. I think almost every single person lined up for a coffee, tea, or donut to power us through this long day of classes. I settled on a triple espresso latte, as if I hadn’t already had enough coffee.
After some introductions with the first student buddies we met, we went on a tour of the university. It was so much bigger than I expected, and really modern. Definitley very different compared to Ochanomizu University, which we had been studying at in Tokyo, and I could also see a lot more international students, as we learned they have many international connections around the world.
The university is fairly old, founded in 1639, and has a large Buddhist background since it used to be a seminary for Buddhist monks. We walked through the Buddhist Church, which I have never experience before, so that was very cool to see. Then we were brought to the terrace that had a beautiful view of Kyoto, and the bottom floor of this building even had a relaxing aromatherapy space where many students were lying down, and some were taking a much-needed nap. The students guided us around a bit more, and then we all settled down for lunch in the cafeteria.
Again, we were greeted with a large selection of Japanese classics, and much better quality than we would ever get at a school cafeteria in the U.S. Listening to some recommendations from the students, I got the chicken katsu, with a vinegary side of cabbage, along with a side of rice and candied sweet potatoes. Really trying to hit all of the food groups with every meal, learning from the ways of Washoku, to make sure I am fully satsfied when done eating. The chicken was crispy and juciy all at the same time, and the sour cabbage balanced it out perfectly. My favorite part of the meal though was definitley the candied sweet potatoes, that one of our student buddies suggest I get, and I’m glad he did. The potatoes were unexpectedly cold and hardened from the sugar layering the outside, and crunchy at first when I bit through the sugar, then soft and starchy once I got to the potatoe. Some more student buddies joined us for lunch, and we had a full table, mingling and getting to know each other.
After lunch, we had even more student buddies to meet. I was surprised to learn that there was a total of 22 students who signed up to meet us, and it was so nice to see how excited they were, they outnumbered us! We were then split up into pairs, and the students went around to multiple tables meeting us, in a almost speed dating set-up, so we could meet as many students as possible in the short amount of time we had. It was so nice to talk to the students and find things in common, like playing soccer, or watching the tv show Friends. They might go to school all the way across the wolrd from us, but they are still college kids with similar interests, and it was really cool to see how many things we could find in common despite growing up completely different. This was honestly my favorite part of the day, just meeting the students and realizing how similar we all are, but also very differnt at the same time. A big surprise to many of us was to hear that most of them commute from home to go to school, some of them even coming all the way from Osaka, whereas in the U.S. it’s very uncommon to commute and most people just live on or near campus. We talked some more, and then of course made sure to exchange Instagrams, so we could keep in touch and maybe meet up before we leave Japan. We then had our Biology class where the continuted to discuss the research article we have been reading about sour taste receptors in mice, and learned more about nutrition, and how our body gets certain nutrients and minerals from different foods.
After class, we walked back to the station and headed home towards Kyoto Station. We decided to just grab dinner in the Porta since there are so many good options, and we were feeling pretty beat from the day. We stumbled upon an Italian place that looked like it had amazing pizza, and it did not dissapoint.
The pizza was saucy and not too cheesy with a perfectly thin crust, and puffy on the edges. I think i could have had about five more, it was so good. I was never expecting to like Italian food in Japan as much as I do, but it has been really amazing. I also got a steaming octopus dish with roasted potatoes that was filled with tentacles and spice. It left my lips burning, but the flavor was amazing, and the octopus was tender.
We finally made our way home, passing by the beautiful glowing Kyoto Tower, and headed back to hotel for some much needed rest. A day full of meeting new people, and having some familiar food.
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