During the weekends, a couple of classmates and I would organize something to do. This weekend, 6 classmates and I decided to go to Osaka and go to Universal Studios. Thankfully, we planned this a few days prior. Resulting in our arrangement being booked. We were staying at a small 3-story Airbnb house in Shin-Osaka. Once we got to Shin-Osaka, the wind grew fierce compared to Kyoto. Though a personal feeling, the people in Shin-Osaka were kind. As I mentioned in Jose: The Mexican-American in Japan, people from Kyoto were mellow, but people from Shin-Osaka gave me a more uplifting environment. Then again, I was there for the weekend and Kyoto for almost a month, giving a better insight of Kyoto than any other place in Japan.
The best part of that place is that bikes were provided! How neat! The place had a small market right around the corner and further ahead was a 7-Eleven. The spot was perfect. Once we got to the house, we simply stayed in for the day. Everyone was exhausted, so I agreed to stay in. You see, Roman, one of the group members, said we were going to go to Dotonbori, a beautiful district in Osaka, which made me look forward to that.
The Night Falls
Once night fell, we headed to eat some food. We were quite indecisive but ended up going to a spot that has various restaurants. Going there was a true challenge… Not a mile in, and we stopped at a parking lot with a vending machine next to a lamppost for some refreshments. We only had 4 bikes so one person had to be carried hence why we stopped. I had to carry the person the whole way and that was very frightening. Apparently, Roman and I were going so fast that we lost the other two riders. We made it to the destination, but we had to wait patiently for the other two. However, some time passed by, and they still didn’t show up so Roman went ahead to look for them. Roman and the other two riders came along and dug in to some American-Why-Am-I-Eating-This-In-Japan food.
We ended up eating McDonald’s. Not a good choice when you’re in a foreign country, but we were hungry and money was limited to all of us. After being done, we headed home and two of the group members went to sleep. Roman, Amy (One of the members), and I were wide awake and rode around Shin-Osaka for the night until midnight. It was fascinating to roam around. Before we headed back home, we stopped at the lake and stopped to gaze. Breath-taking scenery for us three. Perhaps it was because it was our first time going out of the country. First time being in a foreign country. We were beat once we got home and as soon as we got to the house, we saw the last member walking towards us. It was Elijah! We all hurried back inside and crashed.
