trip down memory lane

So I have yet another weekend of adventure to post about, but I'm feeling lazy so I will just do it plus-minus style (as we do on the CIR forums, haha). It was a really good weekend and will probably mostly just be pluses, so you can think of it as bullet-style if you prefer. :)

+ Spent my two days of summer vacation + the first of two three-day weekends (in a row) in September with a trip to Nagoya
- I only get two days of summer vacation (how I miss real summer vacation)

+ Spent the first day paragliding in Shizuoka! Got to try paragliding by myself off a little hill and also tandem off a mountain, plus free lunch (which was tasty)
+ Going up the mountain for the tandem jump involved riding what looked like a homemade one-rail open train literally up the side of the (rather steep) mountain. It was great.
- Forgot my camera so I have no proof
+ Tandem flight was awesome~
- Shorter than I expected and didn't get to see Mt. Fuji
+ Staff was super friendly, including the teacher who let us all run straight at him all day as we paraglided off the bunny hill and a lady who even gave me a ride to a station an hour away on her way home from work)
+ Got to see my TOA roommate after that and crash at her place

+ Made it safely to Nagoya
+ Saw my high school friend Megumi for the first time in yeearrrs and managed to catch up during lunch despite her busy schedule
+ Got to see my host mom again!
+ They let me stay at their house again
+/? Almost nothing has changed since I was there - same walk I took every day on my way to work, same room and bed (and pillowcase even), same placemats
+ Went to go see cormorant fishing with my host mom in Gifu
- Felt bad for the cormorants like I thought I would

+ Remembered how to get to Nanzan and wandered around campus (hasn't changed a bit)
+++ Met up with two of my fellow IJ600 classmates and spent a great day wandering around old places in Nagoya like Sakae, singing karaoke, and eating yummy meals
+ Finally did purikura again
- Don't have a digital copy of the pictures
+ Ended up spending the night at my friend's and it was super fun

+ Went to an event by Nagoya Swings, the group that I swing danced with and performed with during a play while studying abroad
+ Remembered some faces (surprisingly, after 3 years) and one remembered me
- Only stayed for an hour and most of it was a beginner's lesson
+ Went to dinner with some other Nanzan friends after that (at Outback Steakhouse, haha)
+/- It was tasty but expensive
+ They arranged for a cake to welcome me back and congratulate two others on graduating!
+ Got home in the rain before the typhoon really started to hit

- Had to leave on Monday

--- Typhoon was mostly blown over but had already done its damage to public transportation
+ Managed to get on a shinkansen to Shizuoka not long after getting to Nagoya Station, with a seat (and power charger)
- Had to get off at Shizuoka and wait for a couple of hours until the river water went down a little
+/- Managed to get on the first shinkansen that made it back to Tokyo, after being literally pushed inside and against all the other people already in it
- Stood the whole way squished between lots of other irritated people

+ Made it back in time for my Analogfish concert
++ Concert was great! Got to see them pretty up-close


+++ Safely made it back home to Chiba, tired but happy after a busy five days