Like I said yesterday, before I went to vote, I had a class camp. It was supposed to be a study camp, but in the end, we only studied for two hours. But anyway, let me start from the beginning.

Our class camp this year was held in Beppu. Since there are 16 people in our class, we decided that we’d go there by car. Three cars were rented, and two students were sabo-ed into being a driver.

And before we even started the trip, there was plenty of drama. We had one student down, without giving prior notice, and basically had to find a driver at the last minute. It’s a good thing that some of the seniors can go. Oddly enough, most of the guys have what they call “paper licenses” – they have the license, but they don’t have the confidence/will tell you straight out that they can’t drive. So despite most people holding licenses, the number of actual people who drive was rather small.

But somehow, we got the drivers, and randomly split into cars and off we go. On the way there, we noticed that the rental car wasn’t very fast. I think our average speed on the freeway was 60km/hr. We did go up to 100km/hr once, after we pressed the magic button. But don’t get me started on the speeds while going uphill, I was actually a bit worried that the car wouldn’t make it.

Anyway, before we went to the hotel, we stopped by Yufuin. My first visit there! Basically, we were dropped off a the starting point, and then the drivers + teacher drove to the ending point (near a lake) and after doubling back once, the end was supposed to be all the students together, and the teacher leisurely waiting at the end point (this feels like one of the professor Layton puzzles). But, us being us, we set off before the drivers came. And after walking the length of Yufuin and not walking into a store, we decided that it would be better if we split up. So the third and fourth years were randomly grouped into teams, and I basically asked if we could go see the owl forest.

While we were walking pass, I was tempted to ask if we could go into the snoopy tea house, but then I thought about how we were going to fit 11 people (3 people didn’t make it in the end) in the place and realised it wasn’t a good idea. And then I learnt not to stare too long at a shop, because then I’d be asked “do you want to go in?”

Basically, there’s this place in Yufuin that looks a bit like the tiny houses in Huis Ten Bosch – very European. There’s even an Alice in Wonderland cafe. But like, I wanted to see the owl forest, because there were supposed to be other animals. And it was only 500 yen

Apart from the owls, there were also squirrels:

One hyperactive, and one asleep

 And guinea pigs (I think?) that squealed like crazy when you try to pick them up.

We were basically trying and failing to grab the guinea pigs, on account of the squealing. I finally gave up and asked the lady working there, and her advice was simple “ignore the squealing”. It’s true, once they were on our laps, the guinea pigs got quiet.

Owl photo, since it was an owl forest. I like this guy’s expression!

After that, we had croquet and went to the lake.

The lake was pretty, and there were lots of fish (apparently koi? Didn’t really look like it though, but hey, what do I know).

After that, we headed to the hotel, and as the only girl, I have my room. It was actually pretty cosy.

The original plan was to study a little before dinner, but by the time we made it back, we had maybe half an hour before we had to reach the dinner place – which is the birthplace of とり天 (toriten – Chicken tempura). Oddly enough, it’s a Chinese restaurant.

I didn’t take any photos of dinner because I couldn’t find a nice moment (and also because I was at the same table as the teacher), but it was good. So much better than the toriten at the school cafeteria.

The rest of the night was basically a nomikai. I’m not good at nomikai’s but thankfully, one of my seniors talked to me, so it was kinda fun. And one of the senpai’s who went to buy the alcohol actually got me something that I liked – some kind of white sour. I was kind of surprised by it, since I didn’t really expect them to buy anything other than beer (and shochu. Although Jack Daniels made an appearance because I have a classmate who really, really likes that).

So that was Day 1. No studying at all :p

I’ll be back tomorrow with Day 2!