dim sum, animals, sweets galore~

hi hiiii~ so yea... sorry I was MIA again.... April literally flew by though - so weird to look back at everything. Like everyone was starting to get back to Tokyo during the first couple weeks of April, and then classes started at Sophia again on the 12th. So of course we all went out to celebrate being back together <3 It also began the long string of birthdays that happened b/t the end of April / May. So needless to say - there has been LOTS of celebrating and LOTS of awesome memories~ (^_') <3

So this was when we went out for my friend Gea's birthday; I have 6 words: all-you-can-eat-dim-sum. This was only 1 of the many steamer towers that piled high throughout the night (O_o) My friend Tama is behind there somewhere - we were played hide and seek throughout the night haha. 
We didn't realize just HOW much food we had ordered at first because only the smaller, appetizer dishes came trickling out... but yea... all of a sudden we looked at our table and we started having to marry food onto plates in order to clear space for the continual parade of food that kept making its way to our table... it legit hurt to laugh after that meal (;-_-)


Anywho, the week after that started the extended holiday week called "Golden Week" here in Japan. It's called that b/c 3 national holidays happen in a row so everyone gets off from work during that time. I was SO pumped that I actually  got off and that I was able to spend time with my friends while on the same schedule~ :D I got to meet up with my friends and meet more of the newbies that had joined SISEC <3 


One of the things we did was go to Ueno Zoo. The zoo became famous for having giant pandas... unfortunately... the pandas are no more :( I don't know what happened to them, but I didn't get to see any pandas and the red panda that lives there decided to not come out that day :( :( 

Buttttttttttttt~ I did get to see my first capybara live in person :) And I got to see my friend Ryota impersonate a capybara - hahah. 

Ohhh Ryota, he's one of the 2 new vice presidents of SISEC :) I was really excited when I found out I had been grouped with him. The zoo was pretty nice though - I don't think I was expecting much, but it was really nice to be outside for a change. 

  And after the zoo, we went to a little like vendor market-ish thing called Ameya-yokocho (アメよこ). Its just like a long strip of vendors that sell pretty much anything you can think of. But the one thing I was looking for was a vendor that was famous for selling these bags of PACKED with candy and snacks for only 1000円 ($10-ish) - and hellz yes, I totally found it :D
Like DUDE: LOOK at all of the stuff I got for 1000円 (O_o) btw's - that box in the middle is a little hard to see but it's a FULL box of cotton-candy Hi-Chews (basically the Japanese equivalent to Starburts). I got 20 :) I took all of it to a picnic I had later that weekend, but like dudeee - I was so pumped to have had found it <3 And here's the picnic we had :) We went to Inokarshira Park on the Keio line. It's used often for shooting scenes for dramas and movies, so I was super excited to go check it out :) Riding Keio-sen was nice for a change but... legit RIGHT as i stepped off of my train to go to the park, I heard an announcement saying there was a "human-related accident" at Musashinodai station... that was my OLD station from when I lived at the dorm (O_o) Like Keio-sen, I thought I could think better thoughts of you....

Anyways, the picnic was really cute <3 There was a "bento" competition, and not going to lie, ALL of the food was super yummy. I just baked cookies and layed out my intense spread of snacks I had gotten a few days before after the winners were announced lol - thankfully ALL of it was gone so I didn't have to go home with an intense amount of candy and have it staring me in the face the next morning ( -_-)

<3 <3 <3 <3 meet my cow cake
<3 <3 <3 <3 he was delicious
- the body was a roll cake and its head was a cheesecake <3 the horn and bull ring were white chocolate~


There's a little town in Tokyo called Jiyuugaoka and it's famous for having an abundance of sweets shops - and one of those places is called the Sweets Forest. It's basically like a big food court of JUST desserts. There are like 7-ish shops inside, including a Coldstone-esque mix-in ice cream shop, a Hong Kong Sweets House, a souffle shop, a shop specializing in strawberry desserts... like need I saw more?
well actually speaking of the ice cream place, I got a limited-time Green tea and Sakura ice cream with azuki bean and mochi mix-in ice cream <3 And the last dessert I got was a custard / japanese flan base piled high with fresh strawberries and cream. <3 I did not eat dinner that night.

I finally went to Yokohama~!! :D It wasn't during Golden Week, but the weekend that followed it. My friend Masa graduated this year from Sophia and got transferred to Osaka for work :( And I wasn't able to go on the overnight trip with SISEC a couple of months ago b/c I had been working, so this was the first time I had seen him since February 1st (>_<) Masssaaaaa~
But he came back to Tokyo that weekend, so I was SUPER happy to have been able to hang with him. 
The weather was SO nice out that day - sunny, breezy, and perfect along the bayside <3 I always forget how nostalgic the smell of the water is :)
So I was going to post more pictures of Yokohama during the day, but it was too hard to choose from all of them. The night view was amazing as well - the skies stayed clear and we just enjoyed each other's company while looking out at skyline <3 I've been going through spurts of homesickness recently... but i think it's because I was just cooped up in the urban chaos of Tokyo. I mean don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade the liveliness of Tokyo for anything in the world. But I'm always reminded of all of the other places Japan has to offer when I do get out and explore outside of the 23 districts every once in a while.