Susuga Snowboarding Trip (Part 1)

My my my, its been long since I've written anything. Shout out to Julianne for motivating me to write here again, her blog is what I aspire my blog to be like. Its perfectly written and most of her adventures are mine also.

Heres the link: julianneinjapan.blogspot.com

I spent the last few days in Niigata Prefecture, snowboarding with the Niji no Kai circle. They hold this trip two times an year, and this particular time there were 53 people participating, most of whom were Japanese. More time to practice Japanese I say! The lifts+gondolas are a perfect opportunity to hold conversations with people you don't usually talk to, and lets just say that I had quite a few amusing talks during those 5 minutes up the mountain. Inappropriate Shiritori anyone? 

The meeting time was 8:30 pm to take the night bus to our lodge in Niigata. I had lots of time beforehand and so I spent that afternoon lunching with some Japanese and exchange student friends at a place that one of the guys had an eye on for awhile near Takadanobaba Station. It was very cozy and the perfect place if you wanted to lounge with some girlfriends. Not to mention the lunch set was absolutely gorgeous!

My aburi salmon and avocado don set.

I just had to sneak in my lunch in this post it was worth mentioning. This meet up was actually comprised of everyone thats going on the one night onsen trip in a few weeks time, and an opportunity to get to know some people in the group that we had never met before so its not as awkward when the time comes. I didn't really get to talk to the two girls that I personally don't know, but no matter, they both went to the snowboarding trip and I had a great time talking to them about all things girly. 

The bus ride there only took 3 hours, and once we got there we were greeted by heavy snow. 

This is the tatami room I shared with 12 other people that night. 

Despite having an early morning wake up call, we laid on our comfy futons and talked for a little over an hour before sleeping. We were shushed (politely) by the Keio students next door to us, so alas we slept.