12-29-10

Me and Kyunghye embarked for our adventure to Japan early to catch a train to Busan to board our ferry to Kyushu. We got on the train around noon and arrived in Busan a little before five. It was a long train but the anticipation made it go by faster.

When we got to Busan, we headed over to the ferry terminal. We signed up with a tour group that Hyesun found online. It was more like a giant group that got a lower price at both hotels and the ferry to Kyushu. Because we went with this group, we got the ferry and hotels over 50% off. Great to travel to Japan at a bargain price! When we got to the ferry terminal, we had to check in with our tour group. The group was Korean and as a result, I was the only non-Korean registered with the group. When me and Kyunghye went up to get our packet, the guy behind the counter said "Ah, Rebecca here's your packet" so funny! After we got our hotel, ferry, and JR (Japan Rail) reservations, we had some time to eat dinner before boarding the ferry.

The ferry held about 400 passengers. It was an overnight ferry, so we each had a bunk to sleep on during our trip across to Kyushu. After dropping our stuff off at our bunks, we went to see the ship leave port. This is my first time out of Korea since I came, so it was bittersweet to say goodbye to my home away from home for a week. It was also very exciting to be traveling to a new place.

Once we left port, we went back to our bunks to get a good nights rest. We were going to get off the ferry early the next morning, so we didn't want to be tired. I fell asleep to the rocking of the ferry as we got closer to Kyushu.