My class was named "Tori," which means "bird." Probably because we were all bird brains. At 6 people, it was the largest class, and probably also the craziest. Everyone in there made class a whole lot of fun. My house was located in Hoko, a suburb of West Kanazawa. It was a beautiful house in a nice neighborhood, and my host family was better than I could have asked for, they were very sweet.

Otabi Matsuri is the annual festival for children's kabuki. During the day, shrines are paraded through the streets and prayers made, while various forms of entertainment are going on. At night time, all the shrines end up in the center of town and serve as the stage for a kabuki performance done entirely by children.

Sadou (Tea Ceremony) ceremony took place in a traditional tea house right near Kanazawa castle. It was located next to a centuries-old garden with a koi pond and private tea house inside. The ceremony was beautiful and the tea was delicious.

During the second week we went on a day-long excursion up the Noto peninsula. We visited a lot of places, including the Chrihama beach driveway, Ganmon rock formation, a hot spring and ryokan, a Shinto shrine, a Buddhist temple, and a lacquerware shop. It was a busy day, but very very fun.