some of my fellow mie JET's decided to plan a beach day for all to enjoy. unfortunately for me, my commute was quite a bit longer than most of the others due to my distance from the rest of the world and the fact that trains only leave every 2 hours or so from my station. but whatevs. after 2 hours of sleep, 5 hours later i finally met up with some familiar faces and a bunch of other soon-to-be-familiar JET's.

a bunch of JET's on the train from matsusaka (松阪市) to shima (志摩市)

kou beach (国府白浜) was exactly what i needed. not only did i need to get away from my small town and spider infested house, but i cant begin to explain how awesome it was to actually converse with people again. language barriers are such a bummer. anyways, the beach was quite beautiful and long. the water was a shade colder than room temperature. i couldnt get over how much clearer the water was compared to california's. this picture doesnt even do it justice:

kou beach (国府白浜海水浴場)

after a perfect day of swimming, floating, eating ice cream, and hanging out with new friends, i sadly got back on the trains and buses for my 5 hour commute back home. it was dark when i left and dark when i came back. but im so freaking glad i did it.

group photo at kou beach (国府白浜海水浴場). hint: im near the back, stage right