Thanks for the checking out the blog for this Global Leadership Adventures Custom Group program!
Here are a few things you can expect:
- We typically receive 2-3 blog posts per week here at GLA Headquarters from our program staff and students, so please don’t be alarmed if you don’t see a blog post daily – that’s totally normal.
- Blog updates sent on weekends may not be posted until Monday.
- Due to many factors, including but not limited to internet accessibility, photos may not always be available to post onto the blog. Sometimes onsite program staff are only able to send text back to Headquarters, where our team updates the blog.
Thank you for your patience and understanding, and we hope you enjoy following along on these unforgettable adventures.
For frequently asked questions about the blogs, please visit our Program Blog FAQ page.
-The Global Leadership Adventures HQ Team
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BLOG POST FOR OCTOBER 15
Kon’nichiwa everyone!
Welcome to Japan! GLA staff arrived safely to Japan and we have been training for three days to give Atmosphere Academy the best travel experience. We are ecstatic to be leading a group of ambitious students through Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo. Today, October 15th, all students and staff arrived safely. We greeted them at the airport and headed to dinner where we indulged in our first Japanese meal. GLA staff did an introduction and we went through our orientation where we talked about expectations, the code of conduct, Japanese culture & customs, and safety. After dinner, we headed to our hotel to finally rest and try to beat jet lag. We can’t wait until to start exploring Japan together!
-Rudy, Ila, Luismi, Madison, Suzi and Yuri
BLOG POST FOR OCTOBER 16
Good Morning Families! Today was day 2 of our Japan Explorers Trip. Students and staff started the day with a great breakfast and introduction to our schedule. Breakfast included rice, octopus balls, Japanese noodles and fruits. After breakfast, we boarded our first bus to the Bullet Train Station to get to Hiroshima.
Once we arrived in Hiroshima, we boarded another bus to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. This Museum was very touching as we learned all about Atomic bomb effect on Japanese Families. We heard from a speaker who shared the story of a survivor and left us thinking on how to create peace for the future. We then took a tour of the park and saw the exhibits to understand the way that the Japanese people viewed and were affected by the bombing. After this, we made our way back to the train station where we went to a restaurant and took a cooking class. The cooking was class was so much fun and everyone cheered, laughed and practiced our cooking skills to make a Japanese style pancake. It was delicious and at the end, the restaurant staff gave us all a picture of us!
The day ended with us taking the Bullet Train back to Osaka. This was an amazing first full day in Japan, full of history, culture and food. See you tomorrow!
– Steven, Mia, Jelianny & Matthew
BLOG POST FOR OCTOBER 17
Good Morning Families!
Today our group went on an interesting adventure filled with funny experiences and great views. We went to the historical landmark Nara Park. When we first got there, we saw the Kasuga Taisha Shrine, where we were able to make a wish to the gods, if we wanted to. We then split up into groups to complete a six-part scavenger hunt with our group. During this scavenger hunt, we were able to feed the wandering deer, where we leaned that respect goes both ways between humans and animals. For example, if you bow down to the deer, they will bow down to you as well. We were also able to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Nara Park. After the scavenger hunt, we met as a group again to have lunch in three different restaurants, depending on our preference. After lunch, we walked to the Todai-ji Temple and went inside the Great Buddha Hall to see all of the religious statues inside.
We then left Nara Park and went to a skyscraper, Umeda Sky Building. During this experience, we were able to see Osaka from above and take in its enchanting views. On our way out, we stumbled upon a gift shop, so some of you may have souvenirs coming your way. We then got on the bus headed to a hot pot restaurant to enjoy amazing food and we had a memorable experience bonding with each other. We sang karaoke at the restaurant and enjoyed our food together like a family and it’s great to cherish these things and afterwards we had a great ending to our day. During this bonding experience of creating a new experience, we became closer to each other.
Kimberly, Olivia, Kenneth, Dylan, Melissa
BLOG POST FOR OCTOBER 18
Hi again!
We started with a balanced breakfast, keeping good energy for our travel to the city of Kyoto. Our first activity after traveling was our visit to The Bamboo Forest, where we walked together through the beautiful views and experienced the culture as we passed a multitude of shops and stores revolving around Japanese culture.
As we continued the day we visited the Bamboo forest as we made a loop around it admiring the beauty of the Plants. Afterward, we visited temples such as the Kenyru-Ji Temple and the Dharma Hall, where the cloud dragon’s eyes follow you wherever you go, furthering admiring the culture of Kyoto.
In the afternoon, we hiked up a steep hill to visit Arashiyama Monkey Park, where, instead of watching behind cages, we would experience the free movement and interactions of monkeys in their habitats.
For dinner we ate at a buffet with good food, the had a green drink that was hella sweet and I won’t drink again then we celebrated Janeisy’s birthday as she turned 17 the Sunday of the trip. We gave her a good happy birthday song with a nice cake that she shared.
Afterwards, we headed to the Gion show where we were immersed into various Japanese entertainment cultures with different genres ranging from cultural dances that goes back to the 17th century along with comedy plays. Finally, after a long day we headed back to our hotel to prepare for our next adventure!
Caleb, Hani, Michelle, Lindsay, Brandom
BLOG POST FOR OCTOBER 19
Good morning from Kyoto! Today is day 5 and our buffet style breakfast consisted of a mixture of western and eastern dishes. Some of us ate rice, meat balls, kimchi and dragon fruit. After we visited Kiyomizu Dera Temple that overlooked Kyoto. The architecture was beautiful and there was a 3 story pagoda next to the temple. It started to rain but that didn’t stop us from we buying souvenirs and having a group lunch with our friends.
After lunch, we went to the manga museum where everyone was interested in the hundreds of books waiting to be discovered. Some students went to the claw machine trying to get a prize, while many others found interesting books, and many went to the gift shop to buy a souvenir. Some students tried their hand at drawing and even people who were not as familiar with anime and manga took interest in the history and cultural impact in Japan.
Then we had a very exciting activity where we participated in a calligraphy class. We learned to paint different Japanese characters from our teacher and in the end practiced writing LOVE in Japanese, alongside our names in Japanese! While half took the calligraphy class, the other half went to a traditional coffee house to talk about our experiences on this trip over some tea and brownies. Finally we had some dinner which consisted of shrimp & veggie tempura and sushi, which reminded me of dinner at home because we had to take our shoes off at the entrance. What a day! See you tomorrow!
Dorian, Lyla, Giselle and Aileen
BLOG POST FOR OCTOBER 20
We’re baaaack. Another day, another blessing in which we had the wake up time at 6:00 am and had to be downstairs at breakfast at 6:20. While this was crazy early, it was still 100 percent worth it, not only because we were taking a bullet train, but also because we were going to go to the city we all been waiting for – Tokyo. But before that, we had a wonderful breakfast provided at the hotel, mainly those little croissants they had. After breakfast, we quickly rushed back to our rooms to grab our bag and head to the lobby to take the bullet train and that experience was indescribable. To put it in simple words, that train moves like flash and the best part was being able to see the other cities and the view on the train’s window.
Upon our arrival, we boarded a bus to the Asakusa district, a historic area famous for its traditional shops and street food. We were given a drop-off location and a budget, which allowed us to explore and shop for souvenirs while also experiencing the diversities of Tokyo. Everywhere you turned was a shop offering a piece of Asian culture. The area was very crowded and full of energy. There were a variety of things you could buy, spanning from clothes, food, accessories, and cosmetics making it one of the most popular tourist attractions in all of Tokyo. We all separated into groups and like the independent queens that we are, the girls walked all over the place. We tried cultural foods like miso ramen, tanghulu, and a matcha latte. We then entered all the local shops and purchased some items that reminded us of Tokyo that we could keep forever.
Then we visited the Odaiba Waterfront in Aqua City. We were surprised with a mini New York vibe. It had its own Statue of Liberty (that was 1/7 of the size) and a beautiful river with a great white bridge. We walked into the park and found a huge Transformer robot. It didn’t move while we were there but it was still pretty cool. The scenery was beautiful and we made some local friends, and also had some nice shout-outs of appreciation.
On our way to dinner, we stopped at Daiso, the Japanese dollar store. It was fun seeing all the products and getting cheap deals. Then we went to have shabu-shabu hot pot at an all-you-can-eat restaurant. We saw meat being delivered to tables by a robot waiter, which was crazy. We ate a lot of meat and veggies, along with ice cream and shaved ice.
Then we checked into our Tokyo hotel, where we’ll stay through the end of our trip. We’re excited to finally be in the capital city and to go to a local school tomorrow!
See you soon,
Fermín, Jaslene, Joel, Luz
BLOG POST FOR OCTOBER 21
The day began with us attending breakfast in order to arrive at the Sumo Experience. When we arrived, we saw a video elaborating on the cultural beginnings of sumo wrestling. The students were able to understand that sumo wrestling was a sport made in the Edo period as a form of entertainment for royalty. The sport possessed sacred meanings of purification of the soul and from prayer and that cultural experience is an adventure we got to indulge in.
After learning the history of sumo wrestling, the wrestlers gave a demonstration of an actual match as well as moves that are prohibited and winning moves. Once the demonstration was over, students were able to wrestle against the sumo wrestlers. Apparently they felt like soft pillows that were also like walls.
In the afternoon, we were on our way to school and our first start was meeting the first group of students (10 individual groups, each with Japanese students joining us) and participating in a activity to understand Japanese but to also help the students to understand English language and for every word we got right we would get a flag from another country. The second activity was taking trick pictures where we would do funny poses to make each other seem smaller and created fun photos to work and grow together and it helped to create memories of each other throughout the experience.
After the photo challenge, we all went to a home room class to help clean up their classroom, which is a unique part of the culture. We swept the floors, cleaned the chalkboards and moved desks.
Later in the day we split up into different activities in the school, that students do for their club activities: tea ceremony, volleyball, calligraphy, kendo and band. We participated in the tea ceremony. We got to try a Japanese desert and we got to make matcha. It was a good experience because we got to learn about some of the things that people eat in Japan on the regular and how to make these kinds of foods and drinks. The kendo group learned about a martial art that uses a bamboo sword, and got to learn several different moves and footwork, as well as watch a trial match between the students. The volleyball group enjoyed competing in teams and the calligraphy group took home paintings of their names and spent much of the time just chatting with their new Japanese friends. The band group got to play some instruments with the students and had so much fun making music.
At the end of the day, we learned a new version of rock, paper, scissors and then were presented a friendship flag from the school. It was such an incredible day and we all asked if we could come back tomorrow.
BLOG POST FOR OCTOBER 22
Today was a calm yet beautiful day since after breakfast we took a two hour bus ride to Hakone. Hakone is a a region in the mountains famous for views of Mt. Fuji. When we arrived, we were met with a powerful odor that came from underground through the vents in the Earth. Sulphurous gas was steaming out, coming from the volcano nearby. We were introduced to a black egg that is boiled in the hot springs & sulfur and is supposed to bring 7 extra years of life if you eat it. Some of us tried it and it was okay – it just tasted like a regular hard-boiled egg.
From the top of the mountain, we took a cable car to a lake where we got on a scenic cruise ride on Lake Ashi. Before we knew it, the sky cleared and we got to see Mount Fuji! It was breathtaking. Around 1pm we transitioned into lunch and got to eat at some local restaurants nearby.
When we arrived back to Tokyo, we were given some free time to relax in our rooms and get ready for dinner. Today’s dinner consisted of all you can eat Japanese BBQ and it was delicious. We ate a lot! Dinner was fun as we were enjoying each other’s company. We were all exhausted, so we ended our day a bit early, although a few of us took a detour to take some photos on the way home.
We’re excited but also sad for our final full day in Tokyo tomorrow. See you then!
Angel, Juliana, Khaled & Armarys
BLOG POST FOR OCTOBER 23
Happy second to last day of the program!
This morning started early when we left the hotel at eight. We visited Hama-Rikyu Gardens and took part in a bonding activity. We shared what we appreciated about each other, expressing our gratitude and helping everyone feel cared for. This experience brought us closer and made us all feel valued. It was a great way to end our trip, highlighting the importance of gratitude in our experiences.
We then headed out for a surprise newly-added adventure: taking the Tokyo metro to see Tokyo Tower. We split into four groups and each went on our own (with a chaperone & GLA staff) to compare the metro here with back home and check out an iconic Tokyo landmark modeled after the Eiffel Tower. The metro was very easy and veryyyy quiet. We took lots of photos and checked out the souvenir shop, of course.
After riding the metro to compare the differences between New York and Japan’s train stations, we arrived at our destination and headed to Tokyo Character Street. It was nothing like what I had imagined. When you hear Character Street, you normally envision a big road lined with buildings that are dedicated to your favorite characters from movies and TV shows. But in reality, it was a specific section tucked inside the train station, filled with small shops. These shops were packed with souvenirs and merchandise that featured famous characters from various TV shows. Despite the interesting setup, I absolutely loved it. We had plenty of time to browse, and I couldn’t resist buying a bunch of items. We also tried some new desserts, which were amazing. By the time we all gathered at the designated meet-up spot, everyone was proudly showing off their purchases and it was clear that we all had a fantastic time.
After a delicious dinner of sushi (which we made ourselves, nagiri style!) and chicken, we took a little 30-minute walk through the neon-lit streets of Tokyo. Little did we know how memorable it would be. It felt like we all bonded for pictures that might literally stick with us forever. It was a surreal feeling. We had to absorb in every emotion knowing that today is our last day. I can talk for the whole group by saying that these past 10 days have been very special and life changing. It has been fun and culturally immersive and it was a great and active experience. Thanks GLA 🙂
Keanny, Gabriel, Rosemary, Trinity & Madison Bernard