Monthly Archives: August 2012

City Life, City Theme Activities, Uda City

Host family day in Uda!

Date of Activity: July 22nd

Temple Nara


Today was host family day! I stay in a host family with Paulina from Mexico and Louise from Belgium, so the three of us went with our host mom to Nara to see the Todaiji and to see the deer. It was my second time I went to this place, but it didn’t make the Todaiji less impressive. The Todaiji is a temple and is the largest wooden building in the world. It is really big, it’s so amazing! It left even a greater impression than it did last year. Some things you just need to see twice. The deer in the park were nice, but if you don’t pay attention, they might start nibbling on your bag or clothes. And if you buy cookies, they will chase you until they get something.

Ninja 2012


After going to the Todaiji we went to a ninja village. It is a small amusement park with a ninja house, a museum and shows. We had a lot of fun there. In the evening we went to onsen, hot spring, which was really nice! Overall I had a great day!

(Iris Spruit, the Netherlands)

City Life, City Theme Activities, Uda City

Tea ceremony

Day of activity: July 21st

We started today by learning about Uda city. Everybody is interested in this city because of it’s long history and beautiful scenery. We prepared lunch by ourselves. It is my first time to make sushi and udon and my team members cooperated so well. I was so happy and surprised about that! In the afternoon we got the nice chance to wear a yukata. They are so beautiful and colorful. Wearing the yukata we experienced sadou (japanese tea ceremony).

Tea Ceremony


Our gorgeous teacher showed us how to drink green tea, but actually everybody’s attention was focused on the way we sat. I really liked today because I experienced many new things and got a better understanding of my friends.

Yue – China

City Life, City Theme Activities, Community Partners, Uda City

Muroo-en Elderly Home


Date of activity: July 20th

Today we visited muroo-en. A elderly home surrounded by mountains, fireflies and beautiful nature. We entered the building and immediately mingled with the elderly. The man who sat next to me had never met anyone from the Netherlands and we had an interesting talk about dutch culture and language. Soon after that all world campus members introduced themselves and their countries with some interesting or fun facts. Did you know that there are more bicycles than inhabitants in the Netherlands? – this is one of the facts about the Netherlands and especially for Japan, a country with lots of mountains, bicycles are pretty rare. After our self-introductions we played a short game with the elderly and then had a short tour around the facility.



After lunch we visited muroo temple. A temple which is very famous for it’s long history, one of the first temples which females were allowed to visit and it’s 700 stairs. Especially the latter will stay with us for a while after.

Even though the Temple was very beautiful we had to struggle to get to the top. Finally there we visited the main temple and enjoyed the scenery from up high. The temple seemed really old and it’s wonderful to see that it was still in use like it was over a century ago. Going back down the 700 stairs I was talking to a Japanese woman from the YMCA of Nara who accompanied us. I asked her why all the statues were wearing red bibs and sometimes red hats. She was very eager to share her knowledge and explained me in full detail what she knew about it. It was a fun, interesting, but tiring day. The thing is, I slept so well that night!

Jurriën – Netherlands